research proposal example

research proposal example

Research Proposal Example

1. Introduction

Justifications: Drug abuse or addiction is considered to be one of the major problems in many countries in the world, including Malaysia. According to a report by the Malaysia National News Agency, drug abuse among Malaysian youth is at a stage of national concern, and Malaysia is listed among the top countries in the world with a large number of youth drug addicts. In another report, drug-related offenses have reached a worrying stage, with two percent involving youth aged between 16 to 25 years old in this country. This roughly equals to 10,000 people, and there are youngsters aged 19 and 20 years old who were arrested for drug-related offenses, which means that they started to get involved with drugs in their early teens. From a research study in 1996, the number of addicts in Malaysia was 170,000, and this number has never seemed to decrease until now. This is a great curse to the country in developing both in social and economic aspects in the future.

Introduction: A research study is usually the first step for academic or industrial research projects. The need to undertake a research study might be a potential requirement for a university or an organization to solve problems or fulfill curiosity over particular issues. This research study discusses the drug addiction behavior of students at a local private university in Malaysia. The investigation looks for the factors and effects of the behavior on themselves and the community around them.

2. Literature Review

Globalization has also led to a rapid increase in the technology and production of consumer goods, especially in China. This has given these products a greater disposability due to lower quality both in production and materials used. This mode is described by Leonard and Conrad (2007) as the culture of displacement. It is a cycle of continuous motion and is what will ultimately lead to greater consumption of global resources.

Global trade liberalization is also seen as a major determinant in increasing consumerism because, according to Schor (1999), it exposes people to new products and rising expectations on living standards, which is another way of saying the more people consume, the more they want to consume. The net result of these various practices is an increase in the influence upon consumers to purchase and consume products that are of non-essential nature (Gabriel and Lang, 2006). Often times, these products can provide a sense of well-being and satisfaction. However, the downside is that in satisfying their desires in the long run, consumers will only have contributed to future purchases of the same nature in order to maintain the same well-being.

There are a number of factors behind the increase in consumerism that is caused by globalization. Product branding and advertising has increased with the improvements in communication technology and speed. There is also greater competition between products to make them more attractive to consumers. The end result of this is a monetary expenditure by companies into improving their products for the expected future increased consumption. Greater product choice and availability are also seen as benefits of globalization for consumerism. Consumer products that have not been traditionally available in certain regions are now being imported, thus increasing the diversity of consumer goods. With this increase in diversity and choice, it is more likely a consumer will identify products which have become special to them or, in other words, have a personal value attached to them. Advertisers and marketers are aware of this and are seeking to target these consumers in order to coax them into consuming more (Cohen and Kennedy, 2007).

3. Methodology

The project will start by having the best research individuals that have sufficient experience in transportation and logistic field. Interview session will be held on them to ensure that the data obtained will be accurate and trustworthy. The proposed interview is a personal semi-structured interview which can make them explain in more detail regarding the problems associated and also can make the interview more flexible. Besides, interview sessions, small group discussions will also be held involving experts in the field of transportation and logistics from various agencies such as MITRANS, SPAD, JKJR, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), and others. This is to enable the research team to understand and analyze the situation and the main problems in implementing safety in the transport of hazardous materials in Malaysia. A few meetings will also be held among the research team to discuss and to get the best reliable information for the Hazardous materials transportation safety analysis and framework development in Malaysia. The simulation process will be initiated using APROS software. The simulation task is implemented to have a model that supports safety analysis and to get a clear picture of past incidents involving accidents during the transport of hazardous materials. In order to do that, the development of the simulation model will be developed based on a real situation, involving the transport of hazardous materials from a factory to a designated place. During the transportation, there are a few accidents that occur and involve a few types of hazardous materials. Through this model, a few scenarios will be created to get the best analysis. APROS software is the best simulation software compared to the others as it is reliable and has been used by various sectors such as power plant, petrochemical plant, and the industry of processing and manufacturing of hazardous materials. This software uses a modeling approach based on graphical and engineering-based formulas. As a result, it can develop a better simulation model in the work process and the system concerned.

4. Expected Results

The results of this research are expected to significantly aid the integration of e-learning materials in computer science and engineering programmes, making learning more meaningful and effective. This study will enable educators and students to have an increased understanding of what makes a constructive online learning experience in these specific areas. Findings will provide educators with guidelines and examples of interactive multimedia e-learning activities that are considered valuable learning approaches. Students will have the opportunity to use the e-CEL tool to evaluate e-learning activities created by educators and to access a host of good examples. E-CEL was designed in recognition of the need for activities that engage and motivate students to learn, by a student. It will be assessed by students for usability and to ascertain if it is an effective tool for prompting students to think about their learning and improving their understanding. The results will help improve e-CEL and provide examples of how students can be encouraged to interact with e-learning materials. This research will not only help those involved in higher education, its findings will have implications for the design and evaluation of e-learning materials at all educational levels.

5. Conclusion

This research proposal has been accepted by me, Felecia Caton, into the Master of Social Work Policy Practice Program at the University of Minnesota, College of Continuing Education. The project will be conducted under the supervision of Professor Karen S. Sames, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Social Work degree. Time has been set aside during the program for the project to be completed. The project will take place during the spring quarter from 2006-2007. My method of evaluating SBII will be conducting a qualitative survey and three focus groups with parents whose children are in the SBII program as well as children in the program. This will take place at a rural middle school in eastern Washington. This is the only school where the SBII program is implemented. The final step in my project will be meeting with the principal from the middle school to discuss the findings from my evaluation. This will more than likely take place in the summer of 2007. During my research with the SBII program, she has expressed interest in the results and is willing to send the findings to other SBII tutors. Since the evaluation is only taking place at one school, my findings will only reflect the opinion of this one school. However, it should still provide some very useful information. If my findings are favorable, it is possible that this evaluation could result in obtaining special education funds for these exceptional learners who learn differently, but are not officially special education students.