Ⅱ Sample Reading

Writing a Research Proposal⁽¹⁾

A research proposal is an obvious and essential part of a postgraduate degree application in most parts of the world. It is an outline of your proposed project, whose aim is to present and justify your research idea and explain the practical ways in which you think that this research should be implemented. You need to think very carefully about the scope of your research and be ready to explain how you will complete it within the time frame and the available resources. In addition, research proposals are used to evaluate your expertise in the area in which you wish to conduct research, your knowledge of the existing literature, and how your project will enhance it.

Short-term projects such as those undertaken at the undergraduate or postgraduate diploma level are essential training for graduate research. The transition into a graduate degree, such as a Master's degree or a Ph. D., involves a much higher level of independent thinking and activity than most students realize. A large number of students usually find this transition very challenging and daunting. The challenge starts from the time when applicants are required to write and present a research proposal.

Proposal writing is in fact a process of developing a specific research plan from a generalized idea to a specifically defined written document and oral presentation. Figure 2-1 illustrates a spiral. The top of the spiral represents the general subject matter that interests you. The bottom of the spiral represents the specific research problem you will solve in your dissertation.

The area of specialization (AOS) defines the top layer of the three-dimensional spiral,the broad area, and describes the subfields within it or even other disciplines that connect to it. It represents the material you draw from and will eventually contribute to your research. The pieces of the AOS include the subjects or subfields that encompass your work, definitions for those subjects, and a description of the problems addressed or current solutions. Many investigators include more than one subject or subfield. In an era of transdisciplinary research, these subjects can reach into multiple disciplines as well. Here are some examples of subdisciplines from the social sciences: human ecology, demography, linguistic anthropology,and econometrics.

The literature review starts where the AOS left off and digs deeper into those themes by discussing what is known about your particular area, identifying the methods used to investigate those themes, and highlighting what remains unknown.

A literature review is a synthesis (not a summary) of previous work in a specific area or specific areas. A synthesis means you are bringing together different aspects of the literature and creating something new with it. The result is a critical evaluation of the current theory and methods of a particular topic reflecting what is known, how it is known, and what is unknown. The objective of the literature review in a proposal is to provide the reader with the knowledge needed to understand your proposal. It is not an explanation of everything you know about a particular subject. Because of this distinction, you need to perform a thorough investigation of the literature but synthesize only the material relevant to your proposed research.

The difference between the two reviews as illustrated in Figure 2-1 (comprehensive literature review and focused literature review) is the topical breadth. The first version is a comprehensive review of the literature with the objective of teaching yourself what is known about your interest area. Your research questions emerge from this first stage. The second and final version is a focused review of the literature with the objective to inform the reader about what is known and unknown in your area. The research area is a narrower set of literature based on the research questions developed. The outcome of this stage is included in the research proposal.

The document you write for the general research concept is positioned intellectually at the intersection between the area of specialization (AOS) statement and the literature review. It states that within the work everyone else has done, here sits a new problem area that needs to be solved. It aims to answer three basic questions: what, how, and why.

The process begins with what and could include one or more of the following questions:

· What else can we know about something?

· What can we do better?

· What is a more complete explanation of something?

And deals with how:

· How has this problem been addressed by others?

· How will I do this differently?

And leads to why:

· Why do we want to know more about this?

· Why do we need to do it better?

· Why don't we understand this part?

The answers to these basic questions form the basis for the generalized research concept.

The problem statement drills farther down the spiral from a research topic toward a solution you work toward in your dissertation. The research problem (or research statement)refers to a specific instance of a generalized research goal within your area of specialization. The idea that you are solving a problem suggests the problem can be solved. In many cases,research results do not necessarily solve the problem but rather contribute to understanding it better.

There are two distinguishable ways to describe the topic you are going to address: as an objective and as a question. A research objective is a declarative statement describing an outcome-based goal investigating facts, theories, or methods. The outcome is a better understanding into a gap identified in the literature review. A research question is an interrogative statement. Forming a research question is often identified as the initial step in the scientific method. The scientific method refers to a specific approach for investigating a problem or acquiring new knowledge.

The following components are essential in a research proposal, and you are advised to ensure that all are present in your version. However, this is not to say you cannot add a few other details that you feel may be necessary.

A Clear Working Title

Choosing your research topic is probably the first step and most important single decision you have to make in carrying out your research. One of the key skills involved in choosing a topic is to pick one of the appropriate size—neither too big nor too small—and achievable within the time, space, and available resources. The title of the research project given at the proposal level is often referred to as a working title. The reason for this is that it is most likely to change as the work progresses. It is normal for students to refine the original proposal in light of detailed literature reviews, further consideration of research approaches,and comments received from the supervisors and/or other faculty members in the course of the study. Nevertheless, you need to include important keywords that will relate your proposal to relevant supervisors. Try to ensure that your title does not only simply describe the subject matter but also gives an indication of your intended approach; for example, “Optimization of Distributed Generation in Electric Power Systems Using Fuzzy-Genetic Algorithm Approach”.

Overview of the Research

A brief overview of your research and the context into which it fits within the existing academic literature should be provided in this section. Be as specific as possible in identifying relevant influences or debates.

Be sure to establish a solid and convincing framework for your research in this section. This should include a clearly articulated research problem, which typically takes the form of concise questions regarding the relationship between two or more variables. In this section,one to three research questions should suffice, and the reason for asking them, as well as the significance of the research. The research problem should be capable of being tested empirically.

Review of Literature

The primary purpose of a literature review is to help you become familiar with the work that has already been carried out in the selected topic area. It is absolutely indispensable when you plan a research study because it would guide you in the appropriate direction by answering several questions related to the topic area: Has anybody worked on this topic area before? If so, what suggestions can you make from the results of the earlier studies? Did they encounter any methodological difficulties which you need to be aware of when planning your own research? Is more research required to be carried out on this topic? If so, in what specific area?

The literature review section should discuss the texts that you believe are most important to the project, demonstrate your understanding of the research issues, and identify existing gaps that your research intends to fill. You should also identify some leading scholars in the field, particularly those whose published works you have studied.

A critical literature review is crucial to ensure that your project does not duplicate work already done without having any knowledge that the same study has already been carried out. You can often save yourself a good deal of time, money, and above all, the embarrassment that might later ensue, by quickly changing the direction of your study if you discover, from your literature review, that the research questions you are planning to conduct have already been answered.

Also, the review of recent related literature could help you discover the latest facilities that are more efficient than earlier existing ones in carrying out your work. Though literature review could initially tend to be intimidating, most other things relating to research become easier when it is done thoroughly, especially as you gain experience.

Research Methodology

The methodology section is a hugely important part of your research proposal. It chronicles the approach(es) you will use to achieve your research results. Incidentally, it is the portion of the proposal that most students find the most difficult. For that reason, you may wish to take a look at some past related theses to ensure that you know the appropriate way to do things. In any case, this section should lay out, in clear terms, the way in which you will structure your research and the specific methods you will use. A well-developed methodology section is crucial. Make sure to include specific techniques and not just a general approach. This should include the types of resources consulted, methods for collecting and analyzing data, and you must be able to justify why you adopt the chosen method over other existing approaches.

You need to specify the approach you feel will be most appropriate for your research. Most postgraduate work involves empirical research. The successful completion of your work in the time allotted thus often depends on the ability to obtain the data needed. If your proposed research involves empirical work, you should provide an indication of the form and location of that empirical work and where and how you might collect any relevant data. You should give special attention to the feasibility of collecting the data. Generally, data acquisition techniques include direct approaches such as interviews and questionnaires,participant observations; indirect approaches such as instrumenting systems and fly on the wall; and independent approaches such as static and dynamic analysis and documentation analysis. Of these techniques, the first one is often not used in engineering, as most data are usually system generated.

Facilities Required

Remember to explain the facilities to be used for the research in your proposal. Usually, the list and description of the available facilities are available on the Web site of the department. If not all necessary facilities (hardware/software) required for your research project are available at the department, you should illustrate how they will be acquired and the time it may take to put everything in place. Do not go for the most expensive facilities when less expensive ones could be adapted and used for the same purpose. At the same time, you must think of an alternative in case your department may not be ready to purchase the quoted facilities in good time, which could in turn affect the completion time of your program.

Conclusion

Although no indication of the research findings can be presented at this stage, it is often beneficial to conclude the research proposal by indicating how you envisage the contribution that your research will make to debates and discussions in your particular subject area. This means providing an indication of the original contribution that you feel your research will make, suggesting how it may fill in gaps in the existing research, and showing how it may extend the understanding of particular topics. Conclusions should reflect the quality of your ideas as expressed in your writing.

List of Key References

Your references should provide the reader with a good sense of your grasp on the literature and how you can contribute to it. Be sure to reference the most recent texts and resources that you think will play a large role in your analysis. It should show critical reflection in the selection of appropriate texts and be used throughout your proposal to demonstrate that you have read and had a fair understanding of the work of others. Literature not cited in the text should not appear here and vice versa. It is also important to follow a particular standard formatting style in your proposal. The IEEE format is well known in engineering, and MLA and APA in humanity and social sciences.

(Adapted from M. F. Akorede & S. Amuda. 2014. Writing a Competitive Preliminary Research Proposal for an Engineering Ph. D. Degree. IEEE Potentials, 33(3):13–16. and E. A. Wents. 2014. How to Design, Write, and Present a Successful Dissertation Proposal. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.)

Tasks

1 Summarize the components of a research proposal based on the sample reading in a few keywords and fill in the table.

2 Read the following pairs of topics and decide which is more suitable for a short-term research. The first one is given as an example.

3 Decide whether the following questions are appropriate for research topics. Why or why not? And how do you improve them if necessary?

1) How many cars are there visiting the Desert Vista Mall?

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2) How do we improve reading in elementary schools?

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3) Can remote sensing be used to detect impervious surfaces?

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