70 Research Proposal Topics – the Collection for Your Inspiration

The research proposal is a paper that you have to compose and present if you want to join some of the college research programs. It is also a necessary document if you plan to write the dissertation for the Master’s or Ph.D. degree. In a nutshell, it means that you have some project on the mind and want to investigate it, so you ask the college for permission and – in some cases – support. But the fundamental reason is to get the approval to start the research. 

The choice of the topic for that research proposal plays a significant role in this document. Of course, the approval will depend on the quality of that application, but the topic choice is essential as well. Your goal is to persuade that your topic is valuable, and you are capable of getting excellent results with that research.

The research proposal is an application paper having strict requirements for its format and contents. In his article, we’ll describe all the peculiarities of the task. Also, you will find a compilation of various research proposal topics to choose from. We hope that our work will be helpful to you. So, let’s start!

The format requirements of the research proposal

The research proposal is a standard application. It has a standard structure, and you need to match it when you compose that paper. You have to establish yourself as a diligent researcher in front of your college. Your most powerful helpers are the correct format and academic writing style. These features make this document as convincing as possible.

Title

The title is what the committee will see first. It has to name your choice of the research proposal topics. Also, it specifies the exact area of your investigations. 

The proper title has to be short, eye-catching, and easy to read. You have to write in an active voice, and note that it should clearly define the idea of your research. 

Abstract 

An abstract is a relatively short – 100-300 words – text fragment that summarizes your research proposal. It can be a tricky task because of such a limited volume – at the same time, you need to fit a significant amount of data there. In brief, the abstract part should explain everything about your research proposal. Every reader should understand what the project is about without referring to additional sources.

To compose the abstract, define the following obligatory features: 

• The central problem that you are going to research, and its value;
• The benefits that the investigation can offer;
• The research methods;
• The expected results and their relevancy. 

When you decide these criteria for yourself, you will be able to bring a summary of your research. It will serve as a “teaser” of the full document, where you expose all the features in more detail.

Introduction 

Like it all academic papers that you compose, the Introduction part is essential. Dealing with the research proposal, you need to introduce three more features in this section: 

• The research background is a brief overview of the scientific opinions about the problem. Other authoritative “voices” should support your statement that the problem is actual and relevant. You don’t have to name all authors and their views, but mention the most prominent scientists and their opinions.

• The research questions you mention have the same goal: they have to convince your audience in the research value. You need to define which exactly aspects of the topic you plan to examine and why. Also, you have to explain the expected reactions, whether you want the audience to think about the problem or make their own conclusions. 

• The research approach defines how you are going to examine your topic. There are two main approaches: the empirical method and the interpretative approach. The first one bases on experiments or observations. It is traditional for studies in Sciences. The interpretative approach is applicable for studies in literature and Arts. Note that you need to identify your strategy and ground why it is suitable for your investigation.

Methodology 

This part of the research proposal concerns methods you’ve chosen to explore the chosen topic. In all standard projects, you have to work with the documentation. There must be other works describing and exploring the problem. However, a good part must be your independent researches to bring your own conclusions.

Besides naming your methods, you need to persuade the committee that you master them. Speaking of the documents and archives’ investigation, you need to prove that you have access to those sources. When it comes to experiments, polls, and so on – describe which audience you can cover and the volume of the data you can collect. 

Results 

At this stage, you don’t have to provide the final conclusions – you can’t have them. However, you can describe what results you expect to receive. Also, you need to underline the practical benefits for your field that the research will bring. It is vital to present this part effectively, as it lets the committee to evaluate your planned effort and the expected results.

Discussion 

In this part, can address the committee with your main troubles for the research. Naturally, you might need help. It can be some financial support, or the need to get in touch with certain established people to interview them. In any case, you describe these obstacles in the proposal as well. The committee will evaluate them, and it can assist you.

Ethical considerations

You need to mention potential ethical issues if you face them during the research. In most cases, it concerns experiments with people. Make sure that they won’t contradict the moral regulations.

References 

Even though your research proposal is not the research paper itself, you have to provide the list of works cited for it. Obviously, you do the literature overview when you examine the background of the topic. Also, you might refer to some studies in other parts of the proposal paper. It means you need the proper bibliography list, as you do for any other college paper. List all your sources and format them according to the required style (APA or MLA). 

Appendices 

In this part, you add all thematic data that you used to make a case for your research. These data can be any supporting evidence. For instance, you can include calculations, graphs, copies of some documents, preliminary analyses’ results, and so on.

List of research proposal topics for productive researches

As a rule, research proposals deal with significant studies demanding many months or even several years of work. To choose the right one from many research proposal topics, you need to consider several criteria: 

• Your personal interest. If you dedicate so much time to the study, you need motivation. There isn’t a better motivation than your genuine interest. 
• The topic should be relevant – it must have its value for the current social and scientific fields. 
• It must be feasible academically – there should be enough reliable sources to examine. 
• And it must be achievable for you – make sure that you can do the planned tasks. You need access to the necessary data and knowledge to process and interpret them. 

Below, you’ll find the list of research proposal topics that we’ve collected for different subjects. Choose one that inspires you or develop a new idea grounded on those suggestions.

Political Science

1. The hybrid wars grounds. 
2. The new religious extremism grounds.
3. The role of the global pandemic in the democracy crises. 
4. European revolutions of the XXI century. 
5. The new socialism understanding of the UK and the USA. 
6. Ethnic conflicts of the XXI century. 
7. The modern Russian ideology. 
8. The modern tendencies to absolutism in democratic states. 
9. The role of propaganda in the political establishment.
10. Syria’s conflict grounds.

Business 

1. The most efficient advertising strategies. 
2. The main challenges of business planning. 
3. Personal motivation as a critical performance factor.
4. The corporate cultures’ influence on employees’ performance. 
5. The most efficient risk evaluation methods. 
6. Digitalization in traditional businesses. 
7. Prediction of disasters in business plans. 
8. Environment-friendly successful businesses.
9. The difference in entrepreneurship approaches in the USA and EU. 
10. Corporate ethics and representation.

History 

1. Karl Marx’s works and their influence on European history.
2. The Christian church’s schisms. 
3. The grounds of the gladiators’ sport in Ancient Rome. 
4. The creation of Israel. 
5. Racism in the USA of the XXI century. 
6. The French Revolution and its influence on European history.
7. The Age of Discovery in the context of European history.
8. The colonization crises of the XX century. 
9. The Russian revolution stages. 
10. The “witch hunt” in the USA.

Literature 

1. The “lost generation” impact on American and European literature.
2. The problem of slavery in the US and Russian literature.
3. Ethical issues in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novels. 
4. The science fiction genre in the XX and XXI centuries. 
5. The latest social trends in modern fiction literature.
6. Distinguishing features of the Scandinavian novels of the XXI century. 
7. Ancient Greek plots in contemporary European literature.
8. The evolution of the detective genre. 
9. Reminiscences of Shakespeare’s works in modern literature.  
10. The literature mass phenomena of the 2000s.

Psychology 

1. The impact of self-isolation on mental health. 
2. The primary socialization challenges that students on remote education
3.  face 
4. The effect of immigrants’ communities on teenagers. 
5.  
6. The most frequent untreated psychological traumas in families. 
7. The subjective grounds of employee motivation.
8. The causes of work conflicts.
9. The impact of rituals on employees’ performance. 
10. The cyberbullying phenomena and its distinctive features. 
11. The role of empathy in personal development. 
12. The xenophobia phenomenon in modern US society.

Social sciences

1. Representation of social movements in Twitter communities. 
2. The interrelations between social and economic development.
3. The grounds of conflicts in immigrants’ communities.
4. The problem of equity in college education. 
5. Human rights vs. cultural specificities – when it is time to interfere.
6. Women leaders in the XXI century.
7. The social discrimination problems. 
8. Personal identity issues of the XXI century. 
9. The impact of social networks on the latest social trends. 
10. The social role of diasporas in the USA.

IT Research 

1. Virtual reality prospects for the remote work. 
2. Desktop-based apps vs. mobile apps.
3. The main scopes of machine learning in college education. 
4. The most efficient methods of online training.
5. The user’s personality in social networks. 
6. The prospects of gamification for education and work. 
7. The role of distant communication for the pandemic circumstances. 
8. The most demanded trends in mobile apps’ development. 
9. The most efficient technologies for higher education.
10. The social networks’ characteristic features and how they appeal to different users. 

And if you feel like getting more support – contact us. We can help you to select the correct research proposal topic, consult you on the further tasks, or even develop the proposal paper based on your ideas.