A Research Proposal is a form of request that can bring in sponsorship to research, or can add an extension to a project. In a way, the research proposal should be so constructed that it can meet the interest of the sponsors and the University.
For any scholar, the Research Proposal is the gateway to join a University. An approved Research Proposal is an asset that brings intellectual recognition to the scholar.
For a good Research Proposal, it is important to answer the following questions:
What is the aim of your research and why you want to pursue it?
What research gap are you going to address?
What is your plan to initiate and develop this research?
What is the going to be the total cost of this research?
How much time do you need to accomplish this research?
The answers to these questions can be achieved only if the researcher is capable of resolving issues and offer innovative thinking in developing the selected research domain. For this purpose, a well-constructed Research Proposal is the only key.
You need to understand that since the research proposal is the foundation of any research paper, its strong appeal must impress the board of Supervisors appointed by the University. In this effort kindly note that whether you are applying for research work under student scholarship or through self-funded provision, it is only the relevance of the Research Proposal that the University will check for further approval of your Research Proposal.
To offer a strong relevance to your Research Proposal you need to have a properly formatted Research Proposal. The University is very specific about the format of a Research Proposal. However, to attain a justified Research Proposal, you need a strong background preparation. It is only through a strong background preparation, that you will be able to offer the correct Final Draft of your Research Proposal to the University.
For the approval of a Research Proposal, the University checks the well-constructed and appropriately synchronised declarations as made by you. To gain a nod for research from the University, your Research Proposal must comprise of the following:
The credibility and the importance of a Research Proposal depend on its conceptual speculations. The University always checks if the Research Proposal is effective enough to meet the conceptual differences in the respective field of research. There is a core need for checking the understanding about the broad, yet precisely expressed background of the proposed research work. The entire conceptual speculation is analysed and critically evaluated by the University in the following format.
The title page is mandatory for a Research Proposal. The title of your Research Proposal should give a clear indication of the purpose of your research. The title should be compact and concrete. It should be so structured that the University gets a clear idea about your Research Questions.
Your Research Proposal must have a page to declare the Abstract of your proposal. This Abstract should be a concise and compact summary of your proposed research. This part of the Research Proposal must be within 250 words. In the Abstract, you need to mention:
Aim of the Proposed Research
Reason for this Aim
The central question to be handled
Reasons for the central question
Components of the Research Proposal
The background overview of the Research Proposal should give a clear understanding of your knowledge about the selected topic. In this section, you should be able to state clearly that
You know about the historical development of the subject
You have read former research papers
Offer debates and critical evaluations
You have identified a Research Gap
You can bridge the Gap
You need to offer the main question of your proposed research. This question should be further categorised into some subdivided key questions. Assure that you will try to get answers to all these sub-questions.
The declarations about the research relevance are the spine of the entire Research Proposal. The University will check this section with great specification. Significantly, you add all the necessary information to convince the board of Supervisors. You must declare:
background of the research field
identify the discipline of your proposed research
offer a critically evaluated literature review
identify the issues handled by former researchers
review the former research findings
offer a clear understanding of developments and debates
declare the research gap
offer ways to bridge the gap
As you give the relevance of your proposed research to the University, it is time to make a clear declaration about your Research Aim. In this section, make a very simple, yet the all-inclusive context of meeting the research gap.
The University will check this section to understand the step-by-step objectives that you are planning to follow to bridge the research gap. This enlisted section will have all those objectives that you will consider to attain answers to your research questions and sub-questions. Make sure that the enlisted objectives are presented under bullet points.
The declaration related to the research methodology must be declared following the identified Research Philosophy. Based on the research aim and objectives the research philosophy must be strongly identified. This needs to be followed by the specified research approach and a particular Research Design must be constructed at this stage. In the research design, you must make a declaration about the selected research method. This method can be either qualitative, quantitative, or mixed. Make sure that the selection of the research methodology is considered in accordance t the provisions to meet the research gap.
It is from the selected research methodology that you need to give a detailed map about the tools and the samples to be considered for the final research initiative. All the Universities are assured to check this Research Design in your Research Proposal. Never give any confusing declarations. Make sure that all the steps of the Research design make sense to the research proceeding.
You can construct the following categorically distributions to construct the Research Design-
Every University has its basic list of Code of Conducts for developing research work. As you check the guidelines for developing your Research Proposal, keep in mind to enlist the Code of Conducts determined by your University. It is the most important things that the University checks in a Research Proposal. In general the Code of Conducts that a University checks are:
Honesty in developing the Research
Focussed on Objective development of the Research
Maintaining absolute integrity in the Research
Maintaining carefulness the Research
Maintaining transparencies in the Research
Respect intellectual declarations and property
Maintaining confidentiality about the participants
Maintaining responsible mode of publication
Respect the stakeholders and colleagues
Maintaining social responsibility
Maintaining a non-discrimination attitude during the research
Competent deliverance of authentic results
Maintain all kinds of legalities
Maintaining animal care regulations, if any
Maintaining human protection regulations, if any.
It is highly recommended to check the University guidelines to produce the schedule for your research plan. This schedule must comprise all the basic developmental steps for initiating the proposed research. In this schedule, it is significant to offer tentative dates and months about the progress timeline of the proposed research. These timelines must get declared by considering the following steps-
Finalisation of Research Topic
Initial Literature Reading
Submission of Interim Report
Initiation of Software Simulation, if any
Completion of Research Designing
Completion of the Research Model
Writing Literature Review
Detection of Research Gap/s
Developing Research Methodology
Initiating Research Methodology
Collection of Data
Result Testing under Various Parameters
Analysing Final Declarations
Validating Results
Evaluate and Discus Results
Write Reflection Report
Summarise Research Paper
Conclusion of Research Paper
Recommendations on Research Paper
Review Research Paper
Submission of the Research Paper
In this context, we would suggest that you prefer using the Gantt chart to meet all the necessary aspects in a very systematically formatted manner.
The Research Proposal must offer the Reference List of all those theoretical and empirical information sources, which were declared in the paper. This list must be constructed as in either Harvard or APA structure.
The list of Reference must be followed by Bibliography and Appendices. The Bibliography will offer an insight into the kind of research papers or books that you need to read.
The Appendices will comprise of all those data, tables, or graphs, which were referred to in the proposal. This is an optional choice and is subject to her need for the Research Proposal.
As you, gain an insight into the format of your Research Proposal
The aforementioned conceptual speculations, which will be checked by the University is hard to attain. To get a hold on the appropriate construction of the Research Proposal, you need to achieve the basic criteria as your background preparation. To gain the attention of the University, you must offer foundational support to the process of constructing your Research Proposal. The initial steps mentioned below have been customised to make your Research Proposal effective enough to be approved by the University. These initial steps are:
For the specified construct of your Research Proposal, you need to remain very specific about the guidelines as bestowed by the respective University. The guidelines for writing the Research Proposal give detailed understandings about the format and the structure of the paper. In many cases, there are some variations in the guidelines of different Universities. However, the baseline remains confirmed about the relevance and the effectiveness of your Research proposal.
For an impressive Research Proposal, it is very important to check former research works approved by the University. This will help you gain an idea about the ways to meet the expectations of the University. As you go through the former submissions, make sure to get an answer to the question:
These expectations must be identified in terms of intellect thinking, innovative ideas, and the writing standards of the former researchers.
For an effective Research Proposal, you must have extensive knowledge about the subject. The Universities in general check whether you have a scholarly backup or not. Based on your Research Proposal, the University will ask you innumerable questions. To make yourself eligible to answer these questions, you must read voraciously. Visit libraries and various resources published online. Consider reading peer-review journal articles. This is highly suggested as the peer-reviewed journal articles offer the summation of all kinds of research works that were developed by the former researchers. Prepare notes about all those points that you would like to discuss and analyse in your Research Proposal.
Before you start with your Research Proposal, it is always encouraged to meet one of the senior scholars from your research field. This scholar must be a Subject Expert and can be considered as your Supervisor. Under the guidance of this Supervisor, prepare a draft of your idea. Make sure that your draft is convincing enough to prove your intellect. Offer extensive innovative brainstorming sessions to the process of constructing the draft. This draft should not be more than 2 pages. It should be so constructed that the core aim and objectives of the Research Proposal get comprehensively declared.
Systematic declaration of historical overview of the determined field of research
Well debated and justified points in favour of research relevance
A clear declaration of the research methodology to meet the research gap
Meet the necessary format and ethical considerations as stated by the University Guidelines
Declarations related to the timeline of various interim submissions
Above all, the Research Proposal should not exceed 4000 words. However, this count varies as to different guidelines of different Universities.