Seminar (Training) on:

“Proposal Development and Thesis Road Map”

By: Dr. Robert P. (Assistance Professor)

Dr. Yonas H. (Asst. Professor)
Dr. Gashaw T. (Asst. Professor)

Place of the Seminar: Mazeki International Hotel

Date: June 09/2024

 Outline of the Seminar

 Proposal Development Stage and The Thesis Road-

Map
by Dr. Robert, Dr. Yonas.
Dr. Gashaw

 Referencing Style (The American Psychological

Association)
 By Dr.Robert
 Proposal Chapters
Chapter One: Introduction Chapter Three: Research
1. Background of the methodology
study, Statement of the 1. Research Design: Is
problem Research that Descriptive or
questions, Research explanatory
objectives,)
2. Population size
2.Significance of the
3. Sampling Method (If
Study
Census, no need of
3.Scope of the study Sampling)
4. Limitation of the Study 4. Sampling Size
4. Ethical consideration Determination using
5. Organization of the formula
study 5. Data Collection method
Chapter Two: Literature Review 6. Data analysis
1. Definition about key 7. Reliability Test
concepts,
2. Theoretical framework
3. Empirical framework
4. Conceptual Framework
• 3
THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL TOPIC
STEP 1: The first step to research
is developing a topic that is not too broad or
narrow in scope.
• To begin, choose a topic by considering:
• what topic(s) interest you
STEP 2: To narrow or broaden the topic, add or
remove a time period, place, person(s), event or
subtopic

4
1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.1. Background of the study:
Background of the study (thesis)
includes a review of the area being
researched, current information
surrounding the issue,
previous studies on the issue, and
relevant history on the issue.

5
1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.2. Statement of the problem:
 is the description of an issue currently
existing which needs to be addressed.
 It provides the context for
the research study and generates the
questions which the research aims to
answer.
 The statement of the problem is the
focal point of any research 6
 1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.2. Statement of the problem:
 Identify the problem area in terms of
1: Based on Time differences: prior research
may be done sometime long ago.
Eg. Previous research was done Ten years
before on “Assessment of Internet access:
case of of Ethio-Telecom”.
Solution: now, there is a new development and
so that you can do on the same topic because
the previous research was done so many
years ago under different conditions
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 1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.2. Statement of the problem:
 Identify the problem area in terms of
2: Geography/Location differences with
previous researches
Eg. Previous research was done in Addis
Ababa on “Assessment of Internet
access: case of of Ethio-Telecom”
Solution: now, you wanted to do on the same topic in
Adama (or the Enitire Ethiopia) or another city with the same
topic.
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 1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.2. Statement of the problem:
 Identify the problem area in terms of
3: Methodological differences
Eg. In the previous research, the research
was mainly qualitative method with the
topic “Assessment of Internet access:
case of of Ethio-Telecom”
Solution: now, you wanted to do on the same topic with a
different methodology including Quantitative research.

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1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.3. Research Question:
Eg.
• What is the current level of service quality?
• What is the Current level of customer satisfaction?
• What is the effect of Service Quality on Customer
Satisfaction?

10
1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.4. Research Objectives:
• The objective of the proposed study should
contain both Major and Specific Objectives.

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1. Introduction Cont’d…
1.4. Research Objectives:
• The objective of the proposed study should
contain both major and Specific Objective.
1.4.1 Major Objective:
The major objective is derived from the Topic of the study
as” To investigate the effect of service quality on customer
satisfaction.
1.4.2 Specific Objectives (derived from the research
questions):
- To investigate the current level of Service Quality
- To describe the current level of Customer Satisfaction
- To analyze the effect of Service Quality on Customer
Satisfaction. 12
1.6. Scope and Limitation of the
Study
• It details the constraints of the study in terms
of time and resources to cover wider research
domains.
• It states reasons that limits the researcher
not to cover wider research domains.
• Eg. The study is limited in scope to
ABC Bank specific to Adama Branch with the
variables Service Quality and Customer
satisfaction
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1.6. Scope and Limitation of the
Study
• It details the constraints of the study in
terms of time and resources to cover
wider research domains.
• It states reasons that limits the
researcher not to cover wider research
domains.
• Eg. The study is limited in scope to
internet access at Ethio-Telecom
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1.5.Significance of The study
• It details the benefit of conducting the
proposed study to the organization you
chose, other researchers or the society
at large.
• Eg. The study will benefit to ABC Bank,
and other similar banks. Moreover, this
research will help as a stepping stone to
other similar researchers.

15
1.7. Organization of the study
• This final section of the research proposal explains the
structure of the planned research (Thesis).
Eg. You may start explaining that: The study will be
organized with Chapter 1 includes Introduction,
research objectives…Chapter 2 includes Literature
Review….Chapter 3 Research Methodology..Chapter 4
includes Data Presentation and Analysis..Chapter 5
includes Discussion …and finally Chapter 6 includes
Conclusion and Recommendation

16
 Chapter Two. Review of Related
Literature
• This section reflects extensive review of literature done by the
investigator

• In this section, what is already known about the topic is written

• It helps the investigator to gain good knowledge in that field of

the topic.

• Sources of Literature Review are: Books, Articles, thesis,

Conference Proceedings , Technical Reports…

17
Chapter Two. Review of Related
Literature
• This chapter contains three parts: two
mandatory parts and the third one is
optional depending on your research as
follows:
1. Theoretical Review

2. Empirical Review

3. Conceptual Framework (Only for

Explanatory research)
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 Chapter Two. Review of Related
Literature:
1. Theoretical Review (Framework)
• A theory is a set of concepts, models, principles,
definitions etc. that make sense of a phenomenon
by determining relationships among variables.
Theories are established and validated by
experiments and evidence

• A theoretical framework describes the theoretical

underpinnings of your work based on existing
research,
19
 Chapter Two. Review of Related
Literature:
2. Empirical Review
• Empirical: Based on data gathered by original
experiments or observations of other studies
conducted related to your topic
• Eg. If your study is about “The effect of Motivation
on employee performance: Case of ABC Bank”,
then your Empirical review section of your
literature will summarize quantitative research
outputs reviewed from related topic of your
research derived as derived from different sources
of articles such as local and foreign banks and
other sectors and identify the gap. 2
0
Chapter 2: Literature Review…:
3. Conceptual framework (only for
Explanatory research type)
• From the discussion result of your Theoretical
framework section, you draw the relationship
between your independent variables and dependent
variable.

• Please note that you need to explain each variable

of the conceptual framework in the theoretical
framework section of your literature review.
21
Chapter 3: Literature Review…:
3. Conceptual framework (only for
Explanatory research type)….

• A conceptual framework is like a roadmap for your

study, helping you visualize your research project
and put it into action. It defines the relevant
variables for your study and maps out how they
might relate to each other.

22
Example of conceptual framework

• Note: The above diagram will be tested in

Chapter Four using SPSS software after
collecting data through questionnaire 23
 Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Research methodology is a way to
systematically solve the research problem. It
may be understood as a science of studying
how research is done scientifically

24
 Research Methodology Cont’d…
(components to be included)

• 3.1Research or Study design

• 3.2 Study population / Sampling
specifications
• 3.3 Sample size
• 3.4 Data Collection and Analysis
• 3.4 Reliability Test
• 3.6 Ethical Consideration 25
Research methodology Cont’d…
(Research design)
In this sub-section, you need to explain:
- The type of research (Descriptive or
Explanatory research type),
- Survey, Case study, Cross-Sectional
- Quantitative and /or Qualitative research
Strategy

26
 Research methodology Cont’d…
(Study population)
Study population / Sample specifications
• It is important to describe which would be
the study population
• How study subjects would be selected,
randomization process and other details
should be given
27
3.2.1Population
• Any complete group
– People
– Sales territories
– Stores
– Branch

28
3.2.2 Census
• Investigation of all individual elements
that make up a population

29
3.2.3 Sample (if your research is not
census)
• Subset of a larger population

30
3.2.4 Sampling Frame
• A list of elements from which the
sample may be drawn
• Working population

31
3.2.5 Simple Random
• How to Select
• Strengths/
Weaknesses
– assign numbers to elements using random
numbers table
– basic, simple, often
costly
– must assign a
number to each
element in target
population
32
 Slovin’s Formula : Random sampling technique formula to
estimate sampling size (n) for known population

• Sample size (n) is • Eg. Assume that

computed as: total population size
• n= ( total employees,
N____
N=1089) and find
the sample size “n”?
1+N (e) 2 • n=1089 / (1 +
• whereas:
n = no. of samples 1089 * 0.05²)
N = total population
e = error margin / margin of n = 1089 / (1
error Confidence level of 95 +2.7225)
present (which will give us
Margin of Error of 0.05), n = 293
33
 Random sampling technique formula to estimate sampling size (n) for unknown
population

• It is computed as:
• n= z2 *p*(1-p)____
• This formula will give
you 384 as sample size.
c2
• whereas:
z = standard normal deviation set at
95%confidence level is 1.96 but might • Examples of research
change depending on your specific
population are: Coca cola
p = percentage picking a choice or
response (50%=0.5)
customers could not
c or e = error margin / margin of error easily known
Confidence level of 95 present (which will
give us Margin of Error of 0.05),

34
Research methodology Cont’d…
(Sample Size Or Census)
1. Census: If you are collecting data from the total
population, you need to Use Census. Here you do not
use any formula.
2. Sample size
If you are not collecting data from the total population, you
need to use Sample. Therefore, in order to collect data from
the total population using sample, you need to use the sample
size formula: n=N/1+Ne²
Where, n= sample size, N=total population, e=0.05,which is
called the Marginal error being constant.
Eg. Total sample size for the total population of 40,000 is calculated as follows:
n=N/1+Ne² =40,000/(1+(40,000*0.05*0.05)=396
Remark: If you were using Census, then the data was supposed to be collected from
all 40,000 35
 Research Methodology Cont’d..:
Data collection methods and Data Analysis

1. Data Collection Method

• You need to state the data collection
instrument as using Questionnaire and
interviews depending on the type of the
research.
2.Data Analysis tools
You need to describe here the data
analysis tools as “ The data is to be
analyzed using SPSS Software”
36
Research Methodology Cont’d…
Ethical Considerations
• Things to consider regarding ethical
issues with participants: consent forms
(which state overall purpose and any
risks or benefits of participating).
potential risks that could be involved in
any questioning (emotional distress,
dignity). confidentiality of participants
(anonymity).
37
Time Budget/Schedule
(As per the Roadmap of the
College and Advisors Guidance)

38
39
Budget (Depending on your
research , Describe stationary
and other expenses)

40
Reference page
You need to list all reference materials at
the end of the page using APA style.

41
Annex:
• 1. Questionnaire
• 2. Support letter from the company you
made a research to prove that you
made a research in the company
• 3. SPSS certificate
• 4. others depending on your research

42
End!

43
Additional Tips for your Proposal
and Thesis:

1. Sample size calculation

2. Citation Techniques

44
 Part One: Sample Size EXERCISE
Sampling Question:

Q1.What is the sample size for CBE customers of 40,000 total population (total customer)?
Answer for Q1: Total sample size for the total population is calculated as follows:
n=N/1+Ne² =40,000/(1+(40,000*0.05*0.05)=396

Q 2.Assume that there are 3 branches from the total 40,000 customers each with the following
customer numbers in each branch?
• Branch 1= 15,000 customer
• Branch 2= 20,000 customers
• Branch 4= 5,000 customers
• Total in all branches: 40,000 customers
How much questionnaires are you going to distribute based the sampling formula in each
branch?
Answer for Q2:
If you want to Proportionate for each branch using their total customers it will be calculated as
follows using the answer for Question Number 1 above:
• Branch 1= 15,000/40,000=0.375= 0.375*396=148 questionnaires for branch 1
• Branch 2= 20,000/40,000 = 0.5=0.5*396=198
• Branch 3= 5000/40,000= 0.125=0.125*396=50 45
• 148+198+50=396
Writing the Whole Thesis Report
After Proposal submission

46
Chapter 4: Data Collection and
Analysis.
• 4. 1: Demography: present in table the gender, educational
background and other personal factors of your respondents
• 4.2 Descriptive statistics: this includes describing your data
collection in terms of Mean, standard deviation and mode for
each questions (items of the questionnaire)
• 4.3 Inferential Statistics: Only for Explanatory research
paper type: Use regression assumption tests (i.e Normality test,
multicollinearity, Autocorrolation, and so on), Correlation such
as Pearson Correlation and Regresion analysis (i.e ANOVA, Beta
tests or coefficients,
• 4.4 Hyposthesis Testing (Optional that is if only your paper
has hypothesis)
• 4.5 Discussion of findings: This section explains each
findings based on sections 4.2 and 4.3
47
 Chapter 5: Conclusion , Recommendation
and implication for further research
• 5.1 Conclusion: This chapter concludes based on
chapter 4
• 5.2 Recommendation: This section recommends
based on the conclusion you made in 5.1 above
• 5.3 Implication for further research: This section
first explains its limitation or scope and recommends
other researchers to fill the gap that you did not
address. Example: assume that you made a research
at Abyssinia bank at Bole Branch. Now. You need to
explain in this section that you only studies in specific
branch that is Bole branch and recommend others to
research other branches to make the research 48
complete
 Graduation Requirement regarding
Courses
• A minimum of CGPA of 3.00 with Only
one C Or two C+ is allowed for
graduation!!
Note :
 One C and one C+ is not allowed for
graduation. In this case, a student need
to add the course he/she scored C to be
eligible for graduation.
49
Thesis Evaluation Procedure
• A student after getting confirmation
signature in hardcopy or softcopy from
his/her advisor need to submit two
copies of thesis to the department.
• Defense session will be scheduled for
the student.
• The student will present his/her thesis
to one internal and one external
examiners/ Professors.
50
Thesis Grading
Excellent (90% and above): Outstanding in all
aspects of content, method and form
Very Good (80-89). Performed nicely but
missing some minor issues.
Good (70-79%):significantly above average in
terms of content, method and form
Satisfactory (50-69%): acceptable overall in terms
of content, method, and form,
Although consideration may be given to balancing
weakness in one area by strength in another
Poor (<50%): a deficiency in content, method,
or form with no compensating strengths in other areas
51
 When you reached at the final stage of
writing-up your thesis, Let’s have a look
at:

1. Thesis Manual

2. Thesis guideline

52
 Part Two:

How Do we Cite /Reference for our

Relevant Literature Review?

By: Dr. Robert

Why Reference?
Your benefit Reader’s benefit
• To show off!
• To understand the context
• To add authority to of your work
your argument
• To allow your reader to
• To add credibility track down your research
to your
information
  Is there anything here
you don’t need to reference?

What should be referenced?

• Ideas, information, results, opinions from any
source that you have summarised,
paraphrased or directly quoted
• Definitions of terms
• Illustrations, tables, figures drawn from
sources
• Your ideas that are also those of an author
you have read
• Plans, ideas or anything that was stimulated
by others
Basic referencing systems: in the text
• Author and date – Most common referencing types
are Harvard referencing style & APA Referencing
style.

• Numbering which links to footnotes or endnotes –

Oxford, Chicago

• Numbering which links to the reference list –

Vancouver
What is APA style, and why use it?
 -American Psychological Association
 Style established in 1928 by Social
Science professionals
 -Style provides guidelines for publication
in Social Science Journals.

 -Style lends consistency and makes texts

more readable by those who assess or
publish them.
 An APA Title Page
 -Title and Identification (Center of Page, Double
Spaced):

– -Full Title (Balance title over 2 lines rather than go to the far
edges)

– -Author(s) Name(s)

– -School (ex. Maryland International College)

– -Date (Month date, year format) – ASK YOUR PROFESSOR/

Department for more details
 APA Abstract
• An ABSTRACT is a brief summary of the
entire study (paper) presented at the
beginning, directly after the Title Page,
(generally located on page 2).
• An ABSTRACT contains specific information:
introduction (purpose), methods, results, and
discussion
• Keywords: at least three technical
words related to your topic
Documenting Authors in APA
 - In a passage or literature as:
 - One Author:
 Koch (2004).
 -Two Authors:
 Stewart, T., & Biffle, G. (1999).

 -Three to Seven Authors

 Wells, H. G., Lovecraft, H. P., Potter, H. J., Rowling, J. K., &
Kirk, J. T. authors to be written as :

 Wells et al. (2005).

 The first author is taken as a source and leave the rest to be

written in detail at the Reference list.

 -Same author? List by Year. Same year? -Alphabetize

by source title and add a letter to the year (1984a).
Documenting Books in APA

Model:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of
publication). Title of book. City:
Publisher.

Sample:
Perrin, R. (2007). Pocket guide to APA
style (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton
Mifflin.
Documenting Journals in APA
Model:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of
publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical,
volume number(issue number if available),
page numbers.

Sample:
Koch Jr., R. T. (2006). Building connections
through reflective writing. Academic Exchange
Quarterly, 10(3), 208-213.
 Plagiarism:
Four common forms

• Stealing material from another source

• Submitting material written by another

• Copying material without quotation marks

• Paraphrasing material without documentation

Plagiarism is like stealing properties from
someone it belongs
Guidelines to avoid Plajarism
• To avoid copying and Pasting (important texts
or ideas and write it in the main text
document) from an articles or books and free
of Plagiarism, use one of the following
techniques:
1. Quotation
2. Paraphrasing
3. Summarizing
Let's see them in details in the next slides…
End!

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