GUIDE FOR PREPARING A

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Outline of a Proposals

Title/Topic
Introduction/Background/Rationale
Objectives
Literature Review
Methodology
Design
Study area
Sampling and sample size
Data collection
Data analysis
References
Instrument for data collection as annex

Title

SELECTING A RESEARCH
TOPIC:
Criteria for selection:
Relevance
Avoidance of duplication
Urgency of data needed (timeliness)
Political acceptability of study
Feasibility of study
Applicability of results
Ethical acceptability

Relevance
Should be a priority problem.
Questions to be asked include:
How large or widespread is the problem?
Who is affected?
How severe is the problem?

Try to think of serious health problems that

affect a great number of people or of the most
serious problems that are faced by managers in
the area of your work.

Avoidance of duplication
Before a study, find out whether the suggested
topic has been investigated before, either within
the proposed study area or in another area with
similar conditions.
If the topic has been researched, the results
should be reviewed to explore whether major
questions that deserve further investigation
remain unanswered. If not, another topic should
be chosen.

Urgency of data needed

(timeliness)
How urgently are the results needed for
making a decision or developing
interventions at various levels (from
community to policy)?
Consider which research should be done
first and which can be done later.

Political acceptability
Research a topic that has the interest and
support of the local/national authorities.
This will increase the chance that the
results of the study will be implemented.

Feasibility
Consider the complexity of the problem
and the resources you will require carrying
out your study.
Thought should be given first to
manpower, time, equipment and money
that are locally available.

Applicability of possible
results/recommendations
Is it likely that the recommendations from
the study will be applied?
This will depend not only on the
management capability within the team
and the blessing of the authorities but also
on the availability of resources for
implementing the recommendations.

Ethical acceptability
Always consider the possibility that we may inflict harm on
others while carrying out research.
Review the study you are proposing and consider important
ethical issues such as:
How acceptable is the research to those who will be studied? (Cultural
sensitivity must be given careful consideration). Is the problem shared
by target group and health staff/researchers?
Can informed consent be obtained from the research subjects?
Will the condition of the subjects be taken into account? For example,
if individuals are identified during the study who require treatment, will
this treatment be given? What if such treatment interferes with your
study results?
Will the results be shared with those who are being studied?
Will the results be helpful in improving the lives or health of those
studied?

Characteristics of a title
Should contain the name of the area
where the study is to be conducted
Should be concise and not vague
Not too long

Writing the
Introduction Section

Purpose: Tells the reader why you have undertaken the study,
what is known and not known about the topic and what the
significance of the study is

What to have in the

Introduction section
- Topic under study
- Background
- Current scientific knowledge
- Gaps in knowledge
- Theoretical and practical
significance
- Study objectives/ research
questions

What not to have in a

Introduction section

Detailed information on site

Results, Methods
Conclusions
Detailed literature review

The Introduction section

attracts the attention of a
reader and indicates the
significance of the study

Structure of the introduction

1. Problem statement: Introduce the underlying
problem - the topic - of your study
2 Background: problem and problem area, e.g. health
sector reform, Malaria diagnosis, description of
situation.
3. Current scientific knowledge: Review the literature and
tell the reader what is known about your specific topic
4. Gaps in knowledge: Mention what is not known
about the topic of your study
5. Theoretical and practical significance: Place this problem
in a larger body of knowledge
6. Study objective(s)/Research questions: Why are you going to do
the study and what are your research questions?

objectives
General and specific objectives.
General: What the study hopes to achieve
Specific objectives are statements of the research
question(s). Should be:
simple (not complex),
specific (not vague),
stated in advance (not after the research is done).

Use action verbs that are specific enough to be

evaluated, for example: to determine, to compare, to
verify, to calculate, to describe, to establish etc.

Objectives contd.
Dont put too many objectives or over-ambitious
objectives that cannot be adequately achieved
by the implementation of the proposal.
For each specific objective, think of the
indicators to be measured
Indicators are what will be measured to show
whether or not objectives have been achieved
and thus whether or not the project was
successful

Writing the Methods Section

Purpose: Describe, in logical sequence, how you designed

the study, how you are going to carry out and analyse your
data

What to have in the

methods section

Design
Sites
Subjects
Data collection
Analysis

What not to have in a

methods section
Background and
introductory information
Instruments (you may
annex them, though=)

The methods section is

critical to proof both
validity and reliability of
your study

Structure of the Methods Section:

Type of study (design)
Where the study will be carried out (sites)
Who will do the work or what will be studied
(subjects)
How to select the subjects and what
number (Sampling & sample size)
What specific approaches to data collection
will be used (data collection)
How data will be analysed (analysis)

A rough guide to research Designs

Were comparisons made?

No

Descriptive study

Yes
Were subjects chosen based on the outcome?

Yes

Case-Control study

No
Were subjects followed overtime?

No

Cross-sectional study

Yes
Did the investigator make interventions?

No

Cohort study

Yes
Were the interventions assigned randomly?

Yes

Randomized trial

No
Were subjects compared with themselves?

Yes

Before-after study

No
Were intervention subjects compared with
other subjects?
No
Clinical anecdote

Yes

Randomized control
trial

References

Vancouver system
Harvard

Vancouver: For an article

Author(s) (surname followed by initials). Title of
article. Name of journal, year; volume number:
page numbers of article.
Example:
Uzochukwu BSC, Onwujekwe OE. Healthcare
reform involving the introduction of user fees
and Drug Revolving Funds: Influence on health
workers behavior in South east Nigeria. Health
Policy, 2005; 75: 1-8.

For a book
Author(s) (surname followed by initials).
Title of book. Edition. Place: Publisher,
year: number pages in the book.
Example:
Obionu CN. Primary Health Care for
developing countries. 2nd ed. Enugu:
Delta Publications, 2007:229.

For a chapter in a book

Author(s) of chapter (surname followed by
initials). Chapter title. In: Editors of book
(surname followed by initials). Eds. Title of
book. Place: Publisher, year: page numbers of
chapter.
Example:
Winikoff B, Castle MA. The influence of
maternal employment on infant feeding. In:
Winikoff B, Castle MA, Laukaran VH, eds.
Feeding infants in four societies: causes and
consequences of mother choices. New York:
Greenwood Press, 1988: 12-145.

Vancouver referencing in the text

Among the surgical admissions in several
centres, there is a male preponderance with a
male to female ratio in Muhimbili of 1.1:11 and
also Gherbrat reported a male to female ratio
of 3:1 in 1997.2 Similarly,1.5:1 was recorded in
Ahmadu Bello University.Nigeria3

Vancouver referencing at the end of the

proposal
1.

Hiza PR. Surgical admission to Muhimbili Hospital in

1971. East African Medical journal, 1974,51:339-51

2. Gherbrat K. Pattern of surgical Admission in Gondar

teaching Hospital, Ethiopia. East African Medical
Journal,1997,74,12:80-84
3. Ameh EA and Chirdan LB Paediatric Surgery in Rural
setting : ITs prospects and feasibility. West African
Jouranal of Medicine, 2001, 20,1:52-5

Harvard referencing in the text

Disease prioritization is important in health
care policy because this guides priority
setting and strategic planning by policy
makers as no health system can afford to
pay for every service it wishes to provide
especially in developing countries
(Sonderlund 1998; Klein 1998)

Harvard referencing at the end of the

proposal
Arsmtrong-Schellenberg J, Victora CG, Mushi A. et al. 2003. Inequities
among the very poor: health care for children in rural southern Tanzania.
The Lancet 36: 561-566
Bichmann W, de Koning K. 1992. Participatory community diagnosis in
Cameroon. Proceedings from the 7th Symposium on interdisciplinary
Research in Tropical Medicine. Tropical Medicine and Parasitol. 43: 294
Blas E. 2002. Setting priorities illusion or reality? TDR News No. 67: 9
Crump JA, Luby SP, Mintz ED. 2004. The global burden of typhoid fever.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 82 (5): 346-353
Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH). 1999. A profile of the local government
primary health care system. FMOH Abuja, Nigeria.
Federal Office of Statistics (FOS). 1999. Consumption patterns in Nigeria:
1998. Abuja, Federal Office of Statistics
Ham C, Coulter A. 2000. International experience of rationing (or priority
setting). In: Coulter A, Ham C, editors. The global challenge of health care
rationing. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1-12

Literature Review

What is a Literature Review ?

A literature review is an account of what has
been published on your topic of interest.
Generally, the purpose of a review is to critically
analyze a segment of a published body of
knowledge through summary, classification,
and comparison of prior research studies,
reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.
Provides the framework of your research
investigation and summarizes the literature you
studied in order to develop your research study.

Why do a Literature Review? 1

It prevents you from duplicating work that
has been done before.
It helps you to find out what others have
learned and reported on the problem you
want to study. This may assist you in
refining your statement of the problem.
It should provide you with convincing
arguments for why your particular
research project is needed

Why do a Literature Review? 2

Identify research methods that could be
relevant to your project
Find gaps in the literature
Learn about other people working in the same
field (a researcher network is a valuable
resource)
Identify important works about your topic

How do I do a Literature Review? Selecting

Sources for the Literature Review
Individuals, groups, and organizations
Published information (books, articles, indexes and
abstract journals)
Unpublished information (grey literature, other
research proposals in related fields, reports, records
and computer data bases)
Clinic and hospital-based data from routine statistics
registers
Statistics issued at National, state and LGA levels
Snowball - look for references in articles
Online search of electronic databases

Electronic searches
Electronic databases:
http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/
(Electronic Resources, Databases by platform)
Science Direct
EBSCO HOST (Medline, CINAHL etc.)
Pub Med
Popline

Websites:
http://www.eldis.org/healthsystems/
http://www.phrplus.org/
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/hnp/hnp.htm
http://www.who.int/en/

Reviewing the literature

Once you have identified the key resources for your
topic, you then need to describe, critique and relate
each source to the subject of the inquiry.
This prepares you to organize your literature review
logically.
Review abstracts and/or skim whole article:
Check for relevance.
Identify key issues
More detailed reading and note-taking:
Key issues
Good quotes
Source of information

Reviewing the literature

Work out a structure as soon as possible and
take notes using that structure:
Saves time
Helps to develop a clear line of argument
Decreases the likelihood of plagiarism
Increases the potential for analysis (unpack into
constituent parts; isolate main variables; determine
relationship between them)

Structure of LR
Reference
(Author, title,
article)

Issues

Thematic area
(introduction,
Objectives,
methods)

Remarks (special
quotes)

Writing down the review

Avoid writing directly from articles (and so
avoid plagiarism)
Avoid describing each article - rather identify
key issues and use literature to substantiate
argument
Reference as you go along:
Authors surname (both if two; first plus et al if
three or more) and year (page number if a quote) choose method and stick to it
Compile bibliography
Vancouver referencing system

Some Helpful Reminders for Doing a

Literature Review 1
The process of doing a literature review can be roughly divided
into two parts:
the research process
the writing of the review.

The following summation will make both parts of the process

easier:
Read generally for an overview of your overall research area
before defining your topic precisely.
Define the limits of the review. Too broad a topic will overwhelm
you with material; too narrow a topic might mean that you will
overlook related work or not find enough material when you
conduct your search.
Locate a reasonable number of sources and begin reading
those sources.

Some Helpful Reminders for Doing a

Literature Review 2
Establish criteria for selecting materials that will be
included in the review.
Continue the search until you start noticing that you
find the same sources no matter where you search.
the saturation point in the search process.

Arrange the materials reviewed into categories that

are suggested by the material itself. (E.g. By topic, by
date range, by region, by objectives etc.)
Structure the write-up of the review into three parts:
introductory material, the body of the review, and a
concluding section.

Checklist
Must be clear that you have:
Identified the key literature relevant to the topic
Reviewed the literature thoroughly and with an
open-mind
Identified the key ideas, concepts (and
methods)
Recorded your sources accurately and
consistently
Analysed the information in a systematic,
comprehensive and relevant way