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This document is part of a seminar. Please click the link below to visit the seminar. www.proofessor.co.uk/research-proposal

Name of researcher: Your name Email address: Title of research: Have a specific title. Preferable one sentence. If it is too long and includes too many things you will fail. My title was: The effect of musical preference on running performance. Supervisor: Briefly describe the rationale for your research with reference to the research literature (approx. 250 words). Please Note: Although your dissertation must be an original contribution to knowledge, it must build upon and make a contribution to other research that was conducted within your field of study in the past. Therefore, you must mention a) What is the history of your problem/topic Mention what the previous literature on your topic says. You can get this from the literature review b) What information is already available Are most studies saying this, or is the previous research divided. Mention what some studies have found specifically that relate to your research question. Mention the main research theory that you will base your research on and how this theory has shaped other research. Talk about studies that support this theory. c) What information will add to it d) How is your research expected to contribute to the overall understanding of the problem Talk about what areas your study will address. Maybe it will be a replication of another study with a different design, so it may help to validate the past research. Maybe it will be an addition to previous research and show that other factors need to be considered that have not previously been. e) Why is this research important (this may be a completely different section depending on your university). It may be in a section called “justification for research” You may also be able to cover this section in point D depending on your writing style.

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This document is part of a seminar. Please click the link below to visit the seminar. www.proofessor.co.uk/research-proposal

- You must convince the committee looking at your proposal why this research is important. * It may resolve theoretical questions in your area * it may develop better theoretical models in your area * it may influence public policy * it may change the way people do their jobs in a particular field, or may change the way people live. State the major research questions including the aim(s) and hypothesis(es) where appropriate. Here state the specific aims of the study (this will include the research problem or question). Say what your prediction is for the results Clearly state your hypotheses

PLEASE NOTE: Don’t have too many research questions. One or two is normally enough unless you tutor says otherwise. More than 2 can create a lot of confusion in the study. Describe the method including the design, participants, and procedure. DESIGN: You state the name of the design you will use. Also mention what are the independent variables and what are dependent variables. In other words what things are you changing and what are they affecting.

In my dissertation the independent variable was what type of music the runners were listening to. The dependent variable was the amount of time taken to run and how exerted they felt.

PARTICIPANTS: This subsection should a written description of the individuals who will participate in your research study and how they will be recruited. Be sure to specify the following: • Their demographic characteristics such as age and gender. • Inclusion and exclusion criteria you will use. (in other words how are participants suitable for your study. What participants are not suitable? In my proposal I made it clear that my participants would need to be regular gym users.) • Any incentives for participation you plan to use. (you need to say if you are rewarding