In many organizations, a formal research proposal is a necessary precursor to a full-length report. A research proposal is intended to help you:

• Find and articulate a problem that can be addressed with research (a problem as it exists for an actual group, company, or organization)
• Develop patterns of inquiry with suitable research questions and methods
• Discover your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and researcher, so you can assign roles to budget your time and energy, and realistically manage your project expectations
• Formally plan your project’s life cycle for collaborating, drafting, sharing findings, getting feedback, revising and editing

Proposing a research report is a problem-solving activity. The research proposal is not meant to propose a final “answer” to a problem. Instead, it is a “promise” to someone (your audience) that you have a plan to perform useful research and writing about a problem and its potential solutions.

“Discovering” a problem to research can be a challenge for this project. Problems affecting Ivy Tech or your community are often good places to start, as well as problems related to the use or development of a technology affecting our fields, our institutions, or workplaces. Possible topics are also listed below.

For this Proposal Project, please compose a 2-3-page single-spaced document written in memo format. The proposal should identify a realistic problem and attempt to solve it with substantive research incorporated throughout. Provide a tentative plan for scholarly study and include a request for approval/action. You must use the ATTACHED TEMPLATE to write the proposal.

The proposal should contain the following sections:

1. Introduction — purpose of report, goals of the research project, background on the problem. Include any research cited in APA.
2. Statement of Problem — preliminary research should be cited here in APA format to explain need for research
3. Proposed Solution — provide at least one (1) potential solution
4. Scope — research topics/questions
5. Methods — how will the research be conducted; be specific (see template)
6. Qualifications — how is the student qualified to study this topic?
7. Limitations — what are the obstacles to the project?
8. Conclusion — request for approval

You will need an APA style references page submitted with your proposal. You should demonstrate research literacy by including five (5) secondary sources. You will find these sources prior to drafting the proposal when you complete the Annotated Bibliography (see separate instruction sheet). These sources must be cited in-text and on the references pages in APA format.