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Scholarly Project Proposal Template
**Draft proposal due mid-December of PGY2 year to SC leader(s), project mentor and Alyssa**
For Clinical Research residents, drafts due September 1st in preparation for ICCR
1. Primary Stanford Mentor
2. Primary Onsite Mentor
3. Site of Project (Institution, City, Country)
4. Working Title
5. Objective(s)
What are you hoping to achieve by conducting this project?
Describe the purpose of your project, the problem/issue you are trying to address, and the specific goals of
your project.
6. Background (Approximately 2 paragraphs with references)
What is known about your topic? What is unknown? How does your project fill this gap?
7. Relevance/Significance
Clearly state why your study is important. Is there a clear link between this and your Background?
Does your project extend clinical practice (Clinical Research, QI/PI), improve learner assessment (Med Ed),
advance community health (StAT) or health of children abroad (GH))? Other? Explain how.
8. Hypothesis
Write a single statement with the question you are asking (your testable prediction).
9. Research Methods
How will your project be carried out? Include the following in your description:
o Study design (observational, experimental)
o Data collection tools: Surveys, Key informant interviews, Focus groups, Structures or semi-
structured interviews, observation, chart review etc.
o Participants:
§ Recruitment (include power calculations if indicated)
§ Inclusion/exclusion criteria
o Outcome measures:
§ Predictor (IV) and outcome (DV) variables
o Analytic plan:
§ Qualitative, quantitative, mixed
§ Statistical tests you will perform, if relevant (For QI/PI, this may involve a statistical
process control chart).* This may require meeting with the statistics team to determine the
best options for your study
o IRB, data security and storage:
§ Do you need to submit an IRB or does your primary mentor have one? Check what is
required both at Stanford and at your international site.
§ If you are collecting PHI, describe how your data will be stored.
Attach research tools, data collection sheets (e.g., surveys, interview guides) and data dictionary (Clinical
Research only) to your proposal.
For Global Health projects, describe what parts of the project will be carried out at your partnering site.
How will personnel be involved? Will you collect the data yourself or rely on local data collectors?
For QI/PI, describe your root cause analysis and countermeasures. What factors contribute to the problem
and what are the countermeasures/interventions to address them? Describe where your initial
countermeasures will occur and next steps (potential iterative PDSA cycles)
10. Timeline
Prepare a timeline to map out goals for project completion. Use the timeline template as a roadmap. Be mindful
of heavy clinical months and anticipate when you’ll have less time to work on your project. Consider working
backwards from abstract submission deadlines.
11. Resources Required
Personnel to be involved at Stanford and at host site, and their time (e.g., statistical help, survey design,
qualitative analysis, in field data collection)
Research equipment
Budget (if applicable), for Global Health please include any related costs for hiring a local data coordinator,
data collector, mailing IRB forms/survey forms,
12. Study Limitations
Describe study limitations and the actions you’ll take to minimize them.
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