Develop the beginning of a research proposal on your phenomenon of interest. You may begin thinking about whether you are going to use a qualitative or a quantitative approach. This determination is based on your question of interest. Please include the following components in your paper.
Components to include in your paper:
A. Title Page: As always, review APA guidelines for the title page. Make your title succinct and to the point. Titles that are too lengthy tend to lose the reader before they even read the article.
B. Introduction (Including the problem statement): This can be accomplished in 1-2 good paragraphs if carefully constructed. It is here that you want to grab the reader and let them know the research is meaningful to your discipline. State the problem and give it context. Include why it is essential and what you hope to accomplish. What is the purpose of the research? State your hypothesis or research question(s). Let the reader know why it is worth doing and also include any problems, or pitfalls you are likely to encounter. State for whom the research is relevant.
C. Background/Rationale: (this will include your review of the literature). Give some relevant history. Provide some statistics if you haven’t already to help substantiate the work. Use seminal works if available. Include the most recent work in the area that is relevant to your discipline (nursing). Include any debates or recent developments regarding the topic in nursing/healthcare/nursing education (whatever the focus of the study). Your review of the literature should include pertinent/recent data on your phenomenon of interest and should provide the impetus for the proposed research.
D. A potential theoretical framework to underpin the study (use the Toolkit for Chapter 6 of your textbook to find potential websites for theories and conceptual frameworks & complete the assignments in the Resource Manual for Chapter 6 to gain an understanding of theoretical frameworks).
