MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH PROPOSAL GUIDE PREPARED BY CHIVIVI O.

TITLE OF THE TOPIC

-Clear and precise title

-Avoid winding, long ambiguous topic

-Your title should be punchy

- Proposal should look at areas that focus on innovation, creativity, industrialisation and
knowledge management

NB: AVOID OVER RESEARCHED AREAS.

INTRODUCTION

-Introduce the concept EG WORKER RETENTION SCHEME

- Brief description of what the research proposal is about.

- It should not be confused with the background of the study.

- Clarify the focus of the study

- Point out the value of your research.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.

- Choice of a specific subject for research begins in its wider context, comprising of
issues.

- Background context helps to understand the specific problems/ opportunities

addressed by the researcher

- Show the nature of the problem/opportunities

- What is happening?

-Provide statistics of what is happening

- Elements considered at the stage should be related to show how they lead to the
problem/opportunity that is going to be isolated and treated by the researcher

(4 to 5 pages)

Statement of the problem

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- Summary of the problem,
- state a summary of the problem

- Against the above background, the research isolates the problem that she/he finds to be
looked into.

-isolating the problem entails stating it in clear and specific terms, as much as possible at this
initial stage

- stating the problem of the study could be said to involve “HOW THINGS ARE” AND
“HOW THEY SHOULD BE” OR “ THE SITUATION IS LIKE THIS OR THAT AND YET
IT OUGHT TO BE LIKE THIS OR THAT”

OBJECTIVES

-objectives must be specific, measurable, achievable and relevant

-describe concisely what the research in trying to achieve

Provides direction to the study

-clearly identify variables to be measured (independent and dependent variables)

HYPOTHESIS/ RESEARCH QUESTIONS

-posits a possible solution(s) to the problem envisaged (hypothesis for quantitative research)

- Provisional supposition put forth to account for known facts

- Serve as a starting point for further investigation to prove or disapprove.

-an assumption of causality

- A proposed interconnection among phenomena

- Tentative solution to be verified by the researcher’s investigation.

THEORETICAL/ CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK (FOR MASTERS

STUDENTS)
- Grand theories/ ideas which act as an internal structure of the study

- Logical frame or explanation as most studies are only additional to the already
existing body of knowledge and not the first ones.

- Every study depends on previous studies whose ideas are already known

- Serve to support the fresh ones

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 - Every study relates to theory either negates it or confirm it to improve it.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .

- What is the motivation?

- Why is the research important?

- Why are you conducting it?

- What relevance has it got?

- What new knowledge is adding to the existing knowledge?

DELIMITATION/ SCOPE OF THE STUDY

-include space/ geography, time or disciplinary

- Boundaries or limits within which the study needs to be kept

Researcher focus on the precise issue intended to consider.

- Helps the researcher to focus and exhaustive

- Strength of your research.

ASSUMPTIONS

LIMITATIONS

DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

-main terms related to the study to be specified to provide a correct understanding of the
study on the part of the reader

- Not necessarily a dictionary definition but a researcher’s definition, the way he/she
understands it.

CHAPTER SUMMARY.

Literature Review
- Literature Review must be well structured, and your ideas must flow logically from one
point to the next.

- Ensure sources and references are current and relevant/related to the research topic.
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- Literature sources must be adequate to demonstrate the existing gaps, or problems-

--The literature review is a written overview of major writings and other sources on a selected
topic.

- Sources covered in the review may include scholarly journal articles, books, government
reports, Web sites, etc.

- The literature review provides a description, summary and evaluation of each source

-for each source, the researcher briefly mentions and relates the major ideas raised to the
problem identifies or highlights the gap, states what one intends to add.

-A literature review is a comprehensive overview of all the knowledge available on a specific

topic till date.

-NB:

-Places each source in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the
specific issue, area of research, or theory under review.

-Describes the relationship of each source to the others that you have selected.

-Identifies new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research

- What is already known or understood about this topic?

-How might your research add to this understanding, or challenge existing theories
and beliefs?

-an interpretation and synthesis of published work’.

- Determine which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of

your topic

-it points to the novelty of the contribution of the researcher vis-à-vis the contribution
of the reviewed sources.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Precisely explains steps intended to follow to accomplish the research

- Methodology must not be so generic as to apply to any research

- be fairly specific

- show how the researcher handles each stage and area.

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3.0 Introduction

3.1 Research Approach

 Spell out the research approach either quantitative or qualitative.

 Show that you know the approach

3.1.1 Justification of the approach

 Justify why you used the stated approach to ensure weight of the approach you can
also reinforce your justification of the approach by quoting other scholars who have
used that approach in their research before you.

3.2 Research Design

 Show that you know what research design entails.

 Highlight the purpose of your study, that is, is it exploratory, explanatory, descriptive
or predictive study.
 Link that to you research.

3.2.1 Justification of the selected research design

 Also use other scholars who have used that particular design in their research or have
argued for the particular design, also ensures that you acknowledge the source.

3.3 Target Population

 Define what target population is (source required about 3 scholars)

 Describe the make up (constituencies) of the targeted population for your research
 Tabulate your target population as shown below

Description Number
Finance Manager 20
Human Resources 50
Population Size 70

3.4 Sampling

 Define sampling (sources required about 2 scholars)

 Spell out the sampling procedure(s) to be used in this research, that is, stratified
sampling, simple random sampling, systematic sampling or any of the non probability
sampling methods.
 Show appreciation (knowledge) of the sampling method used.
 Link the method to the research study
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3.4.1 Justification of sampling method

 You can reinforce your justification by quoting other researchers who have used the
same method before you or you can quote scholars who have argued for the particular
method. This gives weight to your justification.
 Tabulate your sample size as shown below:

Description Number
Finance Manager 5
Human Resources Managers 10
Sample Size 15

3.5 Sources of data to be used, i.e clear spell out the sources of data to be used for this
research.

 Primary Data
 Secondary Data
 Combination of Primary & Secondary data
 Highlight the type of data you are going to use for your research

3.6 Data collection methods

Be specific as possible

Justify how you used them.

3.7 Research Instruments/

Be as specific as possible

 Specify the instruments which you are going to use for the research & their types eg
likert scale. Also tell us on which sub group(s) is the instrument to be administered for
data collection purposes.
 Make sure you write in past tense from chapter one up to chapter 5.

3.6.1 Justification of the instruments used for the research

 Quote other authors/scholars who used the same instruments for their research
 Justify according to your study than other authors (quote the sources)

3.7 Validity & Reliability

 How did you ensure reliability and validity of research instruments

 What do other scholars say about validity & reliability of research instruments
 Pretesting/ Pilot Survey
 Triangulation of research instruments

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3.8 Research Ethics

 Ethical consideration of the study to ensure that information is obtained ethically

 Read on research ethics

3.9 Data Presentation & Analysis

 How do you intend to present the data?

 Give justification for presentation techniques chosen.
 How are you going to analyse the data (Quantitative or Qualitative)? Be specific, that
is, which quantitative or qualitative tools are to be used for data analysis?
 Give justification for the specific analytical tools chosen for your study.

3.10 Summary

 Ensure you summarise the major issues.

SUBMIT YOUR CHAPTER 3 INCLUDING QUESTIONNAIRE(S) AND INTERVIEW

GUIDE(S)

NB

PROPOSAL IS MARKETING YOURSELF AND THE STUDY, SAYING THIS IS WHAT,

WHEN, AND WHY 1 WANT TO DO THIS RESEARCH.