Research: Proposal

How to write a good research proposal

By Tsegaye S.

12/04/2021
What is a research proposal?
 Various terminologies are used to mean a research proposal
depending on why the research is carried out?
 Research outline
 Synopsis of research
 Plan of research
 Research/project proposal
 Thesis plan,
 Etc.
 .. ..a blue print of future activities of a research project
 …..some sort of preconceived framework for starting the activities
What is a research proposal?
 …..deals with ideas of researcher about
 what research he/she wants to do
 what objectives and methodology he/she has set
 how much time and resources are required to complete it
 how the research finding are to be reported
 and so on.
 ..is an individual’s or a research institute's formal offer to produce a product or
render service to a client in response to a request from the client
 ….a work plan, prospectus, outline, and statement of intent ahead.
 In short, he/she is proposing a work frame for completing the research
Writing Thesis/Dissertation Proposals

 Your proposal describes your proposed plan of work:

 What you intend to study (scope and research questions).

 How you intend to study your topic (methodology).

 Why this topic needs to be studied (significance).

 When you will complete this work (timeline).

 (Occasionally) Where you will conduct this work.

 Importance of Writing Thesis/Dissertation
Proposals
 Justify and plan (or contract for) a research project.

 Show how your project contributes to existing research.

 Demonstrate that you understand how to conduct discipline-specific research in

an acceptable time-frame.

 Contract between you and your committee

 Serves to protect the student
 Demanding additional requirements
 Protects the committee from the student
 From delivering a degree of poor quality
 Proposal-specific Advice
 Understand that the proposal will be negotiated--be prepared to revise!

 Think of the proposal as an introduction to your thesis or dissertation.

 Remember that the proposal is not a binding contract.

 Remember that your proposal is not meant to limit ideas, but to help you
think practically.

 Talk to your advisor!

 How to write research proposal?
 A research proposal is intended to convince others that you have a worthwhile
research project and that you have the competence and the work-plan to
complete it.
 Generally, a research proposal should contain all the key elements involved in
the research process and include sufficient information for the readers to
evaluate the proposed study.
 Regardless of your research area and the methodology you choose, all
research proposals must address the following questions:
 What you plan to accomplish
 why you want to do it and
 how you are going to do it.
 How to write research proposal?

 The proposal should have sufficient information to convince your

readers that you have an important research idea, that you have a

good grasp of the relevant literature and the major issues, and that

your methodology is sound.

 Parts/Contents/ of a Proposal
 Title  Methodology
 Abstract  Significance and Scope of
 Introduction/Background the study

 Problem Statement  Expected Outcomes

 Objectives  Conclusions

 Purpose/Aims/Rationale/Re  Work Plan/Time Schedule

 Budget
search Questions
 Bibliography/References
 Literature Review
 Title
 Naming your research is an important part of the research proposal.
 It should tell the user (In 25 words or less) what you intend to research and how you
intend to do it.
 In selecting the title, the following points should be taken care of:
 Reflect the theme of the research
 Be self-explanatory
 Be brief
 Language be simple and unambiguous
 Be specific to a particular domain
 Bracket; arithmetic figures, etc be avoided
 Avoid confusing meaning
 Abstract
 It is important that you give a summary of the entire document. This summary is

known as the abstract, and should demonstrate to the reader the most important parts

of each of the sections of the research proposal approximately in around 100-350

words.

 It should include and Summarize important elements (Introduction, Statement of the

Problem, Background of the Study, Research Questions or Hypotheses, Methods and

Procedures used and the main findings).

 It is often useful to write the abstract last, after the rest of the research proposal has

been written and fully thought out.

 Introduction/Background
 The main purpose of the introduction is to provide the necessary
background or context for your research problem. How to frame the
research problem is perhaps the biggest problem in proposal writing.
 Establish the general territory (real world or research).
 Describe the broad foundations of your study—provide sufficient
background for readers.
 Indicate the general scope of your project.
 Provide an overview of the sections that will appear in your proposal
(optional).
 Engage the readers.
 Statement of the Problem
 Answer the question: “What is the gap that needs to be filled?” and/or
“What is the problem that needs to be solved?”
 Some important questions you have to ask to guide you to statement of the
problem include:
 Who has an interest in the topic (e.g. scientists, practitioners, policymakers,
particular members of society)?
 How much is already known about the problem?
 What is missing from current knowledge?
 What new insights will your research contribute?
 Why is this research worth doing?
Purpose/Aims/Rationale/Research Questions
 Explain the goals and research objectives of the study.
 Show the original contributions of your study.
 Provide a more detailed account of the points
summarized in the introduction.
 Include a rationale (basis/foundation/Validation/
reasoning)for the study.
 Be clear about what your study will not address.
Significance/Implications
 Discuss the methodological, substantive, and/or
theoretical contribution.
 State the practical and/or theoretical importance of
the problem and/or objectives of your study.
 Explain the usefulness or benefits of the study to both
the outside world and the research community
Scope and limitations of the
study
 Boundaries of the research
 Aspects and issues addressed
 Be clear about what your study will not address.
 State limitations of the research.
 Shortcomings of the research – resource and time
constraints
Literature Review
 Writing the literature review allows you to
understand:
 How other scholars have written
about your topic.
 The range of theories used to analyze
materials or data
 How other scholars connect their
specific research topics to larger
issues, questions, or practices within
the field.
 The best methodologies and research
techniques for your particular topic.
 Literature Review
The literature review serves several important functions:
 Gives credits to those who have laid the groundwork for your research
 Demonstrates your knowledge of the research problem
 Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical and research issues related to your
research question
 Shows your ability to critically evaluate relevant literature information
 Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the existing literature
 Provides new theoretical insights or develops a new model as the conceptual framework
for your research
 Convinces your reader that your proposed research will make a significant and substantial
contribution to the literature (i.e., resolving an important theoretical issue or filling a
major gap in the literature).
 Literature Review
 It’s important to show that you’re familiar with the most important research on your
topic. A strong literature review convinces the reader that your project has a solid
foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that you’re not simply
repeating what other people have already done or said.
 In this section, aim to demonstrate exactly how your project will contribute to
conversations in the field.
 Compare and contrast: what are the main theories, methods, debates and controversies?
 Be critical: what are the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches?
 Show how your research fits in: how will you build on, challenge, or synthesize the work
of others?
Tips on drafting a literature review
 Categorize the literature into recognizable topic clusters:
 stake out the various positions that are relevant to your
project,
 build on conclusions that lead to your project, or
 demonstrate the places where the literature is lacking.
 Avoid “Smith says X, Jones says Y” literature reviews.
 Avoid including all the studies on the subject.
 Avoid polemics, praise, and blame.
Writing Literature Reviews: Key
Point
 After assessing the literature in your field, you should
be able to answer the following questions:
 Why should we study (further) this research
topic/problem?

 What contributions will my study make to the

existing literature?
 Methods

The Method section is very important because it tells your Research Committee
how you plan to tackle your research problem. It will provide your work plan and
describe the activities necessary for the completion of your project.
The guiding principle for writing the Method section is that it should contain
sufficient information for the reader to determine whether methodology is sound
Furthermore, since there are no well-established and widely accepted canons in
qualitative analysis, your method section needs to be more elaborate than what is
required for traditional quantitative research
More importantly, the data collection process in qualitative research has a far
greater impact on the results as compared to quantitative research.
 Methods
For quantitative studies, the method section typically consists of the following
sections:
 Design -Is it a questionnaire study or a laboratory experiment? What kind of
design do you choose?
 Subjects or participants - Who will take part in your study ? What kind of
sampling procedure do you use?
 Instruments - What kind of measuring instruments or questionnaires do you use?
Why do you choose them? Are they valid and reliable?
 Procedure - How do you plan to carry out your study? What activities are
involved? How long does it take?
 Methodology Used
 Introduce the Selection of overall methodological approach.
 Indicate how the approach fits the overall research design.
 Indicate Tools/techniques to be used
 Describe the specific methods of data collection.
 Explain how you intend to process, analyze and interpret your results (i.e.
statistical analysis, theoretical framework).
 If necessary, provide background and rationale for unfamiliar methodologies.
 Address potential limitations.
 Objectives of the research

Objectives of the research

 Contextual/consistent to the title
 Concise, clear-cut, expressed in simple language, precise, self-
explanatory
 Distinctive, quantifiable , measurable
 Two types of objectives : general/broad/overall; specific
 Results and Discussions
Results
Obviously you do not have results at the proposal stage. However, you need to have
some idea about what kind of data you will be collecting, and what statistical
procedures will be used in order to answer your research question or test you
hypothesis.
Discussion
It is important to convince your reader of the potential impact of your proposed
research. You need to communicate a sense of enthusiasm and confidence without
exaggerating the merits of your proposal. That is why you also need to mention the
limitations and weaknesses of the proposed research, which may be justified by
time and financial constraints as well as by the early developmental stage of your
research area.
Conclusion

 State about the feasibility of the proposed

research/study
 Upcoming challenges
 Upcoming treats, difficulties, hindrances
 Make a conclusive remak
 Budget
 Cost built up – resource personnel, support staff, stationery, transport,
utilities, house rents, miscellaneous, etc
 If you are applying for research funding, you will probably also have to
include a detailed budget that shows how much each part of the project will
cost.
 Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover,
and only include relevant items in your budget. For each item, include:
Cost: exactly how much money do you need?
Justification: why is this cost necessary to complete the research?
Source: how did you calculate the amount?
 Budget
To determine your budget, think about:
Travel costs: do you need to go to specific locations to collect data? How will you
get there, how long will you spend there, and what will you do there (e.g.
interviews, archival research)?
Materials: do you need access to any tools or technologies? Are there training or
installation costs?
Assistance: do you need to hire research assistants for the project? What will they do
and how much will you pay them? Will you outsource any other tasks such as
transcription?
Time: do you need to take leave from regular duties such as teaching? How much
will you need to cover the time spent on the research?
Research Time schedule/work plan

 lists the stages of the research project in timeline,

spreadsheet or tabular format (Gantt chart), and the
deadlines for completion of these stages or tasks.
 Time line of the assigned tasks
 Time line of the resource flow
Bibliography/References
 Related documents to be consulted/studies
 Follow technicalities in writing bibliography/references
 To be presented in alphabetic order
 To be presented in classified manner viz., manuscripts,
books, journals, commission reports, newspapers, etc
 Common Mistakes in Proposal Writing
 Failure to provide the proper context to frame the research question
 Failure to delimit the boundary conditions for your research
 Failure to cite landmark studies
 Failure to accurately present the theoretical and empirical contributions by other
researchers
 Failure to stay focused on the research question
 Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research
 Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major issues
 Too much rambling -- going "all over the map" without a clear sense of direction. (The
best proposals move forward with ease and grace like a seamless river.)
 Too many citation lapses and incorrect references
 Too long or too short.
 
 Guidelines on writing a research
proposal

 Proposal writing specifies what you will do, how you will do it, and how you will interpret
the results.
 The objective in writing a proposal is to describe what you will do, why it should be done,
how you will do it and what you expect will result. Being clear about these things from the
beginning will help you complete your thesis in a timely fashion.
A vague, weak or fuzzy proposal can lead to a long, painful, and often unsuccessful thesis
writing exercise.
A clean, well thought-out, proposal forms the backbone for the thesis itself. The structures
are identical and through the miracle of word-processing, your proposal will probably
become your thesis.
A good thesis proposal hinges on a good idea. Once you have a good idea, you can draft the
proposal in an evening.
 Proposals help you estimate the size of a project. Don't make the project too big.
Components/elements of research
proposal
 Title
 Introduction
 Statement of the problem
 Rationale/justification/significance of the research
 Scope and limitations of the study
 Review of literature
 Objectives of the research
 Methodology Used
 Time schedule/work plan
 Budget/estimated cost built up
 Expected outcome
 Organization of the report/chapter outline
 Conclusions
 Bibliography/References
 Appendix
DOs and DO NOTs
 DO
 Produce/prepare a professional looking proposal
 Make it interesting
 Make it informative, meaningful
 Write easy way to read
 Use clear headings/sub-headings
 Be concise, precise
 Check spelling, grammar
 Present in accurate/acceptable format
 DO NOTs
 Use no word which you do not understand
 Use of difficult word unimpressive to the readers/supervisor/authority