Group Project Research Proposals

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Group Project Research Proposals
Spring 2007 Christina Tague
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Why write a proposal

• Clarify your objectives
• Delimit the scope of your work
• Develop detailed understanding of the project
  context (stakeholders, issues, previous studies)
• Research possible tools/techniques that may be
  relevant to your project
• Have a do-able work plan in place for next fall

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Proposal Objectives

• Communicate what the problem or question is that
  you are going to address
• Justify why this is a useful/relevant/meaningful
  problem
• Communicate how you will approach this problem
• Argue that your approach is likely to succeed
  (that it is both doable in a practical sense
  and will answer your question or solve the
  problem that you pose)
• Possibly argue why funding is needed to do this
  work

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The first step

• Clearly defining your objective or research
  question

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Examples of weak objectives

• Fish are declining in the oceans this proposal
  will seek to figure out why
• Create an environmentally sustainable California
• How would pollution impacts change if the US
  signed the Kyoto protocol
• The goal of this proposal is to improve the water
  quality of Santa Barbara

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Problem Statement

• Problem -the experience we have when an
  unsatisfactory situation is encountered
• Opportunity - a unique situation that can
  contribute to resolving the problem
• Question - a statement about what you wish to
  know about an unsatisfactory situation
• Objective - a statement about what you will do
  about an unsatisfactory situation
• Purpose -explicit intention of the investigator
  to accumulate data in such a way as to answer the
  research question or achieve a stated objective
• Hypothesis - a proposition set up as a
  convenient target of the investigation
• (modified from Locke et al., Proposals that Work)

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Some better examples (Tague)

• PROBLEMIn the Sierra Nevada, climate-warming
  leads to reduced snow accumulation and earlier
  snow melt, and thus less water is available late
  in the summer when plants need it most. This
  change in water availability may have important
  implications for ecosystem health under a
  changing climate, leading to drought stress and
  reduced productivity. Ecosystem and park managers
  need to know when and where this risk to
  ecosystem function will mostly likely occur.
  Because the timing of snow melt, and drainage
  varys spatially within watersheds, forest water
  use at different locations should show different
  sensitivities to earlier snow melt - but this has
  not been demonstrated or quantified.
• RQWhat is the relationship between the timing
  and amount of snowmelt and summer water-stress
  driven reductions in forest transpiration. How
  does this relationship differ for north/south
  facing slopes, and upslope/midslope/valley
  locations?
• PURPOSEThe purpose of this research is to use
  both models and measurements of plant
  transpiration and watershed hydro-meteorology to
  define spatial patterns of transpiration and its
  sensitivity to climate-driven changes in snow
  dynamics
• HYPOTHESISTranspiration in forests on south
  facing slope will be more sensitive to
  water-stress relative to north facing slopes

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Some better examples (Kotchen)

• PROBLEMDespite the history and current practice
  of Daylight Saving Time (DST) as a policy for
  energy conservation, little is known about
  whether DST actually saves energy. Few studies
  have investigated the question, and they have
  found mixed results. Nevertheless, the Energy
  Policy Act of 2005 extends DST for the stated
  purpose of energy conservation. In 2007, federal
  DST will begin three weeks earlier and last one
  week longer. The Act also makes an explicit call
  for research into the actual conservation
  effects, and Congress retains the right to repeal
  the extensions if the intended benefits are not
  realized. The need to better understand the
  consequences of DST for energy consumption is
  particularly timely.
• OPPORTUNITY The research proposed here will
  provide the first empirical estimates of DST
  effects on residential electricity demand in the
  United States. The research design is based on a
  natural experiment in Indiana. While some
  counties have historically practiced DST, the
  majority has not. This changed with a state law
  that required all counties to begin practicing
  DST in 2006. The initial heterogeneity of DST
  among Indiana counties and the policy change in
  2006 provide a unique opportunity to empirically
  identify the relationship between DST and
  household electricity consumption. To take
  advantage of this, we are collaborating with Duke
  Energy, the utility company that provides
  electrical service to much of Indiana. They have
  agreed to provide data on monthly billing
  statements from January 2000 through December
  2006 for over 27,000 residential meters from 25
  different counties.
• RQOur specific research objectives are the
  following (1) estimate the effects of DST on
  residential electricity demand in Indiana, and
  (2) forecast the effects of the 2007 extension of
  federal DST on residential electricity demand,
  and (3) use the Indiana results to produce
  estimates of DST effects for other states and the
  nation.

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Some better examples (former group project)

• PROBLEM The CP Block is a structural and
  insulating building block made of highly
  compressed rice straw. Using a rapidly renewable
  material such as straw in the building industry
  could lead to many benefits for both homeowners
  and society. Buildings constructed with the CP
  Block would provide private benefits, such as
  reduction in energy cost and public benefits such
  as decrease in energy demand and air pollution.
  Straw, an agricultural by product, has
  historically been treated as waste. Most states
  allow farmers to dispose of straw by
  incineration however this practice has been
  banned for over a decade in California. Hence
  there is a great demand to find uses for more
  than a million tons of rice straw every year.
  Fortunately, straw has potential for use as an
  alternative building material.
• The CP Block is an innovative and experimental
  product. Oryzatech, Inc. manufacturer of the
  block, plans to introduce its product to the
  green building and mainstream construction
  markets as a substitute for conventional wood
  frame and cinder block construction in
  residential housing. However, since the CP Block
  is not yet on the market, its potential
  acceptance by homebuyers and building industry
  professionals is unknown.
• RQHow does the CP Block compare to other
  building materials in terms of price, physical
  characteristics, environmental performance, and
  acceptance in the mainstream construction
  markets? What motivates homebuyers to purchase a
  straw block home? What motivates builders to
  adopt the block as a construction material?
• Purpose To conduct a product comparison of the
  CP Block with ten conventional and alternative
  building materials used in the residential
  construction market. To develop a logistic
  regression model to estimate the likelihood that
  a homebuyer would purchase a CP Block house as a
  function of price and other explanatory
  variables. Model will be based on a contingent
  valuation survey for the CP block.

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So how do you get to a precise clearly defined
problem
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What is your system

• System - a set of interacting components
• Environment - influences input-outputs into the
  system
• Draw a conceptual model of the system that you
  are going to be working with

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Example System Components Diagram - Where does
your project fit
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Stakeholders/Client

• Needs analysis
• What is the problem from the perspective of the
  client (note that the client may not have precise
  definition of the problem) - you may have to talk
  to them, review literature and develop conceptual
  models to figure this out
• Given the clients situation - what is it that
  they need

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Other elements of the problem that need to be
clearly evident in your problem statement

• Scale time and space (sediment in all reaches
  of a stream or just a the outlet? environmental
  perception in different neighborhoods or at the
  state level? Water availability in the last 40
  years, last 200, future?)
• Geography of the problem (are you talking about a
  specific place (Santa Barbara semi-arid West or
  a general principle?)
• Quantities/elements that can be measured (fish
  populations? Fish catch? Revenue of fisherman?)

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First ask - what is the question?

• General questions - Multiple studies and theory
  leading to a comprehensive theory
• Specific place-based questions - Application of
  existing theory to specific case, studies at
  particular site
• For example, compiling documentation of
  relationship between urbanization and decline of
  fish populations versus using review studies to
  suggest when and how urbanization might impact
  fish populations in the Santa Ynez and then
  setting up a monitoring program

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But your problem does not exist in isolation

• So research to find out what do we already know
• General principles and theory that can be applied
  
• Techniques (remote sensing, cost-benefit
  analysis models - find similar problems where
  these have been applied)
• Related site specific studies
• Initial preliminary literature review
• Gives you a sense of what is possible - do-able

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Problem Definition
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Parts of a research proposal

• Problem Statement
• Literature Review and Background
• Justification (relevance and feasibility)
• Societal Relevance (why is this important to
  know)
• Relevance to the client (what is it that the
  client needs and why)
• Science Relevance (how does this fit with
  existing knowledge about the system)
• It is a reasonable question to ask
• It has not already been answered
• Methods
• Data (collection sources)
• Step by step description of how you will answer
  the question
• Budget and budget justification
• Personnel (C.V. - credibility of researchers)
• Timeline and milestones
• Dissemination of results

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Proposal Literature Review

• Goal Oriented
• Client/Stakeholder Needs Analysis (what is
  lacking what criteria would show improvement)
• Societal Relevance (why is this important)
• Expert Relevance (how does this fit with existing
  knowledge about the problem/question)
• It is a reasonable question to ask
• It has not already been answered

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More on literature review

• Search based on your initial definition of the
  system (geography, scale (time and space),
  components/interactions of interest)
• Based on placing yourself in the map of
  existing knowledge about the system
• Map - Existing knowledge and acceptable
  techniques (measurement and analysis) to obtain
  that knowledge

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Persuasiveness

• Credibility of the literature you use to make
  arguments and define your methodological and
  conceptual maps
• Peer reviewed vs non peer reviewed journals
• Up-to-date, classic
• Review articles multiple citations
• Similarity-relevance
• Logical development of the arguments
• Literature review is a strategic document

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Helpful techniques

• Always keep track of citations with the notes
  that you write
• Use review articles first
• Ask experts
• Use articles to find other articles
• Try more than one article database

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Organizing Information

• Good writing (especially strategic writing like a
  research proposal or literature review) requires
  planning how you will organize your arguments
• Everything should be directed at the overall
  goals of the review (client, societal and expert
  background to show relevance and feasibility)
• What is your conceptual model of the system what
  is your model of current, relevant knowledge
  about the system - use this to structure your
  review

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Mind Mapping

• A diagram/visualization of the relationships
  between ideas (or potentially tasks)
• Useful for brainstorming, to-do lists, project
  management, organizing writing data, literature
  about a topic
• Check out freemindhttp//freemind.sourceforge.net/
  wiki/index.php/Main_Page

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Data and Methods

• Method outline
• Step-by-step process by which you will answer
  your research question
• Details / References to describe complex
  techniques and or models to be used
• Data
• Sources for existing data
• Detailed procedures for any data collection

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Method section in proposal

• Basic steps required to answer the research
  question / or meet a stated design goal/purpose
• Description of data, how you will collect it and
  what you will do with the data
• Also need to provide justification for why this
  method, why this data - and to make it clear why
  they are appropriate (precision, scale, accuracy,
  availability (cost, accessibility, effort,
  techniques)
• Description of model(s)

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Describing models in a proposal

• Why this model - tell the reader enough about the
  model that it is clear why it is being used to
  answer the RQ or objective
• Data used to drive the model (inputs, parameters,
  calibration)
• Assessment of model performance (directly by
  comparison with data or rely on previous studies
  or theory)
• Explain how the model results will be analyzed to
  answer the RQ or meet proposal objective

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An engineering approach to methods

• Analysis of needs and generation of criteria
  (primarily in literature review)
• Systems Design/Generating Alternative Solutions
• Evaluation of alternative against design criteria
• Decision/Implementation of Proposed Design
• Operation and subsequent reappraisal

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Alternative Solutions, Systems Design

• How will these be generated?
• Based on existing proposed alternatives by
  different stakeholders
• Based on clearly defined systems
  (inter-relationships between elements) and their
  environment
• Based on understanding of currently available
  tools, technologies
• How will solutions be evaluation?
• What are objectives and criteria for evaluation
• Evaluation may often involve the use of models

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Implementation

• Plans for economic, social and technical
  implementation
• Should include some ongoing measures for
  evaluation
• This usually does not occur in the time frame of
  a group project

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Final Thoughts

• Good proposals lead to good projects
• (and save you time and energy!)