8113	Assessment
Abstract	The abstract is good.
Research Question	The research question is stated clearly and seems reasonable.  It is perhaps stated too unilaterally.  We would reasonably expect that the "dependent variable," parents' health, would also affect the "independent" variable," transfers from children to parent, so that we have reciprocal or simultaneous causation (with all the resulting complications for the data analysis).
Literature Review	The literature review is in fairly good shape. It covers a fair range of relevant materials and focuses effectively on how they relate to the current project.  Three revision goals for improvement stand out: (1) the argument in some parts of the review are hard to follow (e.g. the last two paragraphs seem to be inconsistent and should be revised for clarity); (2) the literature review would benefit from an opening that lays out what the literature aims to show; and (3) it will help to briefly discuss some of the relevant literature based on research outside of China.
Data	The data seem appropriate.  It is not clear why the proposal appears to ignore the value of the data being longitudinal.  The longitudinal data structure may help solve some of the problems the proposal mentions regarding spurious relationships.  It might be worthwhile to start investigating approaches to panel data analysis.  (Also, you might check if the Spring statistical courses will cover longitudinal techniques.  Perhaps discuss this with your advisor.) The proposal neglects any discussion of income or wealth.  One important determinant of transfers between parents and children is their relative economic circumstances.  Money tends to flow from the more affluent to the less affluent in kinship transfers.  The proposal should: 1) consider this dynamic in the literature review, 2) indicate the availability of information in the data to cope with this, and 3) include it as an element of the plans for data analysis.
Causal Interpretations	The causal interpretation needs development.  What are the principal ideas from the literature review that seem to apply to the research question?  How is this research design a response to, or extension of, previous research ?  And, how will the research incorporate the expected pattern of bi-directional causality?  (Note that longitudinal data can be used to overcome, or at least diminish the analytic problems due to mutual causation.)
Research Value	The value of the research is implicit in the literature review and elsewhere, but the proposal should address this issue directly.
Timetable	The provisional schedule is okay as a starting point, but the complexity of the data and the analytic issues suggest it may be overly optimistic.
Citations & Biblio	The presentation of citations and the bibliography seem fine.
Quality of writing	The writing would benefit considerably from another revision that fixes the grammatical and syntactic flaws
Priorities for Revising for Final Draft	The proposal is developing well overall.  Figuring out how to resolve the problem of mutual causation seems crucial.  Gaining greater understanding of the data and how you might use its longitudinal character will be important for all parts of the research design, but may be particularly valuable for resolving the mutual causation issue.  Refining the hypotheses to represent a more nuanced causal model is also a good idea.
Miscellaneous Notes