Final Project: The Research Proposal
Purpose: To provide a compelling rationale (Chapter 1) and process (Chapter 3) for addressing an unanswered problem or question in the field of nutrition and dietetics.
Required Elements:
Title Page
Table of Contents (TOC)
Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview
- Narrative hook (broad focus)
- The research problem (narrowed focus)
- Studies that have addressed the problem
- Deficiencies in past literature
- The importance of the proposed research
Purpose of study
Research Aims and Hypotheses
Definition of Terms (including the operational definitions of variables)
Delimitations and Limitations
Chapter 3: Methods
Participants and study design
- Describe subject selection and sample size determination process (appendix?*) (Inclusion/exclusion criteria: age, gender, health status, activity status, medications, BMI, etc.)
- Recruitment strategy and randomization strategy
- State IRB approval and written consent will be obtained
- State research design (e.g., randomized controlled trial)
- Describe blinding, study duration, timing of measurements
Describe the independent variable in detail: specific diet, specific supplement, exercise protocol, etc.
Protocol procedures/dependent variables
- Describe the study protocol in detail. Describe monitoring procedures, use of questionnaires etc.
- Flow chart for design (appendix?*)
- Laboratory analyses (appendix?*)
- Describe blood/urine collection and processing (appendix?*)
- Reference procedures and provide some details
Statistical analyses
- State how data are presented (mean±SD)
- Statistical tests and statistical program used (correlation or t-test)
- State level of probability (p<0.05)
