Chapter 4 : Research Proposal

4.1. What is research proposal?

 The term "research proposal" is coined from two words, research and
proposal.
 Research has been defined in first chapter.
 Proposal means course of activity proposed.
 Therefore, research proposal can be defined as written document
requesting both authorization and funds to undertake specific
research project.
 It always includes statement explaining purpose of study or
definition of problem.
 It systematically outlines particular research methodology and details
process that will be utilized at each stage of research process
 Cont’d
 In research proposal:
 What information will be required?
 What research procedures will be implemented? Will be clearly
specified so that others may understand their exact implications.
 4.2. Function of research proposal
 Research proposal may function at least in three ways, namely, as
means of communication, plan and contract
i. Proposal as means of communication serves to communicate
investigator’s research plan to those who-give consultations
and / or disburse fund.
 Proposal is primary source on which students’ thesis or
dissertation committee must base function of: review,
consultation and more importantly, approval for implementation
of research project
In general, quality of assistance and probability of financial
support will all depend directly on clarity and justification of
proposal.
 Cont’d
ii. Research proposal as plan helps researcher to organize his idea
in systematic manner and to look for strengths and weakness.
 A successful proposal sets out plan in step-by-step detail.
 That is, it provides inventory of what must be done and which
materials have to be collected as preliminary step.
 Generally, acceptability of results is judged exclusively in terms
of adequacy of methods employed in recording, analyzing and
interpreting data in planned study
 Cont’d
iii. Proposal as contract.
 A completed proposal approved for execution and signed by all
members of sponsoring committee, constitute bond of agreement
between researcher and that committee.
 An approved grant proposal results in contract between
investigator (and often university) and funding sources.
 Proposal for thesis and dissertation should be in final form prior
to collection of data.
 Once document is approved in final form, neither student nor
sponsoring faculty members should be free to alter fundamental
terms of contract by unilateral decision.
 Importance of research proposal
 The research proposal has the following importance:-
i. It serves as basis for determining feasibility of research
project.
ii. It provides systematic plan of procedures for researcher to
follow.
iii. It gives research supervisor basis for guiding researcher while
conducting study.
iv. It reduces probability of costly mistake.
 Preparation of full-fledged proposal is not one-time endeavor but,
it is result of continuous modification and amendment through
discussion with experts in field.
 4.3. General Format and Elements of Proposal
 There is no hard and fast format in scientific research proposal
writing.
 It varies from one organization to other and from one country to
other.
 Some universities and funding agencies make very specific
demand for format of proposals.
 Others provide general guidelines for form and content.
 Though format varies, essence expressed in different proposal
remains same.
 The major components (elements) of scientific
research proposal
1. Abstract
2. Introduction (background and justification), Objective of the study
3. Literature review
4. Material and methods (methodology)
5. Work plan (time budget)
6. Cost budget
7. References
8. Appendix
 Each of them can have their own separate section in research
proposal.
 Some can be merged with some, on other hand, can be split in to
separate section or into further subsections.
 Cont’d
1. Title:
 Title should be as explicit as possible and transparent
 It should be clear and short
 It should capture and reflect content of proposal.
 It should enable readers to understand concepts of study
 Try to get title down to one line or two
2. Abstract:
 Is summary, which reflects whole content of proposal (most of
time less than 300 words?)
 Abstract should be concise, informative and should provide brief
information about whole problem to be investigated
 Cont’d
The abstract of proposal should contain the following points:-
o Title or topic of research
o Statement of problem and objective
o Methodology of investigation
o Expected result (tentative only if researcher starts with
formulated hypothesis)
 Cont’d
3. Introduction
 This section in research proposal should give general background of
study and need for undertaking study.
 It reviews previous work to reveal what is known of subject.
 Some question to be addressed in this part may include:
o What are current and previous studies that have been made on
issues to be studied?
o What is present gap in knowledge and current trend?
o What makes worth studying?
o Why has problem not been solved yet?
o What do we intend, to fill gap or solve problem?
o If researcher finds this section to be very vast he can add (split this
section) section (heading) called “rationale” and/or problem statement
 Cont’d
4. The Rationale
 Rationale provides some of reasons for doing study and its
importance.
 Citations from past research may be relevant here; likewise recent
political and economic events, previous efforts to solve problem
that did not succeed can be mentioned.
 This section of research proposal can be merged with above
(introduction) section or in objective part of proposal or in some
cases where wider explanation and justification as to rationale of
proposed study is needed it can be shown in separate section.
 Cont’d
5. Objectives
 In this section, proposal can indicate what is expected to occur
and why, suggest variables that determine relationship, or
provide explanation for phenomenon that has been observed,
which strengthens proposal and research agenda.
 Generally this section should focus on points:-
i. What is to be achieved by proposed investigation has to be stated
plainly and concisely
ii. Should be to point and logically arranged
iii. Should be stated in form which shows relations between
variables
iv. Must clearly state target of research activity, i.e., what kind of
results are expected or sought from conducting research.
 Cont’d
6. Literature review
 Literature review means locating literature in variety of sources
reading it carefully and thoroughly organizing it into themes
along with line of investigation.
 Objective of literature review:-
 To establish familiarity with body of knowledge and establishes
credibility: review tells reader that he knows research in area and
knows major issues.
 To show path of prior research and how current project is
linked to it: A good review places research project in context and
demonstrates its relevance by making connections to body of
knowledge.
 Cont’d
 To integrate and summarize what is known in the area. It collects
what is known up to point in time and indicates direction for future
research.
 To learn from others and stimulate new ideas. A review tells
what others have found so that researcher can benefit from efforts
of others.
 Cont’d
Types of review literature can be
i. Theoretical works and review
ii. Methodological review
iii. Original findings and reviews of them
 It takes researcher over year to complete extensive professional
summary review of all literature on broad question.
 Reading or review for research could take place in three stages of
research project. These include the following:-
1.At beginning of research: objective here is:
i. To check what other research has been done
ii. To focus your idea, and
iii. To explore context for your project
 Cont’d
2.During your research: with objectives of :
i. keeping your interest and up to date with development
ii. helping you better understand method you are using and field
you are researching
iii. serving as source of data
3.After your research, with objectives of :
iv. seeing what impact you own work has had, and
v. helping you develop ideas for further research project
 Cont’d
 It is not necessary to have separate heading for review of literature
in proposal.
 In many respects it is more useful to show that such review has
been made by citing useful literature in problem statement
(introductory part), methodology and where ever this information
has been helpful in developing research proposal.
 The researcher may decide to have separate heading for review
literature when he wants to develop theoretical frameworks
reviewed from different sources, detailed explanation and
extensive references of research outcomes related to proposed
study.
 Cont’d
7. Material and Methods (Methodology) or Data and
Methodology
 Methodologies are core and largest part of scientific research
proposal.
 Methodologies are largely descriptive.
 This section is essential prerequisite for validating results and
hence acceptability of proposal.
 Accurate, clear and valid methodology is required so that peers
can:
i. replicate experiments described in experimental research
ii. modify them with assurance that modification is different from
original in particular way
iii. apply them under different conditions
 Cont’d
 Methodology should give full details to show how research
activity is going to be carried out.
 Since this section is largest and most important part of research
proposal, researchers are advised to split it in to sub-sections.
 Such effort makes proposal transparent and clear to readers as
well as to reviewing committee and therefore, minimizes risk of
being rejected by research committee (examiners board).
 The suggested sub-sections can be:
a) Data (materials)
b) Methodology(methods) used
 7.1. Data (some authors prefer Materials)
 In this subsection of methodology, information required to attack
problem is explained.
 Each variable or indicator identified by researcher is explained and
justified to show how it is relevant to current study.
 The source of data, site (location) of study and time that will be
included (relevant time period) should also be specified.
 Detailed techniques of sampling, data collection and method of
analysis would be left to next sub section.
 This is important particularly when researcher plans to collect
primary data to test basic hypothesis.
 7.2.Methods (Methodology)
 In this subsection details of all technical matters will be
explained, which includes,
Method of data collection: How data are obtained from earlier
specified sources? There are different methods to collect primary
data.
 All available methods are expected to be considered by researcher
and best one is selected.
 The researcher explains and justifies how his selection of particular
method is relevant and appropriate to his study.
 Cont’d
Method of sampling: From which elements are data collected? The
researcher has to specify elements from which desired information is
collected and how these elements are selected.
 There are different sampling techniques.
 The researcher is expected to consider all of them and select one,
which is appropriate for current study.
 Justification of his choice of particular sampling technique is
relevant here.
 The sample size should also be specified with its method of
sample size determination.
 Cont’d
Method of analysis: Once information is collected how it will be
processed and analyzed should also be explained in this part.
 Particularly if researcher uses mathematical models like simple or
multiple regression, time series or liner programming models,
he has to show their mathematical derivations and relations briefly
to demonstrate their relevancy for current study.
Method of presenting outcome: Some times it is worth to mention
how outcome of research will be presented to consumers (general
public).
 This is important if research is not part of particular study program
(like, master or doctoral study).
 8. Budget of Time:
 A timetable explaining how researcher expects to carry out his
project and when each of important phases will be completed is
helpful to both researcher and reviewer.
 It is plan in terms of numbers of weeks or months and expected
completion dates.
 Commonly researcher presents it in table form.
 The length of time required for postgraduate study (Doctoral study)
is determined by budget of time presented by students.
 Thus, researcher should be realistic in budgeting his time.
 9. Cost budget
 Most proposals put together with expectation that funding will be
necessary and itemized list of items needed to carry out
methodology is listed in some detail.
 Personal needs, including principal researcher’s time are included.
 These are items like:
 Field expenses for data collection
 Pay for consultants where they are necessary
 Travel and all such items needed to be detailed
 Sum of money for contingencies
 Carefully developed budget reflects seriousness of proposal and
degree to which it is realistic assessment of what is needed.
 Cont’d
9. Reference (Bibliography/ Literature cited)
 All works cited in proposal are listed either alphabetically or
numerically at end of document usually under heading of
“References or Bibliography “
 Some conservative authors would like to make distinction between
references and bibliography as mentioned below.
References: are lists of literature, which have been cited in text of
document
Bibliography: includes also items, which were not cited but are
relevant to document.
 Therefore, reference is mandatory and bibliography is optional
for research report.
 Cont’d
 There are several ways of making citation and recording
references.
 The two main systems of referring are:
A) Harvard System: This system uses author’s name, date, and
page reference.
 This system is used mainly by Anthropology, Social science and in
life science research.
 Harvard system is commonly used in business research.
B) Vancouver System: uses in-text number instead of author, date,
and page reference.
 The same superscript or bracketed text number is given in text each
time source is cited.
 It is used in applied science like chemistry, physics & mathematics.
 Cont’d
Example:
 “In investigation conducted in large factories, Gibbs1 reported that
absenteeism was higher on night shift than day”
Or
 “In investigation conducted in large factories, it has been reported
that absenteeism on night shift was measured and found to be
significantly higher…Gibbs1
 1 Gibbs, Jennifer M. (1993) ‘Absenteeism in SME’s , International
Small Business Journal, 13 (1), pp. 13-26.
 Cont’d
Harvard System
 Since this system is used in business research it is presented in
some detail below.
 Reference list must include all published works referred to in text.
 Each reference to periodical publication must include, in order,
name(s) of author(s), year of publication, full title of article,
publication in which it appears, and volume and including
page number
 Reference to book must give author or authors’ name(s), year,
title, edition, if other than first; publisher, city of publication,
and number of volume (if two or more).
 Example of some of common types of literature citation as J.
Hussey & R. Hussey (997) put it presented here as follows:-
 Cont’d
i) Citation (in text)
Citation under Harvard system:
 In investigation conducted in large factories, Gibbs (1993)
reported that absenteeism was higher on night shift than day
Citing more than one authors
 A number of research studies have been conducted into the effect
of recession on small business (Smith, 1984; Anderson, 1990;
Jones, 1995)…
 Cont’d
ii. Referring or listing cited works
A) Reference for books
 Davidson, Alan. B. (1994), Pursuit of Business, London, Chapman
& Halls
B) Reference for Journal article
 Porter, Michael E. (1994), competitive advantage of nations,
Harvard Business Review, 68(2), pp. 73-83
C) Other reference
 It is possible to cite quote or paraphrase unpublished work if
they are relevant to study.
 Cont’d
 Unpublished works are:
• Personal communication with experts (professionals).
• Unpublished data collected by other researchers
• Unpublished research works
• Public speeches
• Conferences discussion and the like
 Cont’d
 The researcher should not put such unpublished work in
reference list unless it has been fully approved and date set for its
publication.
 Unpublished references are not usually found or catalogued in
libraries. And such unpublished reference should be placed in
body of text, not in reference list.
 Use parenthesis to enclose complete name of author, year (if
available) and appropriate tattle, location, or other information
needed to establish authenticity of reference or help reader locate
it.
 E.g., “ ……………….” (David Lee, Cornell University, 1995
personal Communication)
 It is also possible to use numbered footnote and will be referred to
by using number as superscript at proper position.
 Cont’d
9. Appendix (Annex)
 It is not mandatory to have this section.
 If researcher thinks that having this section will increase quality of
research proposal he is free to do so.
 Information types provided in this section are those additional
details, which are difficult to accommodate within standard
headings
 Cont’d
 Stuffs to be included in appendix:
 Detail Questionnaires and interview schedules
 Detailed experimental design (in experimental research)
 Detailed statistical procedures
 Samples of research materials (chemical and some biological
materials)
 Survey and other geographic maps
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