a textbook
or lecture. Rather, it is a dynamic process for studying nature.
The best
way to learn this process is to do it. In this course you will
improve your
scientific problem solving skills by writing a research
proposal. This involves
coming up with an original research question and
designing an experiment
to test it. (You will not actually carry out the
project.)
What is a Research Proposal?
Scientists usually need financial support in order to do
research. The proposal
is a request for support from a funding agency. A
variety of agencies supply
money for research in ecology and animal
behavior. The National Science
Foundation (NSF), for example, is one of the
major supporters of basic
(non-applied) research in the country. At IUP
there is even some "in-house"
funding of faculty and student research. The
proposal is reviewed and ranked
(i.e. graded) by other scientists. If it
ranks high relative to other proposals
the research will be funded.
There are five parts to the research proposal. The Title
Page includes your
name and a descriptive title for the project (include the
scientific name
of the species you will be studying). Use the Introduction
to briefly present
an overview of the project and why it is scientifically
interesting or important.
The Literature Review puts the proposal into a
larger context by summarizing
what is known about the problem based on the
published results of previous
research. This section should be fairly
extensive and will probably make
up the bulk of your proposal. In the
Methods section you will describe the
proposed experimental design and, if
you are a graduate student, the proper
statistical analysis. Finally, in the
Literature Cited section list all the
articles referred to in the proposal.
How to Choose a Topic 
You must choose a general topic for your research proposal
early in the semester.
The textbook is a good place to start. Look at the
chapter headings and read
about any topics that look interesting. There will
also be several books
on reserve that you may find useful.
Once you have identified a few possible topics begin reading
the scientific
literature in these areas. The references listed in various
textbooks are
a good place to start. In addition, you can use my computer
database which
lists over 4,000 references, many in the field of ecology and
animal behavior.
Eventually, you will narrow your reading to the topic that
most interests
you.
Reviewing the Scientific Literature
Once you have selected a general topic for your research
proposal you must
begin the interesting but time-consuming process of
familiarizing yourself
with the scientific literature. You may find it
useful at this point to get
a package of index cards and fill out one card
for each paper. Put the complete
citation at the top of the card and below
that summarize the contents of
the paper. Be sure to use the proper format
when writing the citation. This
will come in handy when you prepare the
Literature Cited section of your
proposal.
There are several ways of finding references on your topic.
Every research
paper includes a literature review which you can use to get
into the older
literature. To find more recent articles simply browse
through the latest
issues of journals that seem to cover the topic of
interest. This is more
convenient at places like Penn State and Pitt where
students have access
to the stacks. Searching through computer databases can
also be helpful.
Biological Abstracts, which you will find in the reference
section of the
library, can be useful if you have a very specific topic,
otherwise it is
very time consuming.
Do not expect to use all the titles you find in your
research proposal. You
might have to read the abstracts of 100 articles to
find the 10-20 that will
be useful in your proposal. These are the ones that
you will read in their
entirety and discuss in your literature review.
Formulating a Research Question 
Coming up with an idea for an original research project will
probably be
the most challenging part of this assignment. I suggest the
following approach.
Once you have chosen a general topic, begin reading
research papers on the
topic. A very common response after reading one or
two papers is "all the
questions have been answered. How am I supposed to
come up with a project
that has never been done?" Do not get discouraged.
You cannot expect to come
up with your own project until you are thoroughly
familiar with the work
others have already done in the field. After you have
read 10-15 papers you
will begin to see that there are gaps in our knowledge
that need to be filled,
and that is where you get ideas for new research
projects. (Hint: to save
time during this early stage when you are just
looking for ideas, concentrate
on reading the introduction and discussion
and skim the methods and results
section.) Rephrase your questions in the
form of hypotheses (we will discuss
this in class) and bring this list to
your first conference with me. If necessary
I can help you refine your
hypothesis.
A couple other points should be kept in mind. First, your
project must be
experimental rather than observational. A lot of very
important behavioral
research simply consists of observing animals. But for
the purpose of this
assignment you must design a rigorous scientific
experiment complete with
proper controls and replicates. Thus, a long term
observational study of
whale social behavior would not be a suitable topic.
We will discuss the
elements of experimental design in class. Second, the
project cannot be closely
related to one you have used for papers in other
classes. This should be
an opportunity to explore a new topic.
Writing the Proposal
Your grade will be based on the following criteria.
1. Format. The proposal must be typed (left-justified),
double-spaced, with
1-inch margins and 10-15 pages in length, not including
the literature cited
section. It will consist of five parts: Title page,
Introduction, Literature
Review, Methods and Literature Cited.
The Introduction should be brief with just enough background
to explain why
your research question is interesting and then an explicit
statement of your
research question. The literature review is not an
exhaustive survey of every
word published about your topic. The papers you
choose to discuss should
be directly relevant to the study you are
proposing. After reading your review
of the literature it should be obvious
why your question is important and
how it relates to the research others
have done. In the Methods section you
will describe an experimental design
to test your hypothesis. The format
of the Literature Cited section will be
discussed later.
2. Logical Organization. The structure and flow of your
proposal is very
important. Remember, each paragraph begins with a topic
sentence and the
entire content of the paragraph must relate to this topic.
Paragraphs must
follow a logical sequence.
3. Clarity of Expression. Have a friend read your proposal
before you submit
it. If your friend cannot understand the proposal you have
not written it
clearly.
4. Originality. All scientists read the literature and base
their research
on what has been done before. In that sense, no research is
completely original.
Nevertheless, you should be able to come up with a
project that is not just
a minor variation on what someone else already did.
5. Mechanics and Style. If you need help with grammar, word
usage or composition
consult an appropriate reference guide. The University
Writing Center is
also available for help. No more than five technical
errors are allowed in
your proposal. The same mistake made twice counts as
two errors. If there
are more than five errors of spelling, grammar or
punctuation you will lose
points for sloppiness. Proofread carefully. Use a
word processor rather than
a typewriter. Corrections and revisions are much
easier on a word processor."
Now we know what a research proposal is, it would be a little bit easier to make one, right? It's kind of tiring but discovering something is somewhat fun too!
No comments:
Post a Comment