Writing Research Proposal

Writing Research Proposal

WRITING RESEARCH
PROPOSAL

The following outline covers the primary components

of a research proposal. Your proposal will be a
variation on this basic theme:

Title Page
Titles should be comprehensive enough
to indicate the nature of the proposed
work, but also be brief.

Introduction
The introduction of a proposal should begin with a capsule
statement of what is being proposed and then should proceed
to introduce the subject to a stranger. It should give enough
background to enable an informed layman to place your
particular research problem in a context of common
knowledge and should show how its solution will advance the
field or be important for some other work. The statement
describes the significance of the problem(s), referring to
appropriate studies or statistics.

3. Literature Review
Your literature review may reveal other questions,
that remain to be answered.
What have others said about the topic.
What theories address it and what do they say.
What research have been done previously.
Are there consistent findings or do past studies
disagree
What variables to include and how to measure
them

4. Problem Statement
What exactly do you want to study
Why it is worth studying
Does the proposed study have practical significance
Does it contribute to our general understanding of
things, to the construction of theories
Ideally, research should address general, global
questions. These do not have to be in any formal
terms, but should be supported by a rationale for the
study that includes references to relevant models,
theories and previous studies..

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study flows directly from
the problem statement and usually it can be
stated in one or two sentences.
Research Objective
While the purpose of the study is stated in
very general terms, objectives are more
specific and detailed statements of what you
intend to find out. They indicate more clearly
the tasks or steps or activities that researchers
will need to undertake to achive their purpose.

5. Data Collection and Analysis

How will you actually collect data from your
study
Will you conduct and experiment or survey
Who is the respondent?
How do you determine your sample size?
What are the analytical techniques you are
going to use for example: crosstabulation,
regression, factor analysis, etc & why?

List of References
The style of the bibliographical item
itself depends on the disciplinary field.
The main consideration is consistency;
whatever style is chosen should be
followed scrupulously throughout.