DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK

SOCI1001/SY13B – INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL RESEARCH

PROPOSAL GUIDELINE

Due in tutorial week of April 4, 2011

The purpose of a research proposal is to identify a problem that needs to be researched and
explain how you would proceed to examine it. This means that the research proposal
should do the following:
(A) clearly state your research problem
(B) explain why the problem should be studied
(C) explain how you are going to investigate the problem

While the format used in writing a research proposal may vary among researchers, all
proposals should contain the items below.
The following is a suggested format for organizing a research proposal.
Ask yourself the following questions while you work through the exercise.
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-START: Identify an area of interest
NOTE: Your topic must fall into one (1) of the following categories
(i) Family
(ii) Health
(iii) Technology
CHAPTER 1
Topic or Title: Concise statement which tells the reader exactly what you are studying.

Introduction and Background to your study: Historical overview for the study. This helps the
reader to understand the context in which the study is taking place.
Statement of Research Problem and Research Question:

Rationale: Reason (s) for doing the study.

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Objectives/Aims: Clear statements outlining what one wishes to accomplish throughout the
study.
N.B. All points made must be supported by credible evidence and ideas should be logically
connected.
(Points: 5)

Chapter 2: Review of literature – critical analysis of what others have said about the issue.
It is a search of the scholarly literature for answers to the research question and
should be written and structured to reflect that. (N.B. Material taken from
sources that do not abide by the standards the standards of scientific rigour,
such as newspapers and most websites, are not acceptable in this section.) It has
two aspects:
a) Review of conceptual literature i.e., How others have defined the subject area.
This includes the treatment of the issues in relevant social scientific theory
b) Research literature – what relationships others have identified between
variables.
(Points: 4)

Hypotheses/ Research Question

NB. Not all studies require hypotheses. These are used in explanatory research designs.
Hypotheses are tentative statements about the relationships between two or more variables.

Chapter 3: Methodology
i. Research Design
Choice of research method/ design. Is the study going to be
explanatory, exploratory, or descriptive? Is it going to be a
longitudinal (trend, cohort or panel) or cross-sectional. You
should also justify your selection of the particular design.

ii. Variables
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 a. Conceptualization – specifying the meaning of the concepts
and variables to be measured
b. Operationalization – specifying how your variables or
concepts will be measured
c. Would also like to see variable identification. A chart
showing direction of relationship between dependent and
independent variables

iii. Population and sampling – who will be observed in the study,

what is my sample size and how will the sample be chosen are
critical questions. Explain why a given probability or non-
probability technique is best for this study.

iv. Instrument of data collection – how am I going to record the

information? Give a brief description of the questionnaire design
and types of questions, i.e. open-ended or close- ended. Provide an
example of the interview schedule or questionnaire being used.

v. Data Collection – explain the process of data collection. Over

what time period will the data be collected?

vi. Use of Data

a. Data processing – how am I going to prepare my data for
analysis?
b. Data analysis - what statistical techniques will I use to test my
research hypotheses? In the case of qualitative research, how
best can I identify and summarise the major themes in the
study?
c. Data presentation – how am I going to present my finding
visually?

vii. Timeline
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 Expected time for completing each task of the study. How long
will it take to identify your sample? How long to train data
collectors? How long to collect the data?

viii. Budget - what will it cost to undertake the study?

Identify all research activities that will incur costs
and provide reasonable estimates for each.
(Points: 9)

References: Minimum of three (3) scholarly journal articles or books

All newspaper articles used are equivalent to one reference
Use APA 6th Edition format or Chicago Style
(Points: 1)

Appendices: Any additional material including any data collection instrument, any
tables, graphs or pictures.

Presentation: (Points: 1)
Font size: 12
Line spacing: 1 ½ - 2

All subheadings must be clearly identified

NB:
Proposal writing involves only saying how you will conduct your research/study, not
actually carrying out the research.

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