Research Proposal

Overview
In this chapter we will discuss
Research proposal
Elements of research proposal
 3.1. What is research proposal?
• The research proposal is a detailed plan of a
study.
• It is a detailed document which shows
researchers ideas in easily accessible way.

• A good research proposal centres in a good idea;

familiarity with the topic.
• Familiarity with a topic requires
– a preparation period of reading,
– Observation and discussion
To get good research proposal you should follow the following
steps.
Step 1: Read everything that you can in your area of
interest.
Step 2: Identify the important and missing parts of the
subject matter.
Step 3: Figure out how to build/discover those parts.
Step 4: Then write the important parts as the proposal.
• The objective in writing a proposal is to describe:
• what you will do?
• why it should be done?
• How you will do it? and
• what you expect will result.
• Being clear about these things from the beginning
will help you complete your research in a timely
fashion.
• A vague, weak or fuzzy proposal can lead to a long,
painful, and often unsuccessful research writing
exercise.
• A clean, well thought-out, proposal forms the
backbone for the research itself.
 The research proposal:
– forces researchers to clarify all aspects of the study
– Serves as a guide
– is an essential component submitted for funding.
• A well-thought out and well-written proposal can be
judged according to three main criteria.
– Is it adequate to answer the research question(s), and
achieve the study objective?
– Is it feasible in the particular set-up for the study?
– Does it provide enough detail that can allow another
investigator to do the study and arrive at comparable
results?
3.2 Components of a research proposal
• The basic components of a research proposal
are very much similar in many fields.
• However, how they are phrased and presented
may vary among disciplines.
• The following components is taken as the
usual ones.
 Common components of Research proposal
Title page
Summary/Abstract
Introduction/Background
Statement of the problem
Objectives of the study
Research question Chapter one
Hypotheses
Scope and limitation of the study
Significance of the study
Organization of the study
Literature review Chapter two
Research methodology
• Research design
• Sampling design Chapter three
• Source and method of data collection
• Method of data analysis
1. Title - the research topic
The topic is the subject matter of a proposed study.

Shows the central idea to learn about or to explore.

The research title should fulfill the following criteria

• The title should be as explicit as possible and transparent
• It should capture and reflect the content of the proposal.
• It should enable the readers to understand the concepts of
the study.
It should be clear and precise (eliminate unnecessary
words).
e.g “An Economic Study of the Impacts of Lowering
Import Tariffs on Textiles and Consumers in Textile
Manufacturers, and cotton Producers in the
Ethiopia.”

BETTER:
“ The impact of Lowering Import Tariffs of Ethiopian
Textiles on Consumers and Industries”
• Titles should almost never contain abbreviations.

Title page needs to show your name,

– the name of your department/faculty/college,
– the name of your advisor(s) and
– date of delivery under the title.

• Title should never contain abbreviations

• Title page has no page number

 Abstract
• It is a summary, which reflects the whole content of the proposal
(most of the time less than 300 words).
• Abstract should be concise, informative and
– should provide brief information about the whole problem to be
investigated

• The abstract is a mini version of the proposal.

• Do not put information in the abstract that is not in the
main text of your research proposal.
• Do not put references, figures, or tables in the abstract.
The abstract of a proposal should contain the following
points

– Title or topic of the research

– Statement of the problem and objective
– Methodology of investigation
 Cont’d
A well-prepared summary enables the reader to;
– Identify the basic content of a document quickly
and accurately,
– Determine its relevance to their interests, and
– Decide whether they need to read the document in
its entirely
• It is worthwhile to note that good abstract of
a research proposal contains all dimensions of
the research design
Background of the study
• The introduction is the part of the proposal that
provides readers
– with the background information for the research
proposal.
• Its purpose is to establish a framework for the
research,
– so that readers can understand the concepts
easily.
 Cont’d
• This is a statement of something sufficiently
interesting to motivate your reader to read the rest of
the proposal, it is an important/interesting scientific
problem that your study either solves or addresses.
• The introduction should cite those who had the idea
or ideas first, and
• Should also cite those who have done the most
recent and relevant work. You should then go on to
explain why more work is necessary (your work, of
course.)
 Criteria for good introduction
 The problem proposed to be studied is introduced in
this section.
 It should help the reader to acquaint with the topic.
 Introduction should be short about one or two pages.
 The problem should be stated in such a way that it’s
importance and relevance is realized by any one who
reads it.
 Cont’d…..

Question to be addressed in this part include:

• What are current and previous studies that have been
made on the issues to be studied?
• What is the present gap in knowledge and current trend?
• What makes worth studying?
• Why has the problem not been solved yet?
• What do we intend to fill the gap or solve the problem?
 Statement of the problem
• Most research proposals, whether designed for undergraduate,
master's theses or doctoral dissertations,
– may be considered as responses to a problem.
• A problem might be defined as the issue that exists in the
– literature,
– theory, or
– practice that leads to a need for the study.
• The researcher should think on what caused the need to do the
research (problem identification).
 Cont’d….
• The problem statement describes the context for
the study and it also identifies the general analysis
approach.
• It is important in a proposal that the problem
stand out that the reader can easily recognize it.

• Effective problem statements answer the question

“Why does this research need to be conducted.”

 Cont’d….

 If a researcher is unable to answer this question

clearly.
 then the statement of the problem will be
ambiguous.
 Research question and hypothesis
 Hypotheses and questions are linked to the speculative
proposition of the problem statement, can be inferred
from the overall conceptual framework of a study, and
are of critical importance to data analysis and
interpretation.
 The researcher narrows the focus to specific questions to be
answered or predictions based on hypotheses to be tested.
• If your question does not work well, no matter how
strong the rest of the proposal, the proposal is unlikely to
be successful.
• A focused question at the outset will help you to know
what data/information you need and what to do with it
once you have it.
• According to Robson (2002),a good research question
should fulfill the following criteria:
• Clear – research questions should be formulated in
unambiguous and easily understood way;
• Specific – should be sufficiently specific for it to be clear
what constitute an answer;
• Answerable –should be stated in a way that it helps a
researcher see what data are needed to answer them
and how those data will be collected;
• Interconnected – research questions are related in
some meaningful way, forming a referent whole; and
• Substantively relevant – are worthwhile, non-trivial
questions worthy of the research effort to be expended.
 Cont’d

• Research questions: the specific purpose stated in

the form of a question (descriptive/exploratory
research).
– Begin the research questions with the words what
or how to convey an open and emerging design.
 Cont’d….
• Hypothesis: is tentative statements that should either be
acknowledged or rejected by means of research
(correlational and explanatory research).
• Hypotheses and research questions are linked to the
speculative proposition of the problem statement.
– Hypotheses are relevant to theoretical research and
are typically used only in quantitative inquiry.
 Cont’d…..

• Research questions are most often used in qualitative

inquiry.
Deciding whether to use questions or hypotheses basically
depends on two factors:
– the purpose of the study,
– the nature of the design and methodology of the
research.
 Objective/aim of the study

• The objectives of a research outline the ends or

– aim which the inquirer seeks to bring about as a result
of completing the research undertaken.

• An objective may be thought of as either a

solution to a problem or
– a step along the way toward achieving a solution; an
end state to be achieved in relation to the problem.
 Cont’d….
• The objectives of a research project summarize
what is to be achieved by the study.
• Objectives should be closely related to the
statement of the problem.
• After statement of the primary objective,
secondary objectives may be mentioned.
 Objectives should be

• Simple (not complex),

• Specific (not vague),

• stated in advance (not after the research is

done), and
• Stated using “action verbs” such as describe,
develop, examine assess the study problem.
 Cont’d…..

 Commonly, research objectives are classified into

general objectives and specific objectives.
 The general and specific objectives are logically
connected to each other and
the specific objectives are commonly considered as
smaller portions of the general objectives.
 It is important to ascertain that the general objective
is closely related to the statement of the problem.
 General and specific objectives

General objective
 What exactly will be studied?

General statements specifying the desired outcomes

of the proposed project.
Specific objectives
 Specific statements summarizing the proposed activities and
including
• description of the outcomes and their assessment in
measurable terms.
 Specific objec……cont’d….

• It identifies the specific aims of the research project.

• Specific objectives should systematically address the

‘Statement of the Problem’ and

– the key factors that are assumed to influence or cause the

problem.

• They should specify what you will do in your study.

• Why should research objectives be developed?
• The formulation of objectives will help you to:
• Focus the study (narrowing it down to essentials);
• Avoid the collection of data which are not strictly
necessary for understanding and solving the
problem you have identified; and
• Organize the study in clearly defined parts or
phases.
• Properly formulated objectives will facilitate the
development of your research methodology and
will help to orient the collection, analysis,
interpretation and utilization of data.
 Significance of the study

The significance of the study answers the questions:

• Why is your study important?

• To whom is it important?
• What benefit(s) will occur if your study is done?

• describing the significance of the study for selected

audiences,
• Showing the importance of the problem for different groups
that may benefit from reading and using the study.
 Scope and limitation of the study
Scope/delimitation
• The focus of the study needs to be given
• How the study will be narrowed in extent.
• Controlled by the researcher
• Delimitation is also made to time coverage and
as well to certain particular industry type, case
or any unit of analysis.
• Delimitation affects generalizability of research
findings.
 Limitation
• Potential limitations of the study may also be shown in
the research proposal.
• Factors that will affect the study
• Not controlled by the researcher
• limitation of the study is emanated from non availability
of
– data from crucial research participants,
– adequate empirical research outputs ,
– correct research instrument to measure the variables, small
sample size, etc
• which could possibly affect internal validity and
generalizability of the research result.
Chapter structure/organization of the research
report
– The number of chapters in the report
– The contents of each chapter
 Related Literature review
• To conduct research regarding a topic,
– the researcher should obtained sound knowledge
with regard to the research topic.

• It is therefore imperative that the researchers,

– at the time of the submission of the research
proposal,
– clearly indicates what theoretical knowledge he/she
possesses about the prospective research.
 Cont’d…..
• Literature review is not a compilation of every work
written about a topic.
• It is not simply a list of sources reviewed separately for
their own merit.
• A literature review is a description of the literature
relevant to a particular field or topic.
Literature review should relate to:
– The topic or problems area
– Theory area
– Methodology
 Cont’d
• The literature review asks how similar and
related questions have been answered before.
 Research Methodology
 The methodologies are the core and the largest part of
the scientific research proposal.

 Research methodology is a way to systematically

solve the research problem.
 It may be understood as a science of studying
how research is done scientifically
 Methodology should give full details to show how the
research activity is going to be carried out.
 Research method and methodology

• The Difference between Research Method and Research

Methodology
• Although the terms methods and methodologies are often used
synonymously, the terms convey/carry different meanings.
• A method is a particular research technique or way to gather
information about a phenomenon.
• Methods are specific tools we use in research projects to gain
fuller understanding of phenomena.
• techniques used in research to gather data which are to be
used as a basis for inference and interpretation, for
explanation and prediction.
– E.g., interviews, participant observations etc

• Methodology describes “the theory of how inquiry/

research should proceed”
• involves analysis of the principles and procedures in a
particular field of inquiry.
• It involves the researchers’ assumptions about the nature
of reality and the nature of knowing and knowledge.
 Cont’d….
It includes
Research design
Source and method of data collection
Sampling design
Method of data analysis
 Research design

 It is a plan of collecting and analyzing data in

an economic, efficient and relevant manner.
 refers to the plan, structure, and strategy of
research-the blueprint that will guide the
research process.
 Source and method of data collection:

There are two common sources of data:

Primary sources : The information obtained from primary
sources is often called as primary data.
 The information is gathered by researcher for the first
time,
Secondary sources : These sources of information are called
“secondary data”.
 It is not gathered by the researcher rather it obtained
from published and unpublished material.
 Method of collection

• It indicates how the data are obtained from each

source.
Primary data collected through
– Observation method
– Interview
– Questionnaires
– Focus Group Discussion (FDG)
Secondary data collected through
– Internal (within the company or organization)
– External sources (outside the organization)
The detail part will be discussed in chapter 5
 Sampling design

• From which elements are the data collected?

• The researcher has to specify

– the elements from which the desired information is
collected and
– how these elements are selected.
There are different sampling techniques.
 Probability sampling techniques
 Non probability sampling techniques

The detail part will be discussed in chapter 6

 Method of data analysis

– Once the information is collected how it will be

processed and
– analyzed should also be explained in this part.
– Qualitative and quantitative analysis technique

The detail part will be discussed in chapter 7

 Work and budget plan
Work plan
– Work plan is a schedule that shows the different components
of a research proposal and

– how they will be implemented within a specific time-span.

• It may include:
– The tasks to be performed;
– When and where the tasks will be performed;
– Who will perform the tasks and the time each person will
spend on them;
 Budget plan
– It shows the cost requirements of the study.

References
– You must give references to all the information that you
obtain from books, articles in journals, and other sources.

Appendix
– Questionnaire
– Raw data
Any Question