~ Hoiw to succeed in your Master’s and Doctoral Studies Ge ae ete ieeaten enact t * The development of a successful research proposal (with examples) reat 5 Sei aces are ec renee mtd Panera nai SCR Kaeo rete the relationship between supervisor and student. A speci Feature of the book is its extensive references to other sources, eS tuCi as auan coe nner crete This book is a must for every student who embarks on a mmaster's or doctorate, irrespective of the field. Johann Mouton is currently Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor in Sociology at the ee ere lana ree eee h ees OP amine Mere renees aera: eee Maree NOLNOW NNVHOf + SaTanas ‘TWo.L0d US CAAA PaO SN ETO) ; How to succeed in your Master’s & Doctora: NEUEN TS A SOUTH AFRICAN GUIDE AND RESOURCE BOOKContents Preface ix Navigating your way through the book Part I: Managing your research Section 1: Preparing your research 1 Getting started ivation for postgraduate studies n of post raduate st ‘What the supervisor can expect of you The first meeting with the superviso 3 Scanning the field of study eccveeeee 27 ‘The origin of research ideas : 2 Your supervisor as a source of ideas 28 j Scanning South African databases and indices for research ideas 28 South African indices: NISC SA. ...0. 000+ moves 29 South African databases: the Nexus database system 31 South African databases: Healthnet 33 ‘The South Affican Data Archive . 34 Using the Internet as a research tool aos eeeenncseneneasase 3S South African Internet sites for researchers peveeees 36 Some guidelines for the selection of a research topic ...........++sssseee 39RESEARCH CHAPTERS —S of cases) by the theoret he research que: Strengths Research proposals: examples the exis Limitations A literature review can, at best, only summaris Main sources of error ‘Atiional reading and websites ions, see Bangert- Hall et Hunter eta. (1991), Johnson et Two el icles: one (The literature reviews A few tips is found at po.calvnewhritingitrey. htm] This resource chapter contains two examples of research proposals: one is 2 rather poor proposal but | regard the other as an example of a good proposal. Both of these were submitted by two of my students for their theses in the M. Phil. Programme in Social Science Methodology. (The first will remain anonymous for obvious reasons.) | have reproduced these ‘examples with minor changes (correcting obvious spelling error well as shortening the second proposal somewhat). In both case provided comments on why I regard these proposals as poor respectively. Even if you disagree with some of My Comments, it might be useful for you to see how supervisors lok ab research proposals and what criteria they use to evaluate them. Since both tebe exdmples come from ‘empirical social science, | provide a list of additiona),ceferences at the end of the chapter of sources and websites that have examples of research proposals from other disciplines. Example 1: A poor proposal Title Asi assessment of the availability and the Eastern Cape. 1, Background inform: [1] There isd the rural ‘commur Eastern CapeRESEARCH CHAPTERS esearch proposals examples, J] [imton Ggpl a eisa| is wooo Foose ode by thes communities o acest jowever, the | propriate as the second sentence does not available services very dit: | stand in i also the The complex ‘of poverty in these areas com- 3, Objectives sentence [1 objectives. “deprivation”. This immediately creates a gap receives more publicity | between the two sentence then the inadequacy of socio-eco- | lem emerges when the autl the “complex” nature of poverty. Ags reasons are given for the use of the te “complex”, any evidence cited that ‘would explain the nature of the “complexity”, ‘Assessment: The different objectives formulat: [4] Whenever you use the expression, “tt has ‘and the previous section are not ions been argued! enc lated to each other and also do not ible ithe poo 1m the background discus "WHOSE Voice a be heard nor seen. are cited, jevelopment | [6] The new paragraph starts with a sentence 1 doing justice to | that introduces @ new topic, ie. the development organisations. (Note agal Use of “iti alleged” without citations) se the student study will be quest quently posed [7 & 8) ‘supply of socio-economic services? ) | introduce new toples, which do not follow ion thus fa. [8] Are the so-called organi 3 challenges they are from the di ‘Assessment: The 2. Whyis the study conducted? 7 ‘The new section begins with two statements [9 4 10] that formulate the study. The headi priate. Both sentences “The extent of socio-economic deprivation in the former Transkei is not sufficiently recog nised, Ths is mainly due to lack of p _gate whether the rural communities are satisfied with the services that ‘exist and also the attempts they have mace to access the services. of the deprivation in ‘The remainder of the paragraph once again services, and the other aimed ‘that do not build on the \g whether attempts have been ‘to find that even people in this regionAsc SOE the RDPand that _/'| than a scletific claim. The word “thee” in ORESEARCH ‘CHAPTERS. are not aware of the extent of first part of the paragraph. It also does not provide any further reasons or arguments ive on their par. / | sentence [22] has no clear referent. ttcan regarding the value of the study. It would government is refer to "services fed asthe saviour. [23] The | ties”. Sentence [23] introduces a new topic ment ofthe Eastern Cape is more | have been more appropriate to have included keen to provide schools and water in_| sentences [16-181 in the Background section ‘the rural communities, ignoring other | of the proposal. and should have been a new paragraph. Its riot clear whether the “assumption” referced to in this sentence is held by the st assumption in this regard is that should there be adequate p development, which would decrease the dependency of the rural commu tes on external aid org {17}... Most small towns and areas, particularly in the eastern half of the province, are undergoing a period of econo some sectors the ‘The agricultural sector in the former homelands has shrunk significantly and the growing dependence on the ‘government services offers litle Potential for development and self sustaining economic growth, very complex ifthe culture of powty ig taken into consideration, whereby ak compared bens ci andar tate et denote oxi yd 7. Hypothesis {25} The lack or inadequate provision | The formulation of the hypothe ‘of socio-economic services results in the proposal is repetit dependency, propriate, 8, Research design and methodology 119) The study. © of the word “therefore” in sentence [26] A household survey will be car- baled out. igh the reader isnot given any information on the exact tar- get population, unit of aralyss (which house: holds), why a survey design, and so on 8:1 Methodology aligned to a lack or inadequate sup- vn is redundant. doesnot ad Diy of socio-economic services. {or “aligned”. However, the main be mation except the rather empty -m is thatthe reasoning thus far inthe reference to “quantitative and qualitative 9 proposst dove not provide satfcent me yputressed ae being | information a tion for the formulation of such a h related to the provision of socio-eco- The reader is lat with the impression that the nomic services | “hypothesis” is rather ad hoc and not related 10 any previous research or theory. 82 Choice ofgesearch area [28] As the administrative areashave | This paragraph gives a better idea of the geo- been delineated for the purpose of | graphical area to be covered. It now becomes local tribal authority, two adjacent | clear that the student will select four areas: locations where there are absolutely | two that have no services, and two where no services will be used; that is there is some degree of service delivery. This is TR 6. Analysis ofthe problem“ ‘The use of “mere observation” in sentence e [21] borders on the colloquial. the sentence simply waiting for the government to | seems to be a personal observation rather