In one paragraph, briefly and concisely (~350 words) describe your research proposal. Citations are not to be included. Summarize all of your paper who you intend to study, why, what you expect to find.
II. Introduction and Background (5pts)
In no less than two paragraphs, briefly describe the health-related issue you see in your community or in health care settings. Citations are not required, but your introduction must address the following:
1. The problem that you will be researching
2. Brief summary of the methods that will be used to conduct the research
3. Why this is important and why the reader should care about the outcomes
III. Needs Assessment (10pts)
Based on the problem you identified, describe how you would conduct a needs assessment. This section should be approximately one page. Do not conduct a needs assessment – it’s as difficult as a whole study is, just describe how you would do it. Your response should include:
1. Who are your key stakeholders? Why are they important to your research project?
2. Describe the needs assessment you will conduct and how it will gain useful input from the key stakeholders.
3. What do you anticipate the needs assessment findings will tell you?
4. Will the key stakeholders be on board with your research project? Why?
• …the process of gathering and examining information to get a clearer and more accurate picture of an issue, challenge, or environment.
• The needs assessment will help you better understand the community in which you want to conduct research.
ACTIVITY
• Gather your team of key stakeholders who will serve as a needs assessment task force. This group should include people in leadership, service delivery staff, volunteers, and consumers. Ask the following questions regarding the problem you would like them to address with the needs assessment.
• Frequency – How often does it happen?
• Duration – How long do the effects last?
• Scope – How many people does it affect?
• Severity – How seriously are people affected?
• Perceptions – How do people feel about the problem?
IV. Literature Review (5pts)
State in more detail the problem you have identified and include data sources that support your claim (e.g., lack of physical activity in your community and data on physical activity rates from Healthy People 2020). This section should be 5 paragraphs. The formatting of this section is as follows:
1. Use APA citation style
2. Provide a one paragraph summary for each source with an introduction and conclusion; no less than seven paragraphs of detailed analysis of the problem you have identified, cite your sources.
3. This can be taken from your midterm, revised per feedback, etc.
V. Develop Your Research Question and Hypotheses (5pts)
Develop a research question. Describe in detail the Population, Intervention, Control or Comparison, and Outcome. This section will be half of one page and should include:
1. Research Question
2. Research (Alternative) Hypothesis, indicate your independent vs dependent variable(s)
3. Null Hypothesis
VI. Methods (40pts)
In this section you will describe in detail HOW you will conduct your research project. This section should be no less than 2-3 pages and must include the following:
1. Study Design
a. What type of study design will you implement and why?
b. If randomized control, describe your control and experimental groups
2. Population Sampling
a. What are the inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants and describe why
b. How will you recruit participants
c. What is the sample size for your study and how did you calculate
3. Setting
a. Where will the research project take place and why did you choose this setting?
4. Data Collection- Quantitative
a. What data collection instruments will be used and when?
b. How were data collection instruments collected
c. Are the tools you have selected validated?
d. If not, what steps will be taken to ensure reliability and validity
e. How will you 1. Input data for analysis and 2. Verify accuracy of data entry?
5. Data collection- Qualitative
a. What types of qualitative data will be collected and when?
6. Describe the statistical analysis method that should be employed for analyzing the data collected.
VII. Ethics (10pts)
This section will be approximately 2-3 paragraphs and you must answer:
1. Potential ethical risks
2. Steps to mitigate risk
3. Sensitivity analysis: How would you conduct a sensitivity analysis of your data??
VIII. Develop Your Evaluation Plan (5)
All research projects should include an evaluation plan. This section is approximately half of one page and should provide:
1. One paragraph describing how you will measure success of the research project
2. A goal statement and objectives
IX. References (5pts)
Provide a reference page for all sources cited APA style
X. Formatting (10pts)
