UMMA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF LAW AND SHARIA

KAJIADO CAMPUS
PROPOSAL WRITING CHECKLIST
…………CONSULTATION MEETING

STUDENT NAME:………………………………………..REG.NO:…………………………………..

The purpose of the checklist is to check alignment of the research topic with Statement of the problem, research objectives,
research questions, justification of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study and assumptions of the study.

ITEM DESCRIPTION SUPERVISOR’S

OBSERVATIONS & REMARKS

1.Legal Research Title
2. A Legal Research
problem
1.A legal research title must mention or be anchored on a specific
law, section, policy, doctrine, regulation or institution.
2.It should indicate accurately the problem, subject, the law, and
scope of the study.
3. It should suggest a relationship between variables which
supports the major hypothesis if hypotheses are needed/if
applicable
4. Is limited to 15 to 21 substantive words.
A research problem is driven by a social problem or legal problem
with the law and anchored on law. A research problem is a statement
about an area of concern, a condition to be improved, a difficulty to
be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly
literature, in theory, or in practice that points to the need for
meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation.
3. Statement of the problem
4.Research Objectives
A statement of the problem is a claim that outlines the problem
addressed by a study.
A persuasive statement of problem is usually written in six parts:
Part A (The ideal): Describes a desired goal or ideal situation;
explains how things should be.
Part B (The reality): Describes a condition that prevents the goal,
state, or value in Part A form being achieved or realized at this time;
explains how the current situation falls short of the goal or ideal. This
is problem itself, stated clearly and with enough contextual detail to
establish why it is important
Part C (The magnitude): Discuss the statistical evidence supporting
the magnitude of the problem and what will happen if the problem is
not addressed/magnitude of the problem
Part D (The consequences): Identifies what will happen if the
problem is not addressed urgently and the way you propose to
improve the current situation and move it closer to the goal or ideal.
This is the method of solving the problem, often stated as a claim or a
working thesis.
Part E (The Knowledge gap): Addresses an existing gap in
knowledge in the field and lead to further research.
Part F (The justification): Provides the justification of the study
statement. This is the purpose, statement of objective and scope of the
project being proposed.
1.Research objectives are specific results that a person or system .
aims to achieve within a time frame and with available resources.
2.They should be SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic and Time-constrained.
3.They should clearly designate the indicators/parameters of
measurement of the variables/law/and the research problem
5. Research Questions
6. Justification of the study
7. Significance of the study
8. Scope of the study
9. Assumptions of the study
SUPERVISOR’S NAME ………………………
Research questions are questions that a research project sets out to
answer' and they are drawn from the research objectives
Research hypotheses are specific, clear, and testable proposition or
predictive statements about the possible outcomes of a scientific
research study and they are drawn from research objectives
Justification of the study by its resolve to address the study
problem, knowledge gap, contribution to body of literature and
discourse analysis, contribution of the study to doctrinal research
methodology debate and legal policy framework
The importance of the study in terms of the likely benefits to
various stakeholders such as : Law makers, legislatures, judicially-
legal practitioners, executive-the government and scholars-both
lecturers and students
Scope of the study in terms of the following: scope by timeframe,
scope by content, scope by location ,scope by doctrinal research
methodology and scope by theoretical framework
At least three assumptions of the study: statements by the
researcher that certain elements of the research are understood
to be true. Assumptions are made about (a) the theory under
investigation, (b) the phenomenon under investigation, (c) the
instrument, (d) the methodology, (e) the analysis, (f) the power to
find significance, (g) the participants in the study, and (h) the results
SIGNATURE ………………………… DATE ………………………….