GUIDELINES OF CONCEPT PAPER DEVELOPMENT BY PhD APPLICATNTS

1. INTRODUCTION

A concept paper is meant to give the university an informed idea of the applicant’s areas
of research interest in order to avail the necessary assistance for them to develop a full
research proposal and allocate supervisors to give the necessary assistance. Applicants
should therefore be as specific as possible. Concept papers vary in format and specifics
depending on the university, but are generally concise documents containing accurate
relevant information and persuasive arguments to enable decision making. These
guidelines are intended to guide applicants on how to develop the concept papers as part
of the application process.
2. PROCESS OF DEVELOPING A CONCEPT PAPER

1. Selection of Research Field- Each University has got specialized fields of

research and therefore students have to research within those fields only. It is
a requirement for the students to clearly select a research field as only offered
by the University and anything outside what is offered will not be acceptable.
For example, a student cannot select Robotics as a research field when it is not
among the ones offered within the University. The student’s selection will be
always guided by the list of the research fields that have been clearly listed by
the University.
2. Generate an area of interest-This is an area where you have a curiosity.
What are you curious about (within the general area of specialization/field
where you wish to do your research? A student who wishes to specialize in
public administration would for example be curious about public service values.
 A student who wishes to do research in computer science may be very curious
about systems security or internet fraud. A student who wishes
to specialize in business administration may be curious about the increasing
corporate governance crisis. A student who wishes to specialize in management
may be curious about management styles adopted by CEOs in Uganda. The
selection of this area is influenced by a number of factors including;
• The applicant’s knowledge of the state of scientific discipline of his or
her area of specialization
• The applicant’s knowledge of the Social problems
• The applicant’s personal values and research expertise in a particular
filed
• Social premiums
• Practical considerations and accessibility to the research subjects
• Financial constraints-applicants must gauge their financial strength to
select an area of research.
• The applicant’s research paradigm-qualitative, quantitative orientation
or both
• Educational background will determine what initial knowledge the
applicant can bring into the research.

3. Choose one of the areas of curiosity and develop some specific

questions (this is called "question framing"). Many research questions
can be classified as (1) exploratory (just trying to find out about something);
(2) descriptive (trying to obtain descriptive data, such as average age, income,
etc.) and (3) explanatory (trying to explain the relationship between variables,
like your major in college and your future earnings). Think about answers to
certain questions-it is common for a good researcher writing a concept paper
to ask the following questions:

• What will be the research unit?- will the study be on individuals, groups,
structure, systems etc?
• What is the level of research?- first level (relationship between
individuals), second level (relationship between individuals and groups)
and third level (relationship between groups)
• What key variables are to be explored in the intended study?
• What are the anticipated relationships among the variables identified?
• What hypothesis (if any) does the applicant have on the variables
identified?

4. Formulate a possible research topic or title based on the answers

above. In particular, once you are clear on your variables and anticipated
relationship, it becomes clear to formulate a tentative topic for investigation
 which will be discussed and approved by your supervisor. The title should not
exceed 20 words and should be clear and concise.
5. Do any of your questions lend themselves to a research hypothesis?
If so, write out any hypotheses. A research hypothesis is an "educated guess"
about relationships that may explain behavior and phenomena. Sometimes we
refer to our research hypothesis as our thesis or theses (plural). If research
hypotheses involve quantitative data, they may be tested statistically through
statistical hypothesis testing. Note that developing hypotheses may require
some preliminary research or prior knowledge (which is why a hypothesis is
called an educated guess).
6. Identify the ideal evidence (data) and how you will probably try to
gather that evidence (your methodology). You are very likely to need
multiple types of evidence (data). The methodology you will probably have to
use will include the following:

• Review literature on history through secondary sources about the area

of your proposed research
• Think about what type of data you may need to conduct your study and
address your curiosity
• Think about the methods you are likely to use to get the data that you
wish
• Think about the population and sample from which you are likely to get
the information
• Think about how you are likely to analyze the data that you may collect

7. Write a Concept Paper. Draw on what you have developed in terms of areas
of curiosity, research questions, research hypotheses, data sources, and
methodology. Begin with a very direct and explicit statement of your area of
interest and your research question(s). This should take about one paragraph.
Move on to state your research hypotheses, or thesis statement. This should
take another paragraph or so. Conclude with a discussion of your proposed
methodology. This should take another paragraph. The entire Concept Paper
should be at least 2 pages and not be more than 10 pages, double-spaced.
Citations are appropriate if you used any sources in developing your Concept
Paper.
8. Before turning in your concept paper, go through this checklist to
make sure your concept paper is of the highest quality possible:

1. Are you proposing to research something that is really of interest to you?

2. Are your research questions truly appropriate for academic inquiry, or are
they more appropriate for casual or non-scholarly consideration?
 3. Are your research questions actual questions that can be researched
through academic means (e.g., library sources, interviews, surveys, etc.) or
are they opinions or attitudes that can't really be researched?
4. Does your concept paper attempt to research an area of interest to you and
ask (and propose to answer) specific questions, or is it trying to solve some
problem (finding solutions to problems is not appropriate for a research
paper, although you may make policy recommendations as a result of your
findings).
5. Are your questions specific?
6. Are your questions answerable through research?
7. Have you stated at least one hypothesis (research or statistical)?
8. Have you identified the data you will need and how you will get it
(methodology)?
9. Have you included citations, if appropriate, and a reference list or
bibliography?

Summary of the Concept Development Process

3. STRUCTURE OF THE CONCEPT PAPER.

As a guide and to encourage uniformity in assessment of the concept papers, all

applicants should structure their concept papers; taking into account the preceding
process guidelines; as follows;
 • Cover page-include the title of your research, your names as they appear
in the academic documents, the area of specialization of the PhD as
advertised and months and date
• Introduction-Briefly tells us about the area of your proposed interest and
why such area is of significance to study. Justify why such an area is of
utmost importance to do research about ( not more than 3 paragraphs)

• Problem statement-Briefly state what the problem of the investigation

will be for the proposed study. Give evidence of the magnitude of the
problem by either giving the statistics where applicable or citations.
Remember your problem can be theoretical or practical and whichever you
opt to address, make sure you have ‘convicted’ the problem (two
paragraphs)

• Research Questions, Objectives and Hypotheses. Formulate the key

questions which your study intends to explore. The questions should be in
harmony with the formulated objectives and any hypotheses if any; given
the natural relationships among the three. Not more than 6 research
questions/ objectives should be formulated

• Literature-Briefly review the current literature about the proposed area of

research. Use journal sources and primary sources like dissertations within
your area of specialization. At this level, you can show how current you are
aware of the debates and developments within your chosen area of research
(2-3 pages would be adequate)

• Methodology. Finally, you should briefly describe the methodology you

intend to follow in conducting the proposed research. You need to show in
this methodology the research orientation in terms of research paradigm
qualitative, quantitative or both

• References. The last part of your concept paper should be a list of

references (all works cited in the text) and ensure you follow the American
Psychological association style of referencing (APA). Its guidelines are
available on the World Wide Web.

4. FURTHER CONTACTS:

In case you have further issues about the PhD application process, and specifically for
specializations in management, public administration, economics, development studies,
and business administration, contact:
 Dr. Joseph Micheal Okwadi Tukei, Ph.D.

Dean Graduate School

Uganda Technology And Management University (UTAMU)
Mobile. +256-0701-825410/0772825410
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

For those specializing in science or computing please contact:

Professor Muwanga-Zake, Johnnie Wycliffe Frank

Deputy Vice Chancellor
Uganda Technology And Management University (UTAMU)
Mob.Tel: (+256) 788 485 749
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]