What are the identified or expected independent variable(s) and dependent variable(s) that are the focus of the study?

Your research proposal must include the following:
1. Title of research proposal – A descriptive title for
your proposed project. (2 Points)
2. Abstract – An abstract is to be included describing
the key points of the proposal. The abstract must be 500 words or less. (This is usually done
last.) (5 Points)
3. Introduction – The introduction must include the
following:
3a. What is the goal of this project? (What is the focus
of study?) (5 Points)
3b. What is the research question(s) or hypothesis(es) to
be addressed by the proposed research? (5 Points)
3c. What are the identified or expected independent
variable(s) and dependent variable(s) that are the focus of the study? (5
Points)
3d. What is the background and significance of the topic
or problem the proposed research is trying to address? (What happened? Why is
the proposed research important? Why is it worthy of funding?) (5 Points)
The introduction must be ½ to 1 page in length.
4. Review of the Literature – A review of the literature
related to the research is to be presented.
4a. What does the previous literature tell us about the
topic or problem? (5 Points)
4b. How does the proposed research proposal relate to the
previous research? Will the proposed research test any of the findings from
previous research? (5 Points)
4c. What will be the gain from the new research? Will we
learn something we do not already know? Will we see if it improves an
identified or new community in some way? (5 Points)
The literature review must contain a minimum of five (5)
articles that provide insight to the research proposal. (Do not select the
first five [5] articles you find. Select the five [5] articles that are most
relevant to your research proposal.) The literature review should synthesize
the important information from the articles as it relates to your research
question. It should not just be an overview of each article. Ideally most
comments in the literature review will be associated with more than one
article. This section must include in-text
citations from the articles. References must be included at the
end of the research proposal. The literature review must be 1½ to 3 pages in length.
5. Methods – The methods section is the most important
part of this assignment. The methods section should include the following:
5a. Is the proposed research qualitative or quantitative?
(3 Points)
5b. How will the identified or expected independent
variable(s) and dependent variable(s) be measured? (What is the level of
measurement used for each?) (10 Points)
5c. What is the population to be studied? In detail, how
will you identify and select participants or social artifacts to be included in
this study? (5 Points)
5d. What type of research method will be used to complete
the proposed study? Why is the selected method the best choice for the proposed
study? (10 Points)
5e. What questions will be asked to participants or how
will you observe participants to gain data about your research question? The
list of the questions to be asked to the participants or used to assess
selected social artifacts must be provided. (The list of questions, question
instrument or question schedule is usually included in an appendix but you are
to include it in this section for the assignment.) (20 Points)
5f. Will the process provide participants with anonymity
or confidentiality? What are the possible risks to participants who participate
in the proposed study? How does the proposed study attempt to protect
participants from this risk? Are there any other ethical issues that need to be
considered? (10 Points)
The methods section must be 4 to
10 pages in length and must completely address 5a through 5f.
The references and in-text citations
for your proposal are to be properly formatted. If you do not use the American
Sociological Association (ASA) style guide format to complete the proposal you
must identify the style guide you use (ex. APA, MLA, etc.). If the assignment
has style guide issues it may result in a grade deduction of up to 10 points.
The proposal is expected to be free of grammatical
errors, have correct spelling, be produced
in 12-point font, double-spaced with 1.25-page margins, and be easy to read. If
the assignment has any of these issues it may result in a grade deduction of up
to 10 points.