CBR proposal draft

Community-Based Research Thesis

All seniors interested in using community-based research (CBR) as their graduation requirement, are required to submit proposals and receive approval before they can proceed. Although empirical research proposals follow APA style, community-based research proposals may differ somewhat; the method section needs a subheading called “site description,” for example.  At the minimum, a proposal should include the following in roughly the same order:

1. An introduction that includes a three- to five-page summary of research that may be relevant to the work. For example, if you are working with autistic children at Margaret Murphy, you may not be 100% sure of your research focus, but you will review the research literature on autism in the age group you will work with.

2. A method section that includes a description of the site/agency/workplace of your community partner. If you know what kind of data collection you will do, it belongs here.

3. If you know what kind of data you will collect, here is where you describe your results and how you will analyze them.

4. A brief discussion of what your results may mean to your community partner.

5. A statement of any other work you may produce for your community partner.

6. References should be in American Psychological Association format (see Manual).

Please note that the seminar instruction sets a due date for these proposals. It is usually a little later than other proposals in order to allow time for communication with community partners.