Assignment Directions

Research Proposal

A research proposal is intended to convince others that you have a worthwhile research project and that you have the competence and the work-plan to complete it. A research proposal contains all the key elements involved in the research process and include sufficient information for the readers to evaluate the proposed study. Your proposal is what is submitted for applications, ethics reviews, and funding opportunities. It also guides all of the research process so care must be taken to thoroughly plan your project in sufficient detail.

Regardless of your research area and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions: What you plan to accomplish, why you want to do it, and how you are going to do it. The proposal should have sufficient information to convince your readers that you have an important research idea, that you have a good grasp of the relevant literature and the major issues, and that your methodology is sound.

The quality of your research proposal depends not only on the quality of your proposed project, but also on the quality of your proposal writing. A good research project may run the risk of rejection simply because the proposal is poorly written or presented. Therefore, it pays if your writing and formatting is coherent, clear, and compelling.ⁱ   

You will be picking a potential research topic and developing a proposal for it all semester through the completion of weekly activities – the ethnolabs and reflections. Draw on the work you have already done for these activities by using the parts that are appropriate. Use word-for-word the work you have done well that fits your proposal and polish-up what needs further development using the feedback you receive on the assignments. While the majority of your proposal is based on work completed through other activities, some sections, such as the literature review, will need to be completed from scratch.

You are expected to upload the final version of your research proposal into our Moodle course shell before December 2nd

• The dropbox to upload your research proposal is found in Week 13

Research Proposal Elements:

1. Title page
2. Title – should be concise and descriptive. For example, the phrase, “An investigation of . . .” could be omitted. An effective title not only pricks the reader’s interest, but also predisposes them favourably towards the proposal.

• Table of Contents (ToC)
• Make sure each section is listed in the ToC with the correct page number

• Purpose
• The main purpose of the introductory section is to provide the necessary background or context for the development of the proposal. How to frame the research problem is perhaps the biggest problem in proposal writing – try to place your research question in the context of either a current “hot” area, or an older area that remains viable.
• Subsections must include:
  • Research Question
  • Research Objectives
  • Location – with rationale and discussion of safety for the researcher
  • Timeline

• Literature Review (500-750 words)
• What have others (especially anthropologists!) written about your topic and/or area? Explain how your research will expand on existing anthropological ideas and how it promises to advance our understanding of the world or a particular problematic.
• Use a minimum of 5 high quality academic references.
• Given what has already been written on the topic, why is your research important? What will it contribute to our knowledge, within the discipline of anthropology or within another field of scholarly interest?
• Are there debates in the literature to which your research will contribute?
• Does your research test out old assumptions and/or take ideas in a new direction?
• Discuss comparable studies and explain how your research is similar to or different from them.
• If there is limited work in your chosen area, consider whether there are similar processes going on in other parts of the world.
• How will your research scale up from a local site/problem to broader analytical or theoretical questions or problems?

• Ethics
• Ethical considerations are one of the most important parts of the research proposal (as well as the research process). In your discussion of the below topics, you must demonstrate an application of what you learned during the TCPS2 tutorial.
• Subsections must include:
  • Responsibility Statement
  • Risk Assessment
    • Nature of Research Risk
    • Participant Vulnerability Assessment
  • Researcher Assessment
    • Conflict of Interest

• Methods
• The methods section is very important because it tells your Research Ethics Board, funders, or grantees how you plan to tackle your research problem. It will provide your work plan and describe the activities necessary for the completion of your project.
• The guiding principle for writing the methods section is that it needs to contain sufficient information for the reader to determine whether the methodology is sound. It should be so detailed that another qualified researcher (or research assistants) could implement the study.
• The data collection process in qualitative research has a great impact on the results so care in describing how you will collect and analyze your data is needed.
• Subsections must include:
  • Access Plan
  • Recruitment Plan
  • Min of two qualitative/ethnographic methods utilized (one must be either interviewing or focus groups).
    • Include:
      • Complete plan of use for each method (describe the method by citing course readings, explain how it will be carried out, and explain how it will produce the data you will need to answer your research question)
      • Consent forms (if needed for method)
      • Question set (if needed for method)
  • Analysis Plan with code book containing at least five codes

• Knowledge Translation Plan
• You need to consider who could benefit from the knowledge gained through your research and what is the most appropriate way to share it with them.

• References

General Formatting Information:

• Use APA Style 7^th edition for referencing, formatting, and writing style. You will be marked on its use.
• Please compile all of the elements into one cohesive and unified document.
• Use headers for subsections.  
• Citations and reference list needed.
• The assignment needs to use 2.0 line spacing, 1-inch margins, and 11 or 12 pt. font depending on font choice.
• Use Calibri or Times New Roman font. (Calibri is preferred for ease of reading)
• You do not need to provide an abstract.
• Please refer to the marking guide at the end of this document.

Important Notes:

• Assignments that are handed in containing information gathered through “fieldwork” will receive a 0 mark. This assignment is a research proposal and thus all information within your assignment must come from published academic references and be properly cited or be your own work (i.e. questions list). We are unable to conduct fieldwork for this course meaning that you are not allowed to include information that you have learned through talking to someone about their culture, from your own experiences being a part of the culture, from travel experiences, or information that you “just know”.
• Assignments that are handed in without proper citations will receive a 0 mark and will be treated as plagiarized.
• Assignments are submitted through the Moodle dropbox. Assignments submitted any other way will not be marked.
• Assignments need to be submitted as either a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file format or they cannot be opened.
  • If you are working in a program other than Microsoft Word (Such as Pages or Open Office) you will need to convert your file from a .pages or .odt file to one of the ones mentioned above. Refer to the technology section in Moodle for directions.
• Please see syllabus for late assignment policy

i Used as is with permission from:   

Wong, P.T.P. (n.d.). How to write a research proposal. https://www.meaning.ca/archives/archive/art_how_to_write_P_Wong.htm

Research Proposal: Marking Guide

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