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.
Most students and beginning researchers
do not fully understand what a research
proposal means, nor do they understand
its importance. To put it bluntly, one's
research is only as a good as one's
proposal. An ill-conceived proposal
dooms the project even if it somehow gets
through the Project Supervisory
Committee.
A high quality proposal, on the other
hand, not only promises success for the
project, but also impresses your Thesis
Committee about your potential as a
researcher.
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?
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.
The quality of your research proposal
depends not only on the quality of your
proposed project, but also on the quality
of your proposal writing.
A good research project may run the risk
of rejection simply because the proposal
is poorly written. Therefore, it pays if
your writing is coherent, clear and
compelling.
Components of a research proposal
Title:
It should be concise and descriptive. For
example, the phrase, "An investigation
of . . ." could be omitted.
Often titles are stated in terms of a
functional relationship, because such titles
clearly indicate the independent and
dependent variables.
However, if possible, think of an
informative but catchy title.
An effective title not only pricks the
reader's interest, but also predisposes
him/her favourably towards the proposal.
Introduction:
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.
The introduction typically begins with a
general statement of the problem area,
with a focus on a specific research
problem, to be followed by the rational or
justification for the proposed study.
The introduction generally covers the
following elements:
[Link] the research problem, which is
often referred to as the purpose of the
study.
[Link] the context and set the stage for
your research question in such a way as to
show its necessity and importance.
[Link] the rationale of your proposed
study and clearly indicate why it is worth
doing.
[Link] describe the major issues and
sub-problems to be addressed by your
research.
[Link] the key independent and
dependent variables of your experiment.
Alternatively, specify the phenomenon
you want to study.
[Link] your hypothesis or theory, if any. For
exploratory or phenomenological research,
you may not have any hypotheses. (Please do
not confuse the hypothesis with the statistical
null hypothesis.)
[Link] the delimitation or boundaries of your
proposed research in order to provide a clear
focus.
[Link] definitions of key concepts. (This
is optional.)
Literature Review:
Sometimes the literature review is
incorporated into the introduction section.
However, most professors prefer a
separate section, which allows a more
thorough review of the literature.
The literature review serves several
important functions:
1. Ensures that you are not "reinventing
the wheel".
2. Gives credits to those who have laid
the groundwork for your research.
3. Demonstrates your knowledge of the
research problem.
4. Demonstrates your understanding of
the theoretical and research issues related
to your research question.
[Link] your ability to critically
evaluate relevant literature information.
[Link] your ability to integrate and
synthesize the existing literature.
7. Provides new theoretical insights or
develops a new model as the conceptual
framework for your research.
8. 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).
Most students' literature reviews suffer
from the following problems:
Lacking organization and structure
Lacking focus, unity and coherence
Being repetitive and verbose
Failing to cite influential papers
Failing to keep up with recent developments
Failing to critically evaluate cited papers
Citing irrelevant or trivial references
Depending too much on secondary sources
Your scholarship and research
competence will be questioned if any of
the above applies to your proposal.
There are different ways to organize your
literature review.
Make use of subheadings to bring order
and coherence to your review.
For example, having established the
importance of your research area and its
current state of development, you may
devote several subsections on related
issues as: theoretical models, measuring
instruments, cross-cultural and gender
differences, etc.
Itis also helpful to keep in mind that you
are telling a story to an audience.
Try to tell it in a stimulating and
engaging manner.
Do not bore them, because it may lead to
rejection of your worthy proposal.
Methodology/Research Design
The Method section is very important
because it tells your Research Committee
how you plan to tackle your research
problem.
Itwill 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.
Some even argue that a good proposal
should contain sufficient details for
another qualified researcher to implement
the study.
You need to demonstrate your knowledge
of alternative methods and make the case
that your approach is the most appropriate
and most valid way to address your
research question.
Please note that your research question
may be best answered by qualitative
research.
However, since most mainstream
psychologists are still biased against
qualitative research, especially the
phenomenological variety, you may need
to justify your qualitative method.
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.
That is another reason for greater care in
describing how you will collect and
analyze your data.
For quantitative studies, the method
section typically consists of the following
sections:
1. Design – Research Method to be used -
Is it a Survey or a laboratory experiment?
What kind of method do you choose?
2. Subjects or participants - Who will take
part in your study ? What kind of
sampling procedure do you use?
[Link] - What kind of measuring
instruments or questionnaires do you use?
Why do you choose them? Are they valid
and reliable?
[Link] - How do you plan to carry
out your study? What activities are
involved? How long does it take?
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:
Itis 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.
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.
Slopping writing.
