Posted: February 14th, 2023

Research Project

Research Proposal

What is a Research Proposal? • A research proposal is a detailed plan or ‘blueprint’ for the intended

study

• Research proposal forms the backbone for the research and is the most important step in the process of conducting research

• Research Proposal describe planned activities and include a time line

• Research Proposal describes what you intend to accomplish and how

Elements of a Research proposal

• Identify a research problem or research topic • Introduction • Problem and objectives • Literature Review • Research Methods and Design

• Subjects for Study – population and sampling • Research Instrument – surveys (questionnaire), interviews,

• Data Collection Methods • Data Analysis • References

Identify a research problem or research topic • A problem is something to solve or framed as a question that must be

answered

• You can identify a research problem by reading recent research to find a gap in what is currently known about it or identify community problems or through personal experiences.

• You might look for: • A phenomenon or research area that has not been thoroughly studied • A situation or relationship that is not well explained • A disturbing question that has not been resolved through research

Introduction • Introduction is termed as the need for the study.

• It introduces the idea and sets the scene for the research

• It drives the research

• The introduction should be designed to create interest in the reader about the topic and proposal.

• It should convey to the reader, what you want to do, what necessitates the study and your passion for the topic (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2003).

Problem and Objective

• What exactly do you want to study?

• Does the proposed study contribute to our general understanding of crime, criminal behavior, the criminal justice system or policy responses to crime?

• Specify Research problem or objective

• Indicate what you intend to achieve in the Research

Literature Review • Review what others have written about your research topic

• Literature review tells you what is already known and not known.

• Your literature search must be organized around the key concepts you wish to study

• You can access academic journals, reports by government agencies, institutional databases, libraries online

• Summarize each article in a paragraph, highlighting the details relevant to your research interest.

• Literature review should include supporting data, disagreements and analytical .

Theoretical Framework

• Discuss Criminological Theories that support your research. Those theories must be synthesized into your Research. Examples of Criminological Theories are Social learning theory, Strain theory, Conflict theory, etc

• If you have not taken the Criminology and Theories of Crime class, you can google theories that support your topic.

Research Questions

• What specific questions will your research try to answer?

• It’s useful to view research questions as a more specific version of the problem or objective described earlier

• Your specific questions should be framed so as to address the research objective

• Your study’s research question/questions is not the same as your survey questions

Hypothesis • You only need to state Hypothesis if you are going to conduct a hypothesis

testing, in that case a quantitative analysis.

• A hypothesis is a specific, clear, and testable proposition or predictive statement or possible outcome of a scientific research that must be tested

• Two types of Hypothesis – • Null Hypothesis is the starting point of your measurement and represents

equality eg there is no difference between variable A and variable B • Research Hypothesis represents inequality eg. there is a difference b/w

two variables or there is a relationship between rehabilitation and recidivism

Research Methods and Design • Subjects for Study – population and sampling

• Whom or what will you study in order to collect data?

• Identify who are available for study and how you will reach them.

• Is it appropriate to select a sample? If so, how will you do that?

• If there is any possibility that your research will have an impact on those you study, how will you ensure that they are not harmed by the research?

• If you intend to interact with human subjects in the course of your research, you may have to include a consent form.

Measurement

• What are the key variables in your study?

• How will you define and measure or operationalize them?

Data Collection Method

• How will you actually collect the data for your study?

• Will you observe behavior directly or conduct a survey? Surveys are used to study attitudes, perceptions and opinions

• Will you undertake field research, or will you focus on reanalysis of data already collected by others?

• You may include more than one research method.

Data Analysis

• Briefly describe the kind of analysis you plan to conduct.

• Are you interested in precise description of your data?

• Do you intend to explain why things are the way they are?

• What possible explanatory variables will your analysis consider?

• Will you conduct qualitative analysis or quantitative analysis?

References

• Ensure to reference and include a list of all materials you consulted and cited in your proposal.

• Reference your materials according to APA format.

References

• Sandelowski M, Barroso J. (2003). Writing the proposal for a qualitative research methodology project. Quality Health Research. 13, 781–820.