Module 15 The Research Proposal and the Research

Project Report
Objectives

 Understand what is meant by a research proposal

 Produce a research proposal
 Understand what is meant by a research project report
 Produce a research project report.

Research proposal

The objective in writing a research proposal is to describe what will be done, why it
should be done, how it will be done and the results expected. Being clear about
these things from the beginning helps with completion of the project in a timely
fashion. A vague, weak or fuzzy proposal can lead to a long, painful, and often
unsuccessful project. A clean, well thought-out proposal forms the backbone for the
research itself. The structures are identical and through the miracle of word-
processing, the proposal may well become the research proposal itself.

A good research proposal hinges on a good idea. With a good clear idea of the
research to be carried out, a draft of the proposal can be prepared in a matter of
hours. Getting a good idea hinges on familiarity with the topic to be researched.
This assumes a longer preparatory period of reading, observation, discussion, and
incubation. It means reading not just the module or modules concerned with the
topic under investigation but reading everything that can be found in the area of
interest. It is necessary to determine what are the important and missing parts of
understanding about the topic, or what would simplify or develop understanding of
the topic. It is necessary to determine how to build/discover those pieces. Live and
breathe the topic. Research is all about filling in the things that are unknown and
that facilitate greater understanding.

Proposals help in estimating the size of a project. The project should not be too big
or too ambitious. The project required for this diploma will be no more than fifteen
double spaced pages, including figures, tables and bibliography. The proposal will
be a single double spaced page. The aim should indicate to a relatively well-
informed audience that the topic is known and understood.

Example of research proposal

Paragraph 1

The first sentence identifies the general topic area. The second sentence gives the
research question, and the third sentence establishes its significance.

Paragraph 2

List the major schools of thought on the topic.

Paragraph 3

Very briefly review the literature in the area with its major findings. Who has written
on the topic and what have they found? Allocate about a sentence per important
person or finding. Include any preliminary findings you have, and indicate what open
questions are left. Restate the question in this context, showing how it fits into this
larger picture.

Paragraph 4

Describe the methodology to be used. How will the question be approached? What
will need to be done?

Paragraph 5

Outline the expected results, how will they be interpreted, and how will they fit into
the larger understanding of the topic? i.e., 'the literature'.

The research project report

General style

The requirements for this project report are:

 Print or type using a 12 point standard font, such as Times, Geneva,

Bookman, Helvetica, etc.
 Text should be double spaced on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with 1 inch margins,
single sided
 Number pages consecutively
 Start each new section on a new page
 Adhere to recommended page limits

Mistakes to avoid:

 Placing a heading at the bottom of a page with the following text on the next
page (insert a page break!)
 Dividing a table or figure - confine each figure/table to a single page
 Submitting a paper with pages out of order.

In all sections of your paper:

 Use normal prose including articles ("a", "the," etc.)

 Stay focused on the research topic of the paper
 Use paragraphs to separate each important point
 Present your points in logical order
  Use present tense to report well accepted facts - for example, 'the grass is
green'
 Use past tense to describe specific results - for example, 'When weed killer
was applied, the grass was brown.'
 Avoid informal wording, don't address the reader directly, and don't use
jargon, slang terms, or superlatives
 Avoid use of superfluous pictures - include only those figures necessary to
presenting results.

Title Page

Select an informative title.

Abstract

The summary should be two hundred words or less.

General intent

An abstract is a concise single paragraph summary of completed work or work in

progress. In a minute or less a reader can learn the rationale behind the study,
general approach to the problem, pertinent results, and important conclusions or new
questions.

Writing an abstract

Write your summary after the rest of the paper is completed. Economy of words is
important throughout any paper, but especially in an abstract. However, use
complete sentences and do not sacrifice readability for brevity. Summarise the
study, including the following elements in any abstract. Try to keep the first two items
to no more than one sentence each.

 Purpose of the study - hypothesis, overall question, objective

 Brief description of the experiment
 Results, including specific data - if the results are quantitative in nature, report
quantitative data; results of any statistical analysis should be reported with at
the least a frequency table and histogram
 Important conclusions or questions that follow from the experiment(s).

Style:

 Single paragraph, and concise

 As a summary of work done, it is always written in past tense
 An abstract should stand on its own, and not refer to any other part of the
paper such as a figure or table
  Focus on summarising results - limit background information to a sentence or
two, if absolutely necessary
 What you report in an abstract it must be consistent with what you reported in
the paper
 Correct spelling, clarity of sentences and phrases, and proper reporting of
quantities (proper units, significant figures) are just as important in an abstract
as they are anywhere else.

Introduction

Your introductions should not exceed half a page.

General intent

The purpose of an introduction is to acquaint the reader with the rationale behind the
work, with the intention of defending it. It places your work in a theoretical context,
and enables the reader to understand and appreciate your objectives.

Writing an introduction

The abstract is the only text in a research paper to be written without using
paragraphs in order to separate major points. Approaches vary widely, however, for
your studies the following approach can produce an effective introduction.

 Describe the importance (significance) of the study - why was this worth doing
in the first place? Provide a broad context.
 Defend the model - why did you use this particular experiment? What are its
advantages? You might comment on its suitability from a theoretical point of
view as well as indicate practical reasons for using it.
 Provide a rationale. State your specific hypothesis(es) or objective(s), and
describe the reasoning that led you to select them.
 Very briefly describe the experimental design and how it accomplished the
stated objectives.

Style:

 Use past tense except when referring to established facts

 Organise your ideas, making one major point with each paragraph
 Present background information only as needed in order support a position.
The reader does not want to read everything you know about a subject
 State the hypothesis/objective precisely - do not oversimplify
 As always, pay attention to spelling, clarity and appropriateness of sentences
and phrases.
Materials and methods

There is no specific page limit, but a key concept is to keep this section as concise
as you possibly can. People will want to read this material selectively. The reader
may only be interested in one formula or part of a procedure. Materials and methods
may be reported under separate sub-headings within this section or can be
incorporated together.

General intent

This should be the easiest section to write, but many students misunderstand the
purpose. The objective is to document all specialised materials and general
procedures, so that another individual may use some or all of the methods in another
study or judge the scientific merit of your work. It is not to be a step-by-step
description of everything you did, nor is a methods section a set of instructions. In
particular, it is not supposed to tell a story. Hopefully you will have kept notes of your
experiment. These should contain all of the information that you need for this
section.

Writing a materials and methods section

Materials:

 Describe materials separately only if the study is so complicated that it saves

space this way
 Include specialised materials and any equipment or supplies that are not
commonly found in laboratories
 If use of a specific type of equipment, from a particular supplier is critical to
the success of the experiment, then it and the source should be singled out
 Materials may be reported in a separate paragraph or else they may be
identified along with your procedures.

Methods:

 Report the methodology (not details of each procedure that employed the
same methodology)
 Describe the methodology completely, including such specifics as size of
populations, samples, sampling methods, times, etc.
 To be concise, present methods under headings devoted to specific
procedures or groups of procedures
 Generalise - report how procedures were done, not how they were specifically
performed on a particular day. Always think about what would be relevant to
an investigator at another institution, working on his/her own project.
 If well documented procedures were used, report the procedure by name,
perhaps with reference, and that's all. For example, Likert Scaling was used
in the questionnaire. You need not report the procedure in full - just that you
used a Likert Scale to present interval-based multiple-choice questions in your
 questionnaire.

Style:

 When writing up the methods use third person passive voice

 Use normal prose in this and in every other section of the paper – avoid
informal lists, and use complete sentences.

What to avoid:

 Materials and methods are not a set of instructions

 Omit all explanatory information and background - save it for the discussion
 Omit information that is irrelevant to a third party, such as what type of pen or
recorder was used to record data.

Results

The page length of this section is set by the amount and types of data to be reported.
Continue to be concise, using figures and tables, if appropriate, to present results
most effectively.

General intent

The purpose of a results section is to present and illustrate your findings. Make this
section a completely objective report of the results, and save all interpretation for the
discussion.

Writing a results section

You must clearly distinguish material that would normally be included in a research
article from any raw data or other appendix material that would not be published.
There is no need to submit any raw data.

Content:

 Summarise your findings in text and illustrate them, if appropriate, with figures
and tables
 In text, describe each of your results, pointing the reader to observations that
are most relevant
 Provide a context, such as by describing the question that was addressed by
making a particular observation
 Describe results of control experiments and include observations that are not
presented in a formal figure or table, if appropriate
 Analyse your data, then prepare the analysed (converted) data in the form of a
figure (graph), table, or in text form.
What to avoid:

 Do not discuss or interpret your results, report background information, or

attempt to explain anything
 Never include raw data or intermediate calculations in a research paper
 Do not present the same data more than once
 Text should complement any figures or tables, not repeat the same
information.

Style:

 As always, use past tense when you refer to your results, and put everything
in a logical order
 In text, refer to each figure as "figure 1," "figure 2," etc.; number your tables as
well
 Place figures and tables, properly numbered, in order at the end of the report
 If you prefer, you may place your figures and tables appropriately within the
text of your results section.

Figures and tables:

 Either place figures and tables within the text of the result, or include them in
the back of the report (following Literature Cited) - do one or the other
 Regardless of placement, each figure must be numbered consecutively and
complete with caption (caption goes under the figure)
 Regardless of placement, each table must be titled, numbered consecutively
and complete with heading (title with description goes above the table)
 Each figure and table must be sufficiently complete that it could stand on its
own, separate from text

Discussion

Restrict discussions to one page or less, double spaced, typed.

General intent

The objective here is to provide an interpretation of your results and support for all of
your conclusions, using evidence from your experiment and generally accepted
knowledge, if appropriate. The significance of findings should be clearly described.

Writing a discussion

Interpret your data in the discussion in appropriate depth. This means that when you
explain a phenomenon you must describe mechanisms that may account for the
observation. If your results differ from your expectations, explain why that may have
happened. If your results agree, then describe the theory that the evidence
supported. It is never appropriate to simply state that the data agreed with
expectations, and leave it at that.

 Decide if each hypothesis is supported, rejected, or if you cannot make a

decision with confidence. Do not simply dismiss a study or part of a study as
"inconclusive."
 Draw what conclusions you can based upon the results that you have, and
treat the study as a finished work
 You may suggest future directions, such as how the experiment might be
modified to accomplish another objective
 Explain all of your observations as much as possible, focusing on
mechanisms
 Decide if the experimental design adequately addressed the hypothesis, and
whether or not it was properly controlled
 Try to offer alternative explanations if reasonable alternatives exist
 One experiment will not answer an overall question, so keeping the big picture
in mind, where do you go next? The best studies open up new avenues of
research. What questions remain?

Style:

 When you refer to information, distinguish data generated by your own studies
from published information or from information obtained from other students
(verb tense is an important tool for accomplishing that purpose)
 Refer to work done by specific individuals (including yourself) in past tense
 Refer to generally accepted facts and principles in present tense. For
example, "Geiselman et al, in a 1985 study, found that the cognitive interview
was a more effective memory enhancement technique, producing more
detailed and accurate information than a standard interview."

The biggest mistake that students make in discussions is to present a superficial

interpretation that more or less re-states the results. It is necessary to suggest why
results came out as they did, focusing on the mechanisms behind the observations.

Literature Cited

List all literature cited in your paper, in alphabetical order, by first author, using either
the Harvard referencing system or the British Psychological Society system. In a
proper research paper, only primary literature is used (original research articles
authored by the original investigators). Be cautious about using web sites as
references - anyone can put just about anything on a web site, and you have no sure
way of knowing if it is truth or fiction. If you are citing an online journal, use the
journal citation (name, volume, year, page numbers).