Once we have chosen the research topic, we begin to investigate the literature.
For many, writing a research proposal is the first milestone.
Designing
Before writing the proposal we need to spend sometime designing the study. This is the science and art of planning. The plan will guide our focus.
There needs to be a good fit between the methodology that is understood by others. There needs to be a structure to guide our research. The design would need to allow for knowledge claims. It also need to address the research questions.
Matching the design to research question is an art.
We choose the research topic, choose the data gathering methods and move from the problem to the expected outcome. The process is time consuming and we find ourselves continuously revising previous stages.
1. Identify research problem
First, we identify the research problem. Often, as we go along, we might need to change our provisional assumptions. We need to review the issue and decide how relevant it is continuously at each step. Sometimes problem might not be accepted by the supervisors. Research project must focus on specific problem or issue. It should be relevant to your sponsor and of course, interest you.
It might be useful to start defining the research statement at this point as well. This phase should be explanatory. We generate ideas from reading literature or discussions with others. The study must also be achievable in terms of time, budgets and other resources.
It might be useful to review literature and identify gaps in previous studies. When researching we often come back with many research questions relevant. We may need to eliminate those which are less likely to take us to the outcome. Examine the list of your research problems and choose the one that achieves the success.
The availability of data will be critical to the research. You need to have access to the primary and secondary data. The data needs to be available for analysis. Many of us fail to appreciate the value of good data which can give us the information we need. Companies often do not want to provide confidential sensitive business information. Therefore, we must be sure that we are able to get the data and other information.
The data may involve: literature, official statistics, industry data, company data, internal data, people and surveys.
Your skills and knowledge is also important. You will need to gain necessary competence in the field. You must understand the subject area. You also need relevant IT skills, creative skills, verbal communication skills, knowledge of analysing statistical data, analytical skills to review qualitative data, presentation skills. Target your weaknesses and work on them.
The topic of the research needs to be:
* relevant to your degree,
* scope feasible,
* with accessible data,
* allowing time for development of your knowledge and skills,
* likely to be published,
* allow to fill a gap in knowledge, develop new ideas,
* enhance your employability.
2. Determine purpose
You will need to provide sufficient purpose statement, develop research questions and giving the indications of the outcomes. The more sophisticated and rigorous the research is, the more time, resource and effort it will require. You collect and analyse the data closely linked to the research question. Select your unit of analysis: particular organisation, division, department, general group, business owners, managers, consultants, regulators. It can also be an object, such as an event, decision, procedure, contract or communication. The unit of analysis needs to be at as low level as possible. The level where decisions are made. Once unit is defined, we need the purpose of our study. We write few sentences that explain the main aim of the research and more detailed objectives. We will use future tense to define the purpose of the study. For example: "Interviews will be held with..." style to emphasise the objectivity. It is useful to identify key theories and employed already methods.
3. The research questions
When we explain the purpose of our study we may only give the general aims and objectives. Research questions are also important. They state the specific line of inquiry that the research attempts to answer. The questions provide the focus. This is a crucial stage, as it is at the heart of the research design. In order to design research questions we need to read, reflect and discuss what we are doing with others. The outcome of the research investigation will be the answers to those questions. The answers should be important and interesting. We need to search relevant literature to check whether anyone else have yet answered the questions. You might come out with new questions or produce new findings to extend the existing knowledge.
Theories already existing are the explanations of how things function or why they occur. We develop further theories based on those. We can also develop a testable hypothesis through our research.
A hypothesis is a proposition that can be tested against evidence using statistics.
Theories can be classified into 3 types:
1) Grand theories - often found in natural science, such as law of gravity
2) Middle-range theories - higher then mere hypothesis
3) Substantive theories - developed within a certain context
In social science, it is not possible to have a grand theories, only skeletal theories to be applied within a certain context. The theory will remain a general framework within which study can be conducted.
There are number of theories from which we can draw when studying the literature of a chosen topic. They provide possible explanations to what we might observe.
A good research questions should:
* express relationships between variables,
* be unambiguous, and
* imply possibility of testing.
Our hypothesis will be based on theory. Hypothesis will be the proposition between variables relationships that can be tested against the evidence we collect. Hypothesis can be " null" or "alternative". "Null hypothesis" will state that the variables are independent from each other. For example: "There is no relationship between the employee's age and productivity". The " alternative hypothesis" would state, that they are associated with one another: " There is a relationship between employee's age and productivity".
The purpose of the research might be to test specific aspects of any theory found in the literature to suggest whether there is a relationship or not.
Sometimes study suggests, that there is a possible direction for a relationship. Here, we might use the "directional hypothesis": " Productivity does not decrease in age" or "Productivity decreases in age". It is important to use formal theoretical style.
We will use statistics to test whether there is an evidence to reject the null hypothesis that states that there is no relationship. It is helpful to note, when reading literature, whether the author stated their hypothesis in the null, alternative or directional form.
Sometimes researches might attempt to approach their analysis with no prior theories. Instead, they would try to focus on developing a theoretical framework. At this studies, the researches ask grand questions. For example: "How employees cope with redundancy in the area of high unemployment?". The aim here is to focus the study on certain phenomena. We might be changing the titles of project to address the research question. The research questions here, often evolve during the process and may need to be modified as we progress. The best advise is to concentrate on the language of the question. We could avoid questions that suggest relationships, such as "effect", " influence", "impact", or "determine". We could use open-ended questions without literature or theory and use a single focus.
4. Writing the research proposal
A research proposal is a document that sets out the research design. It explains what is already known about the research topic, the purpose of the research and the main research questions. It proposes the methodology, collect and analyse the data, the scope of the research and any limitations. It should incorporate the timetable and conclusions with comments on the research contributions.
Some main requirements of a proposal may be:
* The study is based on literature and academically robust. We demonstrate that we are familiar with the literature and have identified main research questions.
* We clearly define the source of the research data, why we collect the data, when we are going to do it, and how we are going to collect then analyse it. It is important to explain our method of analysis.
* The proposed study will make a contribution to knowledge.
* The proposed study will provide opportunities to disseminate research via conference papers and academic articles.
We need to be assured that we have the access to research data. If the data is confidential, ethical permission is required. We must also address any time constraints that may prevent us from conducting the research. Does that data need to be time-consuming and expensive?
A typical structure of research proposal is presented below.
Introduction
* the research problem/issue and the purpose of the study,
* background on the study and why it is important to the interest,
* structure of the reminder of the proposal.
2. Preliminary review of the literature
* evaluation of the key items in the literature,
* theoretical framework (if applicable),
* where the research fits in and the main research questions.
3. Methodology
* identification of paradigm,
* justification of choice of methodology or methods,
* scope of the research,
* limitations and constraints of the research,
* considerations of the ethical issues.
4. Outcomes and timetable.
The title of the study should be as brief as possible. No more than 12 words and include the focus of the study. If you carry our research of particular organisation or industry, make it clear.
The introduction should state the research problem or issue. Possibly expressed in one or two sentences. Clarity is the key. You may follow with a little background on why the issue is important and to whom. Explaining the purpose of the study, define key terms and use definitions from authoritative academic source, such as specialist dictionary. Do not use Wikipedia or online sources that can be updated by public. The definitions should be in quotation marks and cite the name of author, year of publication and page number in brackets next to quotation.
In the preliminary literature review should be critical analysis of the main studies that are relevant to the problem/issue we want to investigate. At this stage, we are not expected to review the entire literature, just note the main authors and theories. You do not even need to identify the theoretical framework, but convincing argument for the choice. You might point out where your research falls in terns of gaps or deficiencies. A gap is where no knowledge exists about particular topic in literature in the particular context. This will lead us to state main research questions and hypothesis. If there are any research questions you know will be difficult to address, it might be worth to omit them. It might be useful to design a map of literature to guide the structure of the research.
Methodology is where you describe the proposed research design. You show on how you intend to investigate your research question(s). You need to explain and justify your methodology and collection analysis of the data. You can provide rationale by weighing the advantages and disadvantages for your choice. You need to state the sources of your data and demonstrate access to it. You need to show that you have considered ethical issues and any constraints relating to time and resources.
Establish the scope of your research, for example a business in a certain geographical areas. You should also state the limitations of the study. Sometimes additional limitations become apparent after the proposal stage.
We should not ignore the problems if our research. It might be important to identify potential difficulties to check those need to be resolved before conducting it. It might signal at an early stage any issues that might need to be addressed during the research.
In the contributions and timetable section, we cannot truly present the contribution yet in terms of the findings. Therefore the section should be brief and focus on the expected outcome and the purpose of the research. If the purpose of the research is to investigate the impact, it is important to emphasise the outcome is expected to be the contribution to the knowledge.
You may present a Gantt chart showing the timelines of each stage and summarise the timeline. We must be aware that research always takes more time then expected to be. We need to allow contingencies for delays due to exams, holidays, job interviews, illness and so on. We must be realistic about the amount of time required.
We also may include a section with any additional information, where you may need to include a statement on special resources. We might need to supply budget if funding is required.
The budget might be set in a table with columns: Expense, Basis of calculation and Cost and Comments.
You may also need to provide a statement for the budget. This is called the statement of activities of interest.
Another important section would be the reference section. The most commonly used method is the Harvard referencing system. It allows to avoid plagiarism by mentioning all sources of information. If you are quoting or reproducing table or figure, your citation must include the page numbers as well as the name(s) of the author(s), and the year of publication.
The more we have read, the longer the reference list will be. You need to keep careful notes of all the copies and internet sources used.
5. Evaluating the proposal
Considerable part of research will involve the reflection on work we have done. The design needs to provide a good fit between the problem and the methodology used. The research process needs to be logical.
A typical presentation of a proposal would include:
Title. Title of the study, your name, date, organisation.
Introduction. The study purpose. The aims and objectives. Context.
Preliminary literature review. Overview of main studies or map of the literature.
Proposed methodology. Sampling method, data collection, data analysis method.
Expected contribution.
We do not need to be too ambitious. It is much better to submit modest research which we can achieve. We should also try and avoid to impress. Use of complex words and references might not be helpful. Try to be clear and simple.
It is useful to discuss your proposal with friends and family. Thy might be asking important questions you want to include in your proposal for clarification.
We must also be prepared to revise our proposal. You may realise half way through that it is not possible to achieve it.
Proposal is a plan to guide and manage your research.
6. Proposal checklist
You can use this checklist before submitting your proposal.
* Do you have or can you acquire the knowledge and skills for the research?
* Do you have the resources such as time and funding?
* Do you have access to the research data needed?
* Do you need cooperation with certain organisations or people?
* Does your title describe the study well?
* Have you explained the purpose and importance of the study?
* Have you written critical preliminary literature review?
* Have you identified your main research questions?
* Is the timetable realistic?
* Have you avoided plagiarism and all is correctly referenced?
* Have you checked it for grammar and spelling?
We should always follow the guidance required to submit the proposal, do not omit information that is asked for and exceed the word limit.
Bibliography:
McNiff J 2016 You and your action research project. London ; New York : Routledge; Fourth edition.
Collis J & Hussey R 2014 Business Research A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Hampshire UK; Palgrave Macmillan;
Fourth Edition
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