Research Proposal, Part II CJA/334 Version 3

University of Phoenix Material

Research Proposal, Part II
Throughout this course, your Learning Team will submit a completed research proposal to your facilitator. The project will consist of two sections. This outlines the content needed in Part II. This proposal must be professionally written, address all sections identified below, and be consistent with APA formatting guidelines. When writing, use section headings to indicate where the information may be found. Subheadings need not be used, though in long sections, they may facilitate organization. 1. Method and design: This is a description of how you collect data and test the questions being examined. You are not required to come up with a new method, though you may try. Look at journal articles to determine what methods are standards used to assess the knowledge of criminal justice theory in your area and adapt one of these for your needs. 2. Method: How would you collect the data? Why? a. Describe the general methodology you choose for your study to test your hypotheses. b. Explain why this method is best for your purposes. c. Participants: Who would you test? Why? d. Describe the sample you would test, and explain why you chose this sample. Include any demographic information relevant to the design. e. Are there any participants you would exclude? Why or why not? Explain. 3. Design: What would the research question look like? Why? a. Describe what manipulations or variations you would make or test for to test your hypotheses. b. Explain how varying these factors would allow you to confirm or negate your hypotheses. c. Explain what significant differences you must find to confirm or disconfirm your hypotheses. In particular, how could your hypotheses be disconfirmed by your data? d. Controls: What factors would you need to control for in your study? e. Describe what types of effects would likely occur to make your results confirm or disconfirm your hypotheses. f. Describe how you may, by your design, rule out or control for apparent effects. 4. Procedure a. What procedures will you follow to conduct your study? 5. Analysis a. How will you analyze the results? b. What kind of results would confirm your hypothesis? c. What kind of results would disconfirm your hypothesis? 6. Significance and conclusion a. Discuss how your proposed research would lead to a significant improvement over the original studies, and how it would benefit the field. In other words, why should someone care? If you applied for money to do this, why would someone fund you? If you wanted to publish your results, why would they be interesting? 7. References a. Include all references. b. Format all references consistent with APA guidelines.

Research Proposal, Part II CJA/334 Version 3 8. Timeline a. Different stages of your proposed study must be indicated on a timeline. In other words, visualize the whole project from inception to completion. 9. Budget a. Be as specific as possible in identifying various costs of your study. Specify where you intend to find the funds for various activities.