Steps Before Writing Final Research Report
Research Proposal
A research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research. It sets out the central issues or questions that you intend to address. It outlines the general area of study within which your research falls, referring to the current state of knowledge and any recent debates on the topic.
Drafting a Research Proposal
A research proposal informs the reader (your advisor) about the scope and scale of the issue or idea that you wish to explore in your project. Your proposal should include the following sections:
What is your research proposal used for and why is it important?
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It is used to establish whether there is expertise to support your proposed area of research
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It forms part of the assessment of your application
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The research proposal you submit as part of your application is just the starting point, as your ideas evolve your proposed research is likely to change
How long should my research proposal be?
It should be 2,000–3,500 words (4-7 pages) long.
What should be included in my research proposal?
Your proposal should include the following:
1. Title or Research Question
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Your title should give a clear indication of your proposed research approach or key question
2. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE/ Abstract
You should include:
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the background and issues of your proposed research
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identify your discipline
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a short literature review
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a summary of key debates and developments in the field
BACKGROUND: create a common ground of understanding
In order for the reader to understand the issue you are presenting, it is necessary to provide a context. In a proposal, that section provides a brief overview of the larger issues and ideas of your topic, and how this specific research problem relates to these larger issues. Whatever you choose to highlight, the reader should be convinced that your research will contribute to our understanding of broader social, historical or cultural issues.
3. RESEARCH QUESTION/Problem(S)
You should formulate these clearly, giving an explanation as to what problems and issues are to be explored and why they are worth exploring
THE PROBLEM: provide a succinct statement (one paragraph)
Research is not a summary of what is available on a given topic but an original analysis of a specific problem. A research problem is distinct from a topic in that it is more specific and orients research toward an analysis or solution.
Research questions have to be complex. If you already know the answer to the question, or if it can be obtained through a few simple inquiries, it is not an adequate research problem. It should be a puzzle, a mystery that you want to solve. It should also require you to look at multiple sources. In introducing your problem in a research proposal, you should provide a succinct statement which will help you to remain focused on the issue that you are addressing and how the information you will be discussing is related to that issue.
4. LITERATURE REVIEW: enter into the scholarly conversation
A research project should be original, rather than reproducing existing literature on the topic. Yet it is helpful to consider any current research as part of a scholarly conversation. The literature review section of your proposal is an opportunity to begin that conversation by reviewing the research to date, indicating what aspects of it your project will build upon and the ways that your proposed research differs from what has already been done. You should be able to identify themes that emerge from the existing research as well as its shortcomings. Or, you may find that what exists on the topic is truly excellent, but that it doesn’t account for the specific problem you have identified. In this section, you should also clarify the theoretical orientation of your project and identify specific sources from which you will draw.
5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
You should provide an outline of:
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the theoretical resources to be drawn on
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the research approach (theoretical framework)
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the research methods appropriate for the proposed research
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a discussion of advantages as well as limits of particular approaches and methods
METHODS: how the research will be conducted
Once you have provided a context for your research, you should be able to outline for the reader the specific steps you will take to address the problem you have identified. This will include a discussion of research methods. In this section, it is important to be clear about how each step, or how each specific method you will employ, will help you get at the problem that guides the research. In other words, if you say you will be doing focus groups, provide a rationale. Why is a focus group a better way to collect data for your research than a few in-depth interviews?
You should include a timetable for your research in this section. This is not set in stone, but can be helpful as your work progresses.
6. OBJECTIVES: preliminary arguments
In order to build an argument, you must begin to lay out for the reader the claims you are making and the basis on which you are making them. You should also indicate, even in a preliminary fashion, the “solution” or interpretation you anticipate will result from your analysis of the problem. It’s likely (perhaps inevitable) that once you’ve completed your research and are writing your final paper, your “solution” will be rather different than you anticipated. That, in fact, may become a useful point for you to discuss in the conclusion to your work. But having some sense of the result you expect will help keep your work focused on the relevant issues and will keep you alert to information which may lead to conclusions other than what you expected.
Keep in mind that this is an initial proposal for your research. You have not fully worked out the argument you intend to present. The objectives you are presenting in the proposal are based on your initial research into the problem. Experienced researchers understand that the objectives of their problem get refined as their work progresses. Yours will, too.
7. PLAN OF WORK & TIME SCHEDULE
You should include an outline of the various stages and corresponding time lines for developing and implementing the research, including writing up your thesis.
For full-time study your research should be completed within three years, with writing up completed in the fourth year of registration.
For part-time study your research should be completed within six years, with writing up completed by the eighth year.
8. CONCLUSION
This is similar to the conclusion of any written piece. You should restate the gist of the problem, its relationship to larger issues, the information you will use to address this issue and what you anticipate you will discover.
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
You should include:
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a list of references to key articles and texts discussed within your research proposal
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a selection of sources appropriate to the proposed research
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Once Your Research Proposal is accepted:
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Select a topic
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Define the Research Problem
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Review the Literature
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Purposes for a literature review :
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to place each work in the context of how it contributes to an understanding of the subject under review;
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to describe how each work relates to the others under consideration;
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to identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on gaps in, previous research;
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to identify and resolve conflicts across seemingly contradictory previous studies;
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To identify what has been covered by previous scholars to prevent you needlessly duplicating their effort;
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to signpost the way forward for further research; and
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to locate your original work within the existing literature
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Identify the variables and formulate hypothesis
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An entity which can be measured is a variable: continuous variable, non – continuous variable, dependent variable, independent variable…
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Hypothesis
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An assumption, an idea that is proposed for the sake of argument so that it can be tasted to see if it might be true. Can be positive sentence, negative sentence. Hypothesis predicts the relation between two or more variables.
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Types:
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Null hypothesis
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Alternative hypothesis
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Functions:
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Brings clarity, focus in research process
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facilitates formulation of theory
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Enhances objectivity
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Prevents blind research
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Prepare the research design
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Exploratory/ Formulative Research Design
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Conclusive Research Design
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Experimental Research Design
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Sampling **
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Probability Sampling: each unit of the variable has an equal chance of selection.
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Stratified random sampling
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Sampling from different homogeneous strata or group of the same variable.
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Cluster sampling
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Sampling from different heterogeneous clusters of the same variable.
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Quasi-probability sampling
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Systematic sampling
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Multi-stage sampling
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Non Probability Sampling: units of a variable have unequal chance of selection.
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Quota sampling
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Purposive sampling/ Judgement sampling
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Convenience sampling
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Snowball sampling/ Chain referral sampling
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Dimensional sampling
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Data Collection
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Primary Data
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Originally collected data by a researcher through: Survey, interviews, observation etc.
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Secondary Data
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Already available data of previous research thesis, Journals, on internet etc.
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Data analysis and hypothesis testing
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Data Analysis Techniques
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Frequency
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Percentage
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Mean: average number of responses.
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Standard deviation
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Correlation
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Regression
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Hypothesis Testing
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Null hypothesis
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Carryout generalization and interpretation
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Write the research report
