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PCH 593 - Special Project Seminar I
Professor Jung's Guidelines
for Writing the Special Project Proposal
Section 3

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Purpose: This page contains some additional guidance to the writing of your Special Project Proposal. It is meant to supplement the Department's Special Project Guidelines document, the Department's syllabus for this course, and my supplemental syllabus. All these documents should provide you with what you should keep in mind when you write your drafts. However, I think there is a need for more specific directions. So, the purpose of this document is to provide you with that. E-mail me your thoughts about this.

Special Note: I wrote these guidelines specifically for the students I am currently advising for this Special Project Seminar. For everyone else, you are welcome to read these guidelines, and if they help you in understanding the requirements, well, that's great. However, you should check with your Special Project Advisor concerning what s/he expects from you.
WRITING SECTION 3 - Methodology &am Procedures

Introduction

The purpose of Section 3 is to describe exactly how you plan to carry out your Special Project, once the proposal has been approved. In this section, specify the reasons why you have decided to do what you say you are planning to do, and how you will be accomplishing the goals you've delineated in Section 1.

In essence, ANYONE should be able to complete your proposed Special Project just by following the directions given in Section 3, without questioning your rationale. In this section you can be a little more specific about what direction/form your "Communications Tool/Project" will be taking, based on the findings that you have reported in Section 2. You should, however, still give yourself some leeway in case the Agency's environment changes between now and when you actually start your project some time in late December or early January, after your proposal has been approved.

Operationalizing Marketing Concepts

As you begin to plan what you will be doing next semester, keep in mind that the overall conceptual approach to completing your Special Project comes from the discipline of Marketing. Rather than think of selling a product, think of using the principles of Marketing for developing a "customer base" for the Product.

Of course, you already know there is a need for the Product based on the Agency Preceptor's request for the Product (Letter of Intent). Also, this need is supported by your research on how your Product will be helping the Agency achieve a public health goal as defined by Healthy People 2010 (Section 1). This expressed need, however, may not necessarily be so obvious to your audience's primary population for whom the Product is being developed.

You won't really know that until you have collected data from the populations that are part of your audience. And, if you want these populations to accept your Product, you will have to get them to "buy in" to your Product. You do this by obtaining input from these populations for developing your product, and then gathering feedback from these populations during the pretesting/pilot testing of a prototype of your product.

Because you will be basically "tailoring" the product for the specific targeted populations in your audience, you can see why you really would not be able to generalize the usefulness of your Product to other populations. This is also the reason why it was important for you, in Section 2, to look at prior and related efforts, in practice and in research. This literature review should have given you a good understanding of what been done, what works and doesn't work, and what you can and cannot do.

As you begin Section 3 you have to start thinking about the sustainability of your Product once you have submitted it to the Agency. If it was developed with input and feedback from the populations in your audience during the Product's development and pilot testing/evaluation phases then it will probably do very well. Therefore, it is important to understand who your audience is, and the populations it contains. You do this by segmentation. In Marketing, this concept is known as market segmentation, or, how to categorize your customer base. The categories can be based on any criteria, such as age, geography, consumer tastes, etc.

For purposes of the Special Project, you will be performing demographic segmentation for your audience research. You will categorize the populations in your audience on the basis of demographic characteristics. The Public Health discipline that uses the concept of population segmentation is Epidemiology, in which epidemiologists characterize the distribution of disease according to the variables of Person, Place and Time. This segmentation helps epidemiologists to concentrate their efforts on that portion of the population (subpopulation)that is the most affected. Health educators also do this when developing educational materials.

The second Marketing concept is marketing mix. This is basically the methods you would use to develop your "customer base." It involves thinking of how to reach those you want to be your customers. For the Special Project, how you develop and evaluate your product, and the shape that your Product finally takes will depend on the parameters that are defined by the Agency, Department/University, Expert, and Target Population(s). Hopefully these guidelines will make this clear to you. If not, let me know.
Note: For the rest of this section, I will be referring the Communications Tool/Product as the Product.

Psst - Hint... USE SUBHEADINGS

Start by writing a brief, coherent paragraph or two summarizing Sections 1 and 2, and what you will be writing about in Section 3.

Segmentation & Audience Research

The purpose of this section is to describe all the populations that are part of your audience. I am making a distinction between audience and populations for the sake of simplicity (it took me hours to arrive to this conclusion). You can refer to all your target populations as audiences, but it will eventually get very confusing. You will understand this better with the following explanation and accompanying table.

Describing your Audience

Operationalizing the terms of "Audience" & "Population"

Your Special Project starts with an Agency Preceptor asking you to develop a communications tool/product for him/her to address a perceived need. However, while you are writing Sections 1 and 2, you learn that it's not so simple as that. You have to think about how the Product fits into the world of Public Health (Section 1), and then you find that there are many approaches to addressing the expressed need, along with other factors to consider, such as who would benefit from the Product (Section 2).

For purposes of clarity and simplicity, I am defining audience in the singular. Audience is being defined as the group of people your Product has brought together. Otherwise, these groups of people may have very little in common, and come from different populations or even subpopulations.

The audience includes all your target populations. Yes, in the plural. This is why you have to segment your audience. You may have two, but most likely three target populations within your audience. This depends on how your Agency Preceptor is situated in the agency, especially for products that are being developed for internal use. S/he could be part of upper management (2-population scenario), or middle management (3-population scenario).

Think of presenting your Product at a professional meeting. The audience for your presentation may include people from a variety of disciplines, work settings, and organizations. Clusters of these people may come from the same discipline, and/or work in the same place, and/or are part of the same organizations. Though they all came together to hear you speak (how wonderful), it will be a challenge to reach all these people with what you have to say. Each person, however, will take away something different from your presentation, based on his/her perspective.

When you look more closely at your Product's audience, you will find it is a heterogenous audience. This audience will consist of several populations, each of which will derive a different benefit from your Product. Therefore, you have to characterize these groups, or subpopulations as precisely as you can so you (and your readers) can understand what their specific needs are that your Product will address.

It may help you to think of your target populations as primary, secondary and tertiary populations. Or, direct and indirect populations. Your direct target population would be your primary population, and your indirect target populations would be your secondary and tertiary populations. (This is how I conceptualize this.)

Let's say your Product is an educational product, such as a curriculum, training program, marketing materials, educational brochures, multimedia, etc. Whatever population to ultimately benefit from the Product is your Primary Population. This Primary Population, which is part of your audience, can be defined as a subpopulation that is unique in some way from the larger population it came from. It can be a homogenous group that differs from other groups or subpopulations of the same larger population. Example - The undergraduate student population includes Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors.

Once you can define your audience in this precise way, you will be able to explain why you have to collect the data you have to collect from whom and for what. For every target population you have in your audience, you will have to collect data at some point during your Special Project, either during the development or evaluation phases, and possibly both.

Here is how you can think about your audience:

What the Agency Preceptor Wants Primary Population (Direct) Secondary Population (Indirect) Tertiary Population (Indirect)
A Product to improve internal communications among the staff Staff Management Agency Preceptor, Host Agency (that may or may not also be the sponsoring agency)
A Product to improve inter-agency communications within an organization The Agency Unit you are developing this for The other Unit your Agency Unit wants to improve communications with Agency Preceptor, Host Agency
A Product for the community the Agency serves The Community The Agency (Host Agency, Agency Preceptor) Sponsoring Agency (other than the host agency, providing the funds for the Product)
A Product for a Constituent for the Community the Constituent serves The Community the Constituent serves The Constituent The Agency (i.e, Management, along with Agency Preceptor)
A Product for an Entity (i.e., nurses, counselors, etc.) to educate a group (i.e., employee or community group) The Group (i.e., employee or community group) The Entity (i.e., nurses, counselors, etc.) The Agency (i.e., Workgroup, or, Management, along with Agency Preceptor)
A Product to be used jointly by two groups to achieve a common goal The larger population (i.e., client, community group) The smaller population (i.e., provider, agency group) The Agency (i.e., Management, along with Agency Preceptor)

I think I covered all the possible permutations/combinations a Special Project can take. If you have more than 3 target populations, then something's wrong. You will drive yourself crazy trying to please and understand more than 3 populations within your audience. Rethink the Product, and who you want to benefit from your Product.

In terms of collecting data, you may only need a letter from the Agency Preceptor "population" if s/he is in an upper management position. If your Agency Preceptor is in a middle management position, then you would need to collect either data from upper management, or, a letter of permission for access to the resources you need (depending on how elaborate the management structure is), in addition to a letter of support from your Agency Preceptor.

Describe this Primary Population, within the context of the agency, or community they are part of.

Example, "This Product is being developed for agency staff who provide direct services to the homebound. Agency staff consists of program managers, nurses, social workers, home health care aides and clericals. Those who provide direct services include: nurses, social workers and home health care aides. This Product will be used by home health care aides to assess the safety of the clients' home environment (safety assessment tool). The educational level of home health care aides is high school, with additional vocational training. They are certified and require recertification to continue employment. The scope of their work involves provision of services that involve the activities of daily living that clients cannot perform, or, find hard to perform themselves. Such activities include cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc."

Describe your Secondary and Tertiary Populations in the same detail as shown above. Note that just because they are called secondary and tertiary populations, they are no less important than the primary population. These two populations will derive some measure of benefit from your product, though not necessarily as directly as the primary population. If they come from the same population, then you have to describe how they are alike and how they differ. If they come from different populations, then you have to describe their unique group characteristics that differentiate them from the larger populations they come from. AND, you have to describe how your secondary and tertiary populations are alike, even though they may come from different larger populations, that your product would be suitable for both.

If your Product will impact two populations in different ways, then you should describe the relationship between the two populations. It may be easier for you to think of them as direct (primary) and indirect (secondary & tertiary) populations. Referring to them in this way can help you (and the reader) develop a clear understanding of how you segmented your audience (works for me).

For example, if the above example about a safety assessment tool included an educational component, then there would be two populations in your audience - the home health aides and the homebound clients. Let's say the product includes remedies for identified hazards. The remedies could include the physical correction of the hazard by the aide, and/or have the aide give simple verbal instructions or tangible reminders (i.e., refrigerator magnet) to the homebound client on how to avoid the hazard in the future. Then those instructions and reminders must be developed so they are suitable for the homebound population, which is different than the home health aide population. In this case, your audience would consist of the home health aides, which is your primary (direct) population, and the homebound population, which is your secondary (indirect) population.

You are probably wondering why the homebound population is not the primary population. It could be, for example, if the primary purpose of the Product was to educate homebound clients on how to identify environmental hazards in their homes.

If you are having problems determining which of 2 populations you will be working with should be considered the primary population, or, the focus for your Product, then use the following rules of thumb I've developed:

  • The larger of the two populations and/or,
  • The less educated of the two populations and/or,
  • The broader or closest to the "general public" of the two populations.

If you shoot for the largest common denominator for your primary population, then you can't go wrong. This is probably the closest to a Public Health approach in health education I can think of. By the way, you can use this to stratify your secondary and tertiary populations as well.

Development and Evaluation of Strategy

The purpose of this section is to describe the logistics you need to have in place before you can even begin to develop and evaluate your prototype and finalize your Product. Basically, this would require that you specify the activities you will need to perform to achieve the outcome and impact objectives you have stated in Section 1.

Working with the sample objectives set in Section 1, here goes...

Health-Outcome Goal: "To ensure those individuals identified with high-risk factors are appropriately followed up in a timely manner."

  • Health-Outcome Objective: "By March, 2001, "Your name" will develop a computerized tool to electronically store all data relevant to conduct timely follow up of high-risk individuals."
  • Health-Outcome Activity 1: Agency Parameters
    • "Permission has been given by Agency Preceptor.... (Appendix...)
    • "Role of preceptor - working closely with Special Project Advisor in development and evaluation of Product ...."
    • Explain the importance of the Agency's support for the Special Project to be developed.
  • Health-Outcome Activity 2: Department/University Parameters
    • "Letter of Intent signed by Special Project Advisor (Appendix...)
    • "Role of Special Project Advisor - (a) to oversee completion of Special Project in accordance with university & department guidelines; (b) work closely with Agency Preceptor...."
  • Health-Outcome Activity 3: Expert Parameters
    • Foundation for development, implementation & evaluation components:
      • Literature review - current theory (Summary of Section 2's pertinent sections).
      • Literature review - current practice (Summary of Section 2's pertinent sections).
      • Interview with experts.
    • Any professional support that would justify why your Product needs to be developed (Letters of support and/or permission from Agency).
  • Health-Outcome Activity 4: Target Population Parameters
    • "Content of Product will be determined by input and feedback from target populations (i.e., surveys, or other means of data collection [medical record abstraction, focus groups, etc.]), or, agencies/organizations that work with the target populations.
    • "Applicability of final Product may be limited to target population(s)...."
    • Give reasons why this would be so.

Development of a Prototype

The purpose of this section is to delineate the steps you will take to develop a product prototype based on the data you will be collecting from your target populations with your product development survey, or whatever other method you may be using to collect input data. Keep in mind that what you can collect with your data collection instruments is determined, in part, by the constraints, or, parameters set by the Agency, Department/University, Expert, and Target Population.

You will have to spell out all these constraints so your readers will understand why you plan to conduct data collection in this way. You need to have an objective and associated activities for EACH target population you collect data from. This is why you should keep it as simple as possible.

Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Goal: "To provide Agency management with the follow-up status of high-risk individuals."

  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Objective: "By February, 2001, "Your name" will conduct a product development survey to gather data from key Agency staff about what information Agency management would like to see regarding follow-up status.
  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Activity 1: Agency Parameters
    • Letters of support/permission have been obtained from Agency, or appropriate organizations to conduct product development survey (Appendix...).
    • Role of agency/organizations - provide permission that facilitates/provides access to target populations, etc.
    • Agency Development Criteria:
      • Describe how costs may have an impact on what form the Product will take, (i.e., bond vs. slick paper, no money for new software, etc.).
      • Describe how the scope of agency resources may have an impact on what form the Product will finally take (i.e., staff shortage).
      • Describe how these constraints are reflected in what data you can collect for developing your Product.
  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Activity 2: Department/University Parameters
    • "Special Project Advisor will ensure that the product development survey is properly conducted and completed, according to Department/University standards...."
    • "Special Project Advisor will ensure that the results of the product development survey will be used for developing a prototype of the Product for pilot testing."
    • Department/University Development Criteria:
      • Describe how University requirements may impact on the final product (i.e., time constraints of a semester, IRB requirements, etc.).
      • Describe how the Department's course requirements may impact on the final product (i.e., APA format, Department requirements for the Report's content, etc.).
  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Activity 3: Expert Parameters
    • "Appropriate agencies and organizations are utilized in conducting product development survey...."
    • Give reasons why these experts were chosen. Experts are experienced professionals in the field which can include those working in the Agency you are developing the product for.
    • Explain why not having these agencies/organizations as part of the product development would adversely impact on the outcome of the product development component of your Special Project.
    • Explain why not using the theories you will be using would adversely impact on the product development component of your Special Project.
    • Expert Development Criteria:
      • Describe how the theories you will use to develop your Product will make it a more meaningful product.
      • Describe how the data you collect will address components of the theories you have chosen to use to guide your efforts.
      • Describe how expert input is important for developing the Product's content.
  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Activity 4: Target Population Parameters
    • "Content of prototype will be developed based on the results of the product development survey."
    • Target Population Development Criteria:
      • Describe how input from the target population(s) is important for ensuring the Product will be appropriate (i.e., readability, cultural competency, etc.)
      • Explain how this input impacts on the form the final product will take (i.e., reading level, use of graphics, etc.).
  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Activity 5: Data Collection
    • Product Development Survey/Other data collection instruments (Actual surveys, medical record abstraction templates, scripts)[Appendix....].
    • Accompanying instruments - permission letters, cover letters (Appendix...).
    • Data collecting procedures (delineate sequence of how you plan to conduct your survey, or, other data collection procedures).
  • Behavioral/Environmental-Impact Activity 6: Data Analysis
    • Product Development Survey/Other data collection instruments - describe what you will be gathering with these instruments (i.e., qualitative data, quantitative data, etc.).
    • Software to be used - name of software.
    • Statistical analyses to be performed - frequencies, means, etc.
    • How the results from your analyses will be used to develop a prototype of the Product.

Pretesting and Revision of a Prototype

The purpose of this section is to delineate the steps you will be taking to pretest, or, pilot test your prototype. Based on the data you collect with your product evaluation survey, or whatever data collection instrument you will use to gather feedback during the pilot test, you will then revise the prototype to create the final product.

PER-Impact Goal: "To enhance the ability of those in management to make decisions about the success of follow-up activities for high-risk individuals."

  • PER-Impact Objective: "By April, 2001, "Your name" will administer a product evaluation survey, as part of a pilot test of the communications tool, to Agency management, to evaluate the usefulness of sample reports generated by the computerized tool prototype."
  • PER-Impact Activity 1: Agency Parameters
    • Letters of support/permission have been obtained from Agency, or appropriate organizations to conduct evaluation/pilot test (Appendix...).
    • Role of agency/organizations - provide permission that facilitates &/or provides access to target populations, etc.
    • Agency Pilot Test/Evaluation Criteria:
      • Describe how the access provided by your Agency to target populations can impact on what kind of feedback you will get.
      • Describe how the quality of the feedback data will impact on the revision of the prototype.
  • PER-Impact Activity 2: Department/University Parameters
    • "Special Project Advisor will ensure that the evaluation/pilot test is properly conducted and completed, according to Department/University standards...."
    • "Special Project Advisor will ensure that results of the evaluation/pilot test will be used appropriately to enhance the product...."
    • Department/University Pilot Test/Evaluation Criteria:
      • Describe how IRB requirements can impact on what you can do as a pilot test.
      • Describe how the quality of the feedback data will impact the revision of the prototype.
  • PER-Impact Activity 3: Expert Parameters
    • "Appropriate agencies and organizations are utilized in the evaluation/pilot testing of the prototype...."
    • Give reasons why these experts were chosen.
    • Explain why not having these experts, agencies/organizations be part of the evaluation/pilot testing of the prototype would adversely impact on the outcome of the evaluation component of your Special Project.
    • Explain why not using the theories you will be using would adversely impact on the outcome of the evaluation component of your Special Project.
    • Expert Pilot Test/Evaluation Criteria:
      • Describe how the theories you will use to evaluate your Product will make it a more meaningful product.
      • Describe how the data you collect will address components of the theories you have chosen to use to guide your efforts.
      • Describe how expert feedback is important for evaluating the Product's content and assist in refining the Product.
  • PER-Impact Activity 4: Target Population Parameters
    • "Content of prototype will be critiqued by population(s) most likely to adopt the final product (sponsoring agency/organization,stakeholders, community group, etc.)".
    • Explain how this feedback impacts on the applicability of the final product.
    • Target Population Pilot Test/Evaluation Criteria:
      • Describe how feedback from the target populations will be used to refine your product.
      • Explain why this feedback is important for evaluating the Product.
  • PER-Impact Activity 5: Data Collection
    • Product Evaluation Survey/Other data collection instruments(i.e., actual surveys, scripts, templates)[Appendix....].
    • Accompanying instruments - permission letters, cover letters (Appendix...).
    • Data collecting procedures (delineate sequence of how you plan to conduct your survey, or other data collection procedures).
  • PER-Impact Activity 6: Data Analysis
    • Product Evaluation Survey/Other data collection instruments - describe what you will be gathering with these instruments (i.e., qualitative data, quantitative data, etc.).
    • Software to be used - name of software.
    • Statistical analyses to be performed - frequencies, means, etc.
    • Explain how the results from your analyses of this feedback will be used to refine the prototype of the Product.

Institutional Board Review

  • Describe the process of obtaining IRB approval for your proposed Special Project.
  • In your submission for IRB approval, you must include all letters of support/permission, data collection instruments, scripts, etc.
  • Submit on a floppy disk with one hard copy (or, 5 hardcopies).
  • Note in your description the dates submitted and approved by SCSU IRB.
  • Note that data collection will not begin until IRB approval has be received.
  • Include a copy of the IRB as an appendix.
  • Include the IRB approval letter as an appendix.

Workplan

Your Workplan is a "Schedule of Activities" or "Timeline".

  • A simple chart is the best way to present this.
  • Here's an example:

ActivityDec 2000 Jan 2001Feb 2001 Mar 2001 Apr 2001 May 2001
Conduct Product Development Survey X X
Analyze Product Development Survey X
Develop Prototype X
Pilot Test Prototype & Conduct Product Evaluation Survey X
Analyze Product Evaluation SurveyX
Modify Prototype and Develop Final ProductXX
Submit Final Product and Report to Appropriate PartiesX

(There should be more than this, like what you have to do for PCH 594 - Special Project Seminar II, but this is just to give you an idea of a simple way to present your workplan)

  • Remember - you need to complete the Special Project one month before the Spring's Graduation Day.

    • Budget

    Write a narrative of your budget. You can get help with this from my Web site's Grants and Grant Writing Resources Page. Under "Grant Writing" - check out the links for A Guide to Proposal Planning & Writing (Oryx Press), Budget Template, Beginning Grant Writing - An Educator's Guide, and Proposal Checklist.

    Include a detailed itemized budget. Think of what it would cost the Agency if they were to hire someone to do what you will be doing for free.

    Your detailed itemized budget, which includes estimates of how much it would cost, should contain such line items as:

    • Direct costs:
      • Personnel
      • Fringe Benefits
      • Travel
      • Equipment
      • Supplies
      • Contractual agreements
      • Construction
      • Other
    • Indirect Costs

    To get help with estimates:

    • Talk with your Agency Preceptor about direct and indirect costs for his/ her agency.
    • Go visit Office Max, Staples, CompUSA.
    • To get an estimate of personnel costs, check my Web site's Career Page, and click on the Connecticut Occupation & Wage Estimates - at the bottom of the Web page.

    Summary

    Similar to the summaries you wrote for the previous 2 sections, think "Executive Summary." If readers read only your summary, they should know exactly what you plan to do and why.

    Bibliography

    Use APA format, which you should be able to do in your sleep by now.

    Psst - Hint... USE SUBHEADINGS

    Finishing Up Your Special Project Proposal

    Follow the Department's Guidelines regarding formatting, etc. and make sure everything is in APA format. If not, it won't get by me, and it will never get to the Department Chair.

    Appendices

    What To Include:

    • Follow Department guidelines.
    • Each appendix must be listed in the Table of Contents.
    • APPENDIX Title Page.
    • Watch your margins. Shrink all documents to conform with required margins.
    • Organize in order of implementation.
    • Start with letters of support, intent, etc.
    • Include the IRB in its entirety as a single appendix.
    • Include all data collection instruments, accompanying cover letters, etc. each as its own appendix.

    Note: It may seem repetitious, but each letter, form, script that you include in your IRB should be included as separate appendices of your final Special Project Proposal. So, if you were to remove the IRB Appendix from your Proposal it should still make sense.

    Bibliography

    • Follow Department guidelines.
    • APA format.
    • Alphabetical order.
    • Last item in the Special Project Proposal.
    • List in Table of Contents.
    • BIBLIOGRAPHY should be in caps, 2 inches from the top.
    • Only one bibliography for the entire proposal. Consolidate all the bibliographies from your sections into one main bibliography.
    • Include ALL sources you have used in preparing your proposal, whether or not you referenced it in the text.

    Links

    Betty's Home Page Site Map Index Academic Index Page

    Published on the Net: November 5, 2000
    Updated: 12/25/2022 R185

    © Copyright 1999 - 2023 Betty C. Jung All rights reserved.