RESEARCH PROPOSAL

(OUTLINE FOR SAM004 ASSESSMENT)

This is a guide to what to include in your research proposal.
Remember your primary goal is to demonstrate that you have met the learning outcomes, that you know when to use Qualitative
Methods, when and how to use the methods you choose; that you can justify the multiple decisions you have to make when
designing a project; that you have read key methods texts.
The Proposal should be
between 2700 – 3300
words

Please ensure that 90%

of the proposal is in
your own words

RESEARCH PROPOSAL STRUCTURE

Introduction The introduction should introduce the research topic/problematic;

provide sufficient background information for readers to understand the
reasons why this topic is worthy of research; outline briefly how you
will do it.

Literature Review For this proposal it should be brief – four or five academic sources to
show that you have looked at other studies on your topic and how they
have approached the topic; what is the gap in the literature?

Methodology This is the most important part of this proposal:

 What methods are you using?

 Why are they the most important?

 What are the ethical issues?

 How will you sample? What is the size of your sample? Why?

 How will you access/recruit the sample?

In answering these questions, justify your choices using methods
literature.
You may choose to refer to other scholars and critically evaluate the
methods they used.

Timeline Indicate what you will do and when

Bibliography Include articles, chapters on your chosen methods and some articles and
chapters on the topic
Ensure the bibliography is correctly formatted