proposal writing final draft for presentation bob

8/7/2019 Proposal writing Final draft for presentation Bob

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Research Proposal Writing `

By:

Dr. Robert AidooDept. of Agric. Economics, Agribusiness & Extension, KNUST, Kumasi-

Ghana

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Order of presentation

Overview & Preliminary comments

Definition & the structure of a Research proposal

Student-Supervisor Relationship

Summary/conclusion

Q & A /Discussion Session

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Overview: Structure of Research

Most research projects share the samegeneral structure.

Source: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/strucres.php 3


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Preliminary Statements1.The transition from undergraduate to graduate research:

The transition into a graduate research degree involves a muchhigher level of independent thinking, planning and activity than

most students expect.

Most students find the transition both challenging and exciting;

some find it daunting, even when they ha

ve performed well inHonours.

A graduate research degree provides a unique opportunity to

follow your interest in an area of research, to make an important

contribution to knowledge.

The focus is on your capacity for innovative, independent

research, critical thinking, time and project management and

problem solving. You will also need to have, or to develop,

excellent skills of organization and communication of information.

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Preliminary Statements2. The need for proposal writing:

Writing a proposal is an obvious and essential first step inany significant primary research.

It has at least two benefits:

It requires you to think up and think through a research(able)

problem, clearly and concretely.

It also forces you to try to persuade knowledgeable people of the

problem's merits and your qualifications/competence.

It is thus an excellent means for coming to terms with a

nebulous set of issues.

Research proposals are probably the most rewritten and

scrutinized prose that any of you will write.

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Research proposal has been defined as:

A document that presents a case for an idea and the action

one proposes with respect to it(Krathwohl,1988)

Scientific research commences with the writing of a research

proposal which is a detailed plan that the researcher intends

to follow and which will give an adjudicator or evaluator a

clear idea of what the researcher plans to do and how he orshe intends to complete the research.

The research proposal contains a description of the

research topic and the literature survey, a statement of the

problem, a hypothesis, the research methodology to beused, clarification of terms, and the sources consulted to

demarcate the research problem.

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The primary purpose of a research proposal is:

To help you organize your ideas about a potential research

project and clearly describe them.

To justify what you plan to do in order to gain approval for it

To identify the tasks and the resources required

A well-written proposal enables reviewers and others tofully understand:

What you want to do

How you will do it

Why is it important

What you expect to find 8


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The Structure of a Research Proposal

Title

Introduction

The problem and its context

Literature review Methodology

Justification & Expected Output

Timetable and resources/Budget

References9


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The Thinking about it stage The "thinking about it stage" is when you are finally faced with the reality

of completing your degree.

At this stage:

1. Be inclusive with your thinking. Don't try to eliminate ideas tooquickly. Build on your ideas and see how many different research

projects you can identify.

2. Write down your ideas. This will allow you to revisit an idea later on.

3. Try not to be overly influenced at this time by what you feel othersexpect from you (This will be one of the few opportunities you mayhave in your professional life to focus on a research topic that is really of

your own choosing).

4. Be realistic in setting your goal (it is an academic requirement & a

learning experience).

5. Be realistic about the time that you're willing to commit to your research

project. 10


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After a good job of "thinking about" your research project,

you're now ready to prepare the proposal.

A word of caution!- those students who tend to have a problem in coming up with a

viable proposal often are the ones that have tried to rush through

the "thinking about it" part and move too quickly to trying to write

the proposal.

Final check. Do each of these statements describe you? If they doyou're ready to prepare your research proposal.

I am familiarwith other research that has been conducted in areas relatedto my research project

I have a clearunderstanding of the steps that I will use in conducting myresearch.

I feel that I have the ability to get through each of the steps necessary tocomplete my research project.

I know that I am motivated and have the drive to get through all of the steps in

the research project. 11


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Before you start writing your proposal, read throughsomeone else's research proposal!

1. Very often a real stumbling block is that we don't have an imagein our mind of what the finished research proposal should look

like.

2. How has the other proposal been organized?

3. What are the headings that have been used?

4. Does the other proposal seem clear? Does it seem to suggest

that the writer knows the subject area?

5. Can I model my proposal after one of those that I've seen?

6. If you can't readily find a proposal or two to look at, ask your

adviser to see some.

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1. Title Give your project a precise, innovative

working title

The title should reflect the problem to

be studied

It should catch the readers attention

It should not be very long (Should notexceed 15 words- Opoku, 2000).

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2. Introduction Provide readers, without knowledge of the discipline or

topic, with sufficient background to understand theproposal.

State why the research topic is important.

Briefly review what has already been done (coveringprevious research) and summarize the rationale forthe intended study.

Its purpose is to establish a framework for theresearch, so that readers can understand how it isrelated to other research (Wilkinson, 1991, p. 96).

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State the problem in terms intelligible to someone who isgenerally sophisticated but who is relatively uninformed in thearea of your investigation.

Effective problem statements answer the question:

Why does this research need to be conducted?

If a researcher is unable to answer this question clearly andsuccinctly, and without resorting to hyperspeaking (i.e.,

focusing on problems of macro or global proportions thatcertainly will not be informed or alleviated by the study), thenthe statement of the problem will come off as ambiguous anddiffuse.

End by emphasizing the purpose of the study: If the purpose is not clear to the writer, it cannot be clear to the reader

(Locke, Spirduso, & Silverman, 1987)

Try to incorporate a sentence that begins with The purpose of this studyis.. . . .This will clarify your own mind as to the purpose and it will inform thereader directly and explicitly. 18


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The literature review accomplishes several important things.

1. It shares with the reader the results of other studies that

are closelyrelated to the studybeing reported (Fraenkel &

Wallen, 1990).

2. It relates a studyto the larger, ongoing dialogue in the

literature about a topic, filling in gaps and extending prior

studies (Marshall & Rossman, 1989).

3. It provides a framework for establishing the importance of

the study, as well as a benchmark for comparing the results

of a studywith other findings.

4. It frames the problem earlier identified.

Demonstrate to the reader that you have a comprehensive

grasp of the field and are aware of important recent

substantive and methodological developments.20


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How will your study refine, revise, or extend what is now known?

Avoid statements that imply that little has been done in the area or

that what has been done is too extensive to permit easysummary.

Statements of this sort are usually taken as indications that the

writer is not really familiar with the literature.

The literature selected should be pertinent and relevant (APA,2001). Select and reference only the more appropriate citations.

Make key points clearly and succinctly.

The reviewer wants to know how you fit in as well as how you stand out.

You can usuallysee further bystanding on the shoulders and not in theashes of those who have come before you. In short, organize your

commentaryin this section to make your project appear as the next

logical, necessarystep in our understanding of an issue.

NB: A good review of the literature at this stage completes half

the task involved in the whole research. 21


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Objectives

They are short but descripti

ve statements ofwhat the project hopes to accomplish

Normally, objectives flow from the research

questions

Objectives:

are operational,

tell specific things you will be accomplishing inyour project, and

are very measurable.

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All researches are plagued by the presence of confoundingvariables (the noise that covers up the information you wouldlike to have).

Confounding variables should be minimized by various kindsofcontrols (Guba, 1961). In the design section, indicate:

the variables you propose to control and how you propose to controlthem, experimentally or statistically

Be aware of possible sources of error to which your design exposesyou.

You will not produce a perfect, error free design (no one can).However, you should anticipate possible sources of error and attemptto overcome them or take them into account in your analysis.

Moreover, you should disclose to the reader the sources of error youhave identified and what efforts you have made to account for them.

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Sampling The key reason for being concerned with sampling is that ofvalidity

(Shavelson, 1988).

Sampling is critical to external validitythe extent to which findings of astudy can be generalized to people or situations other than thoseobserved in the study.

Another reason for being concerned with sampling is that ofinternalvaliditythe extent to which the outcomes of a study result from thevariables that were manipulated, measured, or selected rather than from

othervariables not systematically treated (Shavelson, 1988).

Perhaps the key word in sampling is representative. One must askoneself, How representative is the sample of the survey population (thegroup from which the sample is selected)

When a sample is drawn out of convenience (a nonprobability sample),

rationale and limitations must be clearly provided.

Detail procedures to follow to obtain informed consent and ensureanonymity and/or confidentiality.

Identify the target population (universe), i.e. the respondents and thesample sizes.

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Limitations and Delimitations

A limitation identifies potential weaknesses of the study. Think

about your analysis, the nature of self-report, your instruments,the sample. Think about threats to internal validity that may

have been impossible to avoid or minimizeexplain.

A delimitation addresses how a study will be narrowed in

scope, that is, how it is bounded. This is the place to explainthe things that you are not doing and why you have chosen not

to do themthe literature you will not review (and why not), the

population you are not studying (and why not), the

methodological procedures you will not use (and why you will

not use them).

Limit your delimitations to the things that a reader might

reasonably expect you to do but that you, for clearly explained

reasons, have decided not to do.29


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Significance of the Study /Justification

Indicate how your research will refine, revise, or extend

existing knowledge in the area under investigation. Note thatsuch refinements, revisions, or extensions may have either

substantive/practical, theoretical, or methodological

significance. Think pragmatically (i.e., cash value).

Most studies have two potential audiences: practitioners and

professional peers. Statements relating the research to both

groups are in order.

This can be a difficult section to write. Think about

implications how results of the study may affect scholarly

research, theory, practice, educational interventions,

curricula, counseling, policy.30


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When thinking about the significance of your study, ask

yourself the following questions:

1. What will results mean to the theoretical framework that underpin the study?

2. What suggestions for subsequent research will arise from the findings?

3. What will the results mean to researchers and students?

4. Will results influence programs, methods, and/or interventions?

5. Will results contribute to the solution of practical problems?

6. Will results influence policy decisions?

7. What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?

8. How will results of the study be implemented, and what innovations will

come about?

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Why should anybody fund you?

What does the project promise to contribute to our

understanding?

Be specific. Reviewers (who are likely senior and more

experienced than you) are seldom impressed with hot air

("this project will present an entirely new understanding of

") or with broken walls of knowledge ("this project will fill agap in our understanding of.").

The challenge is to express your project's importance in

a way that is neithervain boasting nor underwhelmingmodesty.

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Expected output/outcomes/deliverables

What results do you expect to obtain

Focus on answers you expect for the

research questions/hypotheses

What will the outcomes of research look like?

Findings and their implications, not number of

publications!!!

How will results impact industry, customers,

policy change, applied knowledge

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Bibliography

You should include a list of references to key

articles cited in the texts.

Only references cited in the text are included in the

reference list

However, exceptions can be found to this rule. For

example, research committees may require

evidence that you are familiar with a broader

spectrum of literature than that immediatelyrelevant to your research.

In such instances, the reference list may be called a

bibliography.34


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Work plan/time lines:You need to demonstrate an awareness of the need for planning and the

timescale of the research.

Activity M1

M2

M3

M4

M5

M6

M7

M8

M9

M10

M11

M12

Desk study X

Literature Search X X X

Proposal Writing X X X

Reconnaissance Survey X

Design of questionnaire X X

Pilot testing of questionnaire X

Trial analysis & review of quest. X

Field Survey X X X

Data cleaning & Entry X X X

Data Analysis X X X

Dissertation write-up X X X X X X

Submission of draft thesis X35


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BUDGETActivity Description/Particulars Unit

Cost ($)Total Cost ($) Own source Other

sources

Desk study/Lit. Search LUMPSUM 200 200

Training of enumerators 10 enumerators for one day 5 =10x5 50

Allowance for enumerators 10 enumerators for 14 days 20 =10x14x20 280

Allowance for data entry clerks 4 clerks for 5 days 20 =4x5x20 400

Vehicle Hire*/Transportation 1 vehicle for 14 days 50 =1x14x50 700

Fuel* 1000lit per day for 14 days 0.21 =1000x14x0.21 2940

Allowance for driver*

Accommodation/DSA

Printing & Stationery

Communication

Protocol

TOTAL - - 4570 330 424036


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5. Student-Supervisor Relationship

The role of supervisors is to advise, guide and provide

constructive feedback to you through the processes of

choosing a realistic topic, designing a viable project,

doing the research and interpreting the findings and

writing the dissertation.

Generally, allocation of supervisors is a matter for

individual negotiation between student and supervisor,

and students are free to choose.

You should make your choice with great care, as the

effectiveness of the student/supervisor relationship has a

major effect on your experience.

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Things to note:

--Develop a cordial/friendly relationship with your

supervisor (s)

--Go to your supervisor always with a notebook and a

pen (a faint mark is better than the sharpest brain..)

--Dont wait for clearance or promptings from supervisorsbefore you work. When you submit a chapter or two to

your supervisor, the next logical thing is to continue to

work on the next chapters.

---Please, read and correct all obvious mistakes (Typos& grammatical) in your work before you submit to your

supervisor. Obvious mistakes in submitted documents

tell on how unserious the candidate is.

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Things to note:

--Get the consent of your supervisor before you go to the field

(Let him make input into your questionnaire design and approve

of it before you go to the field)

--Before any seminar presentation, discuss your presentation

with your supervisor (it is not the best foryour supervisor to claim

ignorance aboutyour work during a seminar).

Whenever you realize the supervisor is getting angry, keep your

cool; dont exchange words with him. Express your opinion after

he has finished.

When he insists on something that appears daunting, accept thechallenge, go and work on it. Ifyou encounter a major difficulty

you can always go back to him to explain whatyou have done

and the challenges you are facing.

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Summary

A good proposal presents a clear, easy to read & believable

picture of:

what you want to do

why you want to do it

who has done something similar before and why you need to add to it

how you are going to do it

who is going to help you do it

what it is going to cost and why what benefits will come out of it

how this proposed research project will lead on to

other activities

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References: American Psychological Association (APA). (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological

Association (Fourth edition). Washington, DC: Author.

Armstrong, R. L. (1974). Hypotheses: Why? When? How? Phi Delta Kappan, 54, 213-214.

Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage.

Guba, E. G. (1961, April). Elements of a proposal. Paper presented at the UCEA meeting, Chapel Hill,

NC.

Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (1990). How to design and evaluate research in education. New York:McGraw-Hill.

Kerlinger, F. N. (1979). Behavioral research: A conceptual approach. New York: Holt, Rinehart, &

Winston.

Krathwohl, D. R. (1988). How to prepare a research proposal: Guidelines for funding and dissertations

in the social and behavioral sciences. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Locke, L. F., Spirduso, W. W., & Silverman, S. J. (1987). Proposals that work: A guide for planning

dissertations and grant proposals (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (1989). Designing qualitative research: Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Shavelson, R. J. (1988). Statistical reasoning for the behavioral sciences (second edition). Boston:

Allyn and Bacon.

Wiersma, W. (1995). Research methods in education: An introduction (Sixth edition). Boston: Allyn and

Bacon.

Wilkinson, A. M. (1991). The scientists handbook for writing papers and dissertations. Englewood

Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 41


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6. Questions & Discussions

THANK YOU

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proposal writing final draft for presentation bob

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