A List of 146 Brilliant Research Proposal Topics to Investigate

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Do you have to write a research proposal and can’t choose one from the professor’s list? This article may be exactly what you need.

The best part?

We will provide you with the most up-to-date undergraduate and postgraduate topic ideas. Moreover, we will share the secrets of the winning research proposal writing. You may say that the top 10 websites in google also provide possible research topics.



📝 Writing a Research Proposal

First of all, let’s make clear what a research proposal is. A research proposal is a type of paper you write to show others that you have a project to investigate. Here's what you should mention:

The purpose of proposal writing is to persuade others that your topic needs to be investigated. Your task is to write a well-structured text that covers all the necessary points. Make sure that everyone can understand what you wish to investigate, why it is important, and how you are going to do it.

Your research project proposal will also help you develop your project carefully and fully. Of course, it’s important to choose a topic that you will enjoy writing.

❓ What Is the Correct Project Proposal Format?

Before you start working on the proposal itself, it’s pivotal to first understand the standard proposal writing format.


Typically, the very first element is a title.


At the beginning stage, you should choose an interesting proposal title to investigate.


Once you’ve chosen your topic, try to make your research proposal title catchy and relevant.


Essay title tips list



Such a short word count means that you should take this stage even more seriously. It isn’t feasible to convince your research committee in just a few lines!

However, the abstract must also summarize your research proposal, so it can be advised to write it after the rest of your paper is done.

What should you include in your research proposal abstract?


What benefits can your investigation bring?

What methods will you use to find answers to your research questions?

What findings do you expect your exploration to result?

Think about this while choosing a topic and writing your abstract.

What to include in an abstract list



A research proposal introduction should contain the following three parts:

Research background

The audience needs to know what other authors have discovered. This will help them to understand the importance of your topic.

Mention all of the current and important researchers of your topic. Describe their achievements. You can find these via databases and other helpful writing tools.

It’s important for your issue to be relevant and important.

Research questions


While writing a research proposal introduction, it’s time to state the research questions about your topic.

By finding the good research questions, you’ll convince the audience of the importance of your research. So look carefully!

The essay introduction must answer 3 essential question for the reader

Research approach


You can choose an empirical approach based on experiments or observation, or you may wish to conduct a meta-analysis of the literature to review the findings of other authors in more detail.

Always explain why you have chosen this particular approach and how it is relevant to your research question.

Research methodology


You can choose a qualitative or a quantitative approach for your project. Then select an appropriate method for your study. You need to select carefully to ensure that the method corresponds well to your research questions.




Choose your research methodology

Research results






Two ways of presenting and organizing the research results

Research discussion






Annesley, Thomas M. The Discussion Section: Your Closing Argument

Ethical considerations


Make sure your research proposal methodology doesn’t conflict with ethical guidelines.



Remember to make a reference to every article or website that you used to write your research proposal, and only use credible sources for your study, such as books and peer-reviewed articles. You are usually required to cite your sources in one of the existing citing styles, such as APA or MLA.



Examples of items in appendices


What is the first thing to be done, then?

Right—you need to choose a topic!

Here’s a list of research proposal topics below so you can finally begin the process. Some of the research topics are simple (you can find them at the beginning of each list), whereas others are quite complicated. The more difficult problems also contain a short description, so that you can understand immediately whether that topic would be interesting for you.


🌐 Political Science Research Proposal Topics

  • Sarah Palin and her role in the RNC
  • Politics and its influence
  • The military policy of Georgia toward South Ossetia
  • Fascism and Nazism: the contemporary usage of the terms and their meaning in the history of politics. Nowadays, the terms “Fascism” and “Nazism” are quite often used interchangeably. The terms are originally meant to refer to Italian and German political regimes. However, the doctrines themselves have important differences, which makes it a possible research topic.

Benito Mussolini quote

  • Contemporary religious extremism and its political and economic basis. In modern Western society exists an important ambiguity. On the one hand, religious tolerance endorsed; on the other, often used religious extremism as a scary tale to add some fuel to the flames of intolerance. Understanding the real, economic and political basis of religious extremism might prove helpful in breaking the illusions of both sides. Actually, religion and society are not easy political science research topics, but definitely among the most notable ones.
  • Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn: socialists in the contemporary U.K. and U.S. politics. The U.S. Democratic Party devised its failure during the 2016 Presidential Elections by selecting Hillary Clinton. She does not enjoy much support from the public, instead of well-loved, but so-scarily-leftist Bernie Sanders. However, Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters were partially successful in addressing the stagnation in the British Labor Party, in which little left was left before him. Comparing the two leftist leaders and their political agenda might serve as an interesting research project topic.

Jeremy Corbyn quote

  • A fragile democracy: the contemporary political crisis in Myanmar. Myanmar has for a long time suffered under the dictatorship of a military junta. The junta only dissolved in 2011, but, although that the party of the National League for Democracy officially rules, the militaries remain strong and often uncontrollable. The resulting crisis is tragic, and writing about it could be a good topic for a research proposal.

People are sitting in a boat

  • The Arab Spring and its impact on the contemporary Middle East. The Arab Spring was a wave of demonstrations, protests, and revolutions in the countries of the Middle East. There was a hope that they would result in more democratic political regimes across the region. However, the results were far from optimistic. The massive impact of this phenomenon makes the Arab Spring an excellent topic example for a research proposal.

🏰 History Research Proposal Topics

  • History and evolution of Buddhism in the world
  • The destiny of the Jewish people during World War II

Barbara Ehrenreich quote

  • Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin: a comparison of policies. The October Revolution played a significant role in history, resulting in the birth of the Soviet Union. The country was to become a communist utopia. Instead, the revolution proved violent. When Lenin died, and Stalin came to power, the country turned into a bloody dictatorship. A possible history research proposal, for examplewould be the investigation of the differences between the policies of Lenin, who did try to build socialism, and Stalin, who organized a reign of terror.
  • The French Revolution and its impact on the history of 19th century Europe. The French Revolution is known to be one of the most influential events in history, even though its liberal ideas suppressed, and the revolution ended in a dictatorship. The revolution’s impact on European history might serve as a worthwhile topic for research writing.
  • European colonization of the Americas and the fate of Native Americans. Although the image of Christopher Columbus and other explorers of the New World is very positive nowadays, the reality was far more severe. The colonizers used ruthless and violent methods to deal with Native Americans, massacring them to gain land and enslaving them to gain labor. The history of cruelty might nonetheless prove an interesting topic for a history project proposal.

Maya civilization ruins

  • The history of racism in the United States. Whether one likes it or not, racism played an important role in the history of the U.S. The country has not yet recovered from the consequences of it. The history of American racist ideas might be a good topic for research. One that may allow for making the parallels with the contemporary situation and possibly helping battle racial discrimination nowadays.

Grab the list of 146 research topics for your proposal!

📚 Research Proposal Topics in English and World Literature

  • Analysis of Poe’s style in “The Raven
  • Lost hope in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms
  • Racial discrimination in Uncle Tom’s Cabin
  • The character of Sonya Marmeladova in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Sonya Marmeladova is one of the most appealing and sympathetic characters in world literature. A teenage girl, she is the embodiment of kindness and allegiance, which is not changed by the fact that she has to work as a prostitute to support her family. Analyzing her character can be an excellent research project topic. Don’t forget to check out the latest literary studies on Dostoyevsky’s works.


  • The real-life plausibility of the role of Dorian’s portrait in Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The picture of Dorian played the role of a “moral mirror” for the protagonist of the story. But would a real-world person such as Dorian pay so much attention to such a portrait, if they had it? This is a good research question that can be investigated further.


  • The character of Eliza Doolittle in G. B. Shaw’s Pygmalion. In Shaw’s play, a simple flower girl turned into a refined woman after Professor Henry Higgins taught her. Her unique transformation may be studied further if you choose this sample idea as your research proposal topic.
  • Melville’s Moby-Dick: a story of a captain’s folly. One of the greatest novels in the history of American literature is devoted to Captain Ahab, planning his revenge on a white whale named Moby Dick. Would such anthropomorphization of a whale make sense in real-life, though? Selecting this as a research paper topic may help you find more about this question.


  • Jane Eyre: the story of Cinderella by C. Brontë. The novel Jane Eyre is perhaps simply a story of Cinderella. Or maybe being so complicated and many-sided makes it the story of Cinderella? Further studying the masterpiece by C. Brontë may be one of the best proposal ideas for your research.

📊 Business Research Proposal Topics

  • Advertising strategies and the importance of advertising for business
  • Strategies for running a business
  • Importance of business planning
  • Disaster preparedness plans for the business. In many regions of the world, disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes occur frequently. None is safe from ordinary fire, for example. The costs and losses of business due to such disasters may be tremendous. Consequently, the ways to make one’s company safe is an excellent research topic in business.

Ruined house on a beach

  • Ways to transition to a new organizational culture. Studying the ways to make such a transition smooth and seamless could be a great research paper idea.
    Exploring its exact impact on a company may be an excellent idea for your quantitative research proposal.
  • Business management and innovation. Social engineering technologies caused significant changes in marketing, customer-organization relations, communications, etc. Assess how these technologies can be used in business.
  • Effective energy management and its role in sustainable development. If you’re looking for business proposal topics, analyze this title. Provide suggestions on how enterprises can increase their energy effectiveness.
  • Social entrepreneurship in developing countries. How can a business increase its social value without prejudice to its profits? You can use our free topic sample for your master’s of business administration dissertation. 
  • Ethics and corporate social responsibility. Ethical issues remain a popular topic for research studies. Point out how corporate responsibility can increase the loyalty of employees. 
  • Accounting and accountability. If you’re looking for business quantitative topic examples, explore the connection between accounting and accountability. 
  • Business management and its effect on profits. The goal of any company is to make profits. Assess how business management impact on its losses and profits.

🎓 Sample Research Proposal on Education Topics

  • Innovative approaches to contacting problematic children
  • Aesthetic education as a basis for child development
  • Advantages and disadvantages of a testing system
  • University education in a narrow specialization: a way to increase professionalism, or to create ignoramus? There exists a trend of providing education in a narrow area or specialty in the contemporary higher education setting. However, traditional universities have also been known to teach their undergraduate and postgraduate students a wide range of courses to give them a broader mental perspective and make them more knowledgeable and flexible. The benefits of an education in a narrow field and the costs of losing the tradition of a many-sided education are a worthwhile topic for a Ph.D. research proposal.

Testing the assumptions of special education inclusion


🔬 Chemistry Research Proposal Topic Ideas

  • Chemistry of LSD
  • Chemistry synaptic transmitters
  • Alchemy in relation to physics
  • The use of organometallic compounds in the industry. Organometallic compounds play a vital role in modern chemistry and widely used in numerous spheres of production. Studying their profits might prove an interesting research paper idea.
  • The use of organic solvents in the contemporary world. Organic solvents are essential today, being widely used for a variety of purposes. Studying them might be a great research idea for a paper.
  • Chemically related toxicants: their impact on human health. Chemical toxicants may be present as contaminants caused by manufacturing. Another way toxicants can exist is pollution and results of environmental effects. In your chemistry research proposal, examine how to prevent potential toxic influence on human lives and species.
  • Allergy and chemistry: interrelations. If you’re looking for high school research proposal titles, analyze this topic. Every year more and more people suffer from allergies. Investigate what role chemistry and toxicants play in increased disease rates.
  • Respiratory toxicity: Chlorine. Chlorine is a toxicant that is exposed from plastic, paper, and chlorinated chemicals. Research the impact of Chlorine on health. How can organic home cleaning products usage lower risks of allergic rhinitis?
  • Anthropogenic chemicals in the contemporary world. We face anthropogenic chemicals everywhere in our daily life. Industrial, consumer, and agricultural activities cause chemicals emission. Investigating this issue can help you build an outstanding title list for further research.
  • Toxicity profiling and its importance. Toxicity profiling can become a great research area for college and university student. Find out more about sample toxicity profiling and its purposes.

💭 Psychology Research Proposal Topics

  • Jean Piaget’s contribution to psychology
  • Role of methodology in developmental research
  • Importance of being knowledgeable about cognitive psychology. Exploring people's thought processes can be among the most exciting cognitive psychology research proposal ideas.
  • Family vs. community: a problem for African American people. In the contemporary U.S., a significant focus is made to support and develop the Institute of the family. Researchers conduct studies on the role and importance of the family, while politicians create policies to promote this institution. However, this may harm African Americans, whose African culture traditionally is less family- and more community-focused. They lose their traditional communal bonds while shifting their focus to the family. Studying the consequences of this may be a good idea for a Ph.D. research proposal.

🤔 Research Proposal Topics in Philosophy

  • What is the meaning of life?
  • Ideas of philosophy and religion in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

John Searle quote

  • The role of Aristotle’s works in the medieval Christian philosophy. Aristotle played a pivotal role in the development of medieval philosophy in Europe. Many philosophers of the Middle Ages based their philosophical theories and systems on what Aristotle had written. Studying Aristotelian influences on the medieval philosophers might be an interesting and fruitful endeavor.

Research Proposal Topics in Development Studies

  • Roger Bacon as the father of the experimental method in science. The experimental method has played a crucial role in the development of modern science, in fact, forming its methodological basis. Roger Bacon is widely regarded as the person who introduced this method of inquiry into science. Investigate his works, as well as the context in which he worked. You will understand how Roger Bacon developed this idea if the proposed issue is chosen as a research topic for your study.

🌍 Research Proposal Topics in Development Studies

  • Education and success: interrelations. Explore the relations between success and education. How can you measure success? Analyze the correlation between education, the quality of life, high living standards, and success.
  • Human rights: the impact of non-government organizations and social movements. Investigate how various social movements and NGOs impact and promote human rights in different countries.
  • Conflicts and their impact on livelihood. The countries with conflicts are at risk of wars eruption, which will cause deaths and poor living conditions. Researching how conflicts must be addressed to avoid the problems mentioned above might be interesting if you’re searching for good project topics in development studies.
  • Waste management programs: how they influence society. Nowadays, there are plenty of waste management projects and programs.
  • Research this issue and analyze their impact on society, environment, and economics. You can examine the Swedish experience and suggest your waste management program.
  • Women empowerment: how it contributes to women’s independence. Women empowerment programs significantly impact women’s autonomy and self-development. However, in some regions, women still have no or little access to education. Research how vocational education impacts empowering women in different societies.
  • Social institutions and economic development: interrelations. Social institutions play a significant role in ensuring the well-being of citizens. In your study, you can explore how various social institutions contribute to the economic development of the country.
  • The role of social movements in promoting equality. Minorities often face inequality and injustice, especially in countries where people have a diverse ethnic, religious, and economic background. In your research paper, highlight how various social movements ensure equality in a particular country.
  • Globalization and the country's development. We live in a world where countries can’t survive without multilateral relations. Analyze how international relations influence the economic growth of a country.
  • Women leaders and their role in the country’s development. Many years women were not allowed to hold leadership positions. Even now, when they do, they face criticism. In your research proposal, evaluate the perception of women leaders and their role in the development of the country.

👯 Social Science Research Proposal Topics

  • The impact of citizen’s wealth elections. Determine how economic conditions and people’s income influence voting patterns.
  • Correlation between personality, income, and career choice. You can explore how personal skills and family income motivate youth to choose their future career path.
  • Population background and racial discrimination. Explore mechanisms to prevent racial discrimination in societies with a diverse background of people. Yoг can also analyze the impact of Brexit and Trump’s slogan “Make America great again” on the rise of race discrimination.
  • State pension age and its effect on the labor market. Identify how the increase of the state pension age (SPA) influences a person’s and country’s labor supply. What is the contribution of the increase of SPA to the state’s economy?
  • Investing behavior: neuroeconomic approach. In the Ph.D. proposal, examine how cognitive factors influence success in the financial market. Offer your ideas on how to improve the decision-making process in investments.
  • Poverty among ethnic minorities. Since the financial crisis in 2008, in-work poverty became a significant issue, especially among ethnic minorities. Analyze this issue and research how it impacts occupational mobility.
  • Fiscal policy and its correlation to asset pricing. Generate risk aversion ideas and asset pricing concepts. Provide recommendations for optimal fiscal policy and its improvements.
  • Racial identity and conflicts: interrelations. Conflicts are unavoidable in our daily life. In your Ph.D. research proposal, you can analyze how a person's conflict behavior depends on their identity. Examine the effect of race on one's identity and conflict outcomes.
  • Social responsibility: developing countries. Research what safety and health actions should take companies in the construction industry of developing countries.

💊 Medical Research Proposal Topics

  • Addictions among young people: treatment and prevention. Provide ideas for treatment of young people and ways to help them live a drug-free life. Suggest concepts to prevent addictions, such as video games, alcohol, drugs, etc.
  • Healthcare equality for minorities. Various minority groups may experience healthcare inequalities and disparities. Analyze why the disparities occur depending on the certain minority group. Provide your suggestions on how to decrease the rates of under-insured minorities representatives across the country.
  • Healthcare in the rural area. Another nice idea for your research proposal is an improvement of healthcare in rural areas. People in backcountry often have no or limited access to adequate treatment. You can investigate and provide suggestions on how to improve quality and viability in these areas.
  • Movement disorders: treatment. Neurologic conditions like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s are destructive for both the patient and his/her inner circle. If you’re looking for medical research topic ideas, you can investigate this issue. Assess ways to stop these conditions and help patients.
  • Childhood obesity: prevention. According to the OECD report, one in six children suffers from obesity. Examine recent studies and suggest new concepts for obesity treatment and prevention.
  • Pediatric transplants: patient survival. In your proposal, you can examine new drugs aimed to minimize the side effects of the treatment regimens or analyze challenges in the treatment of transplanted patients.
  • Health education in high school. Numerous surveys show that more than fifty percent of parents are dissatisfied with the quality of health topics that children learn at school. Suggest ideas to improve the quality of educational programs and the issues they should cover.
  • Stress and depression among youth. Stress-related disorders are common enough among students. Recent studies show that almost 80% of college students experienced anxiety and felt depressed at least once during their first year. You can investigate ways to prevent depression and anxiety disorders.
  • Mental health education. Examine the importance of proper mental health education in school, along with traditional health topics like abortions or drug abuse.

Grab the list of 146 research topics for your proposal!

⌨ IT Research Proposal Topics

  • Comparative genomics: data visualization. Traditional envisioning center on linear tracks. It connects lines to show differences or similarities. Explore how comparative genomics can analyze numerous genomes in 3D surfaces.
  • Real-time feedback in education. Student’s feedback is essential for both teachers and learners. Examine the ways and existing technologies that allow a teacher to get feedback on how students understand the lecture content. Suggest concepts aimed at improving the professor-teacher connection.
  • WLAN Networks: H.264 video transmission. You can assess how to improve a cross-layer architecture for video transmission in WLAN Network. Examine ways to enhance video quality performance.
  • Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSN): performance. This topic can help you generate a whole title list for further IT studies: frameworks, analysis of existing solutions, etc. You can investigate transport, physical layers, or application of the communication protocol stack.
  • WLAN Network: improvement of FEC algorithms. Explore the possible way to improve FEC schemes in cases of wireless channel loss.
  • Software sizing and pricing: correlation. As you may know, the software size significantly impacts its estimated price. In your proposal, suggest methods to evaluate and lower software size.
  • Component-based software engineering (CBSE) process: ways to improve. You can choose this topic among other interesting IT project proposal ideas. Investigate how CBSE can shorten the time for production, increase software quality, and reduce its costs.
  • User’s behavior in social networks. Social networks are under the risk of improper users’ behavior. Provide points to detect such behavior and how to prevent it.
  • Education technologies in higher education. Research methods and tools that will enhance constructive alignment in higher education teaching.

🌲 Biology Research Proposal Topics

  • Stem cell research: cloning. Examine the ethics of cloning and its effect on social development. Research what implications cloning may have on society.
  • Honey bees disappearance. Research causes of mass disappearance of bees. What impact can it have on the agricultural industry? Provide suggestions on how to prevent its negative consequences.
  • Cancer, stress, and treatment. Assess studies related to cancer and its causes. What role does stress play in cancer treatment? How can the atmosphere in hospitals help patients feel better?
  • Heart health and stimulants: interrelations. Among other biology proposal ideas, check this topic. Examine the correlation between stimulants and risks of heart diseases.
  • Diets and healthy food. Explore the most popular diets. How do they affect a person’s health? Are there any benefits of eating only certain vegetables and fruits?
  • Pregnancy and hormones. Investigate how maternal hormones in the first trimester impact the risk of breast cancer. It can be a great topic for your Ph.D. dissertation since there is a lack of research on this issue. Most research works are related to later gestation period.
  • Human impact on marine life. Analyze how the Fukushima disaster influenced marine life and its effect on species population. What are the ways to protect rare or endangered species from radiation?
  • Drug medicine in pediatrics. Discuss the ethics of drug prescription on children. Explore ways to improve pediatric drug trials and development.
  • Indoor life and diseases: correlations. Modern life involves mostly indoor lifestyle. Analyze how it affects people’s ability to contract diseases. Is there a connection between the H1N1 flu epidemic and indoor life?

📡 ICT Research Proposal Topics

  • Machine learning in the prediction of students’ success. Analyze how machine learning can be useful in forecasting students’ grades and the rates of course completion. You can check this example of quantitative research title about ICT to get more ideas on measurement teacher’s effectiveness.
  • Students’ profile and study courses. Wrong course choice can lead to poor grades and become a waste of time. Provide suggestions on how analytics can help in students’ course choice.
  • Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in education. Examine how the use of AR and VR impacts students’ comprehension of the course contents. What effect have AR and VR on the student performance?
  • Learning preferences and customized study process. This is an interesting idea among research topics for ICT students. You can analyze how various students’ learning preferences, e.g., Visual, Kinesthetic, etc. can benefit from optimized learning.
  • IoT and teachers’ effectiveness. Examine how IoT sensors can help teachers to improve lecturing styles. Provide suggestions on how lecturers can adjust their teaching styles using IoT devices and sensors.
  • VR and AR role in the assessment process. Virtual and Augmented Reality can be useful in students assessment. Suggest the ways of how the professor can use VR and AR.
  • Gamification in education. Gamification elements can be found almost everywhere: social media, professional software, and education. Analyze how gamification can be applied to various subjects. Assess the possible student outcomes.
  • Social media and group projects. Social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, are an integral part of our daily life. Assess how social media can be useful in learning, and, especially, for group projects.
  • Mobile apps: usage growth. Here’s another great sample of quantitative titles. Analyze the factors that impact the usage rate of mobile applications.

🌱 Environmental Research Proposal Topics

  • World’s coral reefs: how to prevent destruction. Provide ideas for the environmental management of the countries that will help to decrease the reefs’ destruction.
  • Climate change: a scientific approach. Share your ideas on why governments criticize the Climate Change Agreement. Examine the Paris Climate Agreement and point out its weaknesses.
  • LED lights and their role in environmental protection. LED lights become more and more popular. You can find them everywhere: TVs, computers, cars, etc. Point out why LED light bulbs are better than the traditional one and how they impact the environment.
  • Acid rains and endangered species. Pollution is a significant issue, and one of the popular environmental proposal topics. Analyze the impact of acid rain on marine life and wildlife.
  • Clothing industry and their impact on water contamination. Production of one T-shirt requires over 2,700 liters of water. Provide suggestions on how fashion trendsetters can impact the production of clothing. Suggest how upcycling programs can reduce water pollution.
  • Alternative energy and transportation. Investigate whether alternative fuel vehicles can replace traditional ones or not. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of alternative energy.
  • Fukushima disaster, Arkhangelsk explosion, and Chernobyl. Examine these three disasters: what role did a human factor play?. Provide your ideas on how to prevent similar tragedies.
  • Radon: how to protect families from its impact? Radon is a radioactive gas that can enter peoples’ homes through cracks in the home's foundation. Investigate its effects on health and suggest concepts aimed to protect families from radon.
  • Rainforests and their ecosystem. It’s a widely known fact that Amazon rainforests play a significant role in life on our planet. Assess the ecosystem of the rainforest and suggest methods aimed at rainforests restoration.

Grab the list of 146 research topics for your proposal!


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Leave a Reply to Waqas Ayub Gondal Cancel reply



    • Jack Milgram Jack Milgram Posted:

      You can get help with your title here.
      Thanks for stopping by.