Group Project
Requirements of the proposal for your Intervention face to face version
Format of the group project.
First of all you have to team up with at least two other people. At the same time you should work in
finding a topic (nutrition related) that you are interested on working for the rest of the semester. The
team should not include more than 4 members. You should split the work, but keep the project
together, not as isolated single parts. If somebody is not working in the group, you should let me know,
so they won’t receive credit for the work you did. This final group project includes 3 parts. One part is
your paper where you will include all the detailed information about your project and your literature
review as it is outlined below. The second part is the development of a poster display presentation
which highlights the most important parts of your group research project. You will present your project
to the class on the last day of classes as outlined in the schedule. Everyone will see and evaluate your
work. The third part is developing a brochure or a flyer. This includes a brief description of what you
want people to keep so they remember your “advise” on nutritional concepts that you emphasized in
your intervention. This is something you are going to give out to people as if you were the researcher
implementing that intervention. Go to the website and see what poster presentations look like and
previous flyers, brochures.
Advise on getting started:
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The first step is to prepare a rough draft. Start by writing preliminary answers to the following
questions:
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What is the tentative title for your project? (You can change this as your work progresses)
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Why do you want to do this research?
First you have to choose a current health problem in the US that is linked to nutrition for your research.
You should also demonstrate the need for us to address it. So, please talk about how your study will
meet this need, you may want to talk about the method(s) you will use.
Your proposal should have the following elements:
A) Definition of the health problem.
In here you talk how big the problem is and why we want to devote the time to address this problem.
Talk about epidemiology, risk factors and define the involved terms. The following is an extract from a
past student’s project :
“There is a health problem in the United States that has reached epidemic proportions and its name is
“Obesity”. Sixty-seven percent of adults and seventeen percent of children and adolescents are
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Group Project
Requirements of the proposal for your Intervention face to face version
categorized as either overweight or obese”. If your BMI is 25-29.9 you are considered to be overweight
and if your BMI is over 30 you are considered to be obese.”
B) Introduction with brief review of the relevant literature
This part contains a statement that explains why this health problem is relevant in the US. Give statistics
that are applicable to your project. You can use the ones in the census bureau or any other government
database available to the public. Review literature about this specific health problem and how other
studies or theories are important for your desired intervention. Look what other researchers have done
to “intervene” our population regarding this health problem. This part is where your research fits in
relation to the literature (maximum of half a page).
The following segment was taken from a previous student paper about obesity:
“The effects of obesity cost the American taxpayer $117 billion a year in both direct and indirect costs.
Direct costs are those associated with the treatment of obesity related diseases, while indirect costs are
those associated with lost productivity due to disability, illness, and death (Boyle and Long). Obesity in
itself does not kill you, however, the health risks linked to obesity can: type 2 diabetes, heart disease,
and some forms of cancer (Boyle and Long)".
C) Research question or hypothesis
In here, you will link your health problem to your intervention. For instance, you will describe how your
intervention will help reduce/prevent the addressed health problem.
You can explore, what is the relationship between two or more concepts, variables, events, etc. You
will also state: why this health problem is important and appropriate in nutrition? And, how your
research intervention would contribute to the solution of the problem?.
Example: “The primary objective of our intervention is to educate students, faculty and HCCS
community, on the epidemic proportions of obesity in this country. We propose that by making
students, and faculty and HCCS community aware about obesity, the health problems associated with
obesity, the consequences their lifestyle choices have on their well-being; we will help the to reduce
the risks associated with obesity in the long term at HCCS community”
D) A description of the procedure.
A lot of students get confused in this part. Now that you came up with your way to “intervene” the
selected population, you will work on how to present this info or how to “persuade” people into your
proposed intervention. You can choose to include: a description of the theoretical or conceptual
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Group Project
Requirements of the proposal for your Intervention face to face version
framework, analytical techniques, a timetable for conducting and completing the study. See below what
students like yourself, did in this part:
“Our marketing strategy to attract attendees to our area is color and humor. The device we utilize to
accomplish this goal is our 30” x 40” poster, which has a little humor, an abundance of color, and a few
simple, yet informative facts concerning obesity. Once we have their attention, we present them with
our eye-catching, tri-fold, fact-filled pamphlet. The poster and pamphlet combined will provide our
audience with the following information:
1) The nutrition facts for a meal consisting of a hamburger, fries, and a soda compared to that of a
meal consisting of a turkey sub, baked chips, and water. This will allow the audience to compare
first-hand which choice is healthier.
2) The yeas of a healthy lifestyle, such as oral hygiene, the My Food Pyramid (USDA), and regular
exercise, as well as the nays, such as no smoking, a lower intake of fat and added sugars, and
less video games.
3) Some facts on the effects of obesity, nutritious food substitutions for thought, and the benefits
of exercise.
4) An explanation of the body mass index (BMI), how it applies to obesity, and how to calculate
your personal BMI.
5) References to beneficial websites with a brief explanation on the nutritional information
presented therein.
So, when putting your presentation together, please take into consideration the following:
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What steps will you have to take to accomplish what you want to do? Can you put those steps
into sequential order?
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What resources will you need to conduct the study? Consider your current resources and the
needs of your project. How will you meet those?
Group Project
Requirements of the proposal for your Intervention face to face version
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What assistance from other people will you need? E.g., skills of a supervisor, other staff/faculty
members.
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Will Ethics or Research Board approval be required?
E) Bibliography
This part contains at least three sources from which only one can be an online reference.
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