The phrase "a research plan" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you are referring to a detailed document or outline that describes the purpose of a study and the methods that will be used to complete it. For example: "The team put together a research plan to study the impact of climate change on coastal ecosystems."
To develop our knowledge in this area the ACCREDIT collaboration (Accreditation Collaborative for the Conduct of Research, Evaluation and Designated Investigations through Teamwork) has developed a research plan, known as the ACCREDIT-SCI (Standards of Consumer Involvement) study protocol.
But today the researcher must write a proposal, draw up a research plan, and identify the expected results as 'milestones' to be met at preset deadlines.
Being able to select her line of research--she chose to work on improving climate modeling--and formulating a research plan herself has been important in her growth as an independent researcher.
Unlike a professional historian, who goes into a library with a research plan, he forages impulsively, then moves on.
Judge Saundra B. Armstrong of Federal District Court in Oakland, Calif., said the United States government "unlawfully withheld action" required under the Global Change Research Act of 1990 to update a research plan and scientific assessment of climate change.
The possibility that that pace could quicken was conveyed by White House officials on the first day of a three-day meeting convened by the administration to devise a research plan for clarifying climate hazards and devising technologies to end emissions of heat-trapping, or greenhouse, gases altogether.
One respondent listed a hypothesis among the essential features of a research plan.
Nearly every applicant for a tenure-track faculty job is expected to include a research plan.
Some professors advise building flexibility into a research plan from the start.
A second is creating and monitoring a research plan and a professional development plan.
Once you have a research plan, it's easy to summarize and submit.
