Research Methodology

Ceng 7101

Process in research
proposal development
Research Process
Research problem
• Statement of the problem in a general way for
Understanding the nature of the problem

• Survey the available literature, type of difficulties that may

be encountered

• Suggest useful and even new lines of approach for

developing the ideas through discussions

• Rephrasing the research problem

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 Research Proposal
Document which sets out your ideas in an
easily accessible way.

Find out whether you’re required to produce a

document in a specified format

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Components of a Research Proposal
• Title page
• Summary/Abstract
• Introduction/Background
• Statement of the problem
• Hypotheses/Questions
• Objective/Aim of the study
• Literature review
• Research methodology/methods
• Time table
• Budget and Resources 5
 Title page
Should have title, name of author, name of
department/faculty/college, name of advisor(s) and date
of delivery; no page number
Title should have the fewest possible words that
adequately describe the contents of the study; avoid
abbreviations

Summary/Abstract
One page brief summary of the thesis proposal
Show briefly the problem, objective, research
methodology/method and significance
No references, figures, or tables
Written last 7
Introduction/background
•Provides a description of the basic facts and importance
of the research area
• What is your research area, the motivation of research,
and how important is it for the industry relevant
references that show the significance of the
practice/knowledge advancement?
• Proper acknowledgement of previous work
•Should be focused on the research question(s)
• Show scope of the work (what will and will not be
covered)
 Statement of the problem
• Provides a clear and concise description of the issues
that need to be addressed
• What is the specific problem in that research area that
you will address (e.g. lack of understanding of a
subject, low performance …)?
• The statement should answer the question: “Why
does this research need to be conducted?”
• Establishes the foundation for everything to follow in
the proposal
• Should indicate at least implicitly all the
categories, questions, variables or data sources in the
proposal
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 Literature review
Provide a summary of previous related research on
the research problem and their strength and weakness
and a justification of your research
What is known/what have been done by others? and, why
your research is still necessary?

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 The stages of a literature review

• Define the problem: narrow the scope of what to

look out
• Search for relevant materials: Books
(monographs, text books, reference books), Peer
reviewed journal articles, Newspaper articles,
Historical records
Commercial reports and statistical information
Government reports and statistical information
Theses and dissertations
Other information relevant to particular
discipline
Objective/aim of study:

Summarize what is to be achieved by the study

Should be closely related to the statement of the
problem
Simple (not complex), specific (not vague), stated in
advance (not after the research is done), and stated using
“action verbs” that are specific enough to be measured

Objectives are useful to:

Focus the study (narrowing it down to essentials)
Avoid collection of data irrelevant to solving the problem
Organize the study in clearly defined parts or phases
Anticipated results of the study will be compared to the
objectives
General objective
What exactly will be studied?
General statements specifying the desired outcomes of
the proposed project
Closely related to the statement of the problem

Specific objectives
Specific statements summarizing the proposed activities
and outcomes and their assessment in measurable terms
Identifies in detail the specific aims of the research
project
Should systematically address the various aspects of the
problem as defined under „Statement of the problem‟ and
the key factors that are assumed to influence or cause the
problem
Components of a Research Proposal
Research Methodology/methods
• Study area
• Sample size and sampling methods
• Method of data collection
• Plan of data analysis

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Research Methodology/Methods
• The heart of the research proposal
• Decide exactly how you are going to
achieve your stated objectives
• Research methodology defines the
research methods and logic steps
• What to do and how to solve the problem
and achieve proposed specific objectives?
• Which research methods (e.g. survey,
modeling, case study …) will be used?
The “methods” section should contain:
• Information to allow the reader to assess the
believability of your approach
• Information needed by another researcher to
replicate
your experiment
• Description of your materials, procedure,
theory
calculations, technique, procedure, equipment,
and
calibration plots
• Limitation, assumptions, and range of validity
• Description of your analytical methods,
including
reference to any specialized statistical software
Study design for experiments
May be controlled or non – controlled
Controlled studies can be randomized or non –
randomized
Randomized: use a random method to assign
subjects into an experimental group and a control
through
Non – randomized: allocation to experimental or
control groups not based on randomization,
possible biases in study.
 Experimental Design (ED)

Definition: ED is a planned approach for determining

cause and effect relationships between input and output
parameters

Purpose: Collect the maximum amount of relevant

information with a minimum expenditure of time and
resources
For example, you may wish to compare the mean
tensile strength from three types of mortar
formulation to find whether a measurable
difference exists in these two mortar formulation.
 Experimental Design
Before designing can be chosen, the following questions must be answered:
Randomization - The allocation by chance of each
treatment to any one experimental unit to insure
How to measure the response and the factor’s effect?
How many of the factors will affect the response? that bias (preference) is not introduced. e.g.
How many of the factors will be considered simultaneously?
How many replications of the experiment will be required? Examine the effect of 3 different ratio of cement (a,
What type of data analysis is required (regression, ANOVA,
Factorial design etc.)? b, c) on strength. Available for use are 12 moulds.
What level of difference in effects is considered significant?

It is decided to use 4 moulds per treatment in a

It is important to remember also that the design of experiment should be as
simple as possible and consistent with the requirements of the problem. completely randomized design. N.B. 4 moulds are
to receive one treatment.

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2. Sampling for quantitative studies 3. Sample size in quantitative studies:
The process of selecting a number of study units from a An unnecessarily large sample size may
defined study population adversely affect the quality of the measurement
Things to consider: or data collection
What is the study population? !Define clearly!
It is better to make extra effort to get a
How many subjects do you need in your sample?
How will these subjects be selected?
representative sample rather than to get a very
External validity – the extent to which findings of a
large sample
study can be generalized from the sample to the The actual sample size of a study is a
population compromise between the level of precision to be
Internal validity – the extent to which the outcomes of a achieved, the research budget and any other
study result from the variables that were manipulated, operational constraints, such as time.
measured, or selected rather than from other variables
not systematically treated. 21 22

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 Population Sampling Population
1 7
3

Data collection/ Study sample 2 10

5
analysis
Descriptive
statistics
4 8 9 6
Parameter (µ & σ) Statistics (x & s)

1 Study
Inferential statistics 7
samples
23 9 24

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 Study
samples

Mean
Parameter
Statistics
Outcome (weight)

4.67
Mean 5
25 26

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To achieve a certain level of precision, the Sample size n
sample size will depend on the following
factors: For unknown target population
The variability of the characteristics being For p=0.05 n=1824.7
observed
The population size: Z0.025=1.96

To some extent, the bigger the population, the bigger e=0.01 n=1825
the sample needed
For known population
After a certain level, an increase in population no
longer affects the sample size
Efficiency of the sampling and estimation
methods (you may need a bigger sample if your 28
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method is not the most efficient)

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 Sample size in qualitative studies:
No fixed rules for sample size in qualitative research
Sample size depends on what you try to find out, and
from what different informants/perspectives you try to find
that out
Start with two or four Focus Group Discussion (FGDs)
If the different data sets reconfirm each other you may
stop; otherwise conduct one or two FGDs more till you
reach the point of redundancy
Richness of the data and analytical capability of the
researcher determine the validity and meaningfulness of
qualitative data more than sample size.
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Analysis plan:
Specify the analysis procedures you will use, and
label them accurately Coding procedures
The type of statistical tests (if necessary)
Identify and describe the variables in the analyses
(dependent & independent)
Decision making criteria (Example: Critical alpha
level)
Computer software used (if any).
Work plan:
The timeline that shows when specific tasks will
have been accomplished
State different components/phases/stages of the study
Describe activities in each phase
Indicate time required to accomplish the various
The GANTT chart: a graphical planning tool that

The tasks to be performed;

Who is responsible for each task; and
The time each task is expected to take
Budget and funding:
Shows how much it will cost to answer the question
Direct costs:
Personnel, consumable supplies, equipment, travel,
communications, publication, and others

Indirect costs:
Support and management cost such as overhead costs
for
institutions, operational and maintenance, depreciation and
use allowance
Budget justification:
An explanatory note justifying briefly, why the various
items
in the budget are required
References:
References must be given to all the information
that you obtain from books, papers in journals, and
other sources
In the main text: two options
Authors name (Harvard style)
Index numbers in brackets (Vancouver style)
List of references, numbered as in the main text
(or alphabetically ordered), should be placed at the
end of the research proposal
Formats vary from one discipline to another
(different for journal papers, books and internet
references)
Websites must be reputable and reliable
Reference styles:
Harvard (author-date)
uses the author's name and date of publication in the body
of the text, and the bibliography is given alphabetically by
author

Example
The author has discussed the implications of these
proposals on the National Health Service (Loft,
1991). Other writers have commented on related issues,
notably Lane (1992, 1994) and Lewis
(1995, p.54)
Names and dates are enclosed in parentheses
unless the author's name is part of the sentence.
If two papers are cited by the same author, and both
are published in the same year, the first should be
referenced as (Loft 1997a), then (Loft 1997b), and so
on
Annas, G.J. (1997a), 'New drugs for acute
respiratory distress syndrome', New England
Journal of Medicine, vol. 337, no. 6, pp. 435-439.

Grinspoon, L. & Bakalar, J.B. (1993), Marijuana:

the forbidden medicine, Yale University Press,
London
Reference styles:
Vancouver (author-number)
The Vancouver system differs from Harvard by using a number
series to indicate references
Bibliographies list these in numerical order as they appear in the
text

Example
The author has discussed the implications of these
proposals on the National Health Service (1). Other writers have
commented on related issues, notably Lane (2,3) and Lewis (4).
References in the Vancouver style would be cited in
numerical order as below. This is a more economical style than
Harvard, and excessive punctuation, spacing and formatting is
absent. Journal names are abbreviated.

(1) Annas GJ. New drugs for acute respiratory distress syndrome.
N Engl J Med. 1997;337:435-9.
(2) Grinspoon L, Bakalar JB. Marijuana: the forbidden medicine.
London: Yale University Press; 1993.
(3) Feinberg TE, Farah MJ, editors. Behavioral neurology and
neuropsychology. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1997.