Research Methodology

Week 2. Writing a Research Proposal

- Introduction

Prof. Dr. Shamsul Anuar Mokhtar

shamsulanuar@unikl.edu.my
016-2175330
Why Write a Research Proposal?

• A research proposal is intended to

convince others that you have a
worthwhile research project and
that you have the competence and
the work-plan to complete it.

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Why Write a Research Proposal?

• All research proposals must

address the following questions:
• What you plan to accomplish
• Why you want to do it
• How you are going to do it

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Elements of a Research Proposal

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Results/Outcome
• Discussion

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Choosing a Title

• It should be concise and

descriptive.
• For example, these phrases could
be omitted:
• "An investigation of ..."
• "A development of ..."

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Choosing a Title (Examples)

• "Academic Computing Framework for Malaysian Higher

Education Institutions"
• "Motivational Model for the Continuous Intention of
Electronic Portfolio Usage Among Students"
• "Mobile Games Usability and Heuristics Model for
Touchscreen Devices“
• "Increasing Usability of Trusted Computing Development on
Smartphone Software Stacks Through a High-Level Trusted
Computing Group Software Stack Application Program
Interface"

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Choosing a Title (Example)

Initial Title:
• "An Empirical Investigation of Consumers’ Mobile Banking
Continuance Intention"

Changed Title:
• "Mobile Banking Consumers’ Continuance Intention Model"

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Writing the Introduction

• The main purpose of the

introduction is to provide the
necessary background or context
for your research problem.
• The introduction generally covers
several elements.

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 Background of the The section describes the background of the
Research research.

Problem Statement
The section describes the problem statement of the
research.

Research Questions The section describes the research questions.

Research Objectives The section describes the objectives of the research.

Scope of the Research The section describes the scope of the research.

The describes the significance of the research based

Significance of the
on its contributions to theory, practice and
Reseach
methodology.

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Great scholars do not solve problems;
they create them.
What is a Problem Statement?

• A problem statement 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.

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What is a Problem Statement?

• Generally speaking a research

problem is a situation that needs a
solution and for which there are
possible solutions.
• A research problem may be
described as an incongruence; a
discrepancy between what is and
what ought to be.
• It may be also described as the gap
in knowledge that needs to be
filled.

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General Rule of Writing a Problem Statement

• Focused on only one problem.

• One or two sentences long.
• Does not suggest a solution.
• You should have a concise and well balanced problem
statement.
• It should be unambiguous and devoid of assumptions.
• It will enable you to focus in on the problem and work
toward solutions that truly fit.

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Example of a Problem Statement

Title: Academic Computing Assessment Framework for

Malaysian Higher Education Institutions
• The research problem revolves around the lack of academic
computing benchmark information to aid academic
computing initiatives. This in turn is caused by the absence
of a way to uniformly assess academic computing across
various types of higher education institutions in Malaysia.

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Example of a Problem Statement

Title: Academic Computing Assessment Framework for

Malaysian Higher Education Institutions
• The research problem revolves around the lack of academic
computing benchmark information to aid academic
computing initiatives. This in turn is caused by the absence
of a way to uniformly assess academic computing across
various types of higher education institutions in Malaysia.

What is the problem?

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Example of a Problem Statement

Title: Academic Computing Assessment Framework for

Malaysian Higher Education Institutions
• The research problem revolves around the lack of academic
computing benchmark information to aid academic
computing initiatives. This in turn is caused by the absence
of a way to uniformly assess academic computing across
various types of higher education institutions in Malaysia.

What is the problem?

Where is the problem?

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Example of a Problem Statement

Title: Academic Computing Assessment Framework for

Malaysian Higher Education Institutions
• The research problem revolves around the lack of academic
computing benchmark information to aid academic
computing initiatives. This in turn is caused by the absence
of a way to uniformly assess academic computing across
various types of higher education institutions in Malaysia.

What is the problem?

Where is the problem?
Why is it important?
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What is a Research Question?

• A Research Question is a statement that identifies the

phenomenon to be studied.

Types of research question:

• Feasibility
• Method or means of development
• Method for analysis
• Design, evaluation, or analysis of a particular instance
• Generalisation or characterisation

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Types of Research Question

• Feasibility
• Does X even exist, and if so what is it like?
• Is it possible to accomplish X at all?

• Method or means of development

• How can we do/create (or automate doing) X?
• What is a better way to do/create X?

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Types of Research Question

• Method for analysis

• How can I evaluate the quality/correctness of X?
• How do I choose between X and Y?

• Design, evaluation, or analysis of a particular instance

• What is a (better) design or implementation for X?
• What is property X of artifact/method Y?
• How does X compare to Y?
• What is the current state of X / practice of Y?

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Types of Research Question?

• Generalisation or characterisation
• Given X, what will Y (necessarily) be?
• What, exactly, do we mean by X?
• What are the important characteristics of X?
• What is a good formal/empirical model for X?
• What are the varieties of X, how are they related?

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Example of Research Questions
• 1. How can the concept of academic computing be
concretised?
• 2. How can academic computing be assessed?
• Method or means of development - How can we do/create
(or automate doing) X?

• 3. How is academic computing at Malaysian HEIs being

implemented?
• Design, evaluation, or analysis of a particular instance -
What is the current state of X / practice of Y?

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What is a Research Objective?

• Research objectives should be closely related to the

statement of the problem and summarise what you
hope will be achieved by the study.
• Your objectives should be stated using action verbs that
are specific enough to be measured, for example: to
compare, to calculate, to assess, to determine, to verify,
to calculate, to describe, to explain, etc.
• Avoid the use of vague non-active verbs such as: to
appreciate, to understand, to believe, to study, etc.,
because it is difficult to evaluate whether they have
been achieved.

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Example of Research Objectives
• RQ1. How can the concept of academic computing be
concretised?
• Obj1. To develop a model that describes academic
computing building blocks and relationships
• RQ2. How can academic computing be assessed?
• Obj2. To develop a system and tools for assessing academic
computing
• RQ3. How is academic computing at Malaysian HEIs being
implemented?
• Obj3. To describe and benchmark academic computing at
HEIs in Malaysia.

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Scope of the Research
Item Within research scope Outside research scope
Broad area of ICT use Academic computing Administrative computing
Assessment level Strategic Tactical, operational
Unit of analysis Organisation, sector Individual
HEI types Universities & colleges Colleges under MOE
registered with MOHE

Significance of the Research

Contributions to Contributions to Contributions to
theory practice methodology
A framework that Tools and benchmark A system of indicators
operationalises information that can and rubrics as the
academic computing benefit HEIs, MOHE and scale in place of the
and describes the related agencies in commonly used Likert
relationships between various academic scale.
constructs. computing activities.

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