Research Question: What factors influence the racial disparity in rates of miscarriages and periviable births?
Proposed strategy: Use a quantitative research method (such as a survey) to obtain numbers on how many women from various races have had a miscarriage or perviable birth. From the women who reported having the named experience, issue an additional survey collecting information on their education level, race, economic status, household makeup (single parent vs two-parent home), and other potential contributing factors. Next, use a qualitative research method such as the use of focus groups. Conduct focus groups and develop questions that will further explain areas of concern identified in the surveys. For instance, if there appeared to be a trend that shows the lower the education level, the more likely a woman is to experience a miscarriage, develop a question to understand why one’s education level may play a part in that phenomenon. (If sex education taught is only in high school, and most women who experience miscarriages don’t finish high school, are they missing out on information that could help them manage their care during pregnancy.)
Write a proposal that states your research question and your research strategy for addressing it.
The Research proposal should include the following:
Title page: Include
an abstract on the title page
Introduction: The introduction is where you identify your specific research question
and where you set the general context for the study. In this section, you need
to include:
a statement of the problem or general
research question and context leading to a clear statement of the specific
research question;
background and contextual material
justifying why this case or topic should be studied; and
a purpose statement.
Literature Review: This short preliminary literature review section reviews the literature
important to your research question. The literature review discusses how other
researchers have addressed the same or similar research questions. It
introduces the study and places it in a larger context, including a discussion
of why it is important to study this case. It provides the current state of
accumulated knowledge related to your specific research question. In this
section, you should:
Summarize the general state of the
literature (cumulative knowledge base) on the specific research question.
For example, if you discuss other studies conducted, you would summarize
the researcher’s findings, how those findings were obtained, and evaluate
biases in the findings.
This section should provide a broad
overview of the primary arguments related to the topic and organize the
general views on the main aspects of the topic by theme, which could be
the prevailing arguments or schools of thought or commonly held beliefs
that your particular topic may challenge.
Include a short conclusion and
transition to the next section.
In your literature review, you should also discuss the theoretical
framework to be used in the study. You should ensure you cover the following in
your discussion:
a summary of the theory or model to be used in the
study, including a diagram of the model if appropriate;
comment on the kinds of questions this theory has
been used to answer in the past and why it is appropriate to use in this
proposed study
To really drive this home you want to end your
literature review with a discussion of the current knowledge gaps. This is
an opportunity to once again promote the importance of your own research.
How will your research fit within this larger body of knowledge? What are
you doing differently? What gaps will your research fill?
From here you would then include a
transition into your methodology section.
Research Design and Methods: Describe how you will answer your research
question or test the hypothesis. This section describes your overall research
design and how you plan to collect, synthesize, and interpret your data. It
should include:
identification and operationalization (measurement)
of variables;
a sampling plan (i.e., study population and sampling
procedures, if appropriate);
justification of case studies used;
data collection/sources (secondary literature,
archives, interviews, surveys, etc.);
a summary of analysis procedures (pattern-matching,
etc.); and
The limitations of the study and the discussion of
biases.
Conclusion: Reemphasizes the importance
of your study and ties the proposal together.
Format: Times New Roman, double-spaced, a minimum of 8 pages, not including the title/abstract and reference pages.
I have attached my written findings on the current state of research. Feel free to use as a reference as needed.
