Research Proposal Guide
Introduction
Purpose:
1) catch reader’s attention;
2) express the main goal of the study
• Topic Area / Abstract - brief overview of the proposal
(addressed to non-specialist).
• Research Question - the key question of the proposed
research. Come right to the point. What specific
question will your work answer? Be brief and
straightforward.
• Research Hypothesis (if suitable) - your proposed
answer to the key research question
• Purpose of the Study / Significance of the Study -
explain why this research is important? How does it
contribute to the existing knowledge?
Literature review
Purpose:
1) show how your work fits current state of knowledge;
2) showcase your knowledge of the field
•What is known about the topic?
Literature Review:
a) sets up a context for your research.
b) shows the reader that you are competent.
c) identifies unanswered questions in the field that your research will
answer
What literature should you select?
•Relevant: The literature should address arguments relating to your research question and
support the aims and objectives of your study.
•Up-to-Date: Recent literature (not older than five years) is recommended unless you are
referring to classical works in your field of study.
•General to focused, not exhaustive: start by summarizing comprehensive research in the
field, move towards more specialized published works. Does not need to be exhaustive, only
relevant.
Literature review (cont’d)
•What what questions are not yet answered and how
your research will contribute?
Unanswered questions may be identified in literature, or
You may identify them yourself.
How does your research question fit?
• Restate your research question in the context of reviewed
literature and remaining questions.
•Your work to date.
What you have done so far? Report preliminary studies (if
any). Goal: prove that you can deliver.
Methodology
Purpose:
Explain how you plan to achieve your goals
•Overview of the approach.
How you plan to approach your research question? What information do
you need to answer it? In other words, what are your research objectives?
•Review of Data Collection Methods
Why were the data collection methods you chose the best suited to fit
your research question?
For Secondary Data - What secondary data you plan to use? How does it fit
into the current research?
Primary Data - A detailed description of research conducted, design of the
tool, description of fieldwork, you also need to mention any specific
procedures used.
Criteria for Sample Selection
Sample size, characteristics of sample and method of selection
Methodology (cont’d)
• Methods of Analysis
• How you propose to analyze the data, what techniques
and tools you plan to use to process the data. How do
you plan to interpret your results?
Expected Results
Purpose:
Identify what do you expect to be the result of your study
• In the case of both quantitative and
qualitative studies, the goal is to show how
the data you expect to obtain will help you
answer the research question.
• A place to summarize the significance of
your work
• *Tip: you may start your work on the
proposal by briefly formulating your
expected results.
References
• Detailed bibliographic information on the
sources that you used (and cited) in your
paper, such as books, newspaper & journal
articles, websites, etc.
• Listed in alphabetical order starting with the
author’s last name.
Format
•Lincoln University recommends using the
APA style
to format your references. However, no matter
which style you choose to use, be consistent.
