Our Research Proposal

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Our Research Proposal
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Components of the Research Proposal

• Problem Description
• Research Objectives
• Importance/Benefits of the Study
• Literature Review
• Research Design / Data Analysis
• Deliverables
• Schedule
• Facilities and Special Resources
• References
• Budget (Appendix)

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Problem Statement

• Convince the sponsor to continue reading the
  proposal
• know the dilemma, its significance and why
  something should be done to change the current
  status quo

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Research Objectives

• Flows naturally from the problem statement
• state your hypotheses clearly
• give the reader a concrete, achievable goal
• Verify the consistency of the proposal
• checking to see that each objective is discussed
  in the research design, data analysis and results
  sections

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Literature Review

• Recent or historically significant research
  studies
• Always refer to the original source
• Discuss how the literature applies, show the
  weaknesses in the design, discuss how you would
  avoid similar problems
• How is your idea different/better?

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Importance/Benefits of the Study

• Importance of the doing the study now
• What are the potential impact on
• Research in the area
• Applications
• Larger community
• If you find this difficult to write, then most
  likely you have not understood the problem

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Research Design

• What you are going to do in technical terms.
• May contain many subsections
• Be specific about what research methodology you
  will use and why
• Provide details of your proposed solutions to the
  problem and sub-problems
• Provide information for tasks such as sample
  selection, data collection, instrumentation,
  validation, procedures, ethical requirements

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Schedule

• Include the major phases of the project
• exploratory studies, data analysis, report
  generation
• Critical Path Method (CPM) of scheduling may help

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Deliverables

• Measurement instruments
• computer program
• other technical reports

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Budget and Resources

• Access to special systems or computers
• specialized computer algorithms
• Itemized Budget
• Budget Narrative
• This part is usually an appendix.

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Proposal Characteristics

• Straightforward document
• No extraneous or irreverent material
• Dont tell us why you became interested in the
  topic
• The first words you write are the most important
  ones
• Not a literary production
• Clear, sharp and precise
• economy of words no rambling sentences
• Clearly organized
• Outlined with proper use of headings and
  subheadings

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Suggested Organization

• Title, Abstract, Keywords (problem statement)
• Introduction and Overview
• Background information problem description in
  context
• Hypotheses and objectives
• Assumptions and delimitations
• Importance and benefits
• Related Work/Literature Review
• Research Design and Methodology
• Plan of Work and Outcomes (deliverables,
  schedule)
• Conclusions and Future Work
• References
• Budget (appendix)

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Strengthening Your Proposal

• After all the review is done
• Review checklist for features detracting from
  proposal effectiveness page 137 in you Practical
  Research Planning and Design

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Weaknesses in Research Proposals

• Research Problem
• unfocused
• unimportant (done before!)
• more complex
• limited relevance

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Weaknesses in Research Proposals

• Research Design
• so vague it prevents evaluation
• inappropriate or impossible data
• procedures inappropriate for problem
• lacking controls

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A Sample Research Proposal

• Read ( and study) the sample proposal, pages
  129-132, in Practical Research
• Fill in the critique on page 298 for this
  proposal.
• Since it was made for the REPORT, simply change
  the tense for most questions.
• Is the sample size adequate? -gt Will the sample
  size be adequate
• For questions which clearly need the final report
  skip (step 9, the first question)

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Guide to Writing the Research Proposal
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Purpose of the Problem Statement

• Your statement of the problem
• Represents the reason behind your proposal
• It specifies the condition(s) you want to change
• Supported by evidence
• Show your familiarity with prior research on the
  topic
• Even if the problem is obvious, your reviewers
  want to know how clearly you can state it

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5 Key Questions to Answer in Your Problem
Statement

• Does your problem statement
• Demonstrate a precise understanding of the
  problem you are attempting to solve?
• Clearly convey the focus of your project early in
  the narrative?
• Indicate the relationship of your project to a
  larger set of problems and justify why your
  particular focus has been chosen?
• Demonstrate that your problem is feasible to
  solve?
• Make others what to read it further?

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Writing Tips for Problem Statement

• Do not paint the problem in general terms
• little is known about ..
• no research has dealt with ..
• Usually arguing for something that isnt make for
  a weak need statement
• Instead explain the consequences of the
  information void
• For example, if you want to buy computers for
  your school, talk about happy, computer-literate
  students who will benefit in the future.

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Purpose of the Research Objectives Section

• Specify the outcome of your project, the end
  product(s)
• Keep you objectives
• Specific indicate precisely what you intend to
  change through your project
• Measurable what you accept as proof of project
  success
• Logical how each objective contributes to
  systematically to achieving your overall goal

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5 Key Questions to Answer for Purpose and
Objectives

• Does this section
• Clearly describe your projects objective,
  hypotheses and/or research question?
• Bury them in a morass of narrative?
• Demonstrate that your objectives are important,
  significant and timely?
• Include objectives that comprehensively describe
  the intended outcomes of the project?
• State objectives, hypothesis or questions in a
  way they can be evaluated or tested later

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Writing Tips for Objectives Section

• Dont confuse your objectives (ends) with you
  methods (means).
• A good objective emphasizes what will be done,
  whereas a method will explain why or how it will
  be done.
• Include goals (ultimate) and objectives
  (immediate)

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Purpose of the Research Design

• Describes your project activities in detail
• Indicates how your objective will be accomplished
• Description should include the sequence, flow,
  and interrelationship of activities
• It should discuss the risks of your method, and
  indicate why your success is probable
• Relate what is unique about your approach.

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Data Analysis

• Data Analysis is essentially a four step process
• Identify precisely what will be evaluated. If
  you wrote measurable objectives, you already
  know.
• Determine the methods used to evaluate each
  objective. More precisely, you will need to
  describe the information you will need and how
  you propose to collect it.
• 3. Specify the analyses you plan to make and the
  data you need to collect. Your design may be
  simply to observe behavior of a particular
  population or something more complex like a
  rigorous experimental and multiple control group
  design.
• 4. Summarize the resulting data analyses and
  indicate its use. Consider mock data tables that
  show what your resulting data might look like.

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Key Questions to Answer for Research Design/Data
Analysis

• Does the research design and data analysis
  section
• Describe why analysis is needed in the project?
• Clearly identify the purpose of your analysis?
• Demonstrate that an appropriate analysis
  procedure is included for each project objective
• Provide a general organizational plan or model?
• Demonstrate what information will be needed to
  complete the analysis, the potential sources and
  the instruments that will be used to collect it.

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Writing Tips for Research Design

• Begin with your objectives
• Describe the precise steps you will follow to
  carry out each objective, including what will be
  done, and who will do it.
• Keep asking and answering the Whats next?
  question.
• Once you have determined the sequence of events,
  cast the major milestones into a time-and-task
  chart

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Additional Considerations
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References

• Up-to-date
• Relevant (no padding)
• Original source
• First order books and journal articles
• Second order conference article
• Third order technical report
• No private communications or forums ( material
  cannot be accessed or verified) if you must leave
  as a footnote not in the bibliography
• Do not cite support for common knowledge

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Unsubstantiated Claims

• Example
• Most user prefer the graphical style of
  interface.
• We believe that .
• Example
• Another possibility would be a disk-based method,
  but this approach is unlikely to be successful.
• Another , but our experience suggests that

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Ethics

• Dont
• Present opinions as fact
• Distort truths
• Plagiarize
• Imply that previously published results are
  original
• Papers available on the internet authors put
  out an informal publication and becomes accepted
  as a formal. It is expected that the informal
  version will be removed