Download Research Proposal Stage 1: Research Question - Applied Research Methods | ESP 178 and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Environmental Science in PDF only on Docsity! 1 ESP 178 Applied Research Methods Research Proposal Stage 1: Research Question Due: 1/22 Length: 1 double-spaced page Grade: 5% of total course grade Note: Be prepared to talk about possible topics for your proposals during discussion section on 1/17 and during meetings with me on 1/18. Purpose: Finding a topic for your research proposal, putting together a rationale for that topic, and developing a research question. Task 1: Coming up with a question that is both researchable and worth investigating may be the most challenging part of the research design process. Although the research question is an obvious starting point in designing a research project, the process is not always so linear, and the research question may evolve as the researchers move on to subsequent steps of the process. For this assignment, you must develop a research question that you propose to use as the basis for your final proposal. In subsequent stages, you will have a chance to revise your research question. Note that the assignments build on each other; the more thought you put into this first assignment, the easier will be the remaining assignments. Within the bounds of the call for proposals, think about an environmental issue that interests you, something that you’ve pondered, something that has concerned you. If nothing comes to mind, try browsing the newspaper or looking around the web. A few potentially helpful sites: Environmental issues from the Almanac of Policy Issues: http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/index.shtml Resources on all kinds of environmental issues, from Envirolink.org http://www.envirolink.org/ Environmental hot topics for business, from GreenBiz.com http://www.greenbiz.com/resources/hottopics/ Task 2. Background Research An important step in the development of the proposal is to do some background research on the topic you’ve chosen. The purpose of this background research, besides learning more about the topic yourself, is to provide concrete evidence that helps to describe the problem and its significance – and convince the funding organization that this problem deserves their attention. Compare the effectiveness of the following statements: “Lots of people live in areas where they are forced to breathe dirty air.” vs. “Thirty-six metropolitan regions in the U.S. that are home to 85 million people fail to meet the national standards for ozone.”
