Your proposal must be for a study that would examine the impact of a public health or medical intervention, such as exploring the question “Is ____ {intervention/exposure} an effective method for prev

Your proposal must be for a study that would examine the impact of a public health or medical intervention, such as exploring the question “Is ____ {intervention/exposure} an effective method for preventing/treating ____ {outcome/disease} in ____ {population}?”  The project must be for primary research (either an observational or an experimental study design).  You must explain your goals, the significance of the proposed project, and the methods you would use to collect your data.

You must carefully follow the formatting rules on the next page.  The proposal will require a project summary, a background, a statement of the objectives of the study, a methods section (which should discuss recruiting, data collection, and data analysis), a researcher CV, and a proposed budget and timeline.

Instructions and Checklist for Submission

Formatting rules:

□  Each section (background, objective, methods, timeline, budget, and c.v.) should start on a new page.  The name of the section should be underlined and bolded and placed in the center of the top line on the first page of the section.

□  No section except the methods exceeds 1 page in length.  The objectives, timeline, and budget may be as short as ½ page, but the next section should begin on a new page.  The remaining sections should fill 1 full page.

□  A page number should appear at the center of the bottom of each page.

□  The entire document should be double spaced with one blank line between paragraphs.

□  Tables may be used for the timeline and budget rather than sentences.

(These can have more generous spacing so they are readable.)

□  Times New Roman 12 font should be used throughout the document

□  The proposal is grammatically correct. Use spell and grammar check.

□  The entire proposal is written in the author’s own words; plagiarism will result in a grade of “0” for the paper

□  A cover page that includes only (1) a project title, (2) the name of the principal investigator (P.I.) of the proposed research project.

□  A background (1 page) that includes:

□  A an opening statement about the main study question, including a very brief

 description of the proposed study population (including its location), intervention, and disease that will be evaluated

□  a short literature review (approximately 5 pages with in-text citations to at least 8-10 references) that 

explains how the proposed project is related to previous studies and what will make it new and important

□  a list of at least  8-10 references cited, which should be listed at the bottom of the page in size 12 font using APA format

□  A statement of the objectives of the research project: one main statement of purpose plus three to four specific aims.  The list can be in bullet-point format and can be phrased in the form of the questions that will be answered or as “to” statements (such as “The specific aims are to identify / to compare / to evaluate _____.”).

□  A description of the methods (3 pages) that provides details about the proposed source population, sampling strategy, and recruiting strategy; ethical considerations (such as informed consent, benefits, and risk mitigation); data collection methods such as the use of a questionnaire, interviews, biological specimen collection, observation, and/or other techniques); and proposed data analysis methods.

□  A detailed and realistic timeline for completion of the work should cover the entire scope of the plan from preparation stages through the publication and/or presentation of results.

□  A budget should itemize all expenses expected for the project (such as travel expenses, equipment, salaries for support staff, etc.).  For this project, the requested budget should not exceed $10,000.

□  A short (1 page) c.v. (curriculum vita) or resume for the primary researcher that lists relevant information about education, work and/or research experiences, and skills.