SENIOR RESEARCH PROJECT GENERAL GUIDELINE

I. COVER/TITLE PAGE
 Cover page contains:
 Research title
 Student names
 Purpose of the study – in partial fulfillment of …..
 Month and year
 Title of the Research:
 Needs to be very clear and specific in nature.
 Should also have the expressive power to show the full gamut of the research study in few
words (often 12- 15 words).
 Should almost never contain abbreviations.
 Needs to be attractive and interesting enough to catch the attention of the readers.
 Reflect originality or novelty
 Should be concise and gives a clear indication of the papers focus, and answer questions
like:
- Are focused on clear questions based on relevant literature
- Does the title clearly identify the scope, location/subjects and type of study?
- Does the topic elicit interest and curiosity in you?
- Is the topic worthwhile?
- Tell the reader what will be done and why as well as how it will be achieved
 The title page has no page number and it is not counted in any page numbering.

II. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

III. TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION [CHAPTER 1]
i. Background of The Study
The introduction is the part of the paper that provides readers with the background
information for the research reported in the paper. Its purpose is to establish a framework for
the research, so that readers can understand how it is related to other research. In an
introduction, the writer should:
 create reader interest in the topic,
 lay the broad foundation for the problem that leads to the study,
 place the study within the larger context of the scholarly literature, and
 reach out to a specific audience.

The deficiencies model is a general template for writing a solid introduction to a proposal or
research study. It consists of five parts:
1. The research problem: In the introduction start with one or more paragraphs that
convey the specific research problem or issues. Also, in the first sentence, present

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 information to create reader interest or motivate your reader to read the rest of the
proposal.
2. Studies that have addressed the problem: After establishing the research problem in
the opening paragraphs, next justify the importance of the research problem by reviewing
studies that have examined the problem. The purpose of reviewing studies that have
addressed the problem is to justify the importance of the study and to create distinctions
between past studies and a proposed study. This component might be called “setting the
research problem within the ongoing dialogue in the literature.”
3. Deficiencies in the studies: After advancing the problem and reviewing the literature
about the problem, the researcher then identifies deficiencies found in this literature.
Beyond mentioning the deficiencies, proposal writers need to tell how their planned study
will remedy or address these deficiencies. For example, because past studies have
overlooked an important variable, a study will include one and analyze its effect.
4. The importance of the study for an audience: All good writers have the audience in
mind. The point is that authors need to identify the audiences that will likely profit from a
study of the research problem. The more audiences that can be mentioned, the greater the
importance of the study and the more it will be seen by readers to have wide application.
5. The purpose statement: Finally, good introductions to research studies end with a
statement of the purpose or intent of the study.

ii. Statement of the Problem

The research problem is the problem or issue that leads to the need for a study. It is a question
or issue to be examined. 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 statement of the problem:
 Is often followed by a more detailed discussion of the problem area.
 Explains its background more fully.
 Summarizes its implications in terms of professional significance or theory
development.
 Provides the reader with a more comprehensive understanding of what has been done
or learned so far by other researchers.
 Discusses briefly the literature relevant to the problem.

iii. Research Questions (Or 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. They represent a further narrowing of the
objectives, and a further step toward operationalizing what is to be done (a preview of the
procedures).
The research question should be feasible (can be investigated with available resources), clear
(specifically define terms used…operational needed, but give both) and significant (worth
investigating; how does it contribute to field and who can use info). A good research question is
feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant. The usable hypothesis:
 Must have explanatory power

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 Must state the expected relationship between variables
 Must be testable
 Should be consistent with the existing body of knowledge
 Should be stated as simply and concisely as possible
iv. Research Objectives
The objectives of a research project summarize what is to be achieved by the study. It is a clear
statement of something that needs to be accomplished over a period of time. It should be
closely related to the statement of the problem.
 The general objective of a study states what researchers expect to achieve by the study in
general terms.
 It is possible (and advisable) to break down a general objective into smaller, logically
connected parts. These are normally referred to as specific objectives. Specific objectives
should systematically address the various aspects of the problem. They should specify what
you will do in your study, where and for what purpose.
It is worth to note the following points in stating the objectives:
 Cover the different aspects of the problem and its contributing factors in a coherent way
and in a logical sequence;
 Are clearly phrased in operational terms, specifying exactly what you are going to do,
where, and for what purpose;
 Are realistic considering local conditions; and
 Use action verbs that are specific enough to be evaluated.
A good research objective is:
 Specific – states exactly what you need to achieve
 Measurable – includes a quality or quantity measure
 Agreed – between you and your Reviewer
 Realistic – can be challenging but must be achievable
 Time bound – with a clear end date or timescale

v. Significance of the Study

Indicate how the research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the area under
investigation. Note that such refinements, revisions, or extensions may have substantive,
theoretical, or methodological significance. Most studies have two potential audiences:
practitioners and professional peers. Statements relating the research to both groups are in
order.

This can be a difficult section to write. Think about implications—how results of the study may
affect scholarly research, theory, practice, educational interventions, curricula, counseling,
policy. The significance of the study should provide answers to the following questions.
 What will result mean to the theoretical framework that framed the study?
 What suggestions for subsequent research arise from the findings?
 What will the results mean to the practicing educator?
 Will results influence programs, methods, and/or interventions?
 Will results contribute to the solution of educational problems?
 Will results influence educational policy decisions?

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  What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?
 How will results of the study be implemented, and what innovations will come about?
vi. Limitations of the Study (to be Included at the completion of the whole study)
The limitations and delimitations sections of your research proposal describe situations and
circumstances that may affect or restrict your methods and analysis of research data.
Limitations are influences that the researcher cannot control. They are the shortcomings,
conditions or influences that cannot be controlled by the researcher that place restrictions on
your methodology and conclusions. Any limitations that might influence the results should be
mentioned.

A limitation identifies potential weaknesses of the study. Think about your analysis, the nature
of self-report, your instruments, and the sample. Think about threats to internal validity that
may have been impossible to avoid or minimize—explain. When considering what limitations
there might be in the investigation, be thorough.  Such that consider the analysis, the nature
of self-reporting, the instruments utilized, the sample, and time constraints. 

vii. Delimitations/Scope Of The Study

Delimitation addresses how a study will be narrowed in scope, that is, how it is bounded.
Delimitations are choices made by the researcher which should be mentioned. They describe
the boundaries that have set for the study. It should explain the things, namely the literature,
population, methodological procedures, and etc that will not be used and the reason why the
researcher decided to do so.
Limit the delimitations to the things that a reader might reasonably expect to do but that the
researcher, for clearly explained reasons, have decided not to do.

viii. Organization Of The Study

2. LITERATURE REVIEW [CHAPTER 2]

A crucial element of all research degrees is the review of relevant literature. The literature
review is the selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic,
which contain information, ideas, data, and evidence written from a particular standpoint to
fulfill certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be
investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being
proposed. It is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge
including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a
particular topic.

Literature reviews are secondary sources, and as such, do not report any new or original
experimental work. The key to a critical literature review is to demonstrate that the researcher
has read, understood and evaluated the relevant material; able to link the different ideas to
form a cohesive (solid) and coherent argument and make clear connections to the research
objectives and the subsequent empirical material. There are a number of good reasons for

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spending time and effort on a review of the literature before embarking on a research project. 
These reasons among others include:
 to identify gaps in the literature
 to avoid reinventing the wheel (at the very least this will save time and it can prevent from
making the same mistakes as others)
 to carry on from where others have already reached (reviewing the field allows the
researcher to build on the platform of existing knowledge and ideas)
 to identify other people working in the same fields (a researcher network is a valuable
resource)
 to increase the researcher’s breadth of knowledge of subject area
 to identify seminal (important) works in the area
 to provide the intellectual context for the researcher’s own work, enabling to position ones
project relative to other work
 to identify opposing views
 to put the work into perspective
 to demonstrate that you can access previous work in an area
 to identify information and ideas that may be relevant to the project
 to identify methods that could be relevant to the project

In reviewing the literature either the deductive or inductive approaches could be followed. The
deductive approach develops a conceptual framework from the literature which is then tested
using the data while the inductive approach explores the data to develop theories which are
then tested against the literature. In general, the literature review should:

1. share the results of other studies;

2. relate the study to the larger dialogue in the literature;
3. provide a framework for establishing the importance of the study;
4. provide a benchmark for comparing the results to other findings;
5. Include key academic theories;
6. demonstrate current knowledge of the area;
7. use clear referencing for the reader to find the original cited publications;
8. acknowledge the research of others; and
9. avoid all forms of plagiarism such as:
 Stealing material from another source
 Submitting material written by another
 Copying material without quotation marks
 Paraphrasing material without documentation

Moreover, the literature review should be organized into three parts, namely, the introduction,
the body, and the conclusion. The following guideline could be used in writing each of these
parts.
In writing the introduction:
 Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area of concern, thus providing an
appropriate context for reviewing the literature and tell the reader about the structure of
the section;

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 Or you may tell the reader about the sections included in LR. This passage is a statement
about the organization of the section.
 Point out overall trends in what has been published about the topic; or conflicts in
theory, methodology, evidence, and conclusions; or gaps in research and scholarship; or a
single problem or new perspective of immediate interest.
 Establish the writer's reason (point of view) for reviewing the literature; explain the
criteria to be used in analyzing and comparing literature and the organization of the review
(sequence); and, when necessary, state why certain literature is or is not included (scope).
In writing the body:
 Group research studies and other types of literature (reviews, theoretical articles, case
studies, etc.) according to common denominators such as qualitative versus quantitative
approaches, conclusions of authors, specific purpose or objective, chronology, etc.
 Summarize individual studies or articles with as much or as little detail as each merits
according to its comparative importance in the literature, remembering that space (length)
denotes significance.
 Provide the reader with strong "umbrella" sentences at beginnings of paragraphs,
"signposts" throughout, and brief "so what" summary sentences at intermediate points in
the review to aid in understanding comparisons and analyses.
In writing the Conclusion:
 End the literature review with a summary of the major themes and pointing out the
major flaws in methodology, gaps in the research, contradictions, and areas for further study
and suggest how your proposed study will contribute to the literature.
 Summarize major contributions of significant studies and articles to the body of
knowledge under review, maintaining the focus established in the introduction.
 Evaluate the current "state of the art" for the body of knowledge reviewed, pointing out
major methodological flaws or gaps in research, inconsistencies in theory and findings, and
areas or issues pertinent to future study.

REFERENCES
 APA or Harvard referencing style applied

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY [CHAPTER 3]

Research design is a set of advance decisions that make up the master plan specifying the
methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing the needed information in order to assess
the research problem. In other words, research designs are plans and the procedures for
research that span the decisions from broad assumptions to detailed methods of data
collection and analysis. It gives direction and systematizes the research. Factors affecting the
choice are the research problem itself, the background and interests of the researcher, and the
intended audience. It should indicate the methodological steps that will be taken to answer
every question or to test every hypothesis illustrated in the Questions/ Hypotheses section. This
part should clearly specify/address the following issues:

a) Research Design Categories

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 Quantitative: numbers, closed-ended, data hypotheses, experiments, deductive
 A means for testing objective theories by measurement of variables
 Use when research problem calls for understanding of causality/influence, results of
intervention, prediction of outcomes.
Qualitative: words, open-ended, interviews, ethnography, inductive
 A means for exploring meaning ascribed to social or human problems
 Use when problem is not well-understood and requires exploration
Mixed: can be combination of Quantitative and Qualitative in parallel, series, or
transformational combination.
 Use when problem cannot be accurately assessed using only one design.

b) Philosophical Worldviews (optional)

All research is based on assumption about how the world is perceived and how we can best
come to understand it. To understand the world we need to know the philosophy that lies
behind it.

Positivism (Post)/Determinism/Empiricism: The post positivism assumptions have represented

the traditional form of research, and these assumptions hold true more for quantitative
research than qualitative research.
 Cause and effect/Scientific method
 Experimentation and measurement can reveal objective reality
 Strive for objectivity
 Start with hypothesis and test

Constructivism: Social constructivism (often combined with interpretivism;) is such a

perspective, and it is typically seen as an approach to qualitative research.
 Reality is subjective and multiple
 Seek to understand meaning as experienced by participants
 Meaning of events is mediated by interactions with others, and social and cultural
context
 Start with open-ended inquiry and result in hypothesis

Pragmatic: Pragmatism as a worldview arises out of actions, situations, and consequences

rather than antecedent conditions (as in postpositivism). Instead of focusing on methods,
researchers emphasize the research problem and use all approaches available to understand
the problem. Pragmatism is not committed to anyone system of philosophy and reality. This
applies to mixed methods research in that inquirers draw liberally from both quantitative and
qualitative assumptions when they engage in their research.

c) Strategies of Inquiry
The researcher not only selects a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods study to conduct,
the inquirer also decides on a type of study within these three choices. Strategies of inquiry are
types of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs or models that provide specific

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direction for procedures in a research design. Specific approaches to inquiry within design
categories
 Quantitative: Experimental and quasi-experimental, surveys
 Qualitative: Narrative, case study, ethnography, grounded theory
 Mixed: Parts of both, in parallel, series, or combination

d) The population and sample (Data Sources)

Specify the characteristics of the target population and the sampling procedure. This discussion
will focus on essential aspects of the population and sample to describe in a research plan.
 Identify the population in the study. Also state the size of this population, if size can be
determined, and the means of identifying individuals in the population.
 Identify the selection process for individuals.
 Discuss the procedures for selecting the sample from available lists.
 Indicate the number of people in the sample and the procedures used to compute this
number.
 When a sample is drawn, rationale and limitations must be clearly provided.
 If available, outline the characteristics of the sample (by gender, race/ethnicity,
socioeconomic status, or other relevant group membership).
 Check on instrument validity and reliability

State how to collect data. As with strategies, tend to be associated with specific design
categories.
 Quantitative: Closed-ended, pre-determined questions, observational or instrumented
numeric data, statistical analysis/interpretation
 Qualitative: Open-ended, pre-determined or evolving questions, non-numeric data
 Mixed: Some of each
Outline the general plan for collecting the data, and answer questions like:
 What is to be measured? How?
 What is the source of the data?
 Can objective answers be obtained by asking people?
 How should people be questioned?
 Should the questionnaires be administered in person, over the phone, or through the
mail?
 Should structure or unstructured items be used to collect the data?
 Should the purpose of the study be made known to the respondents?
 Do you give justification for method you select?

e) Data Analysis

 Specify the procedures that will be used in data analysis, and label them accurately.
 Communicate the researcher’s precise intentions and reasons for these intentions to the
reader. This helps the researcher and the reader evaluate the choices the researcher made
and procedures followed.

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 Plan for data processing and analysis and the justification behind selecting the data
processing technique used.
 Make sure that the type(s) of data analysis tools proposed relevant to achieve the proposed
research objective.
 Make sure that the analysis tools appropriate for the data type/nature to be collected.

4. DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION [CHAPTER 4]

 Data cleaning (e.g. inconsistency/error/missing etc)
 Data presentation (descriptive and inferential)
 Data results and analysis
 Discussion of results

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION [CHAPTER 5]

 State conclusion vis-à-vis each research sub-question/hypothesis and ultimately the
general research question
 Provide recommendations supported by your findings

6. REFERENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Harvard/APA referencing style applied
 Consistent and complete citations both in the text & in the list of references

7. APPENDIX
 Questionnaire/interview guide/document review guide/observation guide/other
necessary documents

OTHER ISSUES
 Overall layout for writing the entire project paper
 Avoid grammatical, spelling, punctuation errors
 Ensure that the proposal is maintained in past tense form and the limitation part is
updated
 Margins: Left margin 1.25 inches; Right margin 1 inch; Top 2inches if there is major
heading and 1.25 in every other page; bottom 1 inch
 Font type – times new roman
 Font size – 12 bold for titles and subtitles and normal for others
 Font color – black for all
 Line/character spacing – single/1.5 for all parts/text writing and leave one line
/between after each title/subtitle/paragraph
 Single space for foot notes
 Size 30-50 pages
 Repeat title of the project at the top of the page of the first page of the main text and
then follows the other details on pages numbered consecutively; beginning with the
second page, each main section of the report should be on a new page