Proposal

1
Proposal 

• Your proposal should present a summary of the
  research you expect to do. It should be organized
  to answer these questions.
• What do you intend to do?
• Why is the work important?
• What has already been done?
• How are you going to do the work?

2
SPECIFIC AIMS

• Describe what the research is intended to do
• and what hypotheses are to be tested. In
• situations where the hypotheses may be less
• formally structured or absent (e.g. as in a
• descriptive or case study) state the research
• questions to be addressed.

3
SPECIFIC AIMS

• How many? (3-6 works well)
• State concisely but clearly what information you
  will obtain
• Logical order

4
Specific Aims

• Identify determinants of health behaviors
• Identify predictive factors of positive health
  and development
• Identify developmental trajectories of health
  behaviors
• Describe how health behaviors co-vary and
  co-occur
• Describe common factors that predict health
  behavior trajectories
• Determine mediating and moderating factors
  related to health behaviors

5
The Hypothesis

• Review the current literature
• Choose a problem
• The result will be important (its worth doing)
• You can do the work (its feasible)
• You can demonstrate the skills or you have a
  collaborator
• The hypothesis can be stated clearly
• The hypothesis can be tested
• The results can be interpreted

6
BACKGROUND

• Why the study is needed
• Critical, focused literature review
• An unsolved problem
• How the results will matter (basic mechanisms or
  human health)

7
METHODS

• This section should make up approximately
• half of your proposal. Describe your design
• and procedures for accomplishing the specific
• aims of the project.

8
METHODS

• Study design
• Study population and recruitment
• Sample size and power
• Data collection procedures
• Followup, tracking and retention of participants
• Analysis plan
• Study measures
• Primary outcome measures (exposure and disease
  status)
• Covariates
• Process measurement
• Data management
• Quality assessment
• Limitations and threats to validity
• Timeline

9
Human subjects

• selection and recruitment of control and
• comparison groups including how and where
• potential subjects will be recruited and a
• detailed description of the procedures that will
• be followed. See the IRB webpage for more
• information.

10
BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Any standardized form approved by the
• supervising professor is acceptable.

11
Other sections for intervention studies

• Conceptual Framework of the Intervention
• Development of the Intervention
• Implementation of the Intervention

12
Other sections for grants

• Preliminary Studies.