Proposal template
Spend two lessons + homework on this
Submission: Submitted at the end (Friday) of Week 8 for feedback
Now it's time to put together your Research Proposal, well done! Your first step is to download the proposal template;
Proposal template for download:
You will notice that there are three sections to the proposal:
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The introduction
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Research processes, ethics
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Chosen capabilities
The introduction:
This part is the easiest part of the Proposal, because you are essentially recounting all of the work that you have done to date. Now remember, don't be afraid of celebrating your achievements to date! For example, when you are discussing how you decided on your topic, and how you came to refine the research question, mention everything that you have done, because you've done a lot of work!
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You did some initial brainstorming, and completed a lotus diagram
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You conducted initial research around your top two topics, looking at over 20 sources, in order to decide which one made the better research project
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You did a mind-map on your chosen topic, integrating everything you learned from your initial research
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You used this mind-map to help you formulate a range of proposed research questions
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You then conducted FINER analysis to arrive at a great research question
Talking about your bias:
If this is your first time thinking about bias, then know that cognitive bias is a limitation in objective thinking that is caused by the human tendency perceive information through a filter of personal experience and preferences. This is a coping mechanism that allows the brain to prioritise and process the vast amount of input it receives each second. While the mechanism is very effective, its limitations can cause errors that can be exploited, especially when we research.
In the research outcome, you will need to identify two cognitive bias' that you think you might possess, and discuss how you will work to make sure they do not negatively impact your research. You can find a video and a worksheet below to help you move through this process.
Worksheet on cognitive bias:
Research processes:
The "research processes" section is just a fancy way of asking, "what are the sources you will look at in order to answer your research questions?"
You are using the template on the proposal to discuss your research processes
There are two kinds of research processes: primary and secondary. You will need to conduct a mix of both in order to successfully achieve a quality outcome, although depending on your question you may rely more heavily on one over the other.
Below are some examples of research processes you might use. The important thing here is not to just choose any of the processes from the list, but to really consider which ones might assist you in answering your focus questions, and to talk about how they might do so in your research proposal.
Conducting ethical research:
Conducting research ethically is important, and is about seeking out knowledge and truth, while being aware of standards such as valuing fairness, not breaking people's trust in you, staying accountable to your research, engaging in mutual respect, and not placing others in harm's way.
The following list, which you download, provides a basic idea of what you could include, and is taken from the SACE website, it is a good idea to weave how you will respect the ethical norms that you think apply to your Research Project into your Research Proposal. (You should talk about how you they apply to your Research Project, and how you will respect them, not just copy and paste them in.)
Download: ethical research worksheet
Focus questions:
Focus questions are guiding questions that help, as the name suggests, focus your research. Unlike your research question, which needs to be pretty strong right from the start, you should expect that these questions will evolve as your understandings of the topic do. It is still important, however, that you design these questions with intent, and that they are varied enough that they help your research meet the performance standards.
You need 3-5 focus questions for your research project.
There are some examples of the types of questions you should be designing in the slideshow below:
I suggest you have your Focus Questions structured like this. (Just type straight into your Proposal)
Focus question 1: (insert question here)
Type of question: (insert type here)
Why was this question type chosen? (use the prompts below)
What are some examples of primary and/or secondary research you could use to investigate theis question? (Use the visuals above)