A research proposal sets out what you intend to achieve and how you will go about it. The requirements of research proposals differ depending on the question you want to address. It should at least include (although not necessarily in this order):
Chapter 1: Introduction
This part includes a brief introduction about
the topic and how it is important. It explains the background of the project,
focusing briefly on the major issues of its knowledge domain and clarifying
why these issues are worthy of attention. The introduction should endeavor to
catch the reader’s interest and should be written in such a way that can be
understood easily by any reader with a general science background. It should
cite all relevant references pertaining to the major issues described.
Many researchers prefer to postpone writing
the Introduction till the rest of the document is finished. This is apparently
make sense, since the act of writing tends to introduces many changes in the
plans initially sketched by the writer. Therefore, at finishing from the
document the writer gets a clear view of how to construct an introduction that
is, indeed, compelling.
Normally, the last paragraph of this section gives hints about the problem that is going to be consider within the proposal research. In other words, the last paragraph works as a bridge that serves as preface of the next section which is research problem.
Chapter 2: Stat of Art
The State of the Art, also known as the
Literature Review. First of all, it demonstrates that you have built a solid
knowledge of the field where the research is taking place, and that you have
critically identified and evaluated the key literature.
The Literature Review must give credit to the researchers
who laid the groundwork for your research. In this way when your research
objectives are further clarified, the reader is able to recognize beyond doubt
that what you are attempting to do. This will confirm of what has not been
done in the past and that your research will likely make a significant
contribution to the literature.
The Literature Review is usually the more
extensive part of a research proposal, so it will expectedly develop over
various paragraphs and sub-paragraphs. It should be accompanied by
comprehensive references. Ideally, all appropriate books, book chapters,
papers and other texts produced in the knowledge domain you are exploring
which are of importance for your work should be mentioned here and listed at
the end of the proposal. The popular reference style conventions are American
Psychological Association (APA) style.
Chapter 3: Research Problems, Objectives, Questions, And Hypotheses
Research Problems
The research problem is a general statement of why the research should be done. This is something that is not well-understood or solved and can be addressed by research. The fundamental questions could be as:
- Why should anyone care about the outcome of this research?
- Who would use the results of this research? and for what?
- Why should anyone sponsor this research?
Research Objectives
These are statements of what is expected
as the output of the research. Each of the objectives must be at least
partially met at the end of the project. The clarification of the research
objectives should build solidly on the Literature Review and relate your
research to the work carried out by others. It should elucidate the measure to
which your work develops from their work and the extent to which it diverges
from theirs to open up new and yet unexplored avenues.
There is usually a single general
objective which is not operational. This is broken down into a list of
specific objectives which are then formulated as research questions, which are
then operationalized as research methods.
Research Questions
This section must specify what the research will actually address. Each research question must be answered by the thesis, therefore it must be a specific question to which an answer can be given. Questions follow objectives and may be simple re-statements in operational form, i.e. where an experiment or sample can answer it.
Research Hypotheses
As a definition: It is an idea or suggestion
that is based on known facts and is used as a basis for reasoning or further
investigation.
Chapter 4: Research Methodology and Materials
Research Methodology
Provides a discussion of the research strategy (general approach) to be adopted with appropriate justification including:
- detail of the implementation of the strategy in relation to the proposed research
- the technique(s) to be used including justifying appropriate technique(s) for the research strategy adopted.
- possible problems that may arise in administering the technique(s) along with identifying strategies to minimize the impact of any potential problems.
Research Materials
This addresses the range of data that will be gathered from the research techniques and how this information will be used and analyzed. It also may include description of the study area, software and equipment and other needs that to be used and present in the research.
Chapter 5: Work Plan and Implications
In general, it is not easy to create a detailed work plans for the research proposal. However, (in some cases) it is possible do build a detailed description of what the researcher plans to do (literature to explore in depth, principles or theorems to formulate and prove, experiments to carry out, sub-systems to build, systems integrations to perform, tests to accomplish). The plan should anticipate the problems likely to be found along the way and describe the approaches to be followed in solving them. It should also anticipate the conferences and journals to which the work in progress is expected to be submitted along the way, and schedule it in a Goals for Publication section of the work plan.
Whatever its nature, comprehensive or sketchy, your work plan should be able to put in perspective the implications of the successive steps of your work, reinforcing, in the mind of the reader, and that the outcomes of the project will contribute significantly to the enhancement of the field. It would be very clear for the reader if the anticipate plan of the research proposal can be shown as a time table.
Template of the PhD Research Proposal can be downloaded from here.