Training on the Role of Critical Thinking on Proposal

Writing
For Students of the Ethiopian Civil Serve University

Organized by
Women and Social Affairs Mainstreaming
Office

Facilitator
Abay Akemachew (PhD)
November 06, 2024
Addis Ababa,
1
Ethiopia
 Agendas

2 Research Problem
Parts of a proposal:
3 Preliminaries
Parts of a proposal:
4
Body
Parts of a proposal:
55
Supplemental
2
Critical Thinking

3
Sources of Research Problem

4
5
Critical Thinking: What is it?

What do you
see? 6
 What is Critical Thinking?

In research processes
Critical thinking
• Thinking is a purposeful and • important in all disciplines and
organized cognitive(rational) throughout all stages of the
process research process.
• Critical Thinking: the ability • emphasizes a rational, objective
to interpret, evaluate, and and self-aware approach
analyze facts and information • in academic writing, critical
decide if something is right or thinking can help to guide your
wrong. own research methods and
inform your own arguments
• Used to develop personal &
professional life.

• rational, goal-directed thought

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Components of Critical Thinking

12
Components of Critical Thinking

13
Characteristics of Strong Critical Thinkers
Observer
• involve gathering information through all five senses.
• Paying attention to your environment
Curious
• ask “why” questions, exploring new ideas and insights, reading
books and so on
Analytical
• involves breaking down complex ideas into simpler parts

Objectivity

• focus on facts, and on the scientific evaluation of the

information at hand.

Introspection
• examine your inner-most thoughts, feelings and sensations; helps14
 Characteristics of Cont’d

Humility
• the willingness to acknowledge one's shortcomings and
positive attributes

Effective communicators
• Practice active listening in conversations, genuinely
engaging with what others say to learn more about their
perspectives and yourself.

Open-mindedness
• to new ideas, diverse viewpoints, listening to varied podcasts,
to receive feedbacks and understanding others’ perspectives

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 Sources of Research
Identify Problem
the
logical
connectio Identify,
ns construct,
Identify
between and e
the ideas
relevanc valuate
arguments
e and
importan
ce of Critical Reflect
ideas Thinking the
justificatio
Benefits ns of ones
own
Detect beliefs
inconsist and values
Solve encies
problems and
scientific common
ally mistakes 16
 Trial and Error No
Failed over and over and hence Perfection
succeeded

Positivi
ty

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 Think outside the box: The
Think outside the Box Nine Dots Puzzle
• Connect all the nine dots
• With four straight lines
• Without lifting your pen
• Without retracing the path

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• Poor reading
• Listening
• Fear of change
• Poor Listening
• Peer pressure
• Narrow mindedness

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Sources of Research Problem

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Research Problems

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Research Problems
What type of problem you observe from the
picture: 1?
What type of problem you observe from the
picture:2?
What type of problem you observe from the
pictures: 3?

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What type of problem you observe from the
pictures: 4?

27
What type of problem you observe from the
pictures:5 ?

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What type of problem you observe from the
pictures: 6?

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 Research Problem and its Sources
What is a research Problem? A research
problem is a:
specific question, focus of the
problem, or gap in existing research and
difficulty that needs knowledge, a guides the
to be contradiction in an methodology, data
addressed/investigat established theory, or collection, and
ed a real-world analysis

Identifying research
problem is the first
and foremost foundation for any
important step research project

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Questions to ask about the problem

t?
ha
W h y?
W

?
ho
W
e?
h er
W

n?
he
W
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In selecting research problems, researchers
should check:

e
anc
In
te

ev
re
s

Rel
t
pe t e ncy
Com
s e a rc ha ble
Re

Da
l

ta
ica

Av
ai
Eth

la
bi
tyli
 Characteristics of Good Research Problem

Novelty – Original & Recent Data, offering something new

Importance: potential impact on theory, practice, policy, or the

understanding of a particular phenomenon, field relevancy

Immediate Application – Urgent Solution

Feasibility - Data Availability, Time and Fund

Experience & Creativity – Subject Familiarity, know the

field
 Narrowing Research Problem

Exercise: Make the above general issues to researchable

(specific) title
1. ‘Physical Infrastructure and Sustainable Urban Development’
2. Gender
3. Peace
4. Terrorism
5. Empowerment
6. Corruption
7. Draught
8. Water
9. Challenges of Public Organizations and others
Research Proposal and its
Major Components

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 Research Proposal Defined

• A brief document about a study that a researcher intends to

investigate
• A prerequisite for a research
• Provides a systematic plan of procedure/work

A proposal addressees
• What is the intended research? The Issue
• Why the research is important? Rationale to study
• How to be investigated? Methodology
• When to be conducted? Schedule
• Where to be conducted? Study area
• From whom data will be collected? Unit of analysis
Major Components of a Research Proposal

Major Components
Preliminaries

Body

Supplemental
 Research Proposal and its
Components : Preliminaries

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 Cover

List of Tables
Title page
Preliminaries

Preliminaries
Declaration List of Figures

List of abbreviations
Approval Forms and acronyms

Acknowledgem List of Annex

ent

Table of contents Abstract (Optional)

 Tittle

• The first thing help the reader to understand the nature of the work
• Should be clear, concise, catchy and self-explanatory and
• 15 words or less are recommended
Types of Titles
1. Descriptive Title
• The Influence of Sleep Duration on Academic Performance Among
College Students
2. Compound Title
• Examining the Relationship Between Climate Change and
Agricultural Productivity: A Global Perspective
3. Interrogative Title
• How Does Urban Green Space Affect Community Well-Being?
4. Declarative Title
• The Impact of Social Media on Adolescent Mental Health 42
 Abstract and its Components(optional)
• Abstract is a concise summary
of a research & provides readers Lay out
with a brief overview • Font size: 11
• Helps readers to determine • Space: Single
whether the full study is relevant • Page: 450
to their interests. • One paragraph
• No citation
Abstract should include:
• No abbreviation
• Background information • No table or figure

• Central objective of the study

• Methods
• No need of writing
• Main result or finding, abstract at proposal
• Major conclusion and stage
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Research Proposal and its
Components Body

44
 Components of a Research Proposal

Introduction
Body

Literature Review

Research Methodology
Components of Cont’d

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1. Introduction: Background of the Study

Statement of
Organizatio Backgroun the Problem
n of the d
Proposal
Research
Questions/H
ypothesis
Operational Introduct
Definitions ion

Objectives

Scope

Significance
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 Background of the Study

• Use deductive approach: from general to

specific

• Discuss all the variables to be included in the

study

• Make contextualize in terms of Ethiopia,

Region and so on

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 Statement of the Problem
1. The ideal state (desired state)
2. The reality (current state)
3. The difference between the desired and current state
4. The consequences

Remark:
• Use more recent literature and support your argument by
figures (data)
• Should be clear, concise, and specific statement
• It should be easily understandable to both experts and non-
experts in the field
• Orients the reader to the importance of the topic, sets the
problem into a particular context,
• Research gaps identified (Methodological, empirical study49
 Statement of the problem Cont’d
A problm statement should ad

Remarks
A problem statement should address:

• What is the issue of my research problem?

• Who is affected and to what extent/the magnitude?

• Efforts made so far?

• Where is the gap?

• What motivates you?

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 Research Questions/Hypotheses

Research Questions Examples

Exploratory
• How do remote work environments affect employee engagement in creative industries?

Explanatory
• How does social media use impact the self-esteem of teenagers?

Descriptive?
• What are the demographic characteristics of individuals who regularly participate in
local community service initiatives?

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 Research Questions/Hypotheses
Example 1: Physical exercise and anxiety

Research Question: How does physical exercise affect the mental

health of adults?
• Null Hypothesis (H0): Regular physical exercise does not affect
levels of anxiety among adults.
• Alternative Hypothesis (H1): Regular physical exercise decreases
levels of anxiety among adults.

Example 2: Sleeping duration and academic performance

Research Questions: How does sleeping duration affect college

students academic performance?
• Null Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant relationship between
sleep duration and academic performance among college students.
• Alternative Hypothesis (H1): There is a significant relationship
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 Research Questions/Hypotheses

Remarks
• Use either research question or hypotheses in the
introductory part (part one)

• But a research question may have more than one

hypotheses

• Research questions and objectives of the study are replica

of one another(one is in statement and the other is in
question form and their number should be equal )

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 Objectives of the Study

1. . Descriptive Research Objectives: aims to provide an accurate

account of a situation
• Objective: To assess the prevalence of mental health issues
among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. Exploratory Research Objectives: aims to investigate an area

where little is known
• Objective: To explore the potential impacts of remote work on
employee collaboration in tech companies.
3. Explanatory Research Objectives: seeks to explain relationships or
causality between
variables
• Objective: To examine the relationship between social media
usage and levels of anxiety among adolescents.
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 Remarks
General: title

Specific : Should be SMART

Use action Verbs: refer the following slide

and Bloom’s Taxonomy

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 Body of
knowledg
e

Practitio Policy
ners Makers

Significanc
e

Research Public
ers
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 Methodol
ogical

Tempo Thematic
ral

Scope

Spatial/
Unit of
Geograp
analysis
hical
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 Scientific explanations of some
Review of aspect of natural
Concepts or social world
Foundations/guides researches
Review of No need off discussion on what a
2. Review of

Literature Theories theory is

Select theories relevant to your
Related

study
Discuss how they are linked with
Empirical your study
Review of Add the critics given by scholars
Literature
Research Gap The expected relationship
between the DV & IVs
Conceptual A visual format of cause-and-
Framework effect
relationships.
The research question guides it
Examples of Conceptual Framework with/without
Meditation/Moderating Variables
 Mediating and Moderating Variables

• A mediator variable is a link in a causal chain where one

variable leads to another that leads to another

• It is affected by the independent variable and in turn it

also affects the dependent variable.

• Moderating variable (or moderator) affects the level,

strength and direction of that relationship.

• Shows you for whom, when, or under what

circumstances a relationship will hold.

• A moderating variable is not affected by the independent

variable, even though it affects the dependent variable.
Issues to be Considered in Literature Review

• Brief introduction
• Conclusion (your stand) on each issue
• Paraphrasing and direct quotation(for direct quotation
include page number)
• Direct quotations: for more than 40 words, indented
without quotation mark, 11 font sizes and 1 space, if it is
less than 40 words it is possible to use with sentences but
with quotation mark
• Arguing from different angles and support the
argument by sources
 Methodol
ogical

Empiri
cal Contextu
Eviden al
ce
Research
Gap

Theory Policy

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 Research Methodology

Remarks on Literature Review

• Brief introduction

• Conclusion (your stand) in each issue

• Paraphrasing and direct quotation(for direct quotation

include page number)

• Arguing from different angles and support the argument by

sources

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 3. Research Methodology Vs. Method
Research Methodology Research Methods

• A science of studying how research is done • the specific techniques or

scientifically procedures used to collect
• The overall strategy and theoretical and analyze data within a
framework or approach that guides the particular research project
research process

• It addresses:
• The type of research you conducted?
• How you collected and analyzed your
data?
• Any tools or materials you used in the
research?
• How you mitigated or avoided research
biases?
• Why you chose these methods?
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 3. Research Methodology
• Sample Size Determination
• Brief Introduction
• Description of the Study Area • Data Collection Instruments
• Research Paradigm • Validity and Reliability
• Research Design • Methods of Data Analysis
• Research Approach • Methods of Quantitative
• Types of Data Data Analysis
• Sources of Data • Model Specification
• Population and Sampling • Measurement of Variables
Frame • Methods of Qualitative Data
• Sampling Unit Analysis Ethical
• Sampling Techniques and Consideration
Sampling Procedure • References
• Annexes
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 Research Methodology Cont’d
Study Area
Research Research Research Types of
Description
Paradigm Design Approach Data

Depends
of Your Interpretivis Qualitati Qualitati
study m/ Descriptive
ve ve
but; Constructivis
Explanatory
m
Geograp Quantita Quantita
hy tive tive
Positivism Exploratory
Sources
Mixed of Data
Populati
on Longitudinal
Pragmatism
Primary
Sources
Cross-sectional
Weather Secondar
y
Sources
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ResearchResearch
Approaches Methodology Cont’d
Quantitat Qualitati
ive
- Large sample
ve
- Small sample
Resear size
ch size
- Short period of
Approa - Time taking
ch -time
Questionnaire - Interview
- Structured - FGD
interview
- Observation
- Observation - Subjective
- Objective
- Qualitative data
- Numerical data
- Narrating,
- Generate describing,
statistics
-quoting
Inductive
- Deductive
approach
approach
- Developing
- Theory Testing
theory
 Research Methodology Cont’d
• Population entire group of individuals or units
• Sampling Frame is a complete list the individuals, units, or elements in a
population from which a sample is
• A sample is a subset, or some part, of a larger whole.
• A sampling unit refers to the individual element, entity, or unit of
observation that, the basic unit of analysis from which data is collected,
• Individuals
• Households
• Organizations and so on
• Sample size determination
• influences the precision,
• reliability and
• generalizability of study results.
• Use scientific formulas
The sample size refers to the number of observations or data points
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 Research Methodology Cont’d
Sampling Techniques and Procedure

Give
justification
Probability Non-Probability s for your
selection:
How it is
relevant
• Simple random for your
• Convenience
sampling study
• Stratified random sampling
• Quota sampling
sampling
• Cluster sampling • Purposive sampling
• Systematic random • Snow ball sampling
sampling
• Multi-stage sampling
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 Research Methodology Cont’d
Primary data collection Methods and
Instruments

Guides
Questionnaire Survey Interviews

Focus Observation
Guides group s
discussions Checklists

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 Research Methodology Cont’d
Reliabilit
Validity
• Validity: to the extent to y
which a research • Reliability: the
instrument measures Test- consistency or
what it is intended to Retest stability of the
measure. Content
Reliabili measurement process
• It accurately reflects the ty
real-world Inter- • It is concerned with
phenomenon it aims to Constru
Rater the repeatability or
measure. ct
Reliabili reproducibility of
• Concerned with the Validity ty the data.
accuracy of the data and Internal
Criterio
the soundness of the Consiste
conclusions drawn from it. n-
ncy
Related
Validity Reliabilit
• Internal validity
y
• External Validity: Face
generalizability validity 75
 Research Methodology Cont’d
Methods of Quantitative Data
Analysis
Model Specification
• the process of defining and constructing a model that represents the relationships
between the variables
• Associated with quantitative research (e.g., regression models, structural equation
modeling, logistic regression, etc).
It involves:
• choosing the correct variables,
• deciding on the form of the relationships (linear, non-linear, etc.), and
• identifying the appropriate type of model to use based on the research question
and data.

• Linear models (e.g., multiple linear regression) Simple lonear (e.g., Y = a + bX).
• Non-linear models (e.g., polynomial regression, logistic regression)
• Time series models (e.g., ARIMA, panel data models)
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)Hierarchical models (e.g., multilevel modeling)
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 Research Methodology Cont’d

Example
• Research Question: How does education level affect
income?
• Model Specification: A linear regression model could be
specified as:

Where:
• Income is the dependent variable.
• Education is the independent variable.
• β0​is the intercept, and β1\beta_1β1​is the slope coefficient for
education.
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Methods of Qualitative
Data Analysis

Content

Thematic

Narrative and others

Research Methodology Cont’d

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 Research Proposal and its
Components: Supplementary

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 Use standard citation: APA
References 7th Edition and Software like
Mendeley, Zotero or other
Supplemental

Budget

Schedule
Questionnaire, interview and FGD
Guides and/or
Annexes Observation checklist
 General Remarks when you start your
proposal writing (from day 1)

• Citation: both in-text and

reference-use software/use •
• Keep your sentences simple,
recent literature < 5 years concise, short and straightforward.

• Choose your words carefully.

• Plagiarism should be < 20% Eg. Explore

• Consider the feasibility: the time,

• Strictly follow the skill and knowledge, other
University’s dissertation/thesis resources
writing guideline
• Editorial issues: read the hard
copy of your first draft. check • Be open minded to get feedback
the grammar, punctuation, and accept logical criticisms
citation spelling and others. suggestions.
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Plagiarism
Types of Plagiarism
 End of Training

It is time to conduct
research

Use your knowledge

& skill to change
societies life

Researchers Researchers fill

must read always gaps
87