Chapter Two

Planning A Research/Project and

Proposal Writing

R ES EA R C H M ETH O D O LO G Y F O R EN G I N EER S ( S O S 4 1 3 )
5 T H Y E A R WAT E R R E S O U R C E S E N G I N E E R I N G , U G
NOVEMBER 2022
 Chapter Objectives:

to addresses the task of planning and conducting a small

research project, such as an undergraduate final year project. It
aims to help you develop a clear sense of direction early on the
project, and to support you in organizing, planning, and
monitoring your final year project.
to provide you the fundamental knowledge on proposal writing.
Research Planning (Proposal Development)
Research initiation
 Research Process

Research Research Collecting Data

Publication
idea design data analysis

Proposal
Writing
 Most common questions while developing a research proposal
• What is the proposed study about?
• Why is the study to be conducted?
• Where will the study be carried out?
• What is the objective of the proposed study?
• What type of data is required to achieve these objectives, where and how is it collected?
• What period of time will the study cover?
• How will the data be analyzed?
• Who are the potential beneficiaries?
• What is the resources requirement of the study?
• When and how the research output will be disseminated?
What makes a good proposal?
• Relevance, either to the work of the funding body or to the student’s
course.
• The research is unique, or offers new insight or development.
• The title, and objectives are all clear and concise.
• Comprehensive and thorough background research and literature review
has been undertaken.
• There is a good match between the issues to be addressed and the
approach being adopted.
 Steps in Your BSc Senior Project work
• Group formation (Dep’t duty)
Let Students’ submit
• Selection of topic and Advisor (you + Dep’t duty) their area of interest
soon
• Writing a proposal (You with your Mentor’s guide)

• Presentation of the proposal & get approval (28 xxxxxx 2022)

• Carrying out the project work (2nd semester of 2023)
• Data analyses

• Writing the thesis (2nd semester of 2023)

• Final defense (Last week of May 2023)
 Chapter Three

Research/Project and
Proposal Writing
Research Proposal
 What is a Research/Project Proposal?
• A research proposal is your PLAN
– It describes in detail about your study
– Decisions about your study are based on
the quality of proposal
• Approvals to proceed by the evaluators
 Components of Research/Project Proposal
 Title Essential elements
 Summary: (contents) of a
proposal
 Introduction:
– Significance of the research: why do you want to do the research and why is it important?
– Statement of the Problem: what is the problem and what do you want to achieve?
– Objectives: what do you want to do?
 Literature Review: who have done similar work, what were their methods and results?
 Materials and Methods: what materials and/or data are needed how are you going to do it?
 Work Plan: starting date and deadline of the project
 Budget Requirement: for BSc Degree requirement, this will be omitted
 References: Sufficient Books, articles should be used cited formally
 Title
• First thing you read
• The first step in a research process is the choice
of researchable problem for investigation

• A topic may be defined as an area within a given

field of study that the researcher would like to
explore in his research

• Clear and unambiguous: reflects the focus of

the proposal

• Think of your title as a mini-abstract

Potential source of title:

• Own personal/ professional experiences

• Inference from theory and professional literature
• Senior researchers in the area
• Technological and social needs

Research topic are written in 4-20 words

Things to bear in mind when choosing a research topics:
• How much choice you have
• Your motivation
• Regulations and expectations
• Your subject and field of study
• Previous examples of research projects
• Size of your topic
• Time you have available
• Cost of the research
• Resources you have available
• Your need for support
• Access issues
• Methods for researching
Title
• Research proposal title should demarcate the main focus or theme of the
proposed study.
• It should be informative/descriptive yet discrete and contain the key words of
the proposal.
• In addition, it should be concise, simple and appealing.

• Examples:

 Design of Fentale Small Scale Irrigation Project

 Performance evaluation of urban water distribution system

 Your title?
Cover
Page
 Executive Summary Abstract
• It is usually written last (so that it
accurately reflects the content of
the report) and is usually about
200 to 300 words long.

• What do you propose to do?

• Where? Why? How? With whom?

• For how long?

• Key words (5)

 Introduction
Background of the Project
– Provides information building up to the research problem

– Leads logically to the next section, the problem statement

– Narrow down your idea (general to specific)
• First, globalize the problem and then contextualize it

– Make a link among each paragraph

– Remember the citation
Background
• This section has to provide background information starting from
broader perspective of the topic to be studied leading to the specific
problem to be addressed.

• The purpose of this section is to lay the broad foundation for the
problem that leads to the study, to create reader interest in the topic,
and to make the reader feel the urgency of the problem and the need to
study it.
Writing of Background:

• Starts from already known theoretical framework of the study topic.

• Review related literature to show gaps in the existing knowledge and
practice so as to provide justification for the current research

• Concisely sets the aims of the research and show how it fills the
identified gaps in the literature and practice
• The inclusion of irrelevant (or too many) references may lead evaluators
to question your understanding of the area.
 Introduction
Significance of the Project
• Give brief description about:
– Why do you want to do the research/project?

– Why is it important? Its importance to the society as a whole

– What is its contribution to Science?
 Introduction
Statement of the Problem
– what is the problem and what do you want to achieve?
– The problem under the study will be described briefly here

• Example: Irrigation + Water Scarcity

Statement of the problem

• State the problem or express it so that the question is implied

• Tell why the problem has been a problem, why previous attempts have
failed to solve it, or why you think this particular problem is important

• Indicate what benefits are to be gained from solving this problem?

 Problem cont’d

• Statement of the problem constitute the scientific justification for the

study

• The problem statement should make a convincing argument that there

exists not sufficient knowledge to explain the problem and its possible
alternative solutions

• The significant content of the justification is that no work has been

carried out to solve the stated problem, or that little work has been
carried out to try to solve the stated problem
Points to be considered when selecting a Problem:

• A subject that is overdone should be avoided

• Controversial subjects are not recommended
• Too narrow or too broad or vague problems should not be selected
• The qualification and training of the researcher
• The cost involved and the time factor
Steps in defining research problem:
• Understand the nature of the problem more clearly (by discussing it with
others…)

• Survey of available and relevant literature. This enables the researcher to:
– Find out what data available for operational purposes
– Find out if there is a gap in theories
– Find out whether the existing theory is applicable to the problem under
study

• Develop the idea through discussion

• Rephrasing and formulating research problems – researchable questions
Ethiopia: Do we deserve this?
 Research objectives

• The next step after the statement of the problems is setting up the
objectives

• It informs the reader/evaluators what the researcher wants to achieve

through the study

• It must be stated clearly and specifically under the heading of major and
specific objectives
Research objectives
• Objectives should be listed under two sub
headings: general and Specific objectives.
General  General: describes the long term goal your
project contribute to.
 Specific Objectives: describes the objective of
your project in response to the core problem

• The general objective provides a short

statement of the scientific goal to be
pursued by the research

• The specific objectives are operational in

nature.

Specific • These are the objectives against which the

success of the research will be judged
Research objectives
• Specific objectives should emanate from the general objective
and may be stated in action-oriented words such as:
– to determine
– to find out
– to assess
– to measure
– to explore etc.

• Example:
 Assignment 1 (5%)!

1. Write two titles from your profession perspective.

2. Write general objective and three specific objectives for them.

 Submission Date: next class

 Individual assignment, copy/similarity is not allowed
 Literature Review
• It is a critical analysis of the existing literature on the area
• It provides a theoretical background to your study
• It helps to establish the link between what you are proposing to examine and
what has already been studied.
• It helps to integrate the new research findings to the existing knowledge
(Archive).
• Done to bring out knowledge gaps
• Should be cited properly
• 2 – 3 pages
• Who are the key authors?
• What did they say?
• What do other authors say?
• What do you say?
• E.g: (Sissay D, et al, 2020)
 The narrative of a good Literature Review
Introduce the field:
Reader knows
Water Resources Potential
broad focus

Drinking Water Supply Focus on certain aspects

in field of interest

Scarcity
Reader doesn't know
End with gap analysis

39
 Materials and Methods
• Is about how the research/project is going to be
conducted, where it is to be conducted, and what
materials and/or data are needed.

• Shows how the objectives will be achieved.

• What materials and/or data are needed? Specify them.

– Tools/Equipment: Software, Laboratory,………
– Data: Meteorological or Hydrological or Soil or Topographic,
……

• How are you going to do it?

– Procedures: - clear and concise
 Methodology
• This part is the heart of the proposal

• Methodology generally addresses issues

related to data collection, sample size and
sampling techniques, data analysis etc.

• It should explain how each specific objectives

will be achieved

• The proposal should provide enough

methodological details to enable an
independent scientific assessment of the
proposal.
 Work Plan
S. Activity/ Actions March April May June
• Starting date & No.
deadline of the 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3      
project      
1 Literature review
     
• Detail schedule 2 Developing methods
about how the
     
3 Experimental setup
project will be 4 Conduct experiment
     

executed 5 Data collection

     

     
6 Data analysis
     
7 Report writing
     
8 Presentation
 Budget Requirement
• Provide specific
explanations for:
– Need for specific
technologies and software

– Need for other financial

expenses like
accommodation, stationary,
transport, subsistence
allowances, etc.

• Tabular form
 Reference citation
• When you are writing your thesis proposal and report, you
are required to refer to the work of other authors.

• Each time you do so, it is necessary to identify their work by

making reference to it in text and reference list

• This practice of acknowledging authors is known as

referencing.
• References must be provided whenever you use someone
else’s opinions, theories, data or organization of material

• A reference is required if you:

– quote (use someone else’s exact words)
– copy (use figures, tables or structure)
– paraphrase (convert someone else’s ideas into your own words)
– summarize (use a brief account of someone else’s ideas).
 Why should you reference?

References enhance your writing and assist your reader by:

– strengthening your academic argument

– showing the reader the source of your information
– allowing the reader to consult your sources independently
– allowing the reader to verify your data.
What is plagiarism and how can you avoid it?
• Plagiarism is the intentional use of someone else’s ideas, words or
concepts in your works

• It is considered serious misconduct at University and should be avoided

at all times

• Committing plagiarism can result in very serious penalties for students,

including rejection of the thesis and expulsion from a university

• The best way to avoid being accused of plagiarism is to acknowledge the

resources upon which you have based your ideas
 Which referencing system should you use?

• There are a number of different referencing systems used in

academic writing

• Referencing types:
– Harvard
– APA (American Psychological Association)
 Harvard
• The in-text citation:
• Harvard is an 'author/date' system, so your in-text citation
consists of author(s) and year of publication.
• If you quote directly from an author or paraphrase a specific
idea or piece of information from a source, you need to
include the page number of the quote or passage in your in-
text citation.
The reference list:

• All in-text citations should be listed in the reference list at the

end of your document.

• Reference list entry for a book

• Reference list entry for a journal
 American Psychological Association (APA)
The in-text citation consists of:
• author surname(s) (in the order that they appear on the actual publication),
followed by the year of publication of the source that you are citing.
• page or paragraph numbers for direct quotes e.g. (Weston, 1988, p. 45).
• The in-text citation is placed immediately after the information being cited.

• If quoting or citing a source which has been cited within another document,
mention the original source together with the secondary reference details, for
example: (Smith, 2008, as cited in Jones, 2010).

• Only the secondary reference (i.e. Jones, 2010) should be included in the reference
list.
• For citations in brackets with two authors the ‘&’ symbol can be used.
e.g. (Brown & Black, 2010)

• If the author citation forms part of your sentence the word ‘and’ must
be used,

e.g. “Brown and Black (2010) indicate that…”

 ASSIGNMENT 2 ( 15 %)
Write a Project Proposal using following content:
• Title
• Introduction
– Background
– Statement of problem
– Objectives
Project
– Significance of the study (15%)

• Literature review
• Materials and Methods
• Work plan
• Financial Requirements
• References
 Common pitfalls to avoid
• Forget to include table of contents
• Not connecting the proposed research to the literature review
• Not enough detail about methods
• Jargon & sweeping generalities
• Relying solely on your supervisor

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 Revise and Edit
• Back-up proposal everyday!
• Always print on paper and edit
• Use standard font
• Number your pages
• Read out loud

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The End!