topic Methods for preventing international drug trafficking. What methods do drug traffickers use to smuggle illegal substances into a country? How do law enforcement officials react, and what should they do differently?
Proposals should be about 8-10 pages in length, including the following sections:
I. Introduction. (1 page)
This should be a couple of paragraphs introducing your research.
II. Literature Review. (2-3 pages)
This is a statement summarizing what is currently known about your research topic. It should be based on your reading of prior peer-reviewed literature that you find through a library search. It should conclude by pointing out gaps and contradictions in earlier work that your proposed research would help to correct.
III. Statement of Research Topic and Hypotheses (1-2 pages)
Here, you should state exactly what you are proposing to research, being specific about what variables your study would include. You should say what your dependent and independent variables would be and what you think the relationships between them are.
IV. Methodology (2-3 pages)
This should be a description of the methods you would use in your research, including detailed information about how you would draw a research sample or structure observations.
V. Risks and Risk Management (1-2 pages)
If you believe your research would pose no risks to participants, say this and explain why not. If you can foresee possible risks, say what these are and how you would protect your research subjects from them.
VI. References
This should include full information about all of the works cited in your proposal. It should be arranged alphabetically by last name of author or first author.
VII. Appendix (2-4 pages)
You should attach to your proposal a copy of whatever research instrument you would use in your study — i.e., an anonymous questionnaire; a set of questions for in-person interviews; a code to use in a content analysis of written documents or videos; etc.
