HOW TO PREPARE A

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
PROF. DR. MOHAMMAD ADAM BAKAR
DEAN, SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
PURPOSE

 WHAT’S THE ISSUE?

 WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

 WHAT’S THE (SPECIFIC PROBLEM) YOU

WANT TO STUDY? JUSTIFICATIONS?
 HOW DO YOU WANT TO TO IT?
SYNOPSIS

 This section is the ‘face’ of your proposal. It is written

to give an overview of the context, purpose,
objectives, justifications for research, expected results
and what makes you think that the research will make
a useful contribution to knowledge. It should be about
500 words long and typed single spaced.
INTRODUCTION
 This section provides a concise summary of the background which the
intended study originated. It must highlight the context and the
‘problem’ that is going to be researched. The reader must be impressed
that the problem identified is justified and was significant enough to
warrant a structured and extensive research.
  
 Background
 This is the most crucial part of the proposal as the researcher must arouse
interest and convince the reader that the research is justifiable and the
problem is worth researching. It should highlight the issues you are
interested in.
  
 Don’t get into details. Just give an overview. Should be about 3-4
paragraphs long.
INTRODUCTION

 Problem Statement
 
 This is a statement that clearly defines the ‘problem’ the
intended study is going to answer. It has to be well
framed - clear, precise, specific, measurable and
attainable.

 Try to limit the statement of problem to one (1)

paragraph and a maximum of another two(2) paragraphs
if you need to elaborate or give further clarification.
RESEARCH PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

 This section provides the specific of what the

research is all about, why it is done and for what
reasons. It provides specific direction of where the
research is heading and the scope in which the study is
going to be carried out.
 In other words, this section requires you to specify
the specific problem that you want to focus on.
 Research Purpose
 
 This section provides the focus of research. A researcher must
state the purpose of his/her research, and it MUST be anyone or
a combination of these – to explain, to explore, to predict or to
describe!
 
Note:
 No matter what actions or activities a researcher carried out in
the study (to investigate, to study, to examine etc), the purpose of
doing so will have to fall into either one or a combination of
these four categories. Length – maximum of three paragraphs.
 Research Objectives
 
 The objectives detailed the reasons why the research is being
carried out. It also provides the scope and parameters
within which the study will be conducted. Objectives set
must be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic
and time bound).
 
 Note;
 Try not to have too many objectives. 4 – 5 will be ideal.
Objectives must be concise and straight to the point.
 Justifications
 
 If in the ‘Background’ section you provide an ‘overall’ reason why the
research is significant and merits a more detailed investigation, this section
requires you to justify why the research is necessary in the context of the
purpose and objectives you had stated above.
 
 Note;
 Justifications should be framed in such a way that the reader is convinced
that your study will fill the gaps in knowledge you identified from the review
of literature. Further, they must be assured that your findings will contribute
towards extending the frontier of (existing) knowledge and the application
of the methodology employed and theories used and adopted will further
advance scholarships and academic rigour.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

 This part of your proposal MUST demonstrate your

breadth of knowledge in the subject matter,
theoretical dispositions and extant research
literature relevant to the topic you had chosen to do
research in.
 There three types of literature that you must read – the
subject matter, the theory or theories, past research
.

 The purpose of the review is three fold. First is to put
the research you want to do in proper perspective –
in the context of adding and extending existing
knowledge. Secondly, it is done to avoid duplication.
As the saying goes, it is no point to reinvent the wheels
as it will not be anything new to find anymore. Finally,
a thorough review will allow a researcher to avoid
past problems
 Issues Addressed
 
 This is the first thing that you must identify in your literature
review. Remember that your research is to fill gaps in extant
knowledge. As such you have to read and find out what issues
past researchers had focused and do their research on. Your
objective in reviewing past research efforts is to identify areas or
issues where they had not ventured into. If you are interested in
an issue but other had done some work on it, then look for past
findings that you can improve on and add new dimensions.
You must not repeat what past researchers had studied.
 Methods Employed
 
 Once you segregate studies based on issues they addressed, then
reclassify those articles based on the methods they employed. The
following sub-headings will give you a framework on how to do this in a
more structured and systematic ways.
 Guiding theory(ies) used.
 Conceptual frameworks used / approach adopted, variables used to
represent the concepts being studied, scales and measurement used,
how variables are being measured and major hypothesis being tested.
 Data Collection instruments employed, respondents used
 Major Findings and the ‘Gaps’ Identified
 
 Your readings must have informed you of what previous
researchers had found. This is important because no
matter what ideas you must have on issues you are
interested to research on, somebody must have done or
say something about it in the past. It is very important
that your reading be extensive because a) you should not
be reinventing the wheels, and b) you will face the risk of
your studies becoming redundant because somebody had
beaten you to the tape – and you will not get your PhD.
RESEARCH METHOD

  There are two major and common errors amongst students

when they view research methodology. One is to think that,
unless a research uses a similar research method, it is not
related. Another is the notion that a research must start with a
choice of research method, and that the latter will determine the
objective of research.
 The fact is research methods and research topics are two
different issues in research and the former must not be allowed
to dictate the latter. As such, a researcher must begin with a
determination of what he wants to study, the purpose and the
objectives of such a study and, only then should he or she decides
on what method he or she wants to adopt.
 In a research proposal, clarifying and making explicit
the methods of research amounts to providing a
compass and specific instructions to participants of a
treasure hunt event. It will provide a road-map on
how the research will be carried out, proceed and
ends. You should arrange discussions in this section
based of the following sub-headings.
 Operational definitions of main concepts and variables to be used.
 Guiding theory(ies) to be used as a basis of informing your research.
 Conceptual frameworks to be used / approach to be adopted.
 Variables used to represent the concepts being studied.
 Scope of the study, units of analysis and focus of analysis.
 Major hypothesis being tested. This is to be developed through a structured and logical arguments
based on findings from past studies.
 Scales and measurements to be used and how variables are going to be being measured.
 Data Collection instruments to employed and data collection plans.
 Who are the respondents, how they are going to be selected how sampling is going to be done.
 Data analysis – how data is going to be analysed. This includes what statistical techniques are
going to be used for data analysis and to test the validity and reliability of data and to
explain/interpret the results expected to be obtained.
 Note
 In a qualitative research, you must have an ‘analytical framework’ that tells the reader of the
approach you adopt to conduct the research, how you analyze your data and how you interpret your
findings.
 OTHERS

 IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

 
 You should list expected results from your study, its
implication in the context of ‘extending the frontier of
knowledge and limitations you might encounter that will affect
your data collection, analysis and findings.
  
 REFERENCES
 
 Use the APA format.
PRESENTATION AND PROPOSAL REPORT
WRITING

 The research proposal should be;

 
 Printed using the Times New Roman, font size 12, 1.5
spacing and on A4 paper.
 About 5,000 words long.

 Numbered on the bottom right hand corner of each page.

 Submitted in soft and 2 hard comb-bound copies to the

School of Graduate Studies, AeU.
 CHEERS & GOOD LUCK

SEE YOU IN NOVEMBER FOR PRESENTATION OF

YOUR DRAFT RESEARCH PROPOSAL