Problem Formulation and Techniques
3. Developing a research proposal and plan: Structuring a research proposal and the planning process.
What is a research proposal?
A research proposal is a highly structured document that describes your study's topic and explains how you plan to investigate a specific inquiry. It typically provides an in-depth analysis of the theories that support your hypothesis, which is a projected answer to this inquiry. It can also show which methodologies you plan to use, including the practical steps for conducting your study process.
The Following are effective in writing a good research proposal:1. Include a title page
Add a specific page that introduces the document to readers at the beginning of your proposal document. This page typically shows the basic details of your project, such as its proposed title, your name, the current date, your supervisor's name, the institution hosting the project and the name of your department. Be sure to organize these elements logically by using a clear format and certain design attributes, like a bold font. It may be helpful to connect with your department leader to verify any requirements for this page.
2. Develop an abstract
An abstract is a one-page document that summarizes the key points of your full body of work in 150 to 300 words. After finishing a title page, consider including this page to highlight the objectives and outcomes of your research. As a result, readers can better understand the purpose of your research inquiry and review how you plan to structure your final dissertation in the future, which may help your team receive critical funding. Here are brief descriptions of the four key elements in an abstract:
- Aim: State the purpose of your research project and include your primary objectives.
- Methods: Show the procedures you adopted to choose research subjects, collect evidence and best answer your initial inquiry.
- Hypotheses: Briefly discuss what new information your team hopes to discover or conclusions they expect to make while analyzing evidence in the future.
- Projected effects: State how the results of a research project can help develop an academic field or improve a specific group of individuals.
3. Write an introduction
Discuss the concepts central to your research inquiry and provide contextual information that may help others understand your project more efficiently. It is often helpful to provide general knowledge about your topic before including any specific details. To accomplish this step, consider discussing key points in definitional statements, then explain both a topic's prevalence in an academic field. Developing a well-written introduction in your research proposal can also help a reader increase their enthusiasm about your project, plus the results you may provide.
4. Include background information:
It is essential to create an additional page to describe key details about the Statement of problem, Justification/Rationale, Aim, objectives, research questions and Hypothesis of the research proposal.
a. Compose a problem statement
A problem statement is a description of how your project might resolve the issues presented in a research question or add new observations. It may include any challenges that disrupt a solution, plus how your project can help address these conditions. You can also use this section to explain how your topic relates to a specific issue or question, which may help further clarify your project's purpose. Be sure a problem statement clearly defines why your future results may apply to a specific field or industry.
b. Justification/Rationale
State the rationale of your research proposal and explain, in an engaging way, why it is worthwhile to conduct.
c. Aims and Research Questions
Once you have determined a good angle for your study, it is time to compose your research objectives. A research objective will help you stay focused and prevent you from drifting off on tangents. Regardless of the specific topic or problem or method you choose, all study proposals must deal with the various types of research questions, specifically the following:
d. Develop research questions
Research questions are concise statements about the issues in an academic field or industry that your project plans to resolve. They can help pinpoint what information you intend to discover and define the purpose of your research. They can also help guide your writing process as you develop your research proposal, plus any documents you might compose for a project. Depending on the scope of your research, you can create one primary inquiry or a series of questions that clearly connect to a central idea.
e. Hypothesis The hypothesis provides a testable statement to validate or refute within the research process.
5. Develop a literature review
A literature review is a document that describes your project's primary and secondary sources, plus how they relate to your hypothesis. It can enable readers to better understand the key arguments supporting your research inquiry, developed by other experts in a field or industry. You can also use a literature review to demonstrate how existing knowledge can serve as a foundation for your research. It can also show how your project fits into these various discussions between scholars and why your study can add an original claim. The researcher might challenge the work of other experts by comparing and contrasting their theories or results. If the inquiry reveals a missing area of research, be sure to explain how the project may provide a more detailed evaluation of an issue. To format the literature review effectively, it may be helpful to structure the sources using a specific strategy. For instance, you can list them chronologically by publication date or separate them into different sections based on what theory they present.
6. Describe your research methodologies
Research methodologies describe the practical steps of a project and how to approach them, including which data collection tools and procedures to use. The researcher can also define the type of research of plan to use. For example, the study might involve releasing a survey to college students at a specific campus, then using their responses as data for analysis. This section can help you persuade others that your proposed techniques can address your research problem adequately and prevent unexpected issues during the process.
7. Add a conclusion
Summarize all previous information and highlight the importance of your proposal. You can emphasize the potential implications of your research on future projects, plus how it might alter existing knowledge in your particular subject area. You might also restate your research problem and clarify the results you hope a project can achieve. Consider reviewing the guidelines of your supervisor, as they may require you to address specific topics in a conclusion or prefer a certain document length.
8. Develop a References
Complete the references. Be sure to review any relevant guidelines, as the institution require you to structure a bibliography using a specific format.
9. Include budgeting information
Develop a budget that describes the costs of every project component and why these items can help you achieve your research goals.