Show that you understand the current state of research on your topic.
The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor’s or master’s thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can help you determine the best length for your work.
One trick to get started is to think of your proposal’s structure as a shorter version of your thesis or dissertation , only without the results , conclusion and discussion sections.
Download our research proposal template
Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We’ve included a few for you below.
Like your dissertation or thesis, the proposal will usually have a title page that includes:
The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project. Make sure it succinctly explains what you want to do and why.
Your introduction should:
To guide your introduction , include information about:
Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:
See an example
As you get started, it’s important to demonstrate that you’re familiar with the most important research on your topic. A strong literature review shows your reader that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said, but rather using existing research as a jumping-off point for your own.
In this section, share exactly how your project will contribute to ongoing conversations in the field by:
Following the literature review, restate your main objectives . This brings the focus back to your own project. Next, your research design or methodology section will describe your overall approach, and the practical steps you will take to answer your research questions.
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To finish your proposal on a strong note, explore the potential implications of your research for your field. Emphasize again what you aim to contribute and why it matters.
For example, your results might have implications for:
Last but not least, your research proposal must include correct citations for every source you have used, compiled in a reference list . To create citations quickly and easily, you can use our free APA citation generator .
Some institutions or funders require a detailed timeline of the project, asking you to forecast what you will do at each stage and how long it may take. While not always required, be sure to check the requirements of your project.
Here’s an example schedule to help you get started. You can also download a template at the button below.
Download our research schedule template
Research phase | Objectives | Deadline |
---|---|---|
1. Background research and literature review | 20th January | |
2. Research design planning | and data analysis methods | 13th February |
3. Data collection and preparation | with selected participants and code interviews | 24th March |
4. Data analysis | of interview transcripts | 22nd April |
5. Writing | 17th June | |
6. Revision | final work | 28th July |
If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a detailed budget. This shows your estimates of how much each part of your project will cost.
Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover. For each item, include:
To determine your budget, think about:
If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Methodology
Statistics
Research bias
Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .
Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.
I will compare …
A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.
Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.
A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.
A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.
A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.
All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.
Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.
Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.
The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 21). How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved August 6, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/research-proposal/
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At some time in your student phase, you will have to do a Thesis or Dissertation, and for that, you will have to submit a research proposal. A Research Proposal in its most basic definition is a formally structured document that explains what, why, and how of your research. This document explains What you plan to research (your topic or theme of research), Why you are doing this research (justifying your research topic), and How you will do (your approach to complete the research). The purpose of a proposal is to convince other people apart from yourself that the work you’re doing is suitable and feasible for your academic position.
The process of writing a research proposal is lengthy and time-consuming. Your proposal will need constant edits as you keep taking your work forward and continue receiving feedback. Although, there is a structure or a template that needs to be followed. This article will guide you through this strenuous task. So, let’s get to work!
[ Let us take a running example throughout the article so that we cover all the points. Let us assume that we are working on a dissertation that needs to study the relationship between Gender and Money. ]
The Title is one of the first things the reader comes across. Your title should be crisp yet communicate all that you are trying to convey to the reader. In academia, a title gets even more weightage because in a sea of resources, sometimes your research project can get ignored because the title didn’t speak for itself. Therefore, make sure that you brainstorm multiple title options and see which fits the best. Many times in academic writing we use two forms of titles: the Main Title and the Subtitle. If you think that you cannot justify your research using just a Title, you can add a subtitle which will then convey the rest of your explanation.
[ Explanation through an example: Our theme is “Gender and Money”.
Insider’s Info: If you are not confident about your title in your research proposal, then write “Tentative Title” in brackets and italic below your Title. In this way, your superiors (professor or supervisor) will know that you are still working on fixing the title.
The overview, also known as abstract and/or introduction, is the first section that you write for your proposal. Your overview should be a single paragraph that explains to the reader what your whole research will be about. In a nutshell, you will use your abstract to present all the arguments that you will be taking in detail in your thesis or research. What you can do is introduce your theme a little along with your topic and the aim of your research. But beware and do not reveal all that you have in your pocket. Make sure to spend plenty of time writing your overview because it will be used to determine if your research is worth taking forward or reading.
Difference between “literature review” and “existing literature”.
A literature review is a detailed essay that discusses all the material which is already out there regarding your topic. For a literature review, you will have to mention all the literature you have read and then explain how they benefit you in your field of research.
[ Explanation through an example: Now we know that our topic is: Our theme is “A study of “Gendered Money” in the Rural households of Delhi.”
To find the existing literature on this topic you should find academic articles relating to the themes of money, gender, economy, income, etc. ]
Insider’s Info : If you are unable to find a research gap for your dissertation, the best hack to fall back on is to say that all the research done up to this point have been based on western notions and social facts, but you will conduct research which holds in your localized reality.
Some of the research questions you can state can be,
This part of the research proposal is about how you will conduct and complete your research. To understand better what research methodology is, we should first clarify the difference between methodology and method. Research Method is the technique used by you to conduct your research. A method includes the sources of collecting your data such as case studies, interviews, surveys, etc. On the other hand, Methodology is how you plan to apply your method . Your methodology determines how you execute various methods during the course of your dissertation.
Therefore, a research methodology, which is also known as research design, is where you tell your reader how you plan to do your research. You tell the step-by-step plan and then justify it. Your research methodology will inform your supervisor how you plan to use your research tools and methods.
Your methodology should explain where you are conducting the research and how. So for this research, your field will be rural Delhi. Explain why you chose to study rural households and not urban ones. Then comes the how, some of the methods you might want to opt for can be Interviews, Questionnaires, and/or Focused Group Discussions. Do not forget to mention your sample size, i.e., the number of people you plan to talk to. ]
Insider’s Info: Make sure that you justify all the methods you plan to use. The more you provide your supervisor with a justification; the more serious and formal you come out to be in front of them. Also, when you write your why down, it is hard to forget the track and get derailed from the goal.
For this project, you can mention that you will be allocated 4 months, out of which 1 month will be utilized for fieldwork and the rest would be used for secondary research, compilation, and completion of the thesis. ]
You can present that through your research you will aim to find if the money which enters the household belongs equally to everyone, or does it get stratified and gendered in this realm. Through this research, you aim to present a fresh new perspective in the field of studies of gendered money. ]
Insider’s Info: You do not number or bullet your bibliography. They should be arranged alphabetically based on the surname of the author.
Learn: Citation with Examples
https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/
Getting started, additional resources on the literature review, research/grant proposal writing, and dissertation writing.
...and Manage Citations
This guide was originally created for AN510 / AR510: Proposal Writing for Social Science Research. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students in other social science and humanities fields may also find this guide helpful as they prepare to write grant proposals, theses or dissertations.
Writing the Grant & Research / Dissertation Proposal
Literature Reviews
Dissertation Writing
This guide was originally authored by Chris Smith, April, 2023.
Reference books.
When applying for a research grant or scholarship, or, just before you start a major research project, you may be asked to write a preliminary document that includes basic information about your future research. This is the information that is usually needed in your proposal:
Most agencies that offer scholarships or grants provide information about the required format of the proposal. It may include filling out templates, types of information they need, suggested/maximum length of the proposal, etc.
Research proposal formats vary depending on the size of the planned research, the number of participants, the discipline, the characteristics of the research, etc. The following outline assumes an individual researcher. This is just a SAMPLE; several other ways are equally good and can be successful. If possible, discuss your research proposal with an expert in writing, a professor, your colleague, another student who already wrote successful proposals, etc.
The methods section describes actions taken to investigate a research problem and the rationale for the application of specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information applied to understanding the problem, thereby, allowing the reader to critically evaluate a study’s overall validity and reliability. The methodology section of a research paper answers two main questions: How was the data collected or generated? And, how was it analyzed? The writing should be direct and precise and always written in the past tense.
Kallet, Richard H. "How to Write the Methods Section of a Research Paper." Respiratory Care 49 (October 2004): 1229-1232.
You must explain how you obtained and analyzed your results for the following reasons:
Bem, Daryl J. Writing the Empirical Journal Article. Psychology Writing Center. University of Washington; Denscombe, Martyn. The Good Research Guide: For Small-Scale Social Research Projects . 5th edition. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2014; Lunenburg, Frederick C. Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation: Tips and Strategies for Students in the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008.
I. Groups of Research Methods
There are two main groups of research methods in the social sciences:
II. Content
The introduction to your methodology section should begin by restating the research problem and underlying assumptions underpinning your study. This is followed by situating the methods you used to gather, analyze, and process information within the overall “tradition” of your field of study and within the particular research design you have chosen to study the problem. If the method you choose lies outside of the tradition of your field [i.e., your review of the literature demonstrates that the method is not commonly used], provide a justification for how your choice of methods specifically addresses the research problem in ways that have not been utilized in prior studies.
The remainder of your methodology section should describe the following:
In addition, an effectively written methodology section should:
NOTE: Once you have written all of the elements of the methods section, subsequent revisions should focus on how to present those elements as clearly and as logically as possibly. The description of how you prepared to study the research problem, how you gathered the data, and the protocol for analyzing the data should be organized chronologically. For clarity, when a large amount of detail must be presented, information should be presented in sub-sections according to topic. If necessary, consider using appendices for raw data.
ANOTHER NOTE: If you are conducting a qualitative analysis of a research problem , the methodology section generally requires a more elaborate description of the methods used as well as an explanation of the processes applied to gathering and analyzing of data than is generally required for studies using quantitative methods. Because you are the primary instrument for generating the data [e.g., through interviews or observations], the process for collecting that data has a significantly greater impact on producing the findings. Therefore, qualitative research requires a more detailed description of the methods used.
YET ANOTHER NOTE: If your study involves interviews, observations, or other qualitative techniques involving human subjects , you may be required to obtain approval from the university's Office for the Protection of Research Subjects before beginning your research. This is not a common procedure for most undergraduate level student research assignments. However, i f your professor states you need approval, you must include a statement in your methods section that you received official endorsement and adequate informed consent from the office and that there was a clear assessment and minimization of risks to participants and to the university. This statement informs the reader that your study was conducted in an ethical and responsible manner. In some cases, the approval notice is included as an appendix to your paper.
III. Problems to Avoid
Irrelevant Detail The methodology section of your paper should be thorough but concise. Do not provide any background information that does not directly help the reader understand why a particular method was chosen, how the data was gathered or obtained, and how the data was analyzed in relation to the research problem [note: analyzed, not interpreted! Save how you interpreted the findings for the discussion section]. With this in mind, the page length of your methods section will generally be less than any other section of your paper except the conclusion.
Unnecessary Explanation of Basic Procedures Remember that you are not writing a how-to guide about a particular method. You should make the assumption that readers possess a basic understanding of how to investigate the research problem on their own and, therefore, you do not have to go into great detail about specific methodological procedures. The focus should be on how you applied a method , not on the mechanics of doing a method. An exception to this rule is if you select an unconventional methodological approach; if this is the case, be sure to explain why this approach was chosen and how it enhances the overall process of discovery.
Problem Blindness It is almost a given that you will encounter problems when collecting or generating your data, or, gaps will exist in existing data or archival materials. Do not ignore these problems or pretend they did not occur. Often, documenting how you overcame obstacles can form an interesting part of the methodology. It demonstrates to the reader that you can provide a cogent rationale for the decisions you made to minimize the impact of any problems that arose.
Literature Review Just as the literature review section of your paper provides an overview of sources you have examined while researching a particular topic, the methodology section should cite any sources that informed your choice and application of a particular method [i.e., the choice of a survey should include any citations to the works you used to help construct the survey].
It’s More than Sources of Information! A description of a research study's method should not be confused with a description of the sources of information. Such a list of sources is useful in and of itself, especially if it is accompanied by an explanation about the selection and use of the sources. The description of the project's methodology complements a list of sources in that it sets forth the organization and interpretation of information emanating from those sources.
Azevedo, L.F. et al. "How to Write a Scientific Paper: Writing the Methods Section." Revista Portuguesa de Pneumologia 17 (2011): 232-238; Blair Lorrie. “Choosing a Methodology.” In Writing a Graduate Thesis or Dissertation , Teaching Writing Series. (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers 2016), pp. 49-72; Butin, Dan W. The Education Dissertation A Guide for Practitioner Scholars . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010; Carter, Susan. Structuring Your Research Thesis . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; Kallet, Richard H. “How to Write the Methods Section of a Research Paper.” Respiratory Care 49 (October 2004):1229-1232; Lunenburg, Frederick C. Writing a Successful Thesis or Dissertation: Tips and Strategies for Students in the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2008. Methods Section. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Rudestam, Kjell Erik and Rae R. Newton. “The Method Chapter: Describing Your Research Plan.” In Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process . (Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, 2015), pp. 87-115; What is Interpretive Research. Institute of Public and International Affairs, University of Utah; Writing the Experimental Report: Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Methods and Materials. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College.
Statistical Designs and Tests? Do Not Fear Them!
Don't avoid using a quantitative approach to analyzing your research problem just because you fear the idea of applying statistical designs and tests. A qualitative approach, such as conducting interviews or content analysis of archival texts, can yield exciting new insights about a research problem, but it should not be undertaken simply because you have a disdain for running a simple regression. A well designed quantitative research study can often be accomplished in very clear and direct ways, whereas, a similar study of a qualitative nature usually requires considerable time to analyze large volumes of data and a tremendous burden to create new paths for analysis where previously no path associated with your research problem had existed.
To locate data and statistics, GO HERE .
Knowing the Relationship Between Theories and Methods
There can be multiple meaning associated with the term "theories" and the term "methods" in social sciences research. A helpful way to delineate between them is to understand "theories" as representing different ways of characterizing the social world when you research it and "methods" as representing different ways of generating and analyzing data about that social world. Framed in this way, all empirical social sciences research involves theories and methods, whether they are stated explicitly or not. However, while theories and methods are often related, it is important that, as a researcher, you deliberately separate them in order to avoid your theories playing a disproportionate role in shaping what outcomes your chosen methods produce.
Introspectively engage in an ongoing dialectic between the application of theories and methods to help enable you to use the outcomes from your methods to interrogate and develop new theories, or ways of framing conceptually the research problem. This is how scholarship grows and branches out into new intellectual territory.
Reynolds, R. Larry. Ways of Knowing. Alternative Microeconomics . Part 1, Chapter 3. Boise State University; The Theory-Method Relationship. S-Cool Revision. United Kingdom.
Methods and the Methodology
Do not confuse the terms "methods" and "methodology." As Schneider notes, a method refers to the technical steps taken to do research . Descriptions of methods usually include defining and stating why you have chosen specific techniques to investigate a research problem, followed by an outline of the procedures you used to systematically select, gather, and process the data [remember to always save the interpretation of data for the discussion section of your paper].
The methodology refers to a discussion of the underlying reasoning why particular methods were used . This discussion includes describing the theoretical concepts that inform the choice of methods to be applied, placing the choice of methods within the more general nature of academic work, and reviewing its relevance to examining the research problem. The methodology section also includes a thorough review of the methods other scholars have used to study the topic.
Bryman, Alan. "Of Methods and Methodology." Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal 3 (2008): 159-168; Schneider, Florian. “What's in a Methodology: The Difference between Method, Methodology, and Theory…and How to Get the Balance Right?” PoliticsEastAsia.com. Chinese Department, University of Leiden, Netherlands.
The goal of a research proposal is to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting the research are governed by standards within the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, so guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. Research proposals contain extensive literature reviews. They must provide persuasive evidence that a need exists for the proposed study. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from the study's completion.
Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005.
"Document that is typically written by a scientist or academic which describes the ideas for an investigation on a certain topic. The research proposal outlines the process from beginning to end and may be used to request financing for the project, certification for performing certain parts of research of the experiment, or as a required task before beginning a college dissertation."
Web Finance Inc. (c. 2019). What is research proposal? definition and meaning. Retrieved July 1, 2019, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/research-proposal.html
Your professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons:
A proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a completed research study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the findings of the study and your analysis of those results. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the quality of your writing and, therefore, it is important that your writing is coherent, clear, and compelling.
Regardless of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions:
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Sanford, Keith. Information for Students: Writing a Research Proposal. Baylor University; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal. University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Beginning the Proposal Process
As with writing a regular academic paper, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. Proposals vary between ten and twenty-five pages in length. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the proposal.
A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:
In general, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study. Approach it with the intention of leaving your readers feeling like--"Wow, that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"
In general your proposal should include the following sections:
I. Introduction
In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea or a thorough examination of the significance of a research problem. After reading the introduction, your readers should not only have an understanding of what you want to do, but they should also be able to gain a sense of your passion for the topic and be excited about the study's possible outcomes. Note that most proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the introduction.
Think about your introduction as a narrative written in one to three paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions :
II. Background and Significance
This section can be melded into your introduction or you can create a separate section to help with the organization and narrative flow of your proposal. This is where you explain the context of your proposal and describe in detail why it's important. Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is relevant to help explain the goals for your study.
To that end, while there are no hard and fast rules, you should attempt to address some or all of the following key points:
III. Literature Review
Connected to the background and significance of your study is a section of your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation . The purpose here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored, while demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about what questions other researchers have asked, what methods they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and, where stated, their recommendations. Do not be afraid to challenge the conclusions of prior research. Assess what you believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately examine the issue that your study addresses. For more information on writing literature reviews, GO HERE .
Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your study in relation to that of other researchers. A good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual categories" [themes] rather than systematically describing groups of materials one at a time. Note that conceptual categories generally reveal themselves after you have read most of the pertinent literature on your topic so adding new categories is an on-going process of discovery as you read more studies. How do you know you've covered the key conceptual categories underlying the research literature? Generally, you can have confidence that all of the significant conceptual categories have been identified if you start to see repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being made.
To help frame your proposal's literature review, here are the "five C’s" of writing a literature review:
IV. Research Design and Methods
This section must be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader must have confidence that it is worth pursuing . The reader will never have a study outcome from which to evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results. Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.
Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other researchers have used but methods of data gathering that have not been used but perhaps could be. Be specific about the methodological approaches you plan to undertake to obtain information, the techniques you would use to analyze the data, and the tests of external validity to which you commit yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you can generalize from your study to other people, places, events, and/or periods of time].
When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:
V. Preliminary Suppositions and Implications
Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyze the results, doesn't mean you can skip talking about the analytical process and potential implications . The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact future scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or policymaking. Note that such discussions may have either substantive [a potential new policy], theoretical [a potential new understanding], or methodological [a potential new way of analyzing] significance. When thinking about the potential implications of your study, ask the following questions:
NOTE : This section should not delve into idle speculation, opinion, or be formulated on the basis of unclear evidence . The purpose is to reflect upon gaps or understudied areas of the current literature and describe how your proposed research contributes to a new understanding of the research problem should the study be implemented as designed.
VI. Conclusion
The conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and provides a brief summary of the entire study . This section should be only one or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance existing knowledge.
Someone reading this section should come away with an understanding of:
VII. Citations
As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your proposal. In a standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so consult with your professor about which one is preferred.
In either case, this section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to make sure the project will complement and not duplicate the efforts of other researchers. Start a new page and use the heading "References" or "Bibliography" centered at the top of the page. Cited works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the discipline of your course [i.e., education=APA; history=Chicago, etc] or that is preferred by your professor. This section normally does not count towards the total page length of your research proposal.
Develop a Research Proposal: Writing the Proposal . Office of Library Information Services. Baltimore County Public Schools; Heath, M. Teresa Pereira and Caroline Tynan. “Crafting a Research Proposal.” The Marketing Review 10 (Summer 2010): 147-168; Jones, Mark. “Writing a Research Proposal.” In MasterClass in Geography Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning . Graham Butt, editor. (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), pp. 113-127; Juni, Muhamad Hanafiah. “Writing a Research Proposal.” International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences 1 (September/October 2014): 229-240; Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005; Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Punch, Keith and Wayne McGowan. "Developing and Writing a Research Proposal." In From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills . Nigel Gilbert, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 59-81; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal . International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal . University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The advice given in this section is geared towards the proposals you will be required to submit when applying for OUR programs and funding opportunities. Though much of this information will be useful when writing proposals or personal statements for non-OUR applications, we recommend you refer to the guidelines in the application you are working on and the advice provided by the UConn Writing Center to guide the development of your proposal. If you are applying for OUR Programs you should also review the criteria specific to the program to which you are applying to ensure your proposal is appropriately tailored.
Start by brainstorming answers to the following questions:
Use your answers, in conjunction with the guidelines below, to develop the first draft of your proposal. Once you have a draft, plan to seek feedback from trusted sources. You should also plan to attend a workshop at the Writing Center and review their resources on writing personal statements .
While there is no magic formula to follow for a successful proposal, following these general guidelines will help you develop a thorough, well-developed proposal.
The applications for OUR programs will ask you to answer specific questions relating to your project, including some combination of the following:
A good proposal clearly outlines the project or research question and convinces others of its merits. The proposal should demonstrate why the project is worthy of support, and why the topic is of interest to you, the applicant. Avoid simply writing a summary of what you’ve done (unless specifically asked to do so); rather, focus on your project or research, and what you’re hoping to accomplish.
Each application is a different, and you need to carefully read and understand all the questions being asked to assure your proposal addresses them. Stay focused on your topic and make sure to fully answer the questions that are asked. Neglecting to answer or not focusing on the questions at hand will hurt your proposal.
Word and character limits, as well as format requirements, are given for a reason. Stay within the guidelines and parameters. Though you may think it won’t matter if you are 10 words over the limit, or your font size is .5 smaller than instructed, it does matter. Not following the guidelines indicates to the reviewers that you are either unable to follow directions or that you did not read the directions carefully. This is not the impression you want to make.
At UConn, the review committees are composed of faculty and professional staff from across the University. They are not experts in every field of study and may not be familiar with the topic of study or type of project you are proposing. Therefore, your aim should be to write your proposal for a well-educated audience that does not have the in-depth technical knowledge associated with your field.
Do not assume the reader will know what you’re talking about or what contribution your project may make to your field of study. Give the reader enough background information to understand the importance of the research or project without overwhelming them with technical details.
You can have a well-developed idea or solid research question, but if you fail to clearly articulate how you plan to execute your idea or answer your research question, the feasibility of your proposal will be questioned. Be as specific as possible. If you intend to bring speakers to campus, indicate who you hope to bring and why you chose those individuals. If you propose to travel to archives to conduct research, describe why you chose those archives and what special collections you plan to access at the archives. If you intend to conduct focus groups, indicate why you chose to do focus groups and how you plan to recruit participants.
It’s not enough to only state what you intend to do, you need to indicate why and how. Explain the thought process behind the steps you will take to execute your project or answer your research question.
Plan ahead; a well-written proposal doesn’t emerge overnight. Perfunctory proposals rarely excite anyone, and if your proposal comes across as a last-minute endeavor it may signal a lack of sincere investment in your project.
Starting early will also give you time to seek feedback, which is a necessary part of proposal writing. Ask for a critique from faculty mentors, advisors, and writing tutors to assure your intended message is clear and that your proposal addresses the key points. Take feedback into consideration, but make sure that you don’t lose your voice in the process. Your proposal needs to be genuine and sincere, accurately representing your interests, goals, and intentions, and not those of well-meaning reviewers.
Proofread your proposal. Spell check does not catch all errors. Read your proposal aloud; this will help you catch spelling, grammatical, and word use errors. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, and poor word choice are the quickest ways to undermine the effectiveness of your proposal.
Thank you to the University of Southern California Libraries for a great resource!
This is a video produced at Massey University in New Zealand for GRADUATE STUDENTS. It is the model which your assignment is based. It is a useful introduction to proposals as one type of undergraduate paper.
The opening discusses doing graduate work. You can start the video at 2:40.
Yes, this is a long video (1 hour). However, the presenter makes good points. There is a link to the documents he uses in the presentation.
How to Write a Psychology Research Proposal : Writing a brief research proposal cultivates all kinds of intellectual skills.
A PDF of the document is available at the end of the article.
For many academics, each new year brings a flurry of email enquiries about PhD supervision. In my experience these tend to range between a vague notion about a topic (or a few possible topics) and a detailed account of a research idea, usually drawn from a successful MA thesis or an area of professional interest. What I hardly ever get, however, is a proper draft proposal that I can start working up with an applicant.
For me, having at least a rough draft of your proposal before you contact potential supervisors is good practice, for a number of reasons:
If you are planning to apply for Research Council funding, a draft gives you a valuable head start – I also see the process of feedback and amendment for these high-profile applications as an excellent insight into what a student will be like to supervise (I generally ask for several redrafts before I will sign off).
A PhD proposal does not need to be long. In fact, I encourage applicants to be as concise as they can – Research Council application forms generally allow a couple of sides, 10 pt font minimum, so I would stick to that. For a social science PhD, proposals will contain a number of common elements:
A short paragraph describing your topic, stating why it is important. First and foremost, you should be proposing a project which is fresh and interesting rather than repeating previous studies. This doesn’t necessarily mean a completely new topic (and there are no completely original arguments), but it could mean, for instance: looking at an existing topic in a new way; asking slightly different questions; researching a specific population; or bringing together two theories that haven’t been used together, or haven’t been used to explore this topic, before.
The best research in my field tends to be both policy/society-relevant and able to make a contribution to academic debates, so look for a social need and gaps in the relevant literature. Your project should pass the ‘so what?’ test on both intellectual and practical grounds. This is especially the case if you want to work with a marginalised group as an outsider – your study needs to have clear benefits for your participants, and it should be obvious that you are the right person to do it and are doing it for the right reasons (if you’re not sure this is the case, perhaps read this post and reflect). If you’re applying for research funding, your project rationale should also link to the strategic priorities of the funding body.
Two or three specific questions you will answer. They must be ones which have not been asked before in the particular way you will ask them. They should usually be open but narrow, focusing on aspects of issues or relationships between phenomena (e.g. ‘what are the causes of violence against sex workers?’ is too broad, but ‘what are sex workers’ experiences of violence under different legal/regulatory models?’ is more promising). You should also be realistic – what exactly are you going to be able to find out? Be wary of questions which are too ambitious – in social research this often means causal, categorical, or conclusive. Avoid making assumptions that will threaten the validity of your analysis (e.g. ‘how can parents who formula-feed be made aware of the benefits of breastfeeding?) Never ask something you feel you already know.
The trick is to develop research questions which both create a do-able project and account for the complexity of the social world, and to represent these as simply as you possibly can. This is difficult! Your research questions will probably go through several iterations with your prospective supervisor, so they don’t have to be perfect first time.
This is directly linked to your rationale and research questions – a summary of existing relevant work, identifying the gaps (both empirical and theoretical) your project will fill. You may be looking at several areas of literature – some providing general context while others relate to particular issues. In a project on violence against sex workers under different legal/regulatory models, you would probably be making use of general work on violence against women/sexual violence, more specific literature on violence against sex workers (of all genders) and violence against particular groups who may be more at risk within the industry (women of colour and trans women, for example), and literature covering different models of sex industry regulation and their implications. Studies would probably be both empirical and more conceptual in focus.
Don’t just write a list in this section – introduce different bodies of literature, summarise key themes and points, identify gaps, and make explicit how all this frames your particular project. Be clear in your mind about how you are using the literature at hand, and how you might feed back into the literature and make new contributions when you have completed your research.
The conceptual material in your literature review might inform your theoretical framework – the concepts most central to your research project. You might be focusing on gender as a key category of analysis; you might (should) also be taking an intersectional approach. You might be making use of other concepts such as agency or stigma, or developing the work of particular theorists. You need to have an idea of how all this relates together and whether there are any useful connections or knotty contradictions at work.
Your theoretical framework will and should change as you develop your PhD project, coming to fruition when you have finished your data analysis and are (hopefully) ready to say something new. It need not be fully developed in your proposal. In fact, if I see a PhD proposal which has an elaborate theoretical framework already, it often raises questions about whether the student is setting out to confirm things they feel they already know. Nevertheless, your proposal should contain some indication of the theories and concepts you find relevant to your research questions, and (most importantly) some thoughts about how you might operationalise these. How can you identify agency, for example? How might you measure stigma? How can you put intersectionality into practice?
N.B. Not all proposals will have a separate literature review and theoretical framework: if your project is heavily conceptual these might be merged into one longer section, or if you are conducting a large empirical study which will generate an entirely new dataset you may not need to be so focused on the theory.
This is probably the most important part of your proposal – a description of what you are going to do in very precise terms. This should include your your broad methodological approach – is it quantitative or qualitative? Are you using a particular research design, for instance ethnography or case study? Are you situated within a specific epistemological framework, and why? It should also include any specific methodological techniques or elements of research design – for instance, if you are trying to explore the interactions between phenomena, how will you measure and establish these? (e.g. in a qualitative study exploring how breastfeeding impacts on mothers’ experiences of bonding with their babies, you would need to consider how you would tease out the role of breastfeeding from other factors).
Your methodology should give details of your planned sources of data and how you will sample them. Be specific: if you are doing interviews, how many? What types of people will you hope to recruit as participants, and why? If you are working with documents, how many and how will they be selected? You need to give assurances that you are not just cherry-picking your sample to confirm what you feel you already know – for instance, a proposed study on whether the media contains racist bias will be stronger if you are not just working with content from the Daily Mail . You should also give details of how you will negotiate access to your sources, and the more groundwork you can do in advance the better, especially if you are working on sensitive issues or with marginalised communities. Your methods should then be described as accurately as you possibly can, as well as your planned techniques of data analysis, with full attention paid to how you might operationalise your theories.
Your methodology section should be primarily descriptive – your prospective supervisor needs to be confident that you have thought your project through and are in a good position to carry it out. It should also be mostly practical: although reflexivity is essential to qualitative social research, your PhD proposal is probably not the best place to present your autobiography. You need to show that you are conversant with the methodological literature and with other, similar studies, and have thought about your planned project with reference to these. Of course, your methodology will evolve during the course of your project and it is always possible to change it – but it is essential to be thinking like a researcher from the start.
Sometimes this section will be part of your methodology; sometimes it will be separate. If you are doing any research with human subjects you will probably undergo a rigorous ethical review process within your institution, before you are cleared for fieldwork. If your topic is sensitive or you are working with marginalised communities, this can take a while and can involve various requests for amendments. This section is your chance to show that you have engaged with the literature on research ethics and thought about any potential issues for your study: use it to identify these and talk about how you might address them. Power relations, informed consent, anonymity/confidentiality, risk/harm, participant and self-care all need to be covered.
University ethics committees can be conservative; you can take a critical perspective, especially where notions of ‘risk’ and ‘harm’ are concerned, and particularly in relation to the differences between working with more marginalised and more elite groups. However, you should also be aware that this is a bureaucratic process that could potentially stand between you and the successful completion of your research: some hoop-jumping may be necessary.
As the last section, your proposal should present a description of how you will break your research into manageable tasks and deadlines in order to get your PhD finished within the time you have (3-4 years full-time, 6-8 years part-time). It is best to present this in the form of a table, specifying dates by which you will have completed particular tasks. This timeline may change – but it is useful to have done some advance planning to show potential supervisors and funders that you are organised and likely to be able to deliver.
Finally, remember that you should probably try to fit all this on to two sides of A4. This usually includes references, so be strategic/sparing with these, and remember that you can allude to wider reading by using phrases such as ‘such as’, or ‘amongst others’ as part of your citations (this last tip is for PhD proposals only – you must not do this in your final thesis!)
Alison Phipps is Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Sussex. She was Chair of the Feminist and Women's Studies Association UK and Ireland, 2009-2012. You can visit her blog at https://genderate.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter @alisonphipps.
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Department of Anaesthesiology, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Writing the proposal of a research work in the present era is a challenging task due to the constantly evolving trends in the qualitative research design and the need to incorporate medical advances into the methodology. The proposal is a detailed plan or ‘blueprint’ for the intended study, and once it is completed, the research project should flow smoothly. Even today, many of the proposals at post-graduate evaluation committees and application proposals for funding are substandard. A search was conducted with keywords such as research proposal, writing proposal and qualitative using search engines, namely, PubMed and Google Scholar, and an attempt has been made to provide broad guidelines for writing a scientifically appropriate research proposal.
A clean, well-thought-out proposal forms the backbone for the research itself and hence becomes the most important step in the process of conduct of research.[ 1 ] The objective of preparing a research proposal would be to obtain approvals from various committees including ethics committee [details under ‘Research methodology II’ section [ Table 1 ] in this issue of IJA) and to request for grants. However, there are very few universally accepted guidelines for preparation of a good quality research proposal. A search was performed with keywords such as research proposal, funding, qualitative and writing proposals using search engines, namely, PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus.
Five ‘C’s while writing a literature review
A proposal needs to show how your work fits into what is already known about the topic and what new paradigm will it add to the literature, while specifying the question that the research will answer, establishing its significance, and the implications of the answer.[ 2 ] The proposal must be capable of convincing the evaluation committee about the credibility, achievability, practicality and reproducibility (repeatability) of the research design.[ 3 ] Four categories of audience with different expectations may be present in the evaluation committees, namely academic colleagues, policy-makers, practitioners and lay audiences who evaluate the research proposal. Tips for preparation of a good research proposal include; ‘be practical, be persuasive, make broader links, aim for crystal clarity and plan before you write’. A researcher must be balanced, with a realistic understanding of what can be achieved. Being persuasive implies that researcher must be able to convince other researchers, research funding agencies, educational institutions and supervisors that the research is worth getting approval. The aim of the researcher should be clearly stated in simple language that describes the research in a way that non-specialists can comprehend, without use of jargons. The proposal must not only demonstrate that it is based on an intelligent understanding of the existing literature but also show that the writer has thought about the time needed to conduct each stage of the research.[ 4 , 5 ]
The contents or formats of a research proposal vary depending on the requirements of evaluation committee and are generally provided by the evaluation committee or the institution.
In general, a cover page should contain the (i) title of the proposal, (ii) name and affiliation of the researcher (principal investigator) and co-investigators, (iii) institutional affiliation (degree of the investigator and the name of institution where the study will be performed), details of contact such as phone numbers, E-mail id's and lines for signatures of investigators.
The main contents of the proposal may be presented under the following headings: (i) introduction, (ii) review of literature, (iii) aims and objectives, (iv) research design and methods, (v) ethical considerations, (vi) budget, (vii) appendices and (viii) citations.[ 4 ]
It is also sometimes termed as ‘need for study’ or ‘abstract’. Introduction is an initial pitch of an idea; it sets the scene and puts the research in context.[ 6 ] The introduction should be designed to create interest in the reader about the topic and proposal. It should convey to the reader, what you want to do, what necessitates the study and your passion for the topic.[ 7 ] Some questions that can be used to assess the significance of the study are: (i) Who has an interest in the domain of inquiry? (ii) What do we already know about the topic? (iii) What has not been answered adequately in previous research and practice? (iv) How will this research add to knowledge, practice and policy in this area? Some of the evaluation committees, expect the last two questions, elaborated under a separate heading of ‘background and significance’.[ 8 ] Introduction should also contain the hypothesis behind the research design. If hypothesis cannot be constructed, the line of inquiry to be used in the research must be indicated.
It refers to all sources of scientific evidence pertaining to the topic in interest. In the present era of digitalisation and easy accessibility, there is an enormous amount of relevant data available, making it a challenge for the researcher to include all of it in his/her review.[ 9 ] It is crucial to structure this section intelligently so that the reader can grasp the argument related to your study in relation to that of other researchers, while still demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. It is preferable to summarise each article in a paragraph, highlighting the details pertinent to the topic of interest. The progression of review can move from the more general to the more focused studies, or a historical progression can be used to develop the story, without making it exhaustive.[ 1 ] Literature should include supporting data, disagreements and controversies. Five ‘C's may be kept in mind while writing a literature review[ 10 ] [ Table 1 ].
The research purpose (or goal or aim) gives a broad indication of what the researcher wishes to achieve in the research. The hypothesis to be tested can be the aim of the study. The objectives related to parameters or tools used to achieve the aim are generally categorised as primary and secondary objectives.
The objective here is to convince the reader that the overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the research problem and to impress upon the reader that the methodology/sources chosen are appropriate for the specific topic. It should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.
In this section, the methods and sources used to conduct the research must be discussed, including specific references to sites, databases, key texts or authors that will be indispensable to the project. There should be specific mention about the methodological approaches to be undertaken to gather information, about the techniques to be used to analyse it and about the tests of external validity to which researcher is committed.[ 10 , 11 ]
The components of this section include the following:[ 4 ]
Population refers to all the elements (individuals, objects or substances) that meet certain criteria for inclusion in a given universe,[ 12 ] and sample refers to subset of population which meets the inclusion criteria for enrolment into the study. The inclusion and exclusion criteria should be clearly defined. The details pertaining to sample size are discussed in the article “Sample size calculation: Basic priniciples” published in this issue of IJA.
The researcher is expected to give a detailed account of the methodology adopted for collection of data, which include the time frame required for the research. The methodology should be tested for its validity and ensure that, in pursuit of achieving the results, the participant's life is not jeopardised. The author should anticipate and acknowledge any potential barrier and pitfall in carrying out the research design and explain plans to address them, thereby avoiding lacunae due to incomplete data collection. If the researcher is planning to acquire data through interviews or questionnaires, copy of the questions used for the same should be attached as an annexure with the proposal.
This addresses the strength of the research with respect to its neutrality, consistency and applicability. Rigor must be reflected throughout the proposal.
It refers to the robustness of a research method against bias. The author should convey the measures taken to avoid bias, viz. blinding and randomisation, in an elaborate way, thus ensuring that the result obtained from the adopted method is purely as chance and not influenced by other confounding variables.
Consistency considers whether the findings will be consistent if the inquiry was replicated with the same participants and in a similar context. This can be achieved by adopting standard and universally accepted methods and scales.
Applicability refers to the degree to which the findings can be applied to different contexts and groups.[ 13 ]
This section deals with the reduction and reconstruction of data and its analysis including sample size calculation. The researcher is expected to explain the steps adopted for coding and sorting the data obtained. Various tests to be used to analyse the data for its robustness, significance should be clearly stated. Author should also mention the names of statistician and suitable software which will be used in due course of data analysis and their contribution to data analysis and sample calculation.[ 9 ]
Medical research introduces special moral and ethical problems that are not usually encountered by other researchers during data collection, and hence, the researcher should take special care in ensuring that ethical standards are met. Ethical considerations refer to the protection of the participants' rights (right to self-determination, right to privacy, right to autonomy and confidentiality, right to fair treatment and right to protection from discomfort and harm), obtaining informed consent and the institutional review process (ethical approval). The researcher needs to provide adequate information on each of these aspects.
Informed consent needs to be obtained from the participants (details discussed in further chapters), as well as the research site and the relevant authorities.
When the researcher prepares a research budget, he/she should predict and cost all aspects of the research and then add an additional allowance for unpredictable disasters, delays and rising costs. All items in the budget should be justified.
Appendices are documents that support the proposal and application. The appendices will be specific for each proposal but documents that are usually required include informed consent form, supporting documents, questionnaires, measurement tools and patient information of the study in layman's language.
As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your proposal. Although the words ‘references and bibliography’ are different, they are used interchangeably. It refers to all references cited in the research proposal.
Successful, qualitative research proposals should communicate the researcher's knowledge of the field and method and convey the emergent nature of the qualitative design. The proposal should follow a discernible logic from the introduction to presentation of the appendices.
Conflicts of interest.
There are no conflicts of interest.
Writing a social sciences PhD proposal . Professor Alison Phipps looks at the common elements of a good social sciences PhD proposal.
Don’t just write a list in this section – introduce different bodies of literature, summarise key themes and points, identify gaps, and make explicit how all this frames your particular project. Be clear in your mind about how you are using the literature at hand, and how you might feed back into the literature and make new contributions when you have completed your research.
Video advice: How to write a research proposal? Learn from scratch.
What is a research proposal, its importance, components. How to write a great research proposal? some important things to remember and tips to increase chances of selection.
Research questions – A short paragraph describing your topic, stating why it is important. First and foremost, you should be proposing a project which is fresh and interesting rather than repeating previous studies. This doesn’t necessarily mean a completely new topic (and there are no completely original arguments), but it could mean, for instance: looking at an existing topic in a new way; asking slightly different questions; researching a specific population; or bringing together two theories that haven’t been used together, or haven’t been used to explore this topic, before.
A research proposal informs the reader (your advisor) about the scope and scale of the issue or idea that you wish to explore in your project. …
Bear in mind that it is really an initial proposal for the research. You haven’t fully labored the argument you want to present. The objectives you’re presenting within the proposal derive from your initial research in to the problem. Experienced researchers realize that the objectives of the problem get refined his or her work progresses. Yours will, too.
Research questions have to be complex. If you already know the answer to the question, or if it can be obtained through a few simple inquiries, it is not an adequate research problem. It should be a puzzle, a mystery that you want to solve. It should also require you to look at multiple sources. In introducing your problem in a research proposal, you should provide a succinct statement which will help you to remain focused on the issue that you are addressing and how the information you will be discussing is related to that issue.
Video advice: Writing a research proposal
Professor Helen Abbott gives tips on writing your research proposal.
Examples of Research proposals – Your research proposal is an integral part of the Research Degree application process, and as such, it is worth investing time and energy to ensure that your proposal is strong, clear and effective.
We use research proposals to match you with your supervisor or supervisor team. You can contact one of our Research Leads or an academic whose work you are interested in to discuss your proposal. If you are interested in the work of a specific academic at York St John University you should mention this in your proposal.
Video advice: How to write a research Proposal ?
How to write a research Proposal for phd application – This lecture explains how to write a research proposal step by step. This video guidance will teach you the components of a research proposal including the following –
A research proposal is a very specific genre of writing. ... The purpose of a research proposal is a) to persuade your reader of the value of your research question , b) to show you have a clear idea of where your research sits in existing knowledge, and c) to demonstrate how you plan to answer your question.
For a social science PhD, proposals will contain a number of common elements:
Jul 6, 2020.
What to include in a research proposal
A research proposal is a simply a structured, formal document that explains what you plan to research (i.e. your research topic), why it's worth researching (i.e. your justification), and how you plan to investigate it (i.e. your practical approach).
Ideally, it will demonstrate the quality and importance of your project as well as your ability to conduct the proposed research . The proposal also gives you the opportunity to think through your research project, to refine your focus, and to predict any challenges that may arise.
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Research degrees
How to write your research proposal, with examples of good proposals.
Your research proposal is a key part of your application. It tells us about the question you want to answer through your research. It is a chance for you to show your knowledge of the subject area and tell us about the methods you want to use.
We use your research proposal to match you with a supervisor or team of supervisors.
In your proposal, please tell us if you have an interest in the work of a specific academic at York St John. You can get in touch with this academic to discuss your proposal. You can also speak to one of our Research Leads. There is a list of our Research Leads on the Apply page.
When you write your proposal you need to:
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Vidi is an instrument within the NWO Talent Programme. The Vidi target group consists of researchers who are in the transition to leadership. They also possess academic qualities that clearly exceed what is usual and demonstrate development of leadership and mentoring qualities. The Vidi grant funds scientifically innovative research and gives researchers the opportunity to establish or expand a research group.
The Vidi target group consists of researchers in transition to leadership, i.e. ready for the establishment of a research group or the expansion of a recent research group. The Vidi can contribute to the researcher's development in this area. The Vidi grant is aimed at researchers with academic qualities that clearly exceed what is customary and demonstrate the development of leadership and mentorships skills.
The aim of the NWO Talent Programme is to provide creative space for adventurous, talented, pioneering researchers to do research of their choice, develop their own line of research and further develop their talent.
Applications can be submitted by candidates who have obtained their PhD, irrespective of whether they hold tenured positions and of whether they come from the Netherlands or abroad. Candidates may only submit an application if they have obtained their PhD in the eight years preceding the benchmark date of this round, 1 October 2024. An extension to the above career-dependent submission period may be possible under specific circumstances (see Section 3.4.2 of the Call for proposals).
A maximum of € 850,000 can be applied for within this Call for proposals. The maximum duration of the proposed project is five years. If the proposed research is of shorter duration, the maximum amount will be reduced accordingly. It is also possible to carry out the research part-time without extending the duration of the project.
The preproposal submitted within this Call for proposals will be substantially assessed on the basis of the following criterion:
The applications submitted within this Call for proposals will be substantially assessed on the basis of the following criteria:
The assessment of preproposals and full applications within SSH takes place in six panels. The allocation of proposals to a panel is determined by the applicants themselves. Please note that candidates submit their proposal to one of these panels in Isaac. You can find the panel structure under ‘Prepare’. Each panel has an assessment committee, which assesses the applications in all phases of the round. Therefore, applicants are adviced to take notice of the interdisciplinary character of the evaluation committees.
Embedding guarantee.
Since 2019 on NWO has asked candidates for an 'embedding guarantee' from the start of the application round for NWO Talent Programme Vidi funding. Researchers can only submit applications for Vidi funding with the support of the Dutch institution where they intend to conduct their research. It is expected to lead to fewer applications and to be more consistent with the research institutions’ personnel policy. The embedding guarantee format can be found under ‘Prepare’.
As of 2023, the Vidi uses an optional literature list of max. ten pieces of relevant scientific literature closely related to your research idea. NWO will use the literature list - along with your research idea, key words and specified discipline(s) - to search for potential external reviewers for your full proposal. Your literature list will not be submitted to the committee.
On this page you will find an overview of the most frequently asked questions about the NWO Talent Programme, including questions about the set time limit to submit a proposal (and any exceptions to it) and the embedding guarantee.
Responsible research data management is an essential component of good research practice. Prepare a data management plan after the grant is awarded and before the project starts.
Applications must be submitted through the Isaac application and reporting system. If you do not have an Isaac account yet, then please create one at least one workday in advance. More information about writing a proposal and which forms you need to use can be found in Isaac. Please download and use the forms in Isaac. Below you will find examples of the required forms.
In the application form the information on rules and guidelines (the explanatory notes) are embedded in the form. Please expand the ‘Explanatory Notes’ for information on terms, conditions and requirements. Note: on Apple computers the rules and guidelines can be made visible by selecting ‘Outline’ under the ‘View’ tab in Word. Also, the rules and guidelines are automatically visible when you open the form in Google docs.
Please note: The assessment of preproposals and full applications within SSH takes place in six panels . You submit your proposal to one of these panels in ISAAC. When preparing your application, please consider which panel to choose. Keep in mind that, even when your field is one of the social sciences, your relevant discipline might be in a different panel from the ‘Social Sciences’ panel. For example, Political Science is part of the panel ‘Law and Governance’, and Social and Organisational Psychology is part of the ‘Behaviour and education panel'.
The preproposal has to be written in English and contains an evidence-based curriculum vitae of the applicant, consisting of:
Applicants who receive a positive decision for their pre‐proposals are invited to submit a full proposal. Applicants who receive a negative decision for their pre‐proposals may not submit a full proposal.
This full proposal has to be written in English and consists of:
Mandatory annex to the preproposal:
Optional attachment to the preproposal:
mandatory annex to the full proposal:
Optional attachment to the full proposal (see section 3.5.6):
Nwo talent programme | call for proposals vidi 2024, nwo talent programme | pre-proposal form vidi 2024, nwo-talent programma | panels domein sgw vidi 2024, nwo talent programma | embedding guarantee vidi 2024, nwo talent programme | literature list vidi 2024, nwo talent programme | grant rules vidi 2024.
Read the answers to frequently asked questions about applying for funding within the NWO Talent Programme.
ISAAC offers applicants for research funding the possibility to track their application in the assessment process.
NWO has a fixed procedure for handling all applications. Learn more about how the application procedure is set up – from the moment you apply until a decision is reached.
Apply in ISAAC
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Like any other genre of writing, a good research proposal takes time, multiple drafts, and a clear understanding of the task at hand. The purpose of a research proposal is a) to persuade your reader of the value of your research. question, b) to show you have a clear idea of where your research sits in existing knowledge, and c) to demonstrate ...
The Academic Proposal. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Punch, Keith and Wayne McGowan. "Developing and Writing a Research Proposal." In From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills. Nigel Gilbert, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 59-81; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal.
Your professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons: ... As with writing a regular academic paper, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. Proposals vary between ten and twenty-five pages in length. However, before you begin, read the assignment ...
LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND BOXES Tables Table 2-1 Functions of the research proposal 13 Table 2-2 Users of this book 20 Table 3-1 Correlation between research area and research topic 28
Writing a Research Proposal; Last Updated: May 30, 2024 1:47 PM. Writing a Rsearch Proposal. A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it's important, and how you will conduct your research. Your paper should include the topic, research question and hypothesis, methods, predictions, and results (if not actual, then ...
Make sure that your research idea, question or problem is very clearly stated and well-grounded in academic research. Make sure that your proposal is well focused and conforms exactly to the submission requirements described here. Poorly specified, jargon-filled or rambling proposals will not convince us that you have a clear idea of what you ...
faculty and students as part of a graduate course on grant writing in psychology at UC Riverside. It has been updated and revised to be relevant for graduate students across the social and behavioral sciences. Because funding opportunities and requirements change regularly, contacts, deadlines, and requirements should be verified.
Research proposal length. The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor's or master's thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can help you determine the best length for your work.
The overview, also known as abstract and/or introduction, is the first section that you write for your proposal. Your overview should be a single paragraph that explains to the reader what your whole research will be about. In a nutshell, you will use your abstract to present all the arguments that you will be taking in detail in your thesis or ...
This guide was originally created for AN510 / AR510: Proposal Writing for Social Science Research. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students in other social science and humanities fields may also find this guide helpful as they prepare to write grant proposals, theses or dissertations.
It may include filling out templates, types of information they need, suggested/maximum length of the proposal, etc. Research proposal formats vary depending on the size of the planned research, the number of participants, the discipline, the characteristics of the research, etc. The following outline assumes an individual researcher.
Are you writing a research proposal to get funding or approval for your project? In this video, you'll learn the four aims of a research proposal, and how to...
I. Groups of Research Methods. There are two main groups of research methods in the social sciences: The empirical-analytical group approaches the study of social sciences in a similar manner that researchers study the natural sciences.This type of research focuses on objective knowledge, research questions that can be answered yes or no, and operational definitions of variables to be measured.
1. Title Page: Include the title of your research proposal, your name, your affiliation or institution, and the date. 2. Abstract: Provide a brief summary of your research proposal, highlighting the research problem, objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes. 3.
Dissertation in the Social Sciences Anne Jordan, Ph.D. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto ©2020 A guide for doctoral students at various stages of their doctoral theses and dissertations: Designing their thesis proposals, developing their research question(s), beginning their data collection, or writing their ...
University of Gondar, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of Sociology 19/011/25/2020. 1. Hand Out. Chapter: Writing a Research Proposal. 1.1 Introduction. A research proposal is a document which accounts for the research topic chosen by a researcher. It is a written document which totally describes the investigator's plan ...
The basic components of research proposals are the same in humanities and social sciences. How they are phrased and staged varies by discipline and by funding agency. The questions posed below are required by most agencies in some form. If you answer the "maximal" components below, you should be able to write proposals for most funding ...
A quality example of a research proposal shows one's above-average analytical skills, including the ability to coherently synthesize ideas and integrate lateral and vertical thinking. Communication skills. The proposal also demonstrates your proficiency to communicate your thoughts in concise and precise language.
The goal of a research proposal is to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting the research are governed by standards within the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, so guidelines ...
A PhD proposal does not need to be long. In fact, I encourage applicants to be as concise as they can - Research Council application forms generally allow a couple of sides, 10 pt font minimum, so I would stick to that. For a social science PhD, proposals will contain a number of common elements:
A proposal needs to show how your work fits into what is already known about the topic and what new paradigm will it add to the literature, while specifying the question that the research will answer, establishing its significance, and the implications of the answer. [ 2] The proposal must be capable of convincing the evaluation committee about ...
Writing a social sciences PhD proposal. Professor Alison Phipps looks at the common elements of a good social sciences PhD proposal. Don't just write a list in this section - introduce different bodies of literature, summarise key themes and points, identify gaps, and make explicit how all this frames your particular project.
Research proposals. Your research proposal is a key part of your application. It tells us about the question you want to answer through your research. It is a chance for you to show your knowledge of the subject area and tell us about the methods you want to use. We use your research proposal to match you with a supervisor or team of supervisors.
This full proposal has to be written in English and consists of: a description of the research proposal, a motivation for the choice of institution, and a description of the fit between the research proposal and the applicant's academic profile (maximum 4000 words including in-text references);
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