Research Project Proposal

LYNN SANTELMANN
Assistant Professor, Applied Linguistics
Portland State University
[email protected]
Outline for Research Project Proposal
(adapted from Course Materials for Psycholinguistics)
When writing, please use section headings to
indicate where the information can be found. Subheadings
need not be used, though in long sections they may facilitate
organization.
1. Introduction
Explain the issue you are examining and why it is significant.
· Describe the general area to be studied
· Explain why this area is important to the general
area under study (e.g., psychology of language,
second language acquisition, teaching methods)
2. Background/Review of the Literature

A description of what has already known about this area and
short discussion of why the background studies are not
sufficient.
· Summarize what is already known about the field.
Include a summary of the basic background
information on the topic gleaned from your
literature review (you can include information from
the book and class, but the bulk should be outside
sources)
· Discuss several critical studies that have already
been done in this area(cite according to APA style).
· Point out why these background studies are
insufficient. In other words, what question(s) do they
leave unresolved that you would like to study?
· Choose (at least) one of these questions you
might like to pursue yourself. (Make sure you do not
choose too many questions)
3. Rationale
A description of the questions you are examining and an
exploration of the claims.

 List the specific question(s) that you are exploring.
o Explain how these research questions are related to
the larger issues raised in the introduction.
o Describe what specific claim, hypothesis, and/or
model of psycholinguistics you will evaluate with
these questions.
 Explain what it will show about the psychology of
language if your hypothesis is confirmed.
 Explain what it will suggest about the psychology of
language if your hypothesis is disconfirmed.
4. Method and Design
A description of how you would go about collecting data and
test the questions your are examining. You are not required to
come up with a new or original method (though you can try!).
Look journal articles to determine what methods are standardly
used to assess knowledge of language in your chosen area and
adapt one of these for your needs.
Method: How would you collect the data and why?

· Describe the general methodology you choose for
your study, in order to test your hypothesis(es).
· Explain why this method is the best for your
purposes.
· Participants: Who would you test and why?
· Describe the sample you would test and explain
why you have chosen this sample. Include age, and
language background and socio-economic
information, if relevant to the design.
· Are there any participants you would exclude?
Why, why not?
Design: What would the stimuli look like and why?
· Describe what kinds of manipulations/variations
you would make or test for in order to test your
hypothesis(es).
· Describe the factors you would vary if you were
presenting a person with stimulus sentences.
· Explain how varying these factors would allow you
to confirm or disconfirm your hypotheses.
· Explain what significant differences you would
need to find to confirm or disconfirm your

hypothesis(es). In particular, how could your
hypothesis(es) be disconfirmed by your data?
· Controls: What kinds of factors would you need to
control for in your study?
· Describe what types of effects would be likely to
occur which would make your results appear to
confirm, or to disconfirm your hypothesis(es).
· Describe how you can by your design rule out or
control for apparent effects.
Procedure
· How are you going to present the stimuli?
· What is the participant in the experiment going to
do?
Analysis
· How will you analyze the results?
· What kind of results would confirm your
hypothesis?
· What kind of results would disconfirm your
hypothesis
5. Significance and Conclusion

Discuss, in general, how your proposed research would lead to
a significant improvement over the original studies, and how it
would benefit the field. (In other words, why should someone
care? If you were applying for money to do this, why would
someone fund you? If you wanted to publish your results, why
would they be interesting?)
6. References
Include all references in APA style.
© Lynn Santelmann, 2001

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LYNN SANTELMANN

Assistant Professor, Applied Linguistics

Portland State University

Outline for Research Project Proposal

(adapted from Course Materials for Psycholinguistics)

When writing, please use section headings to

indicate where the information can be found. Subheadings

need not be used, though in long sections they may facilitate

Explain the issue you are examining and why it is significant.

· Describe the general area to be studied

· Explain why this area is important to the general

area under study (e.g., psychology of language,

second language acquisition, teaching methods)

2. Background/Review of the Literature

short discussion of why the background studies are not

· Summarize what is already known about the field.

Include a summary of the basic background

information on the topic gleaned from your

literature review (you can include information from

the book and class, but the bulk should be outside

· Discuss several critical studies that have already

been done in this area(cite according to APA style).

· Point out why these background studies are

insufficient. In other words, what question(s) do they

leave unresolved that you would like to study?

· Choose (at least) one of these questions you

might like to pursue yourself. (Make sure you do not

choose too many questions)

A description of the questions you are examining and an

exploration of the claims.

o Explain how these research questions are related to

the larger issues raised in the introduction.

o Describe what specific claim, hypothesis, and/or

model of psycholinguistics you will evaluate with

 Explain what it will show about the psychology of

language if your hypothesis is confirmed.

 Explain what it will suggest about the psychology of

language if your hypothesis is disconfirmed.

4. Method and Design

A description of how you would go about collecting data and

come up with a new or original method (though you can try!).

Look journal articles to determine what methods are standardly

used to assess knowledge of language in your chosen area and

adapt one of these for your needs.

Method: How would you collect the data and why?

your study, in order to test your hypothesis(es).

· Explain why this method is the best for your

· Participants: Who would you test and why?

· Describe the sample you would test and explain

why you have chosen this sample. Include age, and

language background and socio-economic

information, if relevant to the design.

· Are there any participants you would exclude?

Why, why not?

Design: What would the stimuli look like and why?

· Describe what kinds of manipulations/variations

you would make or test for in order to test your

· Describe the factors you would vary if you were

presenting a person with stimulus sentences.