Writing a Research Proposal

The Appropriate Format for Research Proposals

There are many instances in which academic writing can make or break you, including
thesis writing, dissertation writing, and the research proposal generally necessary with
both of these assignments. When applying for a research degree in particular, the
proposal is paramount. You have to write it and for the sake of your future, you have to
write it well.

Many students find themselves wondering, “Just what is a research proposal?”

Succinctly, it is exactly what the name implies: when you submit a research proposal,
you are turning in a proposal for the research you need to do in order to write your thesis,
dissertation, et cetera. PhD candidates especially have to do this assignment; whether or
not they receive their degree depends on it. You also have to realize that you are
competing with other students when you write a proposal. All of you are fighting to
outshine one another so that your work can be recognized as being beneficial to your
chosen field of study.

Your proposal begins, as most papers do, with an introduction. It needs to be powerful
and you should try as hard as you can to capture your reader’s attention right from the
beginning. One of the best ways to do this is by building a strong, specific, and concise
hypothesis. It should be one phrase but should still clearly have the potential to lead to
advancement in your field. In this type of paper, the hypothesis takes the place of a
thesis in other papers.

You also have to be very careful when considering just what you want to research. The
best proposals deal with something which has not been previously studied. Sometimes
this is not possible, but at the very least you should stay away from subjects which have
been discussed exhaustively. That is going to bore your readers for sure; when you bore
your readers, you might just have to kiss that coveted degree good bye.

The methodology chapter is a hugely important part of your research proposal.

Therefore, you definitely need to know how to write methodology before you begin
writing. This is the portion of the proposal which most students find the most difficult.
For that reason, you may want to take a look at some proposal examples in order to make
sure you know what you are doing. Put simply, the methodology chapter chronicles the
methods you use to achieve your research results. You need to be very detailed in this
portion of your paper. That is why examples offer so much proposal help. Perhaps, for
instance, you conducted surveys; perhaps you even conducted some medical research.
Whatever the case, you need to document your methods and your findings thoroughly.
Your reader needs to be with you every step of the way; he or she needs to completely
understand what you found, how you found it, and why you decided to conduct your
research the way that you did.
The literature review is another important part of the research proposal. This is yet
another portion of the proposal which confuses a lot of students. It has come to the
writer’s attention, in fact, that many readers still are not sure how to set up the literature
review. Worry not; this article contains the bare bones of proposal writing. Stay tuned
for more in depth examinations of both the methodology chapter and the literature
review – with sample formats included wherever possible.

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How to Write a PhD Dissertation Proposal & a PhD

Dissertation

PhD Dissertation Writing Made Easy (if that's

possible!)

This is a brief overview of the process involved in

selecting, refining, and then writing a PhD
Dissertation. It includes a representative outline, a
section on the literature review, thesis or
dissertation research methodologies, and the overall
process.

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 Many aspects of writing a dissertation are the same as those for preparing a
Master’s Thesis. However, PhD dissertations are somewhat more involved and complex
but yet they can be broken down in stages and completed part by part making them much
more manageable. Just as with a Master’s thesis, a dissertation involves the assignment of
a supervisor, a mentor, or a tutor depending on where you are going to school.
Additionally, there is also a committee that must be selected which consists of different
professors from a variety of disciplines that will act to review the final dissertation
document and approve or disapprove it. Bear in mind, between your tutor or mentor and
the committee, you are going to deal with a lot of intellectual phlegm from academics
who make a career out of being critical.

That said, just stay focused on your research project and work on it one stage at a
time. The first thing that you should do is examine the outline of what a completed
dissertation should include. For your benefit I have included a detailed table of contents
below that you can look over to get an idea of the type of work and thesis you must
become familiar with. You would be surprised at how many people enter a PhD program
without any idea of what is involved in terms of the final completed project which is the
dissertation. Just by looking over the various chapters and stages of the typical
dissertation you can get better grasp of what you need to do and where you should start:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES. ix

LIST OF FIGURES. x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.. 1

Background of the Problem.. 2

Statement of the Problem.. 2

Purpose of the Study. 2

Significance of the Problem.. 3

Nature of the Study. 3

Research Questions. 3

Hypotheses. 4
Theoretical Framework. 4

Definition of Terms. 5

Assumptions. 5

Limitations. 5

Delimitations. 6

Summary. 6

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.. 7

Documentation. 7

Literature Review.. 7

First Subthesis - Heading level Two. 8

Second Subthesis - Heading level Two Title Case. 8

Subheading Level Three Title Case. 8

Subheading Level Three - Title Case. 8

Summary. 9

Conclusion. 9

CHAPTER 3: METHOD.. 10

Research Design. 10

Appropriateness of Design. 10

Research Questions. 10

Population. 11

Informed Consent 11

Sampling Frame. 11

Confidentiality. 11
Geographic Location. 12

Instrumentation. 12

Data Collection. 12

Data Analysis. 12

Validity and Reliability. 13

Summary. 13

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS. 14

Findings. 14

Summary. 19

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 20

Conclusion. 20

Implications. 21

Recommendations. 21

REFERENCES. 22

APPENDIX A: TITLE THAT IDENTIFIES APPENDIX TO THE READER.. 23

APPENDIX B: INFORMED CONSENT FORM... 25

One of the first things that you should notice is the level of detail that you must
achieve in relation to a specific thesis and that is where you should first focus you
energies on—identifying an appropriately refined thesis. Basically, if you thesis is
specific enough and, better yet, is one that you are actually interested in then half the
battle is over because you will enjoy doing the project except for dealing with the bloated
heads who you are going to have kowtow to in order to get your project approved. So,
before beginning your dissertation I have detailed some steps that you should take in
preparation for getting started on your PhD dissertation proposal which is usually the first
three chapters, in shortened form:
*Identify a narrow thesis that is interesting to you

*Identify a methodology which is going to be either qualitative or quantitative (Hint: if

you have a choice select a qualitative methodology and go with the case study or
bracketing method if you can. However, if you must choose a quantitative methodology
then utilize descriptive statistics because these are relatively simple statistical analysis
procedures and can be accomplished in Excel. If you go with a more complex statistical
analysis method such as ANOVA or MANOVA then you will need SPSS or a similar
statistical analysis application)

*Do a brief online database search for similar research reports or articles

These simple steps will accomplish much in preparing you to formulate your proposal
and crystallize your overall dissertation project.

Writing Thesis/Dissertation Proposals

Your thesis/dissertation proposal provides an overview of your proposed plan of

work, including the general scope of your project, your basic research questions, research
methodology, and the overall significance of your study. In short, your proposal explains
what you want to study, how you will study this thesis, why this thesis needs to be
studied, and (generally) when you intend to do this work. (Occasionally, you may also
need to explain where your study will take place.)

Purpose:

Dissertation/Thesis proposals are designed to:

* Justify and plan (or contract for) a research project.

* Show how your project contributes to existing research.

* Demonstrate to your advisor and committee that you understand how to conduct
discipline-specific research within an acceptable time-frame.

Audience:

Most proposals are written specifically for your academic advisor and committee.
Proposal Writing and Anxiety

General Advice:

* Establish a writing schedule, preferably writing at the same time and place each
day.

* Begin by free-writing. Remember that no one but you has to see the initial draft.

* Keep a small notebook with you throughout the day to write down relevant
thoughts.

* Say parts of your writing into a recording device and then play it back to yourself.

* Compose different parts of the proposal in different computer files or on different

index cards to help with arranging and rearranging.
* Start with more “clear cut” stages first, rather than with the Introduction, since it
may be the most difficult part to write.

Proposal-Specific Advice:

* Understand that the proposal will be a negotiated document, so be prepared to draft,

redraft, and resubmit it.
* Think of the proposal as an introduction to your thesis—not a chapter, not an
extensive literature review, not an opportunity to rehearse the major conflicts in your
field. You are “bridging the gap” between existing work and your work.
* Remember that the proposal is not a contract that determines what your thesis will
demonstrate. You will likely modify and refine your scope, argument, and methods.
* Remember that your proposal is not meant to limit your ideas, but to help you think
in practical terms about how you intend to research and write your dissertation.
* Ask colleagues to form a writing group that you can use to exchange ideas, drafts,
and experiences. As lonely as it may seem sometimes, writing is a social activity.

Because proposal requirements vary broadly by department, program, and advisor,

generalizing them is difficult. The best advice is the simplest: consult with your advisor,
ask to see past successful proposals, and talk to your colleagues. Using other proposals to
help you generate ideas in not plagiarizing!

The following table provides an overview of the entire dissertation proposal and
dissertation process that you can check off as you complete each stage or step:

Week Main task to be completed Find time this week also to Possible interim
 by end of this week: explore: deadlines
1 Background reading Follow interesting ‘trails’, until one
leads to a provisional question or
‘thesis’
2 Finalise thesis and title More background and focused Agreement of title
reading on your chosen aspect of the
thesis
3 Literature search – what has Investigate methodological issues, Brief annotated
already been written about implications of particular methods bibliography
your thesis? Seek out up-to- and ethical issues. See the
date resources, asking for help Developing an Appropriate strategy
from library staff Guide and Using Endnote
Bibliographic Software Guide for
help with constructing and
maintaining a bibliography
4 Dissertation plan, informed by Reflect on methodological issues in Overview of
your literature search writing and revising your design of
dissertation plan dissertation plan
5 Develop dissertation plan Begin to conduct your research and
gather evidence or data
6 Gathering evidence or data
7 Gathering evidence or data Begin to analyse evidence or data
8 Gathering evidence or data Begin to analyse evidence or data
9 Use initial findings to begin to Continue to analyse and evaluate Interim report to
draft the dissertation evidence or data supervisor
10 Refine assignment plan and Focus on adopting an appropriate
develop draft, referring to self- academic tone and style, together
evaluation checklist in Stage 4 with accurate, reader-friendly
presentation of evidence
11 Continue drafting and
refining
12 Complete draft Refine style Completed draft
13 Apply self-evaluation checklist Last refinements of written style and
again presentation; final check of data and
its presentation
14 Produce final assignment Submit dissertation

PARTS OF A PROPOSAL

Despite their wide differences, proposals across programs generally include at

least some form of the following stages (though you will want to check with your
academic advisor about the specific stages s/he requires): Title, Abstract,
Introduction/Background, Problem Statement, Purpose/Aims/Rationale, Review of
Literature, Methodology, Significance/Implications, Overview of Chapters, Plan of
Work, Bibliography.

Sometimes these stages may be combined—in some fields, the problem

statement, aims, and review of literature are all part of the introduction. The most
common elements are the introduction/problem statement, review of literature, and
methodology (which in some fields roughly correspond to the first three chapters of the
dissertation).

Title

At this early stage, you need only provide a working title. You can decide on the
exact wording for your title when you are nearer to completing your dissertation.
Nevertheless, even at the start, aim to create a title that conveys the idea of your
investigation. Normally, a title beginning “A study in . . .” is too vague; decide whether
you want to compare, collate, assess, etc. Also, don’t worry if you compose a long title.
You are preparing to write an academic document, not to devise a snappy headline for a
tabloid newspaper.

A good title should:

* Orient your readers to the thesis you will research.

* Indicate the type of study you will conduct.

Abstract

Not all fields require abstracts, so check with your advisor to see if you are
required to include one. The abstract should:

* Provide a brief (100-350 word) overview of the proposal that gives a reader a basic
understanding of your proposal and encourages her or him to read more.
* Summarize Introduction, Statement of the Problem, Background of the Study,
Research Questions or Hypotheses, and Methods and Procedures.
* (In some cases, the abstract may need to be very brief—no more than 50 words—in
which case, it will be more descriptive than complete.)

Introduction/Background

The introduction helps put your project in conversation with other projects on
similar thesis. Generally, the introduction provides necessary background information to
your study and provides readers with some sense of your overall research interest. A
good introduction should:

* Establish the general territory (real world or research) in which the research is
placed.

* Describe the broad foundations of your study, including some references to existing
literature and/or empirically observable situations. In other words, the introduction
needs to provide sufficient background for readers to understand where your study is
coming from.
* Indicate the general scope of your project, but do not go into so much detail that
later stages (purpose/literature review) become irrelevant.
* Provide an overview of the stages that will appear in your proposal (optional).

* Engage the readers.

Statement of the Problem

This stage may be incorporated in your introduction or your purpose stage, or it may
stand independently (it depends on the field). Some proposals start with the statement of
the problem, rather than a more general introduction. Regardless of placement, at some
point you need to clearly identify the problem or knowledge gap that your project is
responding to. This stage should:

* Answer the question: “What is the gap that needs to be filled?” and/or “What is the
problem that needs to be solved?”
* State the problem clearly early in a paragraph.

* Limit the variables you address in stating your problem or question.

You may want to consider framing your problem “statement” as a question, since you are
really seeking to answer a question (or a set of questions) in your study.

Purpose/Aims/Rationale/Research Questions

Most proposals include a clear statement of the research objectives, including a

description of the questions the research seeks to answer or the hypotheses the research
advances. This may be included as part of the introduction, or it may be a separate stage.
Spend significant time brainstorming before and while you draft this stage. Once you
begin your dissertation research, you may find that your aims change in emphasis or in
number. What is essential for you at this point, though, is to specify for your readers—
and for yourself—the precise focus of your research and to identify key concepts you will
be studying.

A clear statement of purpose will:

* Explain the goals and research objectives of the study (what do you hope to find?).

* Show the original contributions of your study by explaining how your research
questions or approach are different from previous research (what will you add to the
field of knowledge?).

* Provide a more detailed account of the points summarized in the introduction.

* Include a rationale for the study (why should we study this?).

* Be clear about what your study will not address (this is especially important if you
are applying for competitive funding; narrowly focused studies are more likely to win
funding).

In addition, this stage may:

* Describe the research questions and/or hypotheses of the study.

* Include a substage defining important terms, especially if they will be new to some
readers or if you will use them in an unfamiliar way.

* State limitations of the research.

* Provide a rationale for the particular subjects of the study.

Review of the Literature

 The literature review is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to
the work that you are carrying out. Obviously, at this point you are not likely to have read
everything related to your research questions, but you should still be able to identify the
key texts with which you will be in conversation as you write your dissertation. Literature
reviews often include both the theoretical approaches to your thesis and research
(empirical or analytical) on your thesis.

Writing the literature review allows you to understand:

* How other scholars have written about your thesis (in addition to what they have
written).

* The range of theories scholars use to analyze their primary materials or data

* How other scholars connect their specific research thesiss to larger issues,
questions, or practices within the field.

* The best methodologies and research techniques for your particular thesis.

The literature review has four major functions or rhetorical goals that you should keep in
mind as you write:

* It situates the current study within a wider disciplinary conversation.

* It illustrates the uniqueness, importance of and need for your particular project by
explaining how your research questions and approach are different from those of
other scholars.
* It justifies methodological choices.
* It demonstrates your familiarity with the thesis and appropriate approaches to
studying it.

Appropriate literature reviews should:

* Flesh out the Introduction’s brief description of the background of your study.

* Critically assess important research trends or areas of interest relevant to your

study.

* Identify potential gaps in knowledge.

 * Establish a need for current and/or future research projects.

Advice on drafting your Literature Review:

* Categorize the literature into recognizable thesis clusters and begin each with a
sub-heading. Look for trends and themes and then synthesize related information.
You want to
1) stake out the various positions that are relevant to your project,
2) build on conclusions that lead to your project, or
3) demonstrate the places where the literature is lacking, whether due
to a methodology you think is incomplete or to assumptions you think are
flawed.
* Avoid “Smith says X, Jones says Y” literature reviews. You should be tying the
literature you review to specific facets of your problem, not to review for the sake
of reviewing.
* Avoid including all the studies on the subject or the vast array of scholarship
that brought you to the subject. As tempting as it might be to throw in everything
you know, the literature review is not the place for such demonstration. Stick to
those pieces of the literature directly relevant to your narrowed subject (question
or statement of a problem).
* Avoid polemics, praise, and blame. You should fight the temptation to strongly
express your opinions about about the previous literature. Your task is to justify
your project given the known scholarship, so polemics, praise, and blame are
unnecessary and possibly distracting.

Point to Remember: You are entering a scholarly conversation already in progress. The
literature review shows that you’ve been listening in and that you have something
valuable to say. After assessing the literature in your field, you should be able to answer
the following questions:

* Why should we study (further) this research thesis/problem?

* What contributions will my study make to the existing literature?

Methodology

This stage is essential to most good research proposals. How you study a problem
is often as important as the results you collect. This stage includes a description of the
general means through which the goals of the study will be achieved: methods, materials,
procedures, tasks, etc.
An appropriate methodology stage should:

* Introduce the overall methodological approach for each problem or question. Is

your study qualitative or quantitative? Are you going to take a special approach, such
as action research, or use case studies?

* Indicate how the approach fits the overall research design. Your methods should
have a clear connection with your research questions and/or hypotheses. In other
words, make sure that your methods will actually answer your questions—Don
Thackrey notes that the most common reason for the rejection of professional
proposals is that “the proposed tests, or methods, or scientific procedures are unsuited
to the stated objective.”

* Describe the specific methods of data collection you are going to use—e.g. surveys,
interviews, questionnaires, observation, archival or traditional library research.

* Explain how you intend to analyze and interpret your results. Will you use
statistical analysis? Will you use specific theoretical perspectives to help you analyze
a text or explain observed behaviors?

* If necessary, provide background and rationale for methodologies that are

unfamiliar for your readers. (Typically, the social sciences and humanities require
more explanation/rationale of methods than the hard sciences).

* If applicable, you may also need to provide a rationale for subject selection
(particularly if you have not already provided one). For instance, if you propose to
conduct interviews and use questionnaires, how do you intend to select the sample
population? If you are analyzing literary texts, which texts have you chosen, and
why?
 * Address potential limitations. Are there any practical limitations that could affect
your data collection? How will you attempt to control for potential confounding
variables and errors?

Advice on drafting your methodology stage:

* Break down your methodology into easily digestible substages.

* In the physical sciences, these stages may include subjects, design, apparatus,
instrumentation, process, analysis, etc.
* In the social sciences, these stages may include selection of participants,
interview process, profiles, interpretive and analytic framework, methods of
qualitative analysis, etc.
* In the humanities, these stages may include scholarly research, archival
research, theoretical orientation, etc.
* Remember that your methods stage may also require supporting literature.

* Anticipate and pre-empt the audience’s methodological concerns.

* If the audience might have a problem with a facet of the methodology, admit
this difficulty and justify your approach.
* If your methodology may lead to problems you can anticipate (including
timeframe problems), state this openly and show why pursuing the methodology
outweighs the risk of these problems cropping up.
Point to Remember: If you have demonstrated that you have considered even the
downside of your methods, their advantages will seem more carefully developed.

Significance/ Implications

Some proposals require a separate stage stating the significance of the study. A clear
statement of significance may:

* Discuss the methodological, substantive, and/or theoretical contribution you

anticipate making to existing knowledge in your (sub)field.
* Plainly state the practical and/or theoretical importance of the problem and/or
objectives of your study, given current knowledge and practices.
* Explain the usefulness or benefits of the study, if possible (and especially for
funding agencies), to both the outside world and the research community.
Overview of Chapters

Some proposals also include a brief description of relevant chapters. Check with
your advisor to see if this is required for your proposal. Finally, I have included the
following table that allows you to synthesize the proposal into the final project and to
complete the overall dissertation. Remember, the more detail and effort you put into your
proposal then the less work and effort you will have to put into the final dissertation:

Questions Yes/No/

Not sure
1 Dissertation thesis

Is the thesis clear and well defined? Does it involve a problem,

question, or hypothesis that sets the agenda and points precisely to what
needs to be explored or discovered?

Is the thesis of genuine relevance or interest within your subject

discipline? Does it pick up on important or interesting themes or subjects
arising from your studies?

2 Literature review

Have you accessed the most recent literature of relevance to your thesis,
as well as seminal sources from the past?

Do you refer to major books, articles, artefacts? Since quality is more

important than quantity – how well have you selected your material?

Does the literature review hang together, to show how the ideas and
findings have developed, or is it merely a shopping list of books and
articles?
Is the review critical? Does it briefly evaluate, showing how your
dissertation fits into what is mistaken or lacking in other studies? The
literature review should provide a critically appraised context for your
studies.

3 Theoretical underpinnings

Does theory permeate the structure from beginning to end, from

statement of problem to conclusion? Are you asking yourself a key
question, presenting a thesis, or defending a statement? Be clear about
your approach.

Theory is the framework of your study – not a luxury. Your dissertation

will be judged, in part, by how well you express and critically
understand the theory you are using, and how clearly and consistently it
is connected with the focus and methodology of your dissertation.

4 Methodology

Two primary criteria:

Is your choice of methods and research techniques well suited to the

kind of problem you are studying? Methods work if they provide a
persuasive response to your question, positive or negative.

Is your description of the methods you have adopted clear enough to

take a blueprint and replicate?

5 Results

Are your findings faithful to what you actually found – do you claim
more than you should? Don’t ‘massage’ your evidence or findings…
Have you provided enough evidence to make a convincing case?

Have you presented everything directly relevant to the question in such a

way that the reader doesn’t have to flip back and forth to make her or his
own connections?

Are results or findings clearly and accurately written, easy to read, grasp
and understand?

6 Conclusions

Have you answered the question ‘So what?’. What should we do with
your findings and conclusions? What do they imply?

Findings don’t speak for themselves – they need to be analysed. Have

you explained what your findings mean and their importance, in relation
to theory and practice?

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Anonymous

Software tools for Writing a PhD

Our tutorial on which tools to use for writing a PhD might also be interesting for you and
your readers: http://sciplore.org/blog/2010/03/02/how-to-write-a-phd-thesis/

May 4, 2010 3:51 PM

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Anonymous

Untitled

It was great. Thank you for your guidance on how to write a ph.d proposal.
it is really helpful.
Thank you again so much,
Scincerely You,
Elham

Last edited Apr 23, 2010 12:49 PM

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