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GUIDELINES FOR WRITING RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND EDUCATION

A Manual

Format Decided by
the FOSSED-Faculty Research Committee
27 Baishak, 2076

Nepal Open University

Lalitpur, Nepal
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Introduction
This guide help students prepare their research proposal and dissertations for

acceptance by Nepal Open University [NOU]. Every student in the NOU is required to

successfully complete and submit a dissertation to qualify for degree assignment. This

document provides information on how to submit Proposal and final dissertation,

requirements for dissertation formatting, and dissertation publishing options. Please

follow the submission and formatting guidelines provided.

Guidelines for Proposal Submission

The main objective of a research proposal is to present and justify the need to study a

research problem and to present the practical ways with which the proposed study should

be conducted. The proposal for the research project work should include the following

contents:

Title Page

Table of Contents

Chapter I: Introduction

o Background of the Study, Rationale of the Study, Statement of Problem, Purpose of

the Study, Research, Research Questions, Hypothesis, and Limitations/Delimitations,

Conceptual and Theoretical Framework (if any) of the Study

Chapter II: Review of Literature

o Review of Related Literature,

Chapter III: Research Methodology

o Research Plan and Design, Description of Sample, Source of Data, Data

Collection and Analysis Procedure

Organizational Structure

References
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Guidelines

Title

Generally, the title of research proposal contains certain keywords which inform

about research area, context, methodology and problem. Although some academies

prescribe the limit of words in research proposal titles such as maximum 12 to 15 words,

there is no limit of words. However, all the academies encourage to write short titles with

limited words and to make meaningful and catchy title.

Introduction

This section generally informs about the purpose of study, research methodology,

research problem and significance of the study. This section provides a basic information

about over all research proposal. When developing this section, a researcher can begin

with what the purpose of study is. It can lead to how the study is going to be conducted. It

means how the researcher is going to approach research field and participants, what the

research resign is, what research methods are, what tools s/he is going to use to gather

data/information (optional depending on the type of research), how the research data will

be treated and how the data will be presented/analysed.

Coherently, this section informs about research problem and significance of the

study. A researcher can describe the problem identified and has been a matter of study.

S/he can develop own writing rather than bringing ideas from other sources. This section

will lead to a background development of research proposal.

Background of the Study

Background section provides a foundation for a research proposal. Generally, this

section is expected to develop a contextual framework of the study. Depending on various

disciplines, research proposals can be specific but general principles are shared by all

researches. This section provides historical development of research area/idea that is

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focused in own research, systematic and gradual development of the idea and the current

situation of the focused idea. Individual researchers may generate their own themes to

present contextual ideas. However, they are expected to begin from broader areas to

specific to come to own study context such as international, national and local contexts.

This section provides general information about the research area and idea, but it

does not particularly negotiate research arguments as in the literature review section. For

of ICT in

their planning and teaching, may require basic information such as international context

curriculum and government policy in ICT. These sections can provide a rationale of study

and statement of problem. Hypothesis of the study is optional in research proposal.

Rationale of the Study

In a dissertation, the student researcher needs to explain the relevance of the

undertaken research for target audiences that how the research is beneficial. It is

necessary to include some reasons that contribute to academic and literature field,

improve practice, policy or decision making.

Statement of Study problem

This section, a part of background, briefly informs of study problem. Although it

is read through background section, some prefer to write it separately in a small

paragraph or so.

Purpose of the Study

A researcher can explain research purpose in a small paragraph. A researcher can

write research purposes in the form of statements instead of questions.

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Research Questions

Generally, researchers write one overarching and then two or three specific

research questions. The overarching question covers all other questions which means the

specific questions are part of the main research question. These questions lead the entire

research process from the development of research title to writing research conclusion.

Hypothesis of the Study

If there is necessary to write hypothesis, particularly in positivist/post-positivist

research, researcher can state three to four hypotheses. For this, the researcher needs to

review the literature based on which they state the hypothesis.

Delimitations of the Study

Delimitations are decisions that a researcher takes that should be listed. He/she

define the boundaries they set for the research. The researcher needs to inform the readers

specifically why they choose those constructs, theories, methods or study sites.

Literature Review

Literature review is a comprehensive and transparent search conducted over

various databases and old documents which can be replicated and reproduced by other

researchers. Literature review identifies the information a researcher searched, critiqued

and reported in a certain timebound.

This section provides a concept of developing research framework. However, the

researcher will state review of literature in separate chapter in research report. For

proposal, the review needs to include generally search terms, type of documents, search

strategies (including database, date of access) and parameters (constraints). The

researcher can follow chronological or thematic literature review idea depending on the

nature of the study. Chronological literature review follows a system of organising

information in chronological order.

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Theoretical/Conceptual Framework (if any)

A researcher should prepare a conceptual or theoretical framework that is helpful

for investigating or examining the pre-assumed relation between the variables or explore

on constructs. The researcher can be present it in a diagram or narrative form.

Research Methodology

Research Methodology is generally mentioned chapter III in the research report.

chapter This section provides a strict map of research process that the researcher is going

to follow throughout the research, particularly from obtaining ethical approval to writing

thesis. It shows how a researcher is going to approach research field and participants and

methods of data collection, strategies of sampling, tools of data collection (optional

depending on type of research), treatment of primary data and data analysis.

Organizational Structure

The following Index 9 is the Dissertation format decided by FRC that shows the

organization structure of the research. If there are any changes in the structure, the

researcher should mention in the structure.

References

This section lists the sources cited in the proposal. The researcher has to follow

the style manual while listing the references.

Style Manual

A style manual provides a format of writing that includes citation, listing

references, labelling headings, and constructing tables and figures. FOSSED, NOU

primarily follows the style manual of latest style manual of American Psychological

Association (APA) (7th ed., 2020). Some examples are listed on MPhil Dissertation

Format Synopsis.