Florida A&M University Family Counseling for Parents of Children with Special Needs in the Bolgatanga Municipality in Ghana

  Assignment: Research Proposal
For EDF 5481E, you will prepare a research proposal. After you identify a research problem and
locate literature related to your topic, you will have the information you need to write your
proposal. The research proposal should be written in the present tense. Remember to use APA style
throughout your proposal. In addition, don’t forget to double space your document. The reference
list, however, should be single spaced with double spaces between individual references.
The Table of Contents should mirror (or be similar to) the proposal outline presented earlier. In
addition to listing the sections and sub-sections, provide the page numbers for each. Furthermore,
with regard to sections and sub-sections, don’t forget to include the actual headings within your
document. Major headings (e.g., Title, Introduction, Literature Review) should be centered on the
page. Under these major headings will be sub-headings (e.g., Statement of the Problem, Purpose,
Sample) that should be left justified.
The following sections provide writing prompts (guides) that may be useful as you begin to pull
together the literature that you have found on your proposed problem of study.
SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
• Part #1: Write a paragraph that introduces your topic. Mention your topic in the first
sentence. What are you planning to study? What is the purpose of the study?
• Part #2: Fully discuss your topic. What specifically interests you? Think of a specific research
question (or questions) and state it clearly and precisely. You can also begin to formulate your
ideas on how you might study your research question, though you need not be very specific in this
section. For example, if you plan to study attitudes toward school vouchers, suggest what
characteristics influence how individuals feel about school vouchers (e.g., income, location, etc.).
• Part #3: Explain to the reader why it is important to study your topic and put it into a larger
educational context. Here is where you answer the “So what?” question. That is, you plan to study
XYZ. So what? Why is it important to study this topic? What is the educational importance of this
research? Why is this study significant? This is your opportunity to be broad, general, and
theoretical in your thinking.
Based on the outline provided/developed, you must include sub-headings within this
section. You must cite references within this section to support your topic and/or claim.
SECTION TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
• Part #1: Briefly restate your research topic in an opening paragraph. Provide a short
introduction about what question(s) you are trying to answer, why this is educationally
interesting, and why you chose it. Also, provide a brief overview of the topics you will cover in your
literature review.
• Part #2: Divide the literature that you have into sections of like studies. Then, for each
section, write an essay summarizing the studies. Be sure to state the research purpose,
method(s), and findings ONLY for the studies that are paramount to your study. [NOTE: Use
transitions within your essay so that it flows and does not appear like disjointed blocks of
information.]
• Part #3: Write a concluding paragraph that summarizes the articles. For example, how will
these articles inform your research?
SECTION THREE: METHODS
The purpose of this section is to describe and explain your research design. This can be the hardest
part of the proposal for some students; therefore, do not wait until the last minute to write this
section. When writing this section, imagine that you have received millions of dollars from a federal
agency or a private company to study your topic. You have unlimited resources for your research
design. Since you will not actually perform the research be creative, but appropriate, with your
design.
 In a brief introduction, precisely restate your research problem(s)/question(s).
 Discuss the ways in which your research will fulfill any of the purposes of research
mentioned in class and in the text. Which purpose is most important to your topic?
 Indicate the following elements of your research design:
o What is your mode of observation? How will you collect your data? Examples: If
you are designing a survey, what types of questions will you ask? If you are going to
perform in-depth interviews, what will you ask of your interviewees?
o What is your population of interest? Do you have a sampling frame? If so, what is it?
How will you select your sample? What kind of sampling technique will you use?
o How will you analyze your data? What unit of analysis best fits your project, and
why?
o What type of time dimension is best for studying your topic, and why?
 If you plan to conduct qualitative research, discuss the following issues (be as detailed and
specific as possible):
o Clearly define the theoretical constructs you will be using.
o What is the main concept you are investigating? What other concepts will be
examined (note the concepts’ potential structures, processes, causes, and
consequences)?
o What type(s) of qualitative analysis will you conduct?
 If you plan to conduct quantitative research, discuss the following issues (be as detailed
and specific as possible):
o Clearly state your hypotheses.
o Identify and operationalize your variables. What are the levels of measurements of
the variables? Discuss the causal relationships between the variables; that is,
identify the independent variables and the dependent variable.
 Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your design.
 Finally, write a concluding paragraph that summarizes the research design and proposal.