Research Proposal Template

Department of Psychology

IIUI
 Research Proposal

TITLE OF THE RESEARCH (Font size 14, Bold, Centred, Upper Case)

Researcher Supervisor

STUDENT NAME (12, bold, upper case) SUPERVISOR NAME(12, bold, upper case)

Reg. 35-FSS/PHDPSY/F-14 Designation

Department of Psychology (12, Centred, Bold, Upper and Lower case)

Faculty of Social Sciences

International Islamic University Islamabad

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 Table of Contents (12, bold, centred, Upper and Lower case)

Page No

Chapter I Introduction(12, bold, left aligned) 1

Introduction (12, indent, unbold) 1

Literature Review 2

Rationale 3

Objectives. 4

Hypothesis/ Research Questions 5

Conceptual Framework 6

Chapter II Method(12, bold, left aligned) 7

Research Design (12, indent, unbold) 8

Sample/Participants 9

Inclusion Criteria 10

Exclusion Criteria 10

Operational Definition 11

Instruments 12

Demographic Sheet (indent) 12

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale 13

Mental Health Inventory 13

Proposed Data Analysis 14

Ethical Consideration 14

Procedure 15
References (12, bold, left aligned) 16

Appendices (12, bold, left aligned) 18

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Introduction (Level One Heading)

Introduction/Background (Level Two Heading)

 Introduction must be logical and concise.

 Explain the background of research starting from a broad picture and narrow down.

The logic flow of introduction is from broad to narrow with general at the top and

your specific hypothesis at the bottom.

 Should be in language which is easy to understand

 Written in past tense

Literature Review (Level Two Heading)

 Discuss the point of literature that is relevant to study.

 Give theoretical framework with applicable theories.

 Mention all the researches related to the study variables with complete within text

citation by following APA.

 Make connection between researches one by one.

Rationale (Level Two Heading)

 Conclude the introduction and literature review with a clear statement of rationale for

the present study.

 Provide the significance of research.

 Mention a persuasive rationale.

 Answer the question: Why is your study important?

Objectives (Level Two Heading)

The objectives of the present study are as follows:

 To investigate the impact of X (Independent variable) on Y and Z (Dependant

variables) among sample.

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 To examine role of X as predictor of Y among Sample.

 To explore moderating role of X between Y and Z among Sample.

 To study the role of X as mediator in the relationship of Y and Z of Sample.

 To examine the relationship between X and Y among Sample.

 To explore the effect of demographic variables like gender, age, educational

qualification among Sample in relation to study constructs.

Hypotheses (Level Two Heading)

The hypotheses of the present study are as follows:

 There is positive correlation between X and Y among Sample.

 X work as moderator between Y and Z.

 There is a difference between male and female Sample on X, Y and Z.

 X mediates the positive relation of Y with Z of Sample.

Conceptual Framework (Level Two Heading)

Simple Mediation Model

Mediator
Y

Predictor Outcome

X Z

Figure 1
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Simple Moderation Model

Moderator
Y

Predictor Outcome
X Z

Figure 2
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Method (Level One Heading)

Research Design (Level Two Heading)

This study will be based on cross-sectional/Survey method/ Correlational research/Quasi

experimental design etc.

Sample/ Participants (Level Two Heading)

The sample comprises of 400 (n=200 Males, n=200 females) undergraduate and

postgraduate students studying in BS (Hons), Msc, Mphil, or PhD will be taken from

different universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi including International Islamic University,

Riphah International University, Bahria University and Air University. The age range of

participants will be 18 to 30. Sample will be employed through the purposive sampling

technique.

Operational Definition (Level Two Heading)

Academic stress. (Level three heading.) Academic stress is an artifact blend of

educational allied demands that surpass the adaptive resources attainable to the person

(Wilks, 2008).Academic Stress will be operationalized in terms of Students Academic Stress

Scale (Rajendran & Kaliappan, 1990).

Depression. (Level three heading.) Depression refers to physiological or emotional

encounters that vary from infrequent period of low mood to or persistent lack of pleasure or

interest in almost all activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Depression will be

operationalized in terms of beck depression inventory-II (Beck, Steer & Brown, 1996).

Instruments

Demographic sheet. (Level three heading.) The demographic sheet comprises of

gender, marital and socio economic status, age, Religion, Sect, Regional background,

parental status (Alive or death), Family Type (Nuclear, Joint),education level of mother and

father, Number of siblings, Birth order, Illness History i-e chronic, operational and mental
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illness history, Number of children, educational level and GPA obtained in past

examination.

Student academic stress scale. (Level three heading.) The student academic stress

scale 40-items use to measure academic stress developed originally by Kim (1970) and

further it was adapted by Rajendran and Kaliappan (1990). Scale ranges from no stress to

extreme stress (0-4). Score ranges from 0-160. The psychometric properties of the scale

indicates consistency of .8 (Rao, 2013).

Proposed Data Analysis (Level Two Heading)

Data will be analyzed by using (SPSS/ Nvivo/ Amos, etc.) version xxx.For parametric

data, an independent sample t-test will be used to assess the mean difference between two

groups. To examine the statistical association between variables, Pearson correlation

coefficient test will be used etc. etc.

Ethical Considerations (Level Two Heading)

Ethical approval will be attained from Ethical Review Board, Department of

Psychology, IIUI, Ethics Committee, along with head of the institutes. In addition inform

consent will be taken from the participants and will ensured regarding privacy and

confidentially to the matters etc. etc.

Procedure (Level Two Heading)

With the permission of concerned authorities’ university sector students will be

approached by the researcher. After the brief introduction about the study, informed consent

will be obtained from the respondents or authorities. Then the data will be collected and each

and every confusion regarding it made clear. Moreover, participants will be requested to be

honest when they provide the answer and at the end they will be thanked for their

cooperation. In order to determine the results, SPSS was used for descriptive analysis, Linear

Regression Analysis and t-Test.

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References (Level One Heading)

Becker, E. (2001, August 27). Prairie farmers reap conservation's rewards. The New York

Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Bergquist, J. M. (1992). German Americans. In J. D. Buenker & L. A. Ratner (Eds.),

Multiculturalism in the United States: A comparative guide to acculturation and

ethnicity (pp. 53-76). New York, NY: Greenwood.

Bonnie, R. J., Jeffries, J. C., Jr., & Low, P. W. (2000).A case study in the insanity defense:

The trial of John Hinckley, Jr. (2nded.). New York, NY: Foundation Press.

Cannon, A. (2003, November 17). Sniper insanity? U. S. News & World Report, 135 (17) p.

35.

Gregory, G., & Parry, T. (2006). Designing brain-compatible learning (3rd ed.). Thousand

Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Koenig, H. G. (1990). Research on religion and mental health in later life: A review and

commentary. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 23-53.

Murzynski, J., & Degelman, D. (1996). Body language of women and judgments of

vulnerability to sexual assault. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26,1617-1626.

doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb00088.x

Parzen, M. D. (2003). Toward a culture-bound syndrome-based insanity defense. Culture,

Medicine & Psychiatry, 27,131–155.

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Appendices (Level One Heading)

Appendix A (Level Two Heading)

Insert Approval letter / Scales /Inventories etc.,which you are going to use in this study.

Appendix B (Level Two Heading)

Appendix C (Level Two Heading)