Template For Clinical Sciences Approval of Proposal Meeting (Nutrition and Pharmacy)
APPROVAL OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL MEETING
Title of Research Proposal
Student Name
(Supervisor)
Date
Table of Contents
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. ii
List of Abbreviations ..............................................................................................................iii
Introduction ............................................................................................................................ #
Heading 1 ........................................................................................................................ #
Subheading 1 ............................................................................................................ #
Heading 2 ........................................................................................................................ #
Subheading 2 ............................................................................................................ #
Hypothesis ............................................................................................................................. #
Objectives .............................................................................................................................. #
Proposed Methods and Procedures ...................................................................................... #
Experiment 1 ................................................................................................................... #
Experiment 2 ................................................................................................................... #
Statistical Analysis ........................................................................................................... #
Timeline ................................................................................................................................. #
References ............................................................................................................................ #
ii
List of Abbreviations
COPN
FDA
HPB
College of Pharmacy and Nutrition
Food and Drug Administration
Health Protection Branch
iii
Introduction
 Provide a paragraph that gives an overview of the major premise of your research (i.e.
what you intend to discover and why this is important)
 Include basic background information that is well referenced. This section should
provide sufficient information to lead your readers into the proposed hypothesis and
research objectives.
 Suggestion: Use a reference manager system. If you do not have a reference manager
software program you can use the online RefWorks available through the library. You
should bolster the introduction section with each advisory committee report to continue
building your literature review.
Heading 1
Subheading 1
Heading 2
Subheading 2
Hypothesis
 You may have more than one hypothesis statement or one global hypothesis
statement. The statement(s) should be worded in a manner that results in a testable
statement. If you do not have a hypothesis driven research project then provide a
purpose statement.
Objectives
 The objective statements should clearly identify what you need to do to test your
hypothesis statement.
1
 After stating a specific objective you have the option to add additional statements to
indicate how you will meet the objective (i.e. these could be specific aims that fall
under an objective).
1. To determine …
2. To establish …
3. To identify …
Proposed Methods and Procedures
 Identify the methods and protocols that will be used in accomplishing the goals
identified in objectives 1. The methodology does not need to be described in detail;
provide sufficient information to allow your committee to assess the study design and
the methodologies that will be used.
 A general description of the Research Plan could precede a more specific description
of the planned experiments.
 Always include a statement indicating that your protocols will be approved by the
appropriate ethics board and be sure to explain the steps taken to ensure privacy and
confidentiality if it is not easily conveyed in the methods / procedures section.
Experiment 1
 You do not need to provide extensive detail, but information should be sufficient for
your committee to understand your methodology.
Experiment 2
Statistical Analysis
 Always include this section even if you will only use descriptive statistics (i.e. mean ±
SD).
2
 If possible, clearly explain the statistical methods. For example, all statistical tests
should be stated along with their intended use for the data. If regression is used, the
steps used to build the final model must be outlined, especially if the dependent
variable is a major / primary outcome of interest.
Results
 Optional; student may include some pilot data/research outcomes if available at the
time of the Approval of Research Proposal meeting. However the Proposal should be
presented before extensive collection of data.

Timeline
 Identify a timeline for completion of remaining classes, ethics, safety courses, etc.
 Identify a timeline for the conduct of the proposed research.
References

You have a choice of either using numbers within the text with the number
corresponding to the order of appearance of the reference or using Author/Year
citation in the text with the reference list in alphabetical order.
3