Research Methods Research Proposal on Restorative Justice
Sections –
1. Introduction – what is the topic of your proposal? General issues surrounding your topic. About 1 paragraph.
2. Literature review – At least 2 sources that have studied the same topic. Preferably research which has used the same methodology that you will propose using later in the paper. Probably 3 pages.
3. Conceptualization – What is your definition of the concept being studied? For example, if you are going to study “fear of crime” what do you mean by this? Fear of violent crime? Fear of property crime? Fear of being the victim of fraud? All of these are different conceptions of the same concept. You have to be specific in this section. This is where you will operationalize the concepts in the proposal. Probably 1 page.
4. Methodology – specify the research methodology you would use. Possible methodologies you could use include experimental design, quasi-experimental design, time-series, surveys, field research, content analysis, official records, etc. These methodologies are explained in the text. You need to explain how you will apply the methodological approach to the research topic you have select.
a. Operationalization – what will the variables mean and how will they be measured. Why did you operationalize them in this manner?
b. Sampling – who will you be studying? How will you find the subjects in your study? Why did you select that sample and how will it relate back to a population?
