Elements of a research proposal and report文档格式.docx

Elements of a research proposal and report文档格式.docx

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∙ChapterI-Introduction

∙ChapterII-Background

∙ChapterIII-Methodology

∙ChapterIV-Results

∙ChapterV-ConclusionsandRecommendations

Generalconsiderations

Researchpapersusuallyhavefivechapterswithwell-establishedsectionsineachchapter.Readersofthepaperwillbelookingforthesechaptersandsectionssoyoushouldnotdeviatefromthestandardformatunlessyouarespecificallyrequestedtodosobytheresearchsponsor.

Mostresearchstudiesbeginwithawrittenproposal.Again,nearlyallproposalsfollowthesameformat.Infact,theproposalisidenticaltothefirstthreechaptersofthefinalpaperexceptthatit'

swrittteninfuturetense.Intheproposal,youmightsaysomethinglike"

theresearcherswillsecurethesamplefrom..."

whileinthefinalpaper,itwouldbechangedto"

theresearcherssecuredthesamplefrom..."

.Onceagain,withtheexceptionoftense,theproposalbecomesthefirstthreechaptersofthefinalresearchpaper.

Themostcommonlyusedstyleforwritingresearchreportsiscalled"

APA"

andtherulesaredescribedinthePublicationManualoftheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation.Anylibraryorbookstorewillhaveitreadilyavailable.Thestyleguidecontainshundredsofrulesforgrammar,layout,andsyntax.Thispaperwillcoverthemostimportantones.

Avoidtheuseoffirstpersonpronouns.Refertoyourselfortheresearchteaminthirdperson.Insteadofsaying"

Iwill..."

or"

Wewill..."

saysomethinglike"

Theresearcherwill..."

Theresearchteamwill..."

.

Asuggestion:

Neverpresentadraft（rough）copyofyourproposal,thesis,dissertation,orresearchpaper...evenifasked.Apaperthatlookslikeadraft,willinterpretedassuch,andyoucanexpectextensiveandliberalmodifications.TakethetimetoputyourpaperinperfectAPAformatbeforeshowingittoanyoneelse.Thepayoffwillbegreatsinceitwillthenbeperceivedasafinalpaper,andtherewillbefarfewerchanges.

Style,layout,andpageformatting

Titlepage

Alltextonthetitlepageiscenteredverticallyandhorizontally.Thetitlepagehasnopagenumberanditisnotcountedinanypagenumbering.

Pagelayout

Leftmargin:

1½

"

Rightmargin:

1"

Topmargin:

Bottommargin:

Pagenumbering

Pagesarenumberedatthetopright.Thereshouldbe1"

ofwhitespacefromthetopofthepagenumbertothetopofthepaper.NumericpagenumberingbeginswiththefirstpageofChapter1（althoughapagenumberisnotplacedonpage1）.

Spacingandjustification

Allpagesaresinglesided.Textisdouble-spaced,exceptforlongquotationsandthebibliography（whicharesingle-spaced）.Thereisoneblanklinebetweenasectionheadingandthetextthatfollowsit.Donotright-justifytext.Useragged-right.

Fontfaceandsize

Anyeasilyreadablefontisacceptable.Thefontshouldbe10pointsorlarger.Generally,thesamefontmustbeusedthroughoutthemanuscript,except1）tablesandgraphsmayuseadifferentfont,and2）chaptertitlesandsectionheadingsmayuseadifferentfont.

References

APAformatshouldbeusedtocitereferenceswithinthepaper.Ifyounametheauthorinyoursentence,thenfollowtheauthorsnamewiththeyearinparentheses.Forexample:

Jones（2004）foundthat...

Ifyoudonotincludetheauthorsnameaspartofthetext,thenboththeauthor'

snameandyearareenclosedinparentheses.Forexample:

Oneresearcher（Jones,2004）foundthat...

Acompletebibliographyisattachedattheendofthepaper.Itisdoublespacedexceptsingle-spacingisusedforamultiple-linereference.Thefirstlineofeachreferenceisindented.

Examples:

Bradburn,N.M.,&

Mason,W.M.（1964）.Theeffectofquestionorderonresponse.JournalofMarketingResearch1（4）,57-61.

Miles,C.（1979）.Vaguequantifiers.PublicOpinionQuarterly43

（1）,92-101.

Outlineofchaptersandsections

TITLEPAGE

TABLEOFCONTENTS

CHAPTERI-Introduction

Introductoryparagraphs

Statementoftheproblem

Purpose

Significanceofthestudy

Researchquestionsand/orhypotheses

CHAPTERII-Background

Literaturereview

Definitionofterms

CHAPTERIII-Methodology

Restatepurposeandresearchquestionsornullhypotheses

Populationandsampling

Instrumentation（includecopyinappendix）

Procedureandtimeframe

Analysisplan（statecriticalalphalevelandtypeofstatisticaltests）

Validityandreliability

Assumptions

Scopeandlimitations

CHAPTERIV-Results

CHAPTERV-Conclusionsandrecommendations

Summary（ofwhatyoudidandfound）

Discussion（explanationoffindings-whydoyouthinkyoufoundwhatyoudid?

）

Recommendations（basedonyourfindings）

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

ChapterI-Introduction

ChapterIbeginswithafewshortintroductoryparagraphs（acoupleofpagesatmost）.Theprimarygoaloftheintroductoryparagraphsistocatchtheattentionofthereadersandtogetthem"

turnedon"

aboutthesubject.Itsetsthestageforthepaperandputsyourtopicinperspective.Theintroductionoftencontainsdramaticandgeneralstatementsabouttheneedforthestudy.Itusesdramaticillustrationsorquotestosetthetone.Whenwritingtheintroduction,putyourselfinyourreader'

sposition-wouldyoucontinuereading?

StatementoftheProblem

Thestatementoftheproblemisthefocalpointofyourresearch.Itisjustonesentence（withseveralparagraphsofelaboration）.

Youarelookingforsomethingwrong.

....orsomethingthatneedscloseattention

....orexistingmethodsthatnolongerseemtobeworking.

Exampleofaproblemstatement:

Thefrequencyofjoblayoffsiscreatingfear,anxiety,andalossofproductivityinmiddlemanagementworkers."

Whiletheproblemstatementitselfisjustonesentence,itisalwaysaccompaniedbyseveralparagraphsthatelaborateontheproblem.Presentpersuasiveargumentswhytheproblemisimportantenoughtostudy.Includetheopinionsofothers（politicians,futurists,otherprofessionals）.Explainhowtheproblemrelatestobusiness,socialorpoliticaltrendsbypresentingdatathatdemonstratesthescopeanddepthoftheproblem.Trytogivedramaticandconcreteillustrationsoftheproblem.Afterwritingthissection,makesureyoucaneasilyidentifythesinglesentencethatistheproblemstatement.

Thepurposeisasinglestatementorparagraphthatexplainswhatthestudyintendstoaccomplish.Afewtypicalstatementsare:

Thegoalofthisstudyisto...

...overcomethedifficultywith...

...discoverwhat...

...understandthecausesoreffectsof...

...refineourcurrentunderstandingof...

...provideanewinterpretationof...

...understandwhatmakes___successfulorunsuccessful

SignificanceoftheStudy

Thissectioncreatesaperspectiveforlookingattheproblem.Itpointsouthowyourstudyrelatestothelargerissuesandusesapersuasiverationaletojustifythereasonforyourstudy.Itmakesthepurposeworthpursuing.Thesignificanceofthestudyanswersthequestions:

Whyisyourstudyimportant?

Towhomisitimportant?

Whatbenefit（s）willoccurifyourstudyisdone?

ResearchQuestionsand/orHypothesesand/orNullHypotheses

ChapterIliststheresearchquestions（althoughitisequallyacceptabletopresentthehypothesesornullhypotheses）.Noelaborationisincludedinthissection.Anexamplewouldbe:

Theresearchquestionsforthisstudywillbe:

1.Whataretheattitudesof...

2.Isthereasignificantdifferencebetween...

3.Isthereasignificantrelationshipbetween...

ChapterII-Background

ChapterIIisareviewoftheliterature.Itisimportantbecauseitshowswhatpreviousresearchershavediscovered.Itisusuallyquitelongandprimarilydependsuponhowmuchresearchhaspreviouslybeendoneintheareayouareplanningtoinvestigate.Ifyouareplanningtoexplorearelativelynewarea,theliteraturereviewshouldcitesimilarareasofstudyorstudiesthatleaduptothecurrentresearch.Neversaythatyourareaissonewthatnoresearchexists.Itisoneofthekeyelementsthatproposalreaderslookatwhendecidingwhetherornottoapproveaproposal.

ChapterIIshouldalsocontainadefinitionoftermssectionwhenappropriate.Includeitifyourpaperusesspecialtermsthatareuniquetoyourfieldofinquiryorthatmightnotbeunderstoodbythegeneralreader."

Operationaldefinitions"

（definitionsthatyouhaveformulatedforthestudy）shouldalsobeincluded.Anexampleofanoperationaldefinitionis:

"

Forthepurposeofthisresearch,improvementisoperationallydefinedasposttestscoreminuspretestscore"

.

ChapterIII-Methodolo