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Research Proposal

The document provides guidance for developing an initial research project proposal. It outlines key components of a proposal, including developing a title, writing an introduction with background information, stating clear objectives and a problem statement, conducting a preliminary literature review, developing research questions and/or hypotheses, proposing a research methodology and timeline, and including references. The purpose of the proposal is to obtain approval and guidance before undertaking a research project that will take at least two semesters to complete.

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Bikal Magar
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285 views4 pages

Research Proposal

The document provides guidance for developing an initial research project proposal. It outlines key components of a proposal, including developing a title, writing an introduction with background information, stating clear objectives and a problem statement, conducting a preliminary literature review, developing research questions and/or hypotheses, proposing a research methodology and timeline, and including references. The purpose of the proposal is to obtain approval and guidance before undertaking a research project that will take at least two semesters to complete.

Uploaded by

Bikal Magar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Initial Research Project

 A thesis project takes at least two semesters to complete. Prior to starting a project,
student should be able to write down a proposal, it is a short summary of research
area student is interested in.

 Research proposal is reviewed by research advisor

 There is a need for planning and background research work

 There are milestones (dates for submissions) to be achieved

 Discuss research interest, topic, conduct initial level literature review and develop
project proposal

 Proposal should contain Problem statement, objectives, research methodology,


research activities & schedule.

Title:

 Give a meaningful title to the project

 Your proposed topic should address a significant problem and, therefore, advance
the state of knowledge in that field

 The title should be brief and descriptive and may use a colon (:) to separate the
topic from the focus (e.g. Stormwater Harvesting: managing the hazards of surface
water pollution by run-off).

Introduction:

 Background or introduction section provides a description of the basic facts and


importance of the research area - What is your research area, the motivation of
research, and how important is it for the industry practice/knowledge
advancement?

 provides background information for the research (i.e. the problem being addressed)
and is typically structured from general information to narrow or focused ideas.

 The Introduction includes a brief review of relevant literature or knowledge in the


field, so that you are able to present the gap in the existing knowledge and,
therefore, the significance and originality – the purpose and aims – of your
research. Finally, articulate the scope of your research; or what you will not be
doing, so as to limit your task.
Objectives:

Objectives provide a list of goals that will be achieved through the proposed research –
What are the benefits/impact (e.g. better understanding, improved productivity …) that will
be generated if the research problem is answered?

Problem Statement:

Problem statement provides a clear and concise description of the issues that need to be
addressed - What is the specific problem in that research area that you will address (e.g.
lack of understanding of a subject, low performance …)?

Research Question/s: what is the primary question you are trying to solve? It may be a
hypothesis/hypotheses or research question/s and is usually a few sentences (in statement
and/or question form) that articulate the essence of your project and its scope.

Preliminary literature review:

provide a summary of previous related research on the research problem and their strength
and weakness and a justification of your research - What is known/what have been done by
others?

And, why your research is still necessary?

Shows that you will use certain sources/literature to complete the research paper. With
an outline, your final product will be well organized and clearly structured.

Review of the literature:

 The first phase of the literature review should be brief but give the reader enough
information to understand the context of the proposed research.
 It may include references to previous findings and specific studies similar to the
current study, and to relevant methodology.
 A good literature review:
 1. includes all literature that is relevant to justifying the proposed research
 2. does not include literature that is irrelevant to justifying the proposed research
 3. supports undertaking the proposed research
 4. avoids speculation and unsubstantiated statements
 5. is critical (a critical review does not merely accept previous authors’ conclusions,
but weighs them carefully, examining them on the basis of the weaknesses and
strengths in the methodologies of the studies being reviewed)
 6. is organised under subheadings
Hypotheses:

These are clear statements that the research is designed to test.

Research methodology:

 defines the research methods and logic steps - What to do and how to solve the
problem and achieve proposed objectives? Which research methods (e.g. survey,
modeling, case study …) will be used? Attach a project schedule table, if necessary.

 You have identified an appropriate methodology and underlying theory to address


the problem, including data collection methods and equipment, if required

 Research Design or Methodology:

includes a description and rationale for the methods of data collection and
analysis, and the materials used when solving the problem. When and how will you
know, for example, that sufficient experimentation has been done, and sufficient
and valid data analysed, to support or invalidate the original hypothesis? This
section includes the dataset/s, calculations, equipment, calibration graphs, and
procedures to be used, lists project limitations and outlines how ethical
considerations of the research have been considered. Typically, it uses subheadings
(ie: Subjects, Instrumentation, Data Collection, Methods of Analysis etc.) and is
written with a future aspect, e.g. The research will initially examine water treatment
processes in...

 Data Analysis:

This section describes how you will use the data you collect. It is often useful to
organise this section according to the research questions, explaining how you will
analyse the data to answer each question. This section must be planned before any
data is collected, otherwise it may be impossible to analyse the data in such a way as
to answer the questions.

Timetable : lists the stages of the research project in timeline, spreadsheet or tabular
format, and the deadlines for completion of these stages or tasks. You should include any
challenges to completion that you anticipate facing.

Reference:
All factual material that is not original with you must be accompanied by a reference to its
source.

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