Developing a research plan

DR. HAMZAH ALHARTHI

Developing a research plan
oLike most engineering work, a research project should be structured and costed before it is
commenced.
o This should ensure that the project plan is coherent and viable and acceptable to the project
team and that all resources are available.
omost universities require that students applying to undertake an internship, Master’s degree
or PhD degree must provide a one page outline of the topic as part of their application for
admission.
oThe project description is usually planned with one or more prospective supervisors, includes
the background to the research, the contribution it will make, the resources required, the
tools to be used and the likely outcomes.
Finding a suitable research question
oOne challenge in undertaking research is to find a place to start.
oWhere can a research team find an opportunity to make a contribution to their engineering
discipline and the world-wide body of knowledge?
o Some team members might have lots of ideas, but maybe some will have no concrete ideas.
oThe research topic must lie within the range of skills and background knowledge of the team
oIn some cases the project will be limited to the tools and geographic locations that are
accessible to the team.
owriting the research question is very difficult in the absence of current knowledge of the
research field.
o Usually the archival literature can provide the team with some guidance.
oa selection of keywords was used to find some recent journal papers in the field.
oA good scientific paper will include a discussion of the results and some suggestions for
further work on some related topics.
oThis is an excellent opportunity to develop a research question.
o But before prospective researchers get too excited about these ideas, they should investigate
whether the research team that authored the paper might have continued with their research
theme.
o This is not unusual as the lag time between paper submission and publication is at least six
months.
oThat means that other teams wishing to follow on with the published research must conduct
a literature search using the authors’ names and keywords.
oIt may be that the ‘further work’ section of the paper clearly indicates the nature of further
work required and a further research question can be developed directly from the work.
oAlternatively, another research team might have access to a different approach which involves
one or more of the following distinguishing features that allow additional developments in the
same theme:
o Different equipment which allows improved accuracy and/or independent validation of the previous
results;
o More powerful or more appropriate modelling tools which will verify the results with improved
accuracy and allow extended modelling beyond the initial results that were published;
o A different researcher skill set which allows the previous results to be reviewed and analysed from a
different perspective;
o A unique cross-disciplinary team with a variety of different skills which provide new applications in
different research disciplines; and
o A novel idea to modify and improve the previous work.
oIn order to develop this idea, the team needs to study and understand the theory, experimental
methods, data analysis, etc from the original paper.
oIf the outcomes of this preliminary investigation are positive and encouraging, then the new
research extensions can be matched with one of the question words from Chapter 1:
How? Why? When? What?
oWith the addition of these words, a team will have a research question which has been derived
from previously published work.
oThe research question becomes the guide for the research plan.
oAny additional research directions, tools, etc must be matched to the research question with the
fundamental question:
Is this relevant to finding an answer to the research question?
The elements of a research proposal
oFigure 3.1 shows the basic structure of a
research proposal.
o It includes :
o a title,
o list of team members,
o a project summary and description,
o and budget.

o Note that when applying for a research grant,

the research granting body might provide a
template and/or structure which must be
followed.
Project title
oAs is the case for the titles of scientific papers, the title of a research project should be clear
and specific.
o More than ten words are recommended for the title.
oAcronyms should not be used as the assessment panel might not be familiar with their use.
oThe title should indirectly indicate the engineering discipline of the research so that the
readers can direct the project proposal to those who have relevant experience in the
discipline.
3.3.2 Research team
oIt is rare for a project to involve only one researcher.
oThe research component of an internship, a master’s degree programme or a PhD project normally
requires the student and project supervisors to prepare a project outline before the student is
enrolled/engaged.
o Thus the research team for one student will include at least one academic advisor.
oIn addition the project is likely to need the support of other experts in specialised fields.
oFor example, the team might include qualified personnel that will assist with the tests (setting up
the equipment, maintaining the equipment, information technology personnel who are required to
assist in the installation and maintenance of software and computing machine access, a physical
chemist might be required to analyse soil samples, a statistician might be required to assist with the
statistical analysis,
oThe project leader (often called the Chief Investigator or Principal Investigator) should take the lead
in approaching people who
Project summary
oThe project team needs to provide a short, clear statement about how the project will benefit
their organization and how it fits into the goals and objectives of the research field.
oThe project summary should also contain keywords so that the literature in the field can be
thoroughly surveyed for competing technologies and research outcomes. A statement about
who owns the intellectual property (IP) is usually required before the project starts.
Project outline
othe project outline should include a number of sections.
oThe research question is usually introduced early in the first section, which covers the aims
and relevance of the project.
o One might then add a number of specific aims which clarify the methods of approach to be
used.
oThe background section should contain a review of the literature and an argument that the
proposed research will create new important, relevant knowledge.
o This analysis might include some of the initial work published by the research team.
oThis can induce confidence in the assessment panel reviewing the research application
o. A theoretical understanding and the appropriate equations should be included where
relevant, but only if the the-ory is relatively new or cannot be found in standard textbooks
Project outline
oThe research methods must suit the research question and the research
aims in a clear and logical way.
o The type of measurements to be made, the potential difficulties with
such measurements, the calibration procedures and the use of standard
measurement techniques should be made clear.
oThe research plan must include a description of the research methods to
be used and the tools required and available for the project.
oThe likely research outcomes that can be published must be described.
oThe statistical support for the conclusions must be considered as part of
the experimental method.
Project outline
oThe project plan must clearly state a list of deliverables which will
arise from the project.
oDeliverables are things which can be accessed by others such as
reports, software code, presentations, images, etc.
oIt is important that novice researchers understand that their own
understanding of existing information is not a project deliverable.
oHowever, reports, presentations, patents, designs, objects, etc can
be delivered to the granting authority as an indication of progress in
the research project.
oNew knowledge is only created when it is publicly available.
o In some cases, the research team might specify the conferences and
journals where their results will be disseminated.
Delivering deliverables
Research timelines
In a research project, there is a long and unexpected delay in the delivery of a test instrument.
The research team should have ensured that there are other allocated tasks to perform. These
tasks should be clearly defined in the timelines of the project.
Conflict of interest
oA well prepared research plan will articulate:
o the nature of the research question to be solved,
o the requirements needed to acquire the data to solve the problem,
o the expertise of the research team,
o the time and funding required to conduct the research work,
o the method of transmitting the results to all stakeholders including the engineering research community,
o the manner in which the results will be presented and the validation techniques which will be used.

oResearch results must be verified using two or more different techniques.

oDuring the research planning stage, the research team should clearly articulate how the results will
be presented.
oThe method of presentation must be sufficiently clear and logical so that those reading the final
report will arrive at the same conclusions as the research team.