Over the last couple of blogposts, I have focused on how to start up a research project and the various aspects involved such as choosing a topic, conducting a literature review and figuring out the methodology that one will use to answer their research questions. This blogpost is the final one in the series on starting up your research project and focuses on crafting a research proposal.
What is a research proposal? A research proposal is basically a written down plan of how one is going to conduct their research project. Typically, PhD applicants would write a research proposal to apply for a PhD programme and would continue to refine the proposal once they start the PhD. In the United Kingdom, PhD students usually submit and defend an extended research proposal at the end of their first year. This occurs later on for PhD programmes in the United States where PhDs are usually longer because the students spend their first two years taking classes. Also, research proposals are written to apply for grants and other funding opportunities to support research.
What are the various components of a research proposal? A research proposal could be organized in this way:
· Title: The title should reflect the content of the research proposal.
· Background of the Topic: In this section, key terms in the research proposal should be defined. Also, one should provide background information on the topic and flesh out a justification for why the topic should be studied.
· Theoretical Framework/Literature Review: This section details out the important theories and relevant works (articles, books, book chapters etc.) that the project is in conversation with and seeks to contribute to. Here is a blogpost that treats how to conduct a literature review comprehensively.
· Research Questions/ Aims of the Study: This section spells out the research questions that the study aims to answer.
· Significance of the Project: This section details out what original knowledge the project is going to add to the existing literature.
· Methodology: The methodology section explains how the research questions are going to be answered and what methods and techniques are going to be used in the project. Here is a blogpost that goes into more detail on how to write up the methodology of a research project.
· Ethics: In the research proposal, one would need to reflect on any ethical dilemmas or concerns that could arise due to the project. Also, if the project deals with human or animal subjects, one would have to spell out how they would be treated ethically.
· Timeline: This section sets out a timeline for the completion of the project.
Based on my experience writing a proposal in the first year of my PhD and even before then, here are some tips that I would give:
· Familiarize yourself with the relevant literature: Before you begin to write your research proposal, read the literature relevant to your research topic extensively. This will get you up to speed on the latest developments in the field so that you can craft a pertinent and original research question. Also, reading will expose you to the various methodologies that different projects have used which could inspire the methodology that you decide to adopt for your own research project.
· Keep your research question in focus: A mistake that can be made when writing a research proposal is not having a clear well-defined research question. It is not only important that you have a research question, but your research question should guide the story told in the various sections of the proposal so that they make a coherent narrative.
· Don’t put too much pressure on being original: When I started my PhD, I felt that I had to contribute something important to the field because one of the requirements of the PhD is that it is original. However, during the PhD seminar series we had during our first year, I remember a faculty member mentioning that a PhD does not have to transform the field or contribute anything huge. An original PhD could contribute a new theory or just as well, apply an existing theory to a new context. This took the pressure off me. The contribution of your research project to the existing literature does not have to be big. In fact, it might be better to temper down your ambitions in terms of what you hope your research project can contribute so that it is more realistic to complete in the timeframe you have.
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