Philippine Christian

University
Graduate School
NOTE: GRADUATE PROGRAM
STUDENTS SHOULD INSERT THEIR STATEMENTS, RESPONSES AND / OR ANSWERS DIRECTLY AFTER THE INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDE
QUESTIONS BELOW:

THESIS / DISSERTATION PROPOSAL FORMAT

A research proposal outlines the contents of a scientific, social or economic investigation that a researcher desires to undertake, say,
within 12-24 months following the submission of the proposal.

It should be organized following the format presented below with the required headings and order. All sections must be completed.
The required word count is 1,600 – 2,200 words.

INSTRUCTIONS & GUIDE QUESTIONS STATEMENTS, RESPONSES & ANSWERS

1.INTRODUCTION

Provide an Introduction based on the following:

a. the scientific, technological, social, economic subject, topic,

idea, system, policy, trend, theory or practice that the
research desires to investigate;

b. the environment, industry or sector which encompasses, or

influences or is impacted by the research topic;

[Word count: 100 – 150]

2.RATIONALE

Identify the real-world scientific, technological, economic, social,

business, organizational and human problem that the research will
try to better understand and/or solve; Or the pervading
Opportunities that the research will strive to identify and explore.

[Word count: 100 – 150]

3.RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

a. Identify the Researches’ potential contribution to

knowledge and its implications to existing theory,
methodology, practice, or any combination thereof:

i. Re-contextualization of an existing theory or method,

applying a technique in a new context, testing theory in a
new setting, showing the applicability of a model to a new
situation, and evaluating the result and any implications.
ii. Corroboration and elaboration of an existing model (e.g.
evaluating the effects of a change of condition;
experimental assessment of one aspect of a model).
iii. Falsification or contradiction of an existing model, or part
of one.
iv. Drawing together two or more existing ideas and showing
that the combination reveals something new and useful.
v. Developing and testing a new concept, showing that
something is feasible and valuable (or not) and why.
vi. Implementation of someone’s framework or principle to
some field of practice, showing how it works and its
limitations.
vii. Empirically-based characterization of a phenomenon (e.g.
detailed, critical, analytic account of the evolution of an
idea; detailed analytic characterization of a crucial case
study or a novel chemical compound, or a new planet).
viii. Providing a taxonomy of observed phenomena.
ix. Well-founded critique of existing theory or evidence (e.g.
correlating the results of a number of existing studies to
show patterns or omissions).

b. Clarify your contribution to knowledge by explaining the

following:

● The importance of the question. Why is the question

worth asking?
● The significance of the findings. Why do these findings
matter?
● What are their implications for theory, methodology,
practice?
● What are the limitations to generalization of the findings?

Research work is part of an ongoing discourse among many

researchers, each critiquing the available evidence and providing
fresh argument and evidence that contributes to knowledge and
understanding.

Research involves questioning the accepted wisdom (the

obvious), examining and analysing phenomena from a different
perspective, and investigated through a variety of techniques.
Research seeks to create new understanding of the world, using
new ideas and approaches, rather than describing it using existing
frames and tools.

As more evidence is presented, existing explanations are re-

evaluated. In this way knowledge is constantly reconfirmed,
elaborated, revised, or overturned.

Knowledge claims may be small and still contribute to the

discourse.

c. Identify how the research will support and amplify the

achievement of relevant development goals at the
personal, institutional, community, governmental,
regional, national or international levels.

d. Identify the professional competences that will be gained

by the student.

e. Specify the type of research that will be undertaken, e.g.,

i. Exploratory: provides initial insight to a new situation,
issue or phenomenon.
ii. Descriptive: classifies phenomena… questions on who,
what, where, when and how
iii. Explanatory: explains a causal relationship that is
meaningful… why questions
iv. Evaluative: assesses or measures impact [assumes a
causal relationship]
f. Specify Research Questions and Objectives
i. If your research is driven by policy debates, describe the
specific aspects of these debates on which your research
will focus.
ii. If your research is driven by theoretical debates, or
apparent omissions or inconsistencies in the existing
literature (theoretical or empirical), what aspects of these
debates will you address?
iii. If your research focus is on the nature of practice in some
field (e.g., business management or science research),
then what aspects of practice will you explore (e.g.,
managerial behaviour or scientific discovery)
[Word count: 100 – 200]
4.LITERATURE REVIEW
a. Review the published literature, where you show what has
already been proposed, claimed, or established.
b. The review of literature is normally comprised by theoretical
and empirical studies, policy and industry reports, and articles
published in respected periodicals and newspapers.
c. Summarise and evaluate the usefulness of these previous
studies in relation to your stated aim or research question.
d. Show awareness of the most important and relevant theories,
models, empirical studies and methodologies. A good
literature review will compare and contrast theories and
empirical results, pointing out agreement and disagreement,
gaps and overlaps of argument.
A poor literature review often simply provides summarised
lists of theories and empirical studies, with little or no attempt
to compare, contrast or evaluate these theories and empirical
studies.
e. Make clear how well these published studies address your
research focus, by examining the extent to which they provide
insight to, or answer, each of your research objectives or
questions.
f. Identify omissions or weaknesses in the published literature
that gives you the opportunity to justify your study and
contribute new knowledge.
g. Elaborate how your research will contribute this new
knowledge.
Depending on your intended research design (next step) you may
convert the identified weaknesses and omissions into hypotheses.
A hypothesis is a simple but testable statement that proposes that
one factor (call it A) causes another factor (call it B) to behave in a
certain way.
[Word count: 600 – 750]

5.RESEARCH DESIGN

Following your review of literature, outline how you plan to go

about collecting empirical data that will build the understanding
required to fulfil your research aim, or test the hypotheses you
have developed from your review of the literature. Describe how
you will carry out your study, referring to frameworks and concepts
found in the research methods literature.

Specifically, this section must describe your Overall Approach and

specific Methods/Techniques of Data Collection. You must also
explain how you will analyse the data collected
(Methods/Techniques of Data Analysis), what measures you are
taking to ensure the quality of your research design (Research
Quality Issues), and show an awareness of ethical considerations
around academic research (Research Ethics Issues).

The proposal requires that you have made firm arrangements with
your target (e.g., the organization or community you propose to
study or work with) for access to data prior to writing the proposal,
rather than describing that you plan to seek access to your target
after the proposal is written.
a. Overall Approach. This will be either Qualitative or
Quantitative, or some combination of the two. Describe your
particular Approach, e.g., ethnographic, case study, survey, or
experiment; and why the chosen Approach is appropriate for
the study.

b. Methods / Techniques of Data Collection. The overall

Approach is broken down into specific methods/techniques of
data collection. For example, a Qualitative Approach can be
broken down into semi-structured interviewing and
observation, while a Quantitative Approach is broken down
into questionnaires, experiments, and others. Describe your
chosen methods/techniques and explain why they are
appropriate techniques for achieving your research objectives
or testing your hypotheses.

c. Methods/Techniques of Data Analysis. How will you analyse

the data collected? Describe the methods/techniques of data
analysis, for example the procedures you will use for analysing
text or quantitative data or patterns (e.g., statistical analysis).

d. Research Quality Issues. Explain how you will ensure that you
collect the right data to address the research questions or
hypotheses, or that the data you collect is reliable. This
requires some discussion about the validity and reliability of
your data, and what triangulation techniques have been
employed to strengthen the validity and reliability of your data.
Your findings should also be generalizable rather than only
valid for the particular phenomenon you studied. You are
encouraged to check the meaning and relevance of these
terms in any research methods textbook.

e. Research Ethics Issues. Does your proposed research topic

raise any ethical issues? For example, does your research
design present any possible danger to your subjects (physical,
emotional, professional)? If so what will you do to avoid that?

[500 – 700 words]

6.CONCLUSIONS

Summarise your proposal, including your potential contribution to

knowledge.

[200 – 250 words]

7.REFERENCES

Citing bibliographical references is important for the following

reasons:

a. It facilitates acknowledgment of documentary, digital and other

sources used to establish criticisms and arguments;

b. It enables other people to trace the sources of ideas used in

the research.

c. It prevents the occurrence of plagiarism because it identifies

the original and legal authorships or attribution of the source
document and/or its research findings and ideas.

http://www.stir.ac.uk/ is/student/writing/referencing suggests

specific ways for doing this:
i. “It is not sufficient merely to list a source in an appended
bibliography, or in the body of an assignment to express a
general indebtedness. To avoid a charge of plagiarism, all
debts must be specifically, precisely and accurately
referenced in accordance with good academic practice.
ii. When a source is directly quoted word-for-word, the
passage quoted should be placed within quotation marks
or indented and the source accurately referenced, in
parenthesis, in a footnote, or in an endnote, according to
a recognized system. There must be no ambiguity about
where the quotation ends or begins.
iii. The source of any data cited (e.g. figures, tables, charts)
should be made explicit.
iv. When ideas, or an argument, are reproduced from a
source in a general or paraphrased way, the source must
be acknowledged.
v. Remember that these rules apply to all the different
sources of information you have used, for example: a
lecture or tutorial, books, journal articles, web sites,
newspapers, a television programme, a friend's essay.
vi. If you think about where you found your information and
reference your work properly, then accidental plagiarism
can be avoided.”