Research Proposal

The research proposal is the first important step in any academic research effort. Generally about 25 – 40 pages in length and written in the future tense. A full literature search is not required at this stage; however, an annotated bibliography must be prepared and included in the proposal covering the material relevant to the proposed area of interest or topic. The relationship between the proposed topic and the literature reviewed should be discussed in this proposal.

Research Problem and Goal

This section describe the Research Problem that need to be addressed (why this research effort is being undertaken) and a concise description of research goal (what the research effort will accomplish). Both research problem and goal must be supported by evidence from the literature search. Effort must be made to define a goal that is measurable, that is, the faculty must be able to use the goal statement to determine whether the research project is successfully completed. Therefore, the goal contained in the research proposal should be measurable.

Poorly written research problem and goal measurement can be the basis for rejection. If students not able to justify the motives of their research effort, then the student do not have the basis for a project paper.

Relevance, Significance, and Literature Review

Any academic research effort must have relevance to the situation described, and contribute in a significant way to the advancement of body of knowledge, improve professional practice, and /or contribute to understanding of issues described. Where possible, the project paper is worthy of publication in a journal or conference proceeding in the area or as a textbook or monograph.

An extensive critical review of literature is not required at this stage, but a brief review and discussion of the literature must be included in the proposal. An annotated bibliography is necessary covering the literatures relevant to the proposed research areas. See annotated bibliography section below for amplification.

Barriers and Issues

In this section, students are to discuss any major issues or problems that they might face during the research effort, and the expected degree of difficulties in resolving them.

Approach

Students are expected to discuss, in details how they intent to accomplish the research goal. A list of major steps to be taken, in sequence that must be taken to accomplish the research goal.,/p>

Project Plan

Student are required to prepare a plan to include (i) activities or task that need to be accomplished, including a list of major milestones, with dates or timeframes; (ii) resources, both human and non-human that are required to perform or support the research effort. Students are suggested to attend any seminar or classes on project management to enhance their skills.

Annotated Bibliography

Students are recommended to conduct both physical and computer search. Depending on the postgradute degree being pursued, usually at MASTERS level, physical library resources should be at least 30 items out of which 70 percent (21 items) derived from related journals and 30 percent (9 items) from related books. However, students are reminded that these annotations must be theirs and not those obtained from publication’s abstract. The relationships of the identified literature and its relevance to the topic must be discussed.

Reference List

A list of references must be prepared and cited in the proposal. However, only those cited and referred-to in the proposal can be included. For those not cited or referred to must be excluded for the list. 

Final Research Proposal

The finalised project proposal is a formal document that provides the framework and supports the students’ research effort. The document must state clearly the fundamental concepts and theories to the study; with concise and accurate research problem; that is, specific and measurable goals are specified; a thorough literature review is presented; the methods for conducting the research are delineated; and strategies to achieve the research goal is given. Generally, the proposal is written in the future tense and a well formulated proposal acts as a blueprint for generating the final project paper.

Evaluation of research proposal is generally based on the content and clarity of the introduction, literature review, procedures, expectations, and the effectiveness with which the document is organised and planned. Factors affecting the evaluation process include the purpose, significance, merit of the investigation and the appropriateness of procedures chosen to meet the goal.

 

Typical chapter content and layout:

The outline for the Final Research Proposal can be described as follows. However, not all of the sections outlined here may be appropriate for all projects. Students are to engage their supervisor while drafting the proposal.

Front Matter

Title Page: The title page includes the exact title of the project, date of submission, the student’s name, and name of the student’s Masters. The title must clearly state the topic of the project, reflects the scope and content of the investigation. No page number is placed on the title page.

Form: Research Proposal Submission Form (use your univeristy’s relevant forms)

Abstract: Preferably a one-paged brief summary of the research purpose and content of the proposal. The abstract includes the problem statement, a description of procedures or methodology, and an account of expectations. The abstract shall be within 350 words in length and written in future tense. Page number ONE in roman (i) is placed at the bottom centre of the abstract page.

Table of Contents: The table of contents includes entries for the abstract, list of tables, list of figures, chapters with their numbers and titles, main headings and subheadings, appendices, and reference list. The title of each entry in the table of contents corresponds to the title listed in the respective text. Each listing specifies a page number indicating where it is located. A separate list of tables and list of figures are used if the document contains two or more tables and figures.

List of Tables

List of Figures

Page numbers on the abstracts, table of contents, lists of tables or figures, and any other front matter of the proposal is printed in lower case roman numerals centred at the bottom of the page. All other pages in the proposal are numbered in Arabic numerals and printed in the lower right of the page.

Main Body

Chapter 1: Introduction
• Statement of the problem to be investigated and goal to be achieved
• Relevance, significance and need for the study
• Barriers and issues
• Elements, hypotheses, theories, or research questions to be investigated
• Limitations and delimitations of the study
• Definition of terms
• Summary
Chapter 2: Review of the Literature
• Historical overview of the theory and research literature
• The theory and research literature specific to the topic
• Summary of what is known and unknown about the topic
• The contribution this study will make to the field
Chapter 3: Methodology
• Research method(s) to be employed
• Specific procedures to be employed
• Formats for presenting results
• Expected outcomes
• Resource requirements
• Reliability and validity
• Summary
Chapter 4: Discussion of Expectations
• Anticipated benefits
• Expected outcomes
• Practical applications of the findings
• Constraints and limitations of the study
• Recommendations for future research
• Contributions to the field of study and advancement of knowledge

Back Matter

• Annotated Bibliography
• Appendices
• List of Source and References in accordance to Harvard referencing system.

Students are advised to engage their research supervisors frequently during the proposal drafting.

 

 

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