Writing a research proposal: The role of library anxiety, statistics anxiety, and composition anxiety

Abstract

This study examines the anxiety experienced by 81 graduate students from non-statistical disciplines, who wrote research proposals in an introductory research methodology course. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of reflexive journals, anxiety questionnaires, and the students' research proposals revealed that research proposal writing anxiety (RPW) includes four components: library anxiety (comprising Interpersonal Anxiety, Perceived Library Competence, Perceived Comfort with the Library, Location Anxiety, Mechanical Anxiety, and Resource Anxiety); statistics anxiety (consisting of Perceived Usefulness of Statistics, Fear of Statistical Language, Fear of Application of Statistics Knowledge, and Interpersonal Anxiety); composition anxiety (comprising Content Anxiety, Format and Organizational Anxiety, Mechanical Anxiety, and Fear of Negative Evaluation); and research process anxiety (consisting of Fear of Research Language, Fear of Application of Research Knowledge, and Interpersonal Anxiety).