Researching health and social issues is extremely important to our work. Effective research means we can bring about change for our clients at a much wider level than our daily practice often allows. The findings, results, and conclusions can lead to practical recommendations for practitioners, policy-makers, and the community. It can result in genuine changes at an individual, community, organisational and policy level. It therefore provides practitioners with great opportunities to make a wide-ranging difference. However, to conduct research, we need to have a good grasp of research methods and start by writing a proposal. The skills you develop through this process will be directly transferable to practice.

To develop your skills in research, this assessment requires you to write a research proposal on your topic of choice, covering the following points:

• Project title
• Background (incorporating a concise literature review)
• Aims of the study
• Significance and innovation of the proposed study
• Expected outcomes / implications for practice
• Research plan: Methodology (including sampling, data collection, and data analysis)
• Ethical considerations

Study limitations:

Administration of the research (including resource requirements / budget, timetable)

Note: Although replication studies are a valuable approach to research, a research proposal for an original study is needed for this assignment in order to demonstrate your knowledge of research methods.

Also, while it is acceptable and even expected that your question/topic will develop over the course of the semester you cannot completely change topics between assignments without prior approval of your lecturer.

You will not be required to implement this research proposal. However, you are encouraged to choose a topic that is relevant to your current or future work practice. Masters/Honours students may use this proposal to prepare for their thesis.

Students are strongly encouraged to talk with their student colleagues and the course convenor to develop a research topic into a feasible, relevant study. This is because it is extremely difficult to develop a well-thought, plausible research proposal without discussion with others about it.