Writing a Research Proposal

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Writing a Research Proposal

• Dr Heidi Probst

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Aims of this presentation

• What is a research proposal?
• Why do you write research proposals?
• Who are the likely audiences for your research
  proposals?
• How will different audiences influence the
  presentation of the proposal?
• What features make a good and bad research
  proposal?
• How can you optimise the impact of your proposal?

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By the end of this presentation you will...

• Have an understanding of the format of a research
  proposal
• Be aware of the attributes that make a good
  quality research proposal
• Be aware of the different requirements for
  different audiences of research proposals
• Have considered the factors that will increase
  the quality of your own final proposal and its
  ability to gain favourable approval at various
  committees who will need to look at and approve
  your proposal.

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Guidance Notes

• Audit is a project which seeks to measure
  existing practice against evidence based
  standards.
• A Project is service evaluation if it seeks to
  establish existing practice or the views of users
  and staff, where the findings may not be
  universally applicable.
• A project is research if it seeks to establish
  new knowledge and its findings may be generalised.

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Guidance Notes

• A research project requires ethical approval if
  it takes place on NHS property or uses NHS
  facilities or involves
• Patients, users, relatives or carers
• Data of past or present patients
• Organs or other bodily materials of past and
  present pts
• Foetal material and IVF
• The recently dead
• NHS staff recruited by virtue of their
  professional role.

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About research proposals...

• Why write one?
• Who are the likely audiences?

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Why write a research proposal?

• To act as a map to guide your research
• To ensure that you have a researchable question
  and appropriate methodology to address that
  question
• A statement of the purpose and plan of the
  research project
• Details how the study is to be carried out
• Incorporates any practical and ethical issues
  which need to be addressed
• To ensure that you have taken account of the
  resource requirements to undertake your research
• Accountability funding governance
• To inform other stakeholders of your intentions

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The Types of Proposal

• A proposal for a quantitative or qualitative or
  mixed methods investigation
• A proposal for an extended review of the
  literature or systematic review.
• The headings used will be dependent on the
  type of proposal that is undertaken.

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Who is your audience?

• You
• Your supervisor
• Funding bodies
• Research committees
• Research governance committees including ISR
  (what is this? click here to find out)
• Managers
• The researched (ie your subjects)

What are they looking for?
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ISR- What are they looking for from my proposal?

• Primarily they are reviewing the scientific
  quality of the work.
• Has an area/problem/issue been identified?
• Is it significant?
• Is there a gap in current literature? Is the
  review extensive/informative/clear?
• What is the aim of the project? Does the research
  question follow? Is it clear, doable?
• Has the project been well planned? Is the design
  appropriate? Has reliability/validity/trustworthin
  ess been considered?
• Has researcher bias been considered?
• Is the timescale well considered and practical?
• Has the funding for the project be adequately
  considered.Etc

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ISR- What are they looking for from my proposal?

• Does the researcher or project team have the
  appropriate qualifications to undertake the work?
• Does the researcher have the appropriate access
  to subjects?
• Are the information sheet/consent forms
  appropriate?
• Has data analysis been adequately considered?

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What are the Ethics Committee Looking for?

• How are participants to be recruited?
• How will safety of participants be assured?
• Is the design culturally sensitive?
• Are there opportunities for equality in
  recruitment?
• Confidentiality, anonymity
• Data protection
• User Involvement? This is crucial and it is worth
  considering user perspectives in the design stage
  as well as having user representation on the
  project team.

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Funders- what do they look for?

• Value for money- can your project produce results
  efficiently.
• Is the research topical and relevant within the
  current NHS/social care environment- political
  context? Does it fit with national research
  priorities? Mention the research priorities that
  fit with your project.
• Is it designed well? Scientific quality.
• Potential for follow on projects?
• What impact will the research have? Does it have
  the potential to change practice? Improve
  outcomes?

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Funders- what do they look for? contd

• Think about mentioning professional research
  priorities the SCoR have a list of current
  research priorities look at these and identify
  how your study fits with those listed.
• Also consider DoH research priorities, how does
  your proposed study fit with these national
  priorities.

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What makes a good research proposal?

• Sticking to the rules eg guidelines for
  presentation etc
• Importance of the research / justification
• Demonstrated ability to do the work
• Robustness of the research methods
• Quality of presentation typos / formatting etc
• Innovation
• Well organised proposal that is simple, and
  logical
• Research team have evidence of a good track
  record
• The budget is reasonable, believable and
  justified, with rational arguments for including
  consumables, equipment and other items

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Be creative

• Think of a good idea
• Make the reader think "why didn't I think of
  that"
• Good proposals are often simple proposals!

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WRITE.... NOW...

• Proposals take time
• Writing organises your thoughts
• Assume your audience know nothing of your field
• Know where your audience are coming from
• Avoid writing with 'attitude
• Avoid writing in the first person
• Remember you are proposing an idea- it shouldnt
  come across as though you have already completed
  the work.

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What are the common sections of a Proposal?

• Title
• Summary
• Aims
• Research Questions
• End Points
• Significance of the research
• Background
• Method (clear here for sub sections)
• Timeline (Gantt Chart)
• Project Management
• Dissemination strategy
• Ethics and Research Governance
• Costs
• References

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Title

• A simple statement which describes the study,
  should be confined to one sentence, try to
  include the aim of the study and the outcomes.
• Hint Leave the title till last, it will be
  easier to formulate a concise statement when you
  have written your aims.

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Summary
1.0 Summary This study examines job turnover
(Intentions to Leave) in the radiation therapy
workforce. High vacancy rates and an unsatisfied
workforce significantly limit the access of
cancer patients to appropriate care that has
deleterious effects on health outcomes through
delays in treatment. This study will address
this significant problem through a longitudinal
prospective investigation of the impact of
workload, task complexity and unmet career
expectations on Intentions to Leave. The study
will initially draw on the model proposed by
Janssen et al 1, that job turnover intention is
highly correlated with emotional exhaustion and
unmet career expectations. In addition the study
will extend the knowledge base on workforce
planning in this profession through the
development of a rigorous workload measurement
instrument that can be utilised internationally.
The study aims to develop a tool for measuring
radiation therapists activity, based on a
validated method for measuring Linear Accelerator
productivity (Basic Treatment Equivalent, BTE).
This tool will be used to investigate the impact
of task complexity and work overload on
therapists intention to leave.

• This is a bit like an abstract for an article and
  helps to summarise for the reader the purpose of
  the study and the possible outcomes.
• The next slide gives an example of a summary

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What is the purpose of the background section?

• Who will benefit?
• What is the context of the investigation?
  Service/political
• Why do you want to investigate it?
• What is the value of the investigation?
• What has already been published?
• Critical review of the published literature
• How will your study build on published
  literature? And why are you best placed to
  undertake the work.

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Aims
Example Aims 1.      To identify the factors
that influence Radiation Therapists intention to
leave their current post or leave the profession,
investigating the factors behind the differences
in vacancy levels between 2 NHS regions
(identified from the DoH 2002/2003 statistics2
as one of the best and one of the worst regions
in terms of vacancy rates). 2.      To determine
the characteristics of the work environment and
conditions of service that can be changed to
enhance therapists work satisfaction, and reduce
turnover.

• Need to be clear, doable, specific.
• Move on to the next slide to see an example of
  some project aims.

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The Research Question

• Probably the most difficult part of the research
  design.
• You have to conceptualise the area under study
  and formalise into words the exact question under
  study.
• For each aim you have identified there should be
  1 or 2 research questions that are clearly linked.

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Example Research Questions

• What aspects of a radiation therapists work are
  the most influential in causing a person to leave
  their job?
• What aspects of radiation therapy contribute to
  therapists work motivation?
• Try to ensure your research questions reflect the
  complexity of the topic area. For example, a
  question with a simple yes /no answer in a
  qualitative study will not reflect the complex
  interplay of issues that surround human behaviour
  or human interaction.

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Method

• Things to consider
• What design will be adopted, you need to have a
  clear well argued rationale for choosing this
  approach with reference to relevant research
  texts or previous research.
• Will subjects be Randomised if not explain why
  or limitations
• If the study is a qualitative study what sampling
  approach is to be used and why?
• Inclusion/exclusion criteria for subjects
• How will subjects be referred
• Non-conformance- how will you deal with cases
  that dont conform to the prescribed intervention
  or protocol.
• Where you can, support your approach with
  evidence from the literature

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Data Collection and Analysis

• Consider in detail how the data will be
  collected, who is best placed to collect data?
  Will they produce bias in recording data? What if
  they are off? Who will stand in?
• In what format should data be recorded?

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Data Analysis

• It is vital that you consider at the outset what
  type of analysis you would like to undertake,
  failure to do so could mean you record the data
  in an inappropriate form.
• For qualitative studies describe the method of
  analysis and make sure it fits with any
  philosophical perspectives described earlier.
• Hint- try analysing some data in the expected
  form, set up a data base so you are clear how you
  need the data to be recorded, and try a
  statistical test, have you got the right level of
  data?

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Ethical considerations

• You need to consider two factors
• The ethical implications of your research ie
  how will it impact on your participants?
• The processes of research governance and ethical
  approval that you need to comply with ie which
  committees do you need to go through

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Ethical Considerations

• What might be the ethical implications of your
  study?
• How will you protect participants
  confidentiality?
• Who will benefit from your study?

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Ethical Considerations

• Any research involving patients, questioning
  hospital staff, or use of hospital property will
  require ethical approval by the local research
  ethics committee.

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Risk Assessment

• Will any of your subjects suffer any detriment as
  a result of inclusion or exclusion in your study?
• Consider inequality between researcher and
  participant, will potential participants perceive
  pressure to participate?
• Consider unanticipated consequences of the
  results, they may be politically sensitive.

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Informed Consent

• Consider Informed Consent
• What is informed?
• Usually written consent form is required
• Usually contains a number of statements for
  participants to agree to.
• Informed consent is a process that involves good
  quality information

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Time line

• Identify ALL time issues...
• Consider how time is to be allocated,
• Gantt charts click here
• Allow 2 3 months to prepare and clear all
  ethics and governance processes.

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Research Personnel

• Who will do the work?
• When will they do the work?
• Other support statistics, administration

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Other costs

• Transcribing
• Transport
• Administration
• Tapes
• Technology
• Software costs

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Budget

• Should be a logical progression from your time
  and resource input.
• Are there alternative forms of funding?
• Make sure your project will fit your budget.

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Dissemination of the results

• Identified target audiences
•     The Board of the College of Radiographers
  (CoR) and the Council for the Society of
  Radiographers (SoR).
•    Council for Clinical Oncology at the Royal
  College of Radiologists (RCR).
•    Hospital Trust managers (including Human
  resources managers).
•    Clinical Oncologists.
•    Radiation Therapists.
•    Policy makers within the Department of Health.
•    Workforce confederations.
• Users or carers
• Dissemination
• Publication of the studies findings within
  peer-reviewed National and International journals
  (including Radiography and Health Service
  Research and Policy sources) will be an important
  facet of the dissemination of findings to
  Clinical Oncologists, Radiographers, Health
  Service policy makers and Radiation Therapists.
• Meetings with the CoR/SoR Board and Council,
  Council for Clinical Oncology at the RCR, and
  Workforce Confederations to present the findings
  should ensure relevant decision-makers are aware
  of the research.

• Who cares?
• How will they know about the results.
• Think about the audiences that need to know the
  results and the best way to inform them.

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References

• Choose style according to the rules for the
  relevant committee, funding bodies may stipulate
  in their rules which referencing type you should
  use.
• Accurate, up to date, relevant, dont miss any
  out of your reference list.

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Formatting

• Comply with style requirements
• Be professional in your presentation
• Use a spell checker
• Get someone to look over your work before you
  submit.

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A Proposal for a Systematic Review of the
Literature

• How does this differ from a primary project
  proposal?
• Headings are slightly different
• Within the method need to identify a clear search
  strategy.
• Ethical considerations are about researcher bias.

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Final Reminder What makes proposals
uncompetitive or weak?

• Project aims are unclear
• Poorly defined research question
• A lack of innovation
• The design is flawed
• The project is unlikely to lead to the stated
  outcomes
• The project has a so what factor, for example
  it may not lead to any changes or improvements in
  patient care or there may be no societal benefit
  apparent from the proposed outcomes.
• Timeframe and milestones are unachievable