Instructions for the Research Project Proposal

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL

This assessment is designed to improve your skills in designing and planning a research project.

You are required to prepare a proposal for a short 8 week project.  The research should be hypothesis driven and you should justify the project area on scientific grounds.  Ethical and safety considerations are vital aspects of a research project and the proposal will require you to consider this.

The aim of this coursework is to get you to think about research project planning and learn how to approach experimental design.  Ideally, this coursework will assist you at the time when you do start your research project laboratory work.

Think about various aspects of experimental design that were covered in the lectures when thinking about your own experiments. Investigate the literature to see how other researchers have tested their hypothesis and consider some of the experiments that they have carried out to help consider how you would analyse and interpret data.

Format for research proposal

See the marking criteria for further guidance on how this work will be assessed.

1. Write a brief 500 word referenced introduction and background to the project proposal. Include sufficient background for the reader to understand work that has gone before, and identify the 'gap in knowledge' that this project will address.

2. Explain the aim and objectives of the project.

3. Write a 500-700 word experimental plan, which describes the experiments that you will do during the project to help you meet your objectives. If appropriate, include details of specialist facilities required. Cite references where appropriate. Include a Gantt Chart on a separate sheet to indicate the timing of the different experiments.

4. Describe what data you expect to generate and give details of how the results will be presented and what statistical tests will be used to assess any significant findings.