Brief guideline to prepare research proposal

Brief Guideline to prepare research Proposal

Developing/designing research proposal before undertaking the research is both desirable and essential.
The development of the proposal for research (design of the research) does not have Universal format.
Nevertheless, the following elements are essential components in most Scientific Research Proposals.

1. Title 6. Literature review

2. Abstract 7. Research methodology
3. Introduction/background / Justification 8. Time Budget(work plan)
4. Statement of the problem/rational of the 9. Cost Budget
study 10. References
5. Objectives of the study 11. Appendix(Annex)

To give you some clues, each of the above components is discussed briefly under the following headings.

1) Topic/Title

It represents the problem to be solved or the area to be researched

It should:

 Be clear, short, explicit and transparent

 Capture and reflects the content of the proposal
 Be researchable in general

In general the title should clearly identify the scope, location/subjects and type of study

2) Abstract
 It is a summary, representing the whole content of the proposal in not more than 300 words
 The following points are expected to be addressed in the abstract:
 Topic of the research
 Statement of objectives
 Methodology of investigation and analysis
 Expected result if a research starts with hypothesis
3) Introduction/background of the study
 It gives the preliminary explanation and background of the study and the need for
undertaking the study
 In addition, it reviews the previous work to reveal what is known about the subject
 The three major points that must be noted under this heading are:
 Brief concept and facts about the area from the literatures
 The existing gap with regard to the problem identified
 The reason why it is worth studying
 The reason for why the problem has not been solved yet
 The intention of researcher to fill the gap
Coherency of ideas (from general to specific) must be maintained. Overall the background should
sufficiently links the current study with the literature

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Brief guideline to prepare research proposal

4) Statement of the problem

 The rationale for doing the study(its importance)
 Proper justification for the seriousness of the problem at hand
 It is about arguing vis-à-vis whether there exist previous efforts to solve the problem that
failed to succeed
 The problem statement should persuasive and attract the readers
 It should be stated, narrated properly and the problem identified must be described clearing
 The research, here, must clearly answer the question” what is the problem/” and “why this
problem worth my attention?”
 The statement of the problem must be closed with the research questions or hypothesis
 Nonetheless, care must be taken while setting the appropriate research questions. And hence
must be noted that the research question does not mean the survey questionnaire or interview
questions (that means data collection instrument). Rather it is question that identifies the
nature of the research problem and the issue included in it.

Overall, the statement of the problem should be clear and adequately formulated showing the existing
gaps and it is researchable.

5) Objectives/statement of purposes/
 It strengthens the proposal and research agenda
 It is about the end result to be achieved by the proposed investigation, stated plainly and
concisely
 Should be to the point and logically arranged
 Stated in terms of a form which shows the relation between the variables with clearly stated
target
 The General objective; followed by specific objectives to attain that general objective should
be clearly stated
 In formulating the specific objectives it would be worthwhile if the statements begin with
phrases such as: ‘to find out’, ‘to determine’, to analyze’, ’to measure’, ‘to explore’, to
evaluate’, to assess’ etc…….
6) Significance and scope of the study
Should justify whether the study is worth undertaking in terms of filling gaps in knowledge,
helping decision making and policy revision.
the scope of the study should be clearly defined with both in terms of the study area and the
study subjects.
7) Literature Review
 Review the related prior studies and theories from variety of the sources
 The researcher shall carefully read the sources and thoroughly organize the ideas into themes
along with the line of investigation
 Proper citation is required

Generally, the literature review must provide relevant and adequate prior related findings (both
theoretical and empirical). And the relevant concepts and variables of the research must be operationally
defined in a measurable way

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Brief guideline to prepare research proposal

8) The research design and Methodology

 It is the core and the largest part of the research proposal
 And hence, is helpful to ensure the validity and reliability of the whole research
 Here, full details how the research can be carried out must be explained
 Suggested subsections:
i. Research approach
 Qualitative or
 Quantitative or
 Mixed
ii.Data and data sources
 Variables/indicators are describes
 The sources, the types and the location of the data must be described
with proper justification
iii. Methods of data collection
 How data are obtained from earlier specified sources
 For example: the available methods for primary data collection might be;
Observations, Questionnaire, interview etc…..
 And other methods found to be relevant together with their justifications
 Data collection tools ( eg. Survey questionnaires) must be properly
designed and prepared
iv. Methods of sampling and sample size (sampling design)
 Refer all the alternative methods of sampling and select the appropriate
one
 It is about explain the elements/population from which data are collected
and how they are selected
 Justification with regard to sampling technique is must
 The sample size must be specified, properly computed and justified
v. Method of data analysis
 Ways of processing and analyzing the data collected
 The available analysis techniques may be descriptive analysis,
inferential analysis, others…..

It must be noted that the type(s) of data analysis tools proposed should be relevant to achieve the
proposed research objective and the analysis tools have to be appropriate for the data type/nature to be
collected.

9) Work plan(time budget)

10) Cost Budget
11) List of references / Bibliography
 All works of others that are adopted must be cited to avoid plagiarism
 Different ways of citation and recording references are available. For instance ;
 Harvard system; Name of the author, the year, the titles, the publication in which it
appears, the volume and page

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Brief guideline to prepare research proposal

 Others (e.g. APA)

12) Appendix
 Questionnaire and interview schedules
 Organization structures(if any)
 Maps(if any)
13) General guide for writing up the research
 Use appropriate tense and grammar
 Make it easy to read with zero error in spelling
 the references/sources must be properly cited in the text ( better if Harvard in-text citation
system is followed)
 avoid any plagiarism
 Include the details of the sources used in the main text properly and exhaustively in the
reference/bibliography section
 Use the existing university guide for the overall layout, spacing and font type

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