1
A proposal on bus reliability could specify route-level GPS records, a six-month period, delay definitions, and a model comparing peak and off-peak service.
13 Research Proposal Examples
Use these examples to study structure, specificity, tone, and variation. They are demonstrations—not claims about a real person or organization unless the example itself makes that explicit.
Before you copy
What to notice in the examples
A strong proposal aligns the research question, existing literature, method, data, ethics, feasibility, and expected contribution so reviewers can judge whether the project is worthwhile and realistically designed.
- Define the problem and research question precisely.
- Show what existing work establishes and where the proposed study adds something useful.
- Describe participants, materials, data, procedures, or sources in enough detail to assess feasibility.
- Explain analysis, limitations, ethics, schedule, or resources when the proposal context requires them.
2
A qualitative proposal might define interview recruitment, consent, recording, transcription, coding, and how contradictory cases will be handled.
3
A literature-based humanities proposal can state the primary texts, edition choices, analytical framework, and interpretive question.
4
A survey proposal should identify the target population, sampling method, instrument source, response scale, and planned statistical comparisons.
5
An archival proposal can explain collection access, date boundaries, document types, and the criteria used to select records.
6
A classroom study can distinguish instructional intervention, comparison condition, outcome measure, and protections for student participants.
7
A product research proposal can connect observed support problems to interview tasks and usability sessions rather than promising market-wide causal conclusions.
8
A replication proposal can explain which original procedures will be preserved and which contextual differences make the replication informative.
9
Proposal: examine how evening bus reliability affects late arrival among hospital shift workers using schedule data plus worker interviews.
10
Proposal: compare revision quality after rubric-only feedback versus rubric plus a short instructor conference in first-year composition.
11
A research proposal is stronger when it states not only what will be studied but why the chosen sample, measures, and analysis can answer the proposed question.
12
A proposal for interview research should explain why interviews are needed to answer the question, not merely say that ten interviews will be conducted.
13
Semi-structured interviews with employees who recently changed from office to hybrid work will examine how coordination practices changed during the transition.
Keep the underlying decision or pattern, then replace the subject, evidence, relationship, constraints, and tone with details that belong to your situation. If your final line still works after swapping only one noun, it may be too close to the example.