The University of the West Indies,

Faculty of Engineering

Notes on "Preparation of a Study Proposal"

This document serves as a “start-up” guide that helps students with the preparation of their study
proposals. Prospective students are requested to submit a proposal to a provisional supervisor for
discussion before commencing any proposed study. The supervisor would review the proposal
critically until it is prima facie ready for approval.

Study proposals should meet the standard of academic requirements. These would typically
contain several sections such as background, problem statement(s), aims and objectives, scope
and methodologies of a proposed study. Besides, the outcomes and contributions expected from
the study should also be elaborated.

Students should ‘sell’ their ideas and convince their supervisor to agree upon the theme and
methodologies of their proposed areas of study.

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 (A Sample Front Page)

The University of the West Indies

Faculty of Engineering

TITLE goes here e.g.

Measuring Project Performance Based on ISO 10006 Standard

NAME goes here e.g.

CHINNA Helen (SURNAME First Name)
STUDENT NUMBER goes here e.g.
Student Number: 01234567

A study proposal to be submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

MPhil/PhD in Industrial/Mechanical Engineering, or Master of Science in Engineering
Management, Production Management, Production Engineering & Management, Manufacturing
Engineering, Engineering Assets Management or Project Management

Version, Month Year goes here e.g.

Version 1.0, 10 October 2016

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 Basic Information Sheet

Title: e.g. Measuring Project Performance Based on ISO 10006 Standard

Descriptions: (Use about 250-300 words to describe clearly the objectives, scope,
methods and expected results of the proposed study below.)

Please summarise the core areas of your proposed study

in 250-300 words here.

An informative abstract would answer the following typical questions:

1) Why did you start or would you have started? (i.e., justification and rationale of
initiating/undertaking this study.)
2) How did you do or would you have done? (i.e., a highlight of the methodology,
methods and procedures.)
3) What did you find or would you have found, thus far? (i.e., the most important
findings/ results, if any, including desk research.)
4) What do your findings mean? (i.e., in terms of expected contributions as a result of
successful completion of the study.)

Proposed Supervisor : e.g. Professor K.F. PUN

Name of Student : e.g. Ms. Helen CHINNA

Contact – Phone No : e.g. 1234 5678

– Fax No. : e.g. 2345 6789
– E-mail Address : e.g. chantm@hotmail.com

Student’s Job Title/Position (if any) : e.g. Operations Manager

Student’s Employer (if any) : e.g. Caribbean Corporation

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A study proposal is expected to have the following Sections:

1. Background to the Study

Explain the rationale behind the study, i.e. why needs this study. For example,
The construction industry is large and expanding in Trinidad and Tobago. New plants are being
commissioned and existing plants are continuously being upgraded. This results in many
projects of varying sizes, cost and complexity. ISO 10006 provides a strong focus on improving
the quality of project management through traceability and decision support, and through
continual learning from project information……
The description of the background to the study would help to come up with clear problem
statement(s). For example, this study is to determine “whether adopting ISO 10006 would assist
ABC Construction Company to improve its project management practices in Trinidad.”
Students would then develop research questions and/or hypotheses and sub-hypotheses that are
to be tested in line with the problem statement for the study accordingly.
Note: A problem being encountered by an organsiation or a problem scenario (or problem definition or
the like) is NOT same as a problem statement for a proposed study. However, the problem scenario (or
definition) would guide you to develop the problem statement for the proposed study.

2. Aim, Objectives and Scope of the Study

Define clearly the aim, objectives and scope of the study that should be addressed to find
solutions and determine feasible/practical means to tackle any problem statement(s) identified
for the study. For example,
In order to cope with the recent changes in the project environment in the construction industry,
this project aims at measuring project performance in …………
To achieve this, the study will focus on:
1. Identifying and analysing what are the ……
2. Determining how to streamline ………
3. Establishing an improvement scheme ………….
In addition, any limitations of the study (e.g. potential technical difficulties, time and resources
constraints, and other obstacles and barriers) should be clearly elaborated.

3. Proposed Study Methodology

Outline how you would go about achieving the objectives of the proposed study. It is expected
all or most of the following items will be explained clearly in the proposal.
• Establish a research/study framework;
• Set hypotheses and/or design of experiments;
• Design various phases of investigation (e.g. A Gantt chart or a planned project schedule
should be provided);
• Determine any parameters and variables;
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• Determine the sizes of population and samples, if applicable;
• Determine methods and procedures of data collection and analysis; and
• Discuss methods and procedures of developing framework, model and/or system, if
applicable.

4. Literature Review and Appreciation

Give clear indications to your familiarity and understanding of the proposed areas of study. This
would address the theories, concepts, approaches, frameworks, models, and the like, as well as
any published empirical results from other projects, studies and research in chosen fields of
study.
The review would help students to search for useful materials and information related to building
the foundation for any proposed study. It could also avoid wasting students’ efforts on
duplicating any investigations or doing any same studies already done and reported well by other
researchers. It is expected that the preliminary literature review would cover a considerable
width and depth of the proposed areas of study.
e.g.
This study sets out to ………….
It is important that the concept of ……is well understood ………
The way by which the concept of …… may be feasibly applied needs to be investigated into ……

5. Project Work and Resources

Explain and acknowledge the supports (e.g. technical and financial) needed and the resources
provided by any bodies and organisations, if any.
This section is applicable to those company-based or sponsored projects that are to be conducted
within the organisations, and/or obtain substantial supports from some sponsors. If this is not the
case for the proposed study, the section becomes optional.

6. Expected Outcomes and Contributions

Explain objectively what findings could be achieved and what significant contribution(s) could
be made upon a successful completion of the proposed study. For example,
Great efforts are put to ensure the conduct of the proposed empirical study according to the
planned methodologies and project/research schedule. The project would come up with ………
It is anticipated that the study findings would contribute to ……

This is always the most critical section as it could tell whether the proposed study is worthy of
conducting. In other words, this would determine whether the proposal could be accepted or not.

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References
Students would need to cite references particularly in the Section of literature review and
appreciation. The reference should be listed in an alphabetical order with respect to the first
author’s surname. The following are the recommended format of the list.

Book: Author(s), Year of publication, "Title of article" (if any), Editor (if any), Book Title,
Publisher’s name, Location of publication, Page range.
Journal: Author(s), Year of publication, "Title of article", Journal’s Name, Volume no., Issue no.,
Page range
Proceedings: Author(s), Year of publication, "Title of article", Title/Name of Conference Proceedings,
Publisher’s name, Location of publication, Volume (if any), Month, Page range
Internet: Author(s) or Name of Institution, Year of publication, Name of web site or specific
area(s), Date updated (if any) and Date accessed, Web Site Address

For example:
Ackerson, L. (2007), Literature Search Strategies for Interdisciplinary Research: A Sourcebook for
Scientists and Engineers, Scarecrow Press, New York
EFQM (2016), European Foundation for Quality Management, Accessed 1 February 2016, from
http://www.EFQM.org/
Laurel, B. (2004)(Ed), Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, MIT Press, New York
Montgomery, D.C. (2012), Design and Analysis of Experiments, 8th edition, John Wiley & Sons, New
York
NIST (2016), Criteria for Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, Accessed 1 February 2016, from
http://www.nist.gov/
Pun, K.F. (2006), "Determinants of environmentally responsible operations: a review", International
Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol.23, No.3, March, pp.279-297
Pun, K.F. (2014), “Closing the Gap between Graduate Intakes and Throughputs at UWI – A Throughput
Enhancement Project”, Proceedings of the IEM3-2014 Conference, Faculty of Engineering, The
University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, December 2014, pp.19-24
Pun, K.F. and Cooper, A. (2014), “A five-sage approach for improving the processes of student
admissions application for postgraduate programmes at UWI”, The Journal of the Association of
Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago, Vol.41, No.1, April/May 2014, pp.40-45
Pun, K.F. and Jaggernath-Furlonge, S. (2012), “Impacts of company size and culture on quality
management practices in manufacturing organisations: an empirical study”, The TQM Journal,
Vol.24, No.1, pp.83-101
Pun, K.F. and Nathai-Balkissoon, M. (2011), "Integrating knowledge management into organisational
learning: a review of concepts and models", The Learning Organisation, Vol.18, No.3, pp.203-223
Pun, K.F. and Sookdeo, N. (2010), "Adoption of an effectiveness-centered approach to improve
maintenance operations: a case study", The Journal of the Association of Professional Engineers of
Trinidad and Tobago, Vol.39, No.1, pp.46-57
Pun, K.F. and Yiu, M.Y.R. (2015), “Assessing organisational KM performance based on the criteria of
total quality management”, International Journal of Knowledge and Systems Science, Vol.6, No.1,
2015, p.1-20
Srinagesh, K. (2006), The Principles of Experimental Research, Butterworth-Heinemann, London
Van der Velde, M., Jansen, P. and Anderson, N. (2004), Guide to Management Research Methods,
Blackwell Publisher, Oxford
Yin, R.K. (2014), Case study Research: Design and Methods, 5th Edition, Sage Publication, London
Yiu, M.Y.R., Sankat, C.K. and Pun, K.F. (2013), “In search of the knowledge management practices in
organisations: a review”, West Indian Journal of Engineering, Vol.35, No.2, January, pp.103-116.
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