You should write an original Mock Research Proposal, similar to what you might submit for a grant. It should be well done, but as an entry level research methods course, it does not have to be elaborate. It must be quantitative design, but any methodology is fine as long as it fits your topic and hypothesis. Be sure your methods and measured are cleared identified and explained. The paper must be in correct APA format, and include the title and reference pages with all required parts. Your abstract should summarize your paper and make it clear it is a proposal (remember the Abstract is a summary of your paper, not an introduction to it). The body should include all the major parts of a research proposal with correct headings (these are listed below, but see your APA manual for help with what to include in these). Also include the other headings that would be included in a research presentation / article after the research is conducted such as Discussion and Conclusion, but leave these blank.
• Background (or you can call this Literature Review if you prefer)
• Methodology
o Participants (this section should include ethical protections and reference to your consent form)
o Procedures
o Materials
o Measures
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
The paper should include an introduction, but remember that in APA you do not use a heading labeled “introduction”. The first paragraph or two is your introduction and sets the stage for your paper.
The literature review must be well-written, but need not be complete and lengthy as would be expected in an actual proposal or a higher level research course. It should be 2-3 pages and use at least 5 professional original research article sources. DO NOT use non-professional or “internet” sources, nor topical/opinion type articles.
The Methodology section should show that you know to include the required parts including the procedures, measures, ethics, sampling procedures, etc. However, just do the best you can on selecting the correct measures. You will not be graded on the accuracy of the statistics / measures as long as it is at least somewhat logical.
The Results, Discussion, and Conclusion will be left blank, but again, do include the headings correctly formatted.
Finally, remember to include your hypothesis and/or research questions somewhere clearly in your paper either at the very end of your background, or the first thing in the methodology. Remember, the background (literature review) funnels to your hypothesis and methodology. You may have research questions (things to explore) rather than a hypothesis (stated anticipated findings), but they are essentially the same thing in principle. Papers without a clear hypothesis or research questions will have significant points deducted!
Use your textbook and manual to help you further with the parts of the paper, and see the feedback from your previous Preliminary Research assignment.
