complete an APA formatted Research Prospectus Paper that investigates any topic in the area of close relationships. 

complete an APA formatted Research Prospectus Paper that investigates any topic in the area of close relationships.   A research prospectus (3-4 pages of text) is a research plan that includes a title page, a brief review of the literature (at least 5 academic journal articles), a hypothesis, a description of the independent and dependent variables and how they will be operationalized, an explanation of the research design and the proposed method, a discussion of possible limitations, and a reference page. 

Begin by researching your topic, using appropriate academic sources.  As you learn more about your topic, you will refine your topic making it very specifically focused.  Use the SLU online library and locate at least five journal articles that discuss your specific topic.  The articles should be from psychological or medical academic journals.  Do not use books, newspapers, popular magazines or websites.  The articles you choose will form your literature review section.  The articles should directly support your hypothesis for your proposed study.

After you have done your research, you are ready to plan your experiment. Develop your hypothesis and variables; operationalize your variables, and choose a research design.  Propose a method of experimentation, and consider the possible limitations of your proposed study. 

For this assignment, you are NOT conducting the experiment, NOR are you fabricating results and pretending that you did the experiment.  You are researching your topic using psychological journal articles, and then you are PROPOSING an experimental plan. 

This is an academic paper, based on research.  As in all research papers, you should avoid the use of personal pronouns (I, me, my); refrain from expressing opinions or sharing personal experience; and use a formal (not casual) tone of voice.  Use  frequent citations from academic sources throughout your literature review section.  Cite your sources in APA format, using in-text citations and corresponding full reference citations after your paper.