Develop Research Proposal in Social Work and Human Services

Research Proposal Outline

Objectives:

1. To propose a research study relevant to social work practice that integrates all course content and concepts and that will demonstrate the student’s mastery of the course.
2. To demonstrate mastery of a scientific and scholarly writing style consistent with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
3. To demonstrate writing skills that evidence appropriate organization, development and presentation of ideas, and excellent grammar, syntax, and critical thinking skills.

Requirements:

1. Create a proposal outline that conforms to all aspects of APA style in both formatting and language.
2. The proposal must contain the following sections in the following order:
3. Title Page (Include title, name, course number, date etc.)
4. Problem Statement

• What problem does your proposal address?
• How many people are affected by this problem?
• Why is this an important social problem?
• How does it affect other important social issues or focal populations?
• Why is your population an important one to study?

1. Research question and hypothesis

• State the research question and hypothesis.
• You can have more than one, but you need to explain you conceptualize and measure each question in this proposal.

1. Methodology

Sampling:

• What sampling approach will you use? (e.g., availability sampling, quota sampling)
• What is your sampling frame?
• What is your inclusion/exclusion criteria?
• How will you recruit your participants?

Design:

• What design are you using? (e.g., online survey, classic experiment)
• What are the specific steps you will take from beginning to end to carry out your design?

Ethics:

• How will you ensure confidentiality and informed consent?
• What are the risks and benefits of the study? Why do the benefits outweigh the risks?

Measures:

• What is the operational definition for your independent variable?
• What is the operational definition for your dependent variable?
• Name at least two control variables you could use in your study and state why they are important.

Data Analysis: (very brief—less than 5 sentences)

• Describe how the data/results will be analyzed (What qualitative or quantitative methodology)

Critique of methodology

• What are the strengths and limitations of your approach to sampling, ethics, measures, and design?

Significance of the Study/Implications and conclusions:

• Discuss how your study will benefit the discipline of social work, your target population, and the literature on your topic.

1. Reference Page: You must identify a minimum of 10 references from peer-reviewed journals.

Avoid using first-person language, idioms, stigmatizing or biased language, or informal language