Develop a research proposal on a topic related to the presidency. I encourage you to think broadly. Rather than just focusing on a particular president, I would instead advise you to focus on a particular theoretical concept, institution, or topic related to presidencies broadly. While you can focus on a theoretical concept that is most relevant to a particular presidents, I advise you to not do a case study or biography on a particular president. It is much easier to make a theoretical argument about presidential power when it is generalizable across presidents rather than something unique to the personality of an individual president. The research project needs to meet the following requirements:
*Have a testable hypothesis.
-Involve data collection or secondary analysis of presidential literature. In other words, not a literature review of existing scholarship.
-Relate to the institution of the presidency in the United States, although that does not need to be its sole focus. For example, comparative research of presidencies across nations or relationships between the presidency and other governmental institutions are encouraged.
Research Proposal Format
- I. State your research question.
- II. State your research hypothesis.
- III. Describe the contribution of your research project to our understanding of the presidency.
a. Don’t worry, this doesn’t need to be an amazing project that no one has ever thought of before. But you’ll want to think about and explain:
-Why are you interested in pursuing this topic? -Why is this topic important?
-Is it relevant to contemporary political concerns? -Do you have a special connection to this material? - IV. Describe your research method.
a. Are you planning to collect data for this project?
b. Are you going to use primary documents, secondary documents, or both for your analysis?
c. What are other important aspects of your research process to explain?
d. How does this research method best address the question you posed in comparison to other methods? - V. Are there any limitations to your proposed research method? If you had more time/money/ resources, would the method and/or scope of the project change?
My focus and interest will for this project will be on President Donald Trump and the Republican Party as an institution and his ability to get re-elected or not for a 2nd term based on his past performance within his first term.