Most students and beginning researchers do not fully understand what a Research proposal Example means, nor do they understand its importance. To put it bluntly, one’s research is only as a good as one’s Research proposal Example . An ill-conceived Research proposal Example dooms the project even if it somehow gets through the Thesis Supervisory Committee. An extreme quality proposal, on the other hand, not only promises achievement for the project, but in addition to impresses your Thesis Committee about your potential as a researcher.

A research proposal is intended to convince others that you have a worthwhile research project and that you have the competence and the work-plan to complete it. Generally, a research Research proposal Example should contain all the answer elements involved in the research process and include sufficient information for the readers to evaluate the proposed study.

Regardless of your research area and the methodology you choose, all research proposals necessity address the following questions: What you plan to accomplish, why you want to do it and how you are going to do it.

The Research proposal Example may have sufficient information to convince your readers that you have an important research idea, that you have a good grasp of the relevant literature and the main issues, and that your methodology is sound.

The quality of your research proposal depends not only on the quality of your proposed project, but in addition to on the quality of your proposal writing. A good research project may run the risk of rejection simply because the Research proposal Example is poorly written. Therefore, it pays if your writing is coherent, clear and compelling.

This paper focuses on proposal writing rather than on the development of research ideas.

Title:

It may be concise and descriptive. For example, the phrase, “An investigation of . . .” can be omitted. Often titles are stated in terms of a functional relationship, because such titles with indicate the independent and dependent variables. However, if possible, think of an informative but catchy title. An effective title not only pricks the reader’s interest, but in addition to predisposes him/her favourably towards the proposal.

Abstract:

It is a brief concise of approximately 300 words. It should include the research question, the rationale for the study, the hypothesis (if any), the means and the major findings. Descriptions of the means should include the design, procedures, the sample and any instruments that cause be used.

Introduction:

The main purpose of the introduction is to determine the necessary background or context for your research problem. How to frame the research problem is perhaps the biggest issues in Research proposal Example writing.

If the research problem is framed in the context of a general, rambling literature review, then the research question may appear trivial and uninteresting. However, if the same question is placed in the context of a very focused and current research area, its significance cause become evident.

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules on how to frame your research question just as there is no prescription on how to write an interesting and informative opening paragraph. A lot depends on your creativity, your ability to think with and the depth of your understanding of issues areas.

However, try to place your research question in the context of either a current “hot” area, or an older area that remains viable. Secondly, you necessity to determine a brief but appropriate historical backdrop. Thirdly, determine the contemporary context in which your proposed research question occupies the central stage. Finally, identify “key players” and refer to the most relevant and representative publications. In short, try to paint your research question in broad brushes and at the same time bring out its significance.

The introduction typically begins clearly a general statement of the issues area, clearly a focus on a specific research problem, to be followed by the rational or justification for the proposed study. The introduction generally covers the following elements:

State the research problem, which is often referred to as the purpose of the study.
determine the context and set the stage for your research question in such a way as to show its must and importance.
Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth doing.
Briefly describe the major problem and sub-problems to be addressed by your research.
Identify the answer independent and dependent variables of your experiment. Alternatively, specify the phenomenon you want to study.
State your hypothesis or theory, if any. For exploratory or phenomenological research, you may not have any hypotheses. (Please do not confuse the hypothesis with the statistical null hypothesis.)
Set the delimitation or boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus.
provide definitions of answer concepts. (This is optional.)

Literature Review:

Sometimes the literature review is incorporated into the introduction section. However, most professors prefer a separate section, which allows a more thorough review of the literature.

The literature review serves some eminent functions:

• Ensures that you are not “reinventing the wheel”.
• Gives credits to those who have laid the groundwork for your research.
• Demonstrates your knowledge of the research issues.
• Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical and research issues related to your research question.
• Shows your ability to critically evaluate relevant literature information.
• Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the existing literature.
• Provides new theoretical insights or develops a new model as the conceptual framework for your research.
• Convinces your reader that your proposed research cause constitute a significant and substantial contribution to the literature (i.e., resolving an important theoretical issue or filling a main gap in the literature).

Most students’ literature reviews suffer from the following problems:

• Lacking organization and structure
• Lacking focus, unity and coherence
• Being repetitive and verbose
• Failing to cite influential papers
• Failing to keep up clearly recent developments
• Failing to critically evaluate cited papers
• Citing irrelevant or trivial references
• Depending too a great deal on secondary sources
• Your scholarship and research competence will be questioned if any of the above applies to your Research proposal Example.

There are unlike ways to organize your literature review. Constitute use of subheadings to bring order and coherence to your review. For example, having established the importance of your research area and its current state of development, you may devote several subsections on related issues as: theoretical models, measuring instruments, cross-cultural and gender differences, etc.

It is also helpful to commemorate in mind that you are telling a story to an audience. Try to tell it in a stimulating and engaging manner. Do not bore them, because it may lead to rejection of your worthy Research proposal Example. (Remember: Professors and scientists are human beings too.)

Methods:

The means section is very important because it tells your Research Committee how you plan to tackle your research problem. It cause provide your work plan and describe the activities necessary for the completion of your project.

The guiding principle for writing the means section is that it may contain sufficient information for the reader to choose either methodology is sound. some even argue that a good proposal may contain sufficient details for another qualified researcher to implement the study.

You necessity to demonstrate your knowledge of alternative methods and make the case that your approach is the most appropriate and most valid way to address your research question.

Please note that your research question should be best answered by qualitative research. However, since most mainstream psychologists are still biased against qualitative research, exceptionally the phenomenological variety, you may necessity to justify your qualitative method.

Furthermore, since there are no well-established and widely accepted canons in qualitative analysis, your means section needs to be more elaborate than what is required for traditional quantitative research. more importantly, the data collection process in qualitative research has a far greater impact on the results as compared to quantitative research. That is another reason for greater care in describing how you will collect and analyze your data. (How to write the method section for qualitative research is a topic for another paper.)

For quantitative studies, the means section typically consists of the following sections:

Design -Is it a questionnaire study or a laboratory experiment? What kind of design do you choose?
Subjects or participants – Who will take part in your study ? What kind of sampling procedure do you use?
Instruments – What kind of measuring instruments or questionnaires do you use? Why do you determine them? Are they valid and reliable?
Procedure – How do you plan to carry out your study? What activities are involved? How long does it take?

Results:

Obviously you do not have results at the Research proposal Example stage. However, you need to have several idea about what kind of data you will be collecting, and what statistical procedures will be used in order to answer your research question or test you hypothesis.

Discussion:

It is important to convince your reader of the potential impact of your proposed research. You need to communicate a sense of enthusiasm and confidence without exaggerating the merits of your proposal. That is why you also need to mention the limitations and weaknesses of the proposed research, which may be justified by time and financial constraints as well as by the early developmental stage of your research area.

Common Mistakes in Research proposal Example Writing

• Failure to provide the proper context to frame the research question.
• Failure to delimit the boundary conditions for your research.
• Failure to cite landmark studies.
• Failure to accurately present the theoretical and empirical contributions by other researchers.
• Failure to stay focused on the research question.
• Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research.
• Too a great deal detail on minor issues, but not enough assign specific task on main issues.
• Too much rambling — going “all over the map” without a clear sense of direction. (The best proposals move forward with ease and grace like a seamless river.)
• Too many citation lapses and incorrect references.
• Too long or too short.
• Failing to follow the APA style.
• Slopping writing.