Writing an Evaluation Research Proposal

One of my classes this spring is Evaluation of Information Services.  This class focuses on the step by step process of writing an evaluation research proposal, a necessary component of evaluating library services.  There are three major parts to writing a research proposal:

1.Research Questions and Problem Statement
Once you zero in on a library service you want to evaluate, you create a research question which encompasses what you would like to find out and create a problem statement that is based upon that idea.  A problem statement traditionally has 4 pieces:

• lead in;
• declaration of originality/knowledge void.
• identify what the study would do and specify the range of data and the participants.
• a justification of the significance/benefits/impact of the study

Check out this article on problem statements by Peter Hernon and Candy Schwartz of Simmons GSLIS.

2.Research Model, Literature Review and Hypotheses
Now that you know what you are studying, you identify variables (there are many kinds of variables including independent, mediating, moderating and dependent and express the relationship between the variables and your hypotheses.  Here is an example of a research model illustrating the variables and related hypotheses(H1, H2, etc.):

The next step is researching your topic and finding scholarly journal articles that can help you prove your hypotheses.  This is the literature review.  The literature review must be comprehensive in order to show you've looked at numerous studies that are related to your research.  One you've discussed other studies, the focus moved to a detailed description of the variables and hypotheses in the study.  This is followed with a list of resources used.

3.This is where the proposal is finalized and pieced together based upon your research.  A final research proposal includes:

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction and Problem Statement
• Research Questions
• Variables and Literature review
• Research Model and Hypotheses

The new parts to this section are:

• Research Design and Methodology-This is where you discuss how you will collect and analyze the data.  Some ways to do so are using evaluation tools like observation, focus groups, surveys, etc.  This section also includes the population you are analyzing, sampling methods that will be used, how you will measure variables and the procedure of data collection.
• Expected Results
• Strengths and limitations of the study
• Conclusion and Future Work
• References
• Appendix with necessary materials such as the survey that will be used and letters to participants and letters of consent.

As you can see this is a very detailed process, and by the end of this class everyone will have a completed research proposal.  We are doing everything except for conducting the evaluation process itself.  Many of my classmates intend to execute their evaluation ideas in real life, which will prove to be very interesting.  Me and my partner are focusing on the summer reading program at a specific library to determine if the program is reaching children in low income households who may experience a reading gap over the summer.  This study will identify who the summer reading program is actually benefiting.  If it's not reaching children in this low income group, we will focus on outreach programs to provide reading materials to these children in order to close the learning gap that they experience over the summer, something  that has been proven to exist in other research we've analyzed.