How to Approach Writing a Research

Proposal
Your professor may assign the task of writing
a research proposal for the following
reasons:

Develop your skills in thinking about and
designing a comprehensive research study;

Learn how to conduct a comprehensive review of
the literature to determine that a research
problem has not been adequately addressed or
has been answered ineffectively and, in so doing,
become better at locating pertinent scholarship
related to your topic;

Improve your general research and writing skills;

Practice identifying the logical steps that must be
taken to accomplish one's research goals;

Critically review, examine, and consider the use
of different methods for gathering and analyzing
data related to the research problem; and,

Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself
and to help see yourself as an active participant
in the process of doing scholarly research.
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 findings. Finally, an
effective proposal is judged on the quality of your
writing and, therefore, it is important that your
proposal 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:

1. What do you plan to accomplish? Be clear

and succinct in defining the research problem
and what it is you are proposing to research.
2. Why do you want to do the research? In
addition to detailing your research design, you
also must conduct a thorough review of the
literature and provide convincing evidence that
it is a topic worthy of in-depth investigation. Be
sure to answer the "So What?" question.
3. How are you going to conduct the
research? Be sure that what you propose is
doable. If you're having difficulty formulating a
research problem to propose investigating, go
here for strategies in developing a problem to
study.

Common Mistakes to Avoid


Failure to be concise. A research proposal
must be focused and not be "all over the map"
or diverge into on unrelated tangents without a
clear sense of purpose.

Failure to cite landmark works in your
literature review. Proposals should be
grounded in foundational research that lays a
foundation for understanding the development
and scope of the issue.

Failure to delimit the contextual boundaries
of your research [e.g., time, place, people,
etc.]. As with any research paper, your proposed
study must inform the reader how and in what
ways the study will examine the problem.

Failure to develop a coherent and
persuasive argument for the proposed
research. This is critical. In many workplace
settings, the research proposal is intended to
argue for why a study should be funded.

Sloppy or imprecise writing, or poor
grammar. Although a research proposal does
not represent a completed research study, there
is still an expectation that it is well-written and
follows the style and rules of good academic
writing.

Too much detail on minor issues, but not
enough detail on major issues. Your proposal
should focus on only a few key research
questions in order to support the argument that
 the research needs to be conducted. Minor
issues, even if valid, can be mentioned but they
should not dominate the overall narrative.
Structure and Writing Style
Beginning the Proposal Process
As with writing most college-level academic
papers, research proposals are generally
organized the same way throughout most social
science disciplines. The text of proposals generally
vary in length between ten and thirty-five pages,
followed by the list of references. 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:

What do I want to study?

Why is the topic important?

How is it significant within the subject areas
covered in my class?

What problems will it help solve?

How does it build upon [and hopefully go
beyond] research already conducted on the
topic?

What exactly should I plan to do, and can I get
it done in the time available?
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 to 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 two to four paragraphs that
succinctly (briefly) answers the following
four questions:

1. What is the central research problem?

2. What is the topic of study related to that
research problem?
3. What methods should be used to analyze the
research problem?
4. Why is this important research, what is its
significance, and why should someone reading
the proposal care about the outcomes of the
proposed study?

II. Background and Significance

This is where you explain the context of your
proposal and describe in detail why it's important.
It can be melded (mixed) into your introduction or
you can create a separate section to help with the
organization and narrative flow of your proposal.
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 most relevant in explaining
the aims of your research.
To that end, while there are no prescribed
rules for establishing the significance of your
proposed study, you should attempt to
address some or all of the following:

State the research problem and give a more
detailed explanation about the purpose of the
study than what you stated in the introduction.
This is particularly important if the problem is
complex or multifaceted.

Present the rationale of your proposed study and
clearly indicate why it is worth doing; be sure to
answer the "So What? question [i.e., why should
anyone care].

Describe the major issues or problems to be
addressed by your research. This can be in the
form of questions to be addressed. Be sure to
note how your proposed study builds on previous
assumptions about the research problem.

Explain the methods you plan to use for
conducting your research. Clearly identify the
key sources you intend to use and explain how
they will contribute to your analysis of the topic.

Describe the boundaries of your proposed
research in order to provide a clear focus. Where
appropriate, state not only what you plan to
 study, but what aspects of the research problem
will be excluded from the study.

If necessary, provide definitions of key concepts
or terms.

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, when stated,
their recommendations.
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 proposed study in relation to
that of other researchers. A good strategy is to
break the literature into "conceptual categories"
[themes] rather than systematically or
chronologically 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 review 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.
NOTE: Do not shy away from challenging the
conclusions made in prior research as a basis for
supporting the need for your proposal. 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.
To help frame your proposal's review of prior
research, consider the "five C’s" of writing a
literature review:

1. Cite, so as to keep the primary focus on the

literature pertinent to your research problem.
2. Compare the various arguments, theories,
methodologies, and findings expressed in the
 literature: what do the authors agree on? Who
applies similar approaches to analyzing the
research problem?
3. Contrast the various arguments, themes,
methodologies, approaches, and controversies
expressed in the literature: describe what are
the major areas of disagreement, controversy,
or debate among scholars?
4. Critique the literature: Which arguments are
more persuasive, and why? Which approaches,
findings, and methodologies seem most reliable,
valid, or appropriate, and why? Pay attention to
the verbs you use to describe what an author
says/does [e.g., asserts, demonstrates, argues,
etc.].
5. Connect the literature to your own area of
research and investigation: how does your own
work draw upon, depart from, synthesize, or add
a new perspective to what has been said in the
literature?

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 proposed
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:

Specify the research process you will undertake
and the way you will interpret the results
obtained in relation to the research problem.
 Don't just describe what you intend to achieve
from applying the methods you choose, but state
how you will spend your time while applying
these methods [e.g., coding text from interviews
to find statements about the need to change
school curriculum; running a regression
to determine if there is a relationship
between campaign advertising on social media
sites and election outcomes in Europe].

Keep in mind that the methodology is not just a
list of tasks; it is an argument as to why these
tasks add up to the best way to investigate the
research problem. This is an important point
because the mere listing of tasks to be
performed does not demonstrate that,
collectively, they effectively address the
research problem. Be sure you clearly explain
this.

Anticipate and acknowledge any potential
barriers and pitfalls in carrying out your research
design and explain how you plan to address
them. No method is perfect so you need to
describe where you believe challenges may exist
in obtaining data or accessing information. It's
always better to acknowledge this than to have
it brought up by your professor.
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:

What might the results mean in regards to
challenging the theoretical framework and
underlying assumptions that support the study?

What suggestions for subsequent research could
arise from the potential outcomes of the study?

What will the results mean to practitioners in the
natural settings of their workplace?

Will the results influence programs, methods,
and/or forms of intervention?

How might the results contribute to the solution
of social, economic, or other types of problems?

Will the results influence policy decisions?

In what way do individuals or groups benefit
should your study be pursued?

What will be improved or changed as a result of
the proposed research?

How will the results of the study be implemented
and what innovations or transformative insights
could emerge from the process of
implementation?
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:

Why the study should be done,

The specific purpose of the study and the
research questions it attempts to answer,

The decision to why the research design and
methods used where chosen over other options,

The potential implications emerging from your
proposed study of the research problem, and

A sense of how your study fits within the broader
scholarship about the research problem.

VII. Citations
As with any scholarly research paper, you must
cite the sources you used. In a standard research
proposal, this section can take two forms, so
consult with your professor about which one is
preferred.

1. References -- lists only the literature that

you actually used or cited in your proposal.
2. Bibliography -- lists everything you used or
cited in your proposal, with additional citations
to any key sources relevant to understanding the
research problem.
In either case, this section should testify to the
fact that you did enough preparatory work to
ensure the project will complement and not just
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 e.g., education=APA;
history=Chicago] or that is preferred by your
professor. This section normally does not count
towards the total page length of your research
proposal.

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