The Pennsylvania State University

College of Arts and Architecture

Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Arch 512B - Research Design Seminar

Instructor: José P. Duarte

Assignment #3 Short proposal

Launch: February 26, 2021
Due: Friday, March 5 (draft for discussion in class) March 12 (final version)
Note: The goal of this assignment is to continue developing the extended abstract submitted in
the previous assignment and start identifying a potential funding agency. The focus should be
on developing the study plan, detailing the tasks, data types, data collection, and data analysis
methods. All the assignments are due before the start of the class.

Short proposal
The short and final proposals should have one of the following formats. For the short proposal
focus on the items in bold.

NSF format:
Main items (14 pages):
• Introduction and rationale (overview in the concept paper)
• Goals and objectives
• Intellectual merit
• Background and preliminary data
• Research plan
• Future work
• Project team and timeline
• Deliverables
• Broader impacts
Note that most of the items in the full proposal derive from the concept paper.
Appendices:
• References (no page limit)
• Results from prior NSF funding (template)
• Biosketch (2-page template)
• Budget
• Budget justification
• NSF current and pending support (template)
• Facilities, equipment, and other resources (2 pages)
• Data management plan (2 pages)
Diagrams (included the 14-page limit):
• Diagram depicting the hypothesis
 • Diagram outlining the proposed research question and planned program activities
• Other diagrams that help to understand certain aspects of the proposal
NSF does not require images and diagrams to be included in the proposal but including them
might leverage the proposal and help to make easier to apprehend.

Alternative format:
• Introduction (context and problem)
• State of Art (literature survey)
• Research question(s)
• Hypothesis(es)
• Research diagram
• Study plan (tasks)
• Timeline
• Milestones
• Required funding:
o Personnel (Salaries) Stipend and tuition
o Equipment (hardware, software, consumables)
o Missions (travelling, lodging, meals)
o Who can benefit from the research?
o Possible funding sources (public and private entities, such national, state and
local governmental agencies, foundations, companies, etc.)
• References (or bibliography - do not count toward the 4-page limit)

Other formats:
You may want to format your proposal according to the guidelines of the agency to which you
intend to submit your proposal.

Funding agencies
The goal of this part of the assignment is for you to start identifying agencies that can potentially
fund your study. There are internal and external (to Penn State) funding sources. External
funding sources include public agencies at the national (NSF, NIH, NEA, DARPA, DOE, DOD, etc.),
state, and local levels; foundations; and private companies. The Internet is a good starting point
for the search.

Readings
Read Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.

Continue reading and consulting Creswell’s book.