Writing the Research Proposal

1
Writing the Research Proposal

• Research is never a solo flight, an individual
  excursion
• It is not a do-it-in-a-corner activity
• It involves many people and requires access to
  and use of resources far beyond ones own
• For that reason, it must be carefully planned,
  laid out, inspected, and, in nearly every
  instance, approved by others
• The graduate student conducting research for a
  thesis or dissertation must get the approval of
  an academic committee
• A researcher seeking grant funding must get
  approval from the university or the organisation
  for which he or she works, and the project must
  be deemed worthy of funding by the grant-awarding
  agency, for example, MOSTI, IGS, etc.

2
Researcher and Architect Planners in Common

• A proposal is as essential to successful research
  as an architects plans are to the construction
  of a building
• Planning is the essence of their art - same
  orientation
• An architect plans the structural concepts of
  buildings, whereas a researcher plans the
  structural concepts of the solutions to problems
• Proposal architects drawing
• No one would start building a structure by
  rushing out to dig a hole for the foundation
  without knowing in detail how the building will
  look when it is finished

3
Researcher and Architect Planners in Common

• Before one turns a shovelful of earth, many
  questions must be addressed, many decisions made
• What kind of building is desired? Is it a
  personal residence? If so, how many storey?
  Split-level?
• Piping? Electrical wire? Phone line? Computer
  cable?
• Before start digging, further planning is
  necessary such as seek permission, get a building
  permit, follow building restrictions and codes,
  etc.
• A permit provides a means of ensuring that new
  buildings meet these codes
• The point is this Permission is essential to the
  plan
• This principle holds true both in planning a
  building and in proposing research

4
Proposed Research Project

• Show the viability and the plan in the research
  proposal
• The problem and its subproblems are clearly
  stated
• Hypotheses or questions are articulated
• All necessary terms are defined
• Delimitations are carefully spelled out
• The reason for conducting the study - why its
  important - is explained
• Every anticipated detail of acquiring,
  organising, analysing, and interpreting the data
  is specified

5
The Proposal

• The researcher sets forth the resources at hand
  for carrying out the research his or her
  qualifications (and those of any assistants), the
  availability of the data, the means by which the
  data will be secured, any needed equipment and
  facilities, and any other aspects of the total
  research process that merit explanation
• Nothing is overlooked
• All questions that may arise in the minds of
  those who review the proposal are anticipated and
  answered
• Any unresolved matter is a weakness in the
  proposal and may seriously affect its approval
• Sometimes young researchers think the proposal is
  merely a necessary formality and thus do not give
  it the serious consideration it deserves
• No matter whether you are seeking funding for a
  project from a grant foundation or seeking
  approval for a thesis or dissertation from a
  university faculty committee, a clear,
  well-written proposal is essential
• Nothing is a substitute for an explicit setting
  forth of both problem and procedure

6
Characteristics of a Proposal

• Research demands that those who undertake it be
  able to think clearly, without confusion
• The mind that produces confusion can never be
  disciplined to regard facts objectively and
  construe (interpret) them logically
• The perceived qualifications as a researcher,
  more often than not, rest squarely upon the
  quality of the proposal submitted

7
A Proposal is a Straightforward Document

• A proposal should not be cluttered with
  extraneous and irrelevant material
• It opens with a straightforward statement of the
  problem to be researched
• It needs no explanatory props no introduction,
  prologue (introduction to a play, poem,etc.), or
  statement telling why the researcher became
  interested in the problem or feels a burning
  desire to research it
• Such information may be interesting, but none of
  it is necessary or appropriate

8
A Proposal is a Straightforward Document

• Those who will review your proposal are not
  interested in such autobiographical excursions
• These, indeed, suggest that you cannot separate
  essentials from irrelevancies and so will neither
  enhance your stature as a researcher nor
  recommend you as one who can think in a clear and
  focused manner
• Whatever does not contribute directly to the
  delineation of the problem and its solution must
  be eliminated
• Anything else is a distraction
• Journalists are taught or if not taught, soon
  learn that the first words they write are the
  most important ones
• You capture or lose your reader with the first
  sentence

9
A Proposal is a Straightforward Document

• Keep in mind the meaning of proposal
• The word suggests looking forward, to what the
  researcher plans to do in the future not
  history
• If a writer intends to make an analytical
  comparison of the past and present social and
  economic conditions of minority groups, he or she
  might begin, This study will analyse the social
  and economic status of certain minority groups
  today in comparison with their similar status
  five decades ago for the purpose of
• This is a no-nonsense beginning, and it indicates
  that the writer knows what a proposal should be
• Employ future tense, for example, The study will
  analyse

10
A Proposal is Not a Literary Production

• The purpose of a proposal is simply to
  communicate clearly, not a work of art in an
  architects drawing or a creative, literary
  production in a proposal
• Just as an architects drawings present a plan
  for construction with an economy of line and
  precision of measurement, a proposal describes a
  future research project with an economy of words
  and precision of expression
• The language must be clear, sharp, and precise
• The proposal provides a chance to show with what
  ultimate clarity and detail the researcher can
  state a problem, delineate the treatment of the
  data, and establish the logical validity of a
  conclusion
• Writing a superb proposal calls for skills of
  expression just as demanding as those needed for
  forging an unforgettable sentence

11
A Proposal is Clearly Organised

• Proposals are written in conventional prose
  style, and thoughts are expressed in simple
  paragraph form
• The organisation of the thoughts is outlined by
  the proper use of headings and subheadings
• Organisation and outline are essential
• They hint at an orderly and disciplined mind
  one of the highest tributes to a researchers
  qualifications
• No indented outline it is not conventional -
  hint a brevity (shortness) ? hint a
  superficiality (on the surface only, not thorough
  or deep) ? suggest undesirable quality of
  researchers

12
A Proposal is Clearly Organised

• In professional writing, headings and subheadings
  are the single most commonly used strategy to
  express the writers overall organisational
  scheme
• You should communicate the outline of your
  thoughts to your own readers in the same fashion

13
Formatting Headings and Subheadings

• You must use different formats to indicate the
  different levels of headings you use
• The most important headings are in ALL CAPITAL
  LETTERS and centred on the page. These are
  headings of the largest units of writing for
  instance, they may be the titles of the various
  chapters in a proposal or research report
• The next important headings are in ALL CAPITAL
  LETTERS and left justified on the page
• The next headings are in Capital and Lowercase
  Letters
• Paragraph
• Seldom encountered least important headings,
  numbered

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Example of Structural Outline

• THE REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
• 4.1 UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF REVIEW
• 4.1.1 The Purpose of the Review
• 4.1.2 How to Begin
• 4.1.2.1 Go to the indexes and abstracts
• 4.1.2.2 Database access
• 4.1.2.3 Go to the library
• 4.1.3 How to Write the Section
• 4.1.3.1 Get the proper
• 4.1.3.2 Have a plan

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Example of Structural Outline

• 4.2 POINTS OF DEPARTURE
• 4.2.1 Abstract
• 4.2.2 Indexes
• 4.3 FOR FURTHER READING

16
Content and Organisation of a Research Proposal

• Proposals follow a simple, logical train of
  thought
• Although there are conceivably many ways to
  arrange the various topics within a proposal,
  most proposals use similar formats, especially in
  quantitative studies
• Refer to handout
• One rule governs the writing of proposals and
  final documents The arrangement of the material
  should be presented in such a manner that it
  forms for the reader a clear, progressive
  presentation
• It keeps items together that belong together
  for example, the problem and its resultant
  subproblems, the subproblems and their
  corresponding hypotheses
• Refer to handout on ways to write a convincing
  proposal

17
Success Begins with Initial Proposal

• Frustrating experience if proposal rejected by
  graduate committee
• Success begins long before activity begins the
  planning
• How data will be interpreted will determine
  success or failure
• Example to analyse the attitudes of
  professional employees towards certain aspects of
  management policy and to evaluate the
  relationship between these attitudes and the
  responsibility of management to articulate such
  policy for its employees.
• Refer to handout

18
Guidelines Interpretation of Data

• 1. Be systematic in describing the treatment of
  the data
• - logical sequence to solve each subproblem
• 2. State clearly the data you need to resolve the
  subproblem
• 3. State precisely where the data are located
• 4. State fully and unequivocally (having a
  completely clear meaning) how you intend to
  interpret the data any other person can do the
  research without your presence and every
  contingency (event that may or may not occur)
  should be anticipated

19
Guidelines Interpretation of Data

• 5. Every step in the interpretation of the data
  should be fully spelled out
• - Dont cut corners, dont assume others know
• what they mean
• - It is a timeconsuming process
• a. Ask yourself continually just what it is
• that you are doing Make clear
• distinction between ARRAYING (large
• impressive series of things) and
• INTERPRETING the data

20
Guidelines Interpretation of Data

1. Insist that your statistics have a defensible
   rationale Why mean, sd, , what do they mean?
2. At what specific point does the manipulation of
   the data cease and your own thinking begin?

21
Guidelines Interpretation of Data

• 6. Be sure that the data support conclusions
• - unfounded enthusiasm (great interest or
• admiration)
• - extravagant (unreasonable, unnecessary)
  claim or enthusiastic conclusion
• - much research contains unfounded
  conclusions
• unsupported by the data
• - based on shaky statistical procedures or
• exploitation of facts

22
Greatest Weaknesses in Funding Proposal

• Refer to handout
• Fundamental shortcoming in individual who wrote
  the proposal
• - in ability to think analytically and clearly
• - insufficient knowledge of the existing
  research
• - lack of competence to carry out study
• - inability to see the global concept of the
  research
• - in terms of ramification (result or
  consequence (of sth.)
• that makes it more complicated) and
  requirement

23
Greatest Weaknesses in Funding Proposal

• Demonstration of outstanding qualification
  scholarship (knowledge of an academic subject)
• - think clearly and logically
• - express thought concisely and cogently
• (convincing)
• - discriminate between what is significant and
  what is
• consequential (following as a result)
• - handle abstract thought
• - analyse data objectively and accurately
• - interpret result confidently and
  conservatively (cautious
• moderate)

24
Shortcomings of Many Proposals

• Judith Margolin
• Most of the applicants simply had not done their
  homework properly. All too often their proposals
  were not worthy, inadequately prepared, or
  thoughtlessly submitted to inappropriate funders.