4-Write a Reasearch Proposal-Q&A

Now to be fair, depending on your level of research, your research design choices, your methodological choices might be more constrained by practical issues. In other words, who do you have access to? What data do you have access to? As opposed to methodological research design theory. Regardless, whatever your constraints are, whatever the reasons are for you choosing whichever way you go, make sure that you clarify not just what you're going to do and how you're going to do it, but why you're going to do or why you're planning to do it that way. Include the justification in everything. It's worth saying that if you're not 100% certain about your methodology, if you're not 100% certain about your research design, it makes sense to consult with someone who does know more than you do. Hopefully is an expert in the space. So it might be someone at your university. It might be someone that you know in your private capacity. You could certainly reach out to one of us here, grad coach, but consult with someone who is certain. Someone who does understand whatever methodological approach you you're going to use. Because if you make any mistakes here, they will get spotted very quickly. And in best case, they still approve your research and just give you a feedback that you need to change X, Y and Z. But worst case, if you don't really understand what you're doing here, you might be proposing something that isn't really achievable given your skill set. You might be committing to something which is far bigger than then you originally anticipated. That's not doable with the data that you have. You can create some significant problems down the road once you've already been approved that you're not even aware of. So my advice is just make sure that whatever you're putting down in your methodology section, whatever you're putting down in the research design section, make sure that you fully understand what you're doing. Don't just use what big words and technical words that you don't fully understand. Consult with someone who does know what they're doing. That will save you a lot of pain down the road. Of course, you can have a free consultation with any of our research specialists here at grad coach. I'll include the link to that below this video. Right, let's move on to the next ingredient. Ingredient number five of a winning dissertation or thesis research proposal is the reference list. Now this might go without saying, but being an academic document, you need to have a 100% on-point reference list at the end of your research proposal. You might get away with slightly shoddy referencing in an assignments or coursework, but as I said, what they're looking for in a dissertation or in a thesis and specifically in the proposal is for you to demonstrate research skills. And one of those research skills in an academic environment is technically correct referencing. So make sure that you understand exactly what the referencing requirements are from your school, for example, Harvard or APA format, whatever specific format they require, and then use some sort of referencing software, whether that's Mendeley or Zotero or EndNote, RefWorks, whatever the case might be, use some software to take care of that. Certainly don't try and handle referencing in any manual fashion. It might sound like that's pretty obvious, but you'll be surprised what I've seen in some dissertations and theses. So make sure that your referencing is 100% on-point. Make use of some referencing software. We've got how-to videos on both Mendeley and Zotero. I'm quite a big fan of Mendeley. I'll include the links to those below this video. One point to make about this reference section is that you shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking that your references and referencing only happens in the literature review section. Your referencing should happen pretty much throughout all the sections that we've discussed. So in your introduction, you'll be speaking about context. You'll be speaking about the theoretical need for your research. Make sure that you have tons of references there. In your methodological section, you're going to be talking about what you've decided to do in terms of methods, what you've decided to do in terms of research design. Again, those decisions need to be backed up with some sort of justification, and those justifications should be built on some theory. So you should have references, you should have citations. Make sure that you have a flow of citations throughout the document and therefore a solid reference list in your research proposal. Don't let these things only sit in the literature review section. Right, so that's referencing. Let's get on to the final ingredient, and that is ingredient number six. Ingredient number six is practicalities. Practicalities can be a few different things that can vary from school to school, university to university. For practicalities, I'm bundling a few different things into ingredient number six. Essentially, we're talking about anything that relates to the practical components, the implementation, the pulling off of your research project. Some of the things that you might look at here are, for example, a project plan. This might be something like a Gantt chart or some sort of project plan, whether that's just in Excel or any sort of project planning software. A clear outline of what is it that you're going to do through the various phases of your research. How are you going to do it? How much time are you going to spend on X? How much time you're going to spend on Y? What buffers have you put in? Have you allowed for communication with your supervisor or advisor? Basically just showing that you have given clear thought to how you're going to pull this thing off and that your plan is reasonable and achievable within the time that you have. So a project plan is something that you might have a look at here. Another component is a resource plan or a budget. Not every piece of research will necessarily require additional resources, but some pieces of research will require a budget, will require some sort of financial resources and some of them might require physical resources such as lab equipment. Or you might need access to two rooms to have focus groups, etc. So, again, what you want to show here is that you've given thought to what it is that you need in order to pull off your research and how you're going to get that and then potentially what you're going to do if you can't get that. What are your backup plans? Another thing that you might want to look at here or you might be required to look at here is risk management. SSOS, as I just mentioned, you'll have a need for resources. You'll have a need for budgetary requirements. Potentially you'll have a project plan that you're working with. All of these things are ideals. They're there if everything goes right, but that's not how it works in the real world. So you want to potentially present a risk management plan or at least just a risk register to show that you are aware of what the potential risks are. The potential things that could fall through and then most importantly, what are your plans if those do fall through? What are your responses to the potential risks in your instance? Give some thought to how things might not go according to plan and what you'll do in those and those events. A final thing that might be required is some sort of discussion about ethical adherence. Universities always have ethical standards or ethical compliance requirements in terms of any research that's done under their banner and so you should provide some discussion of how your research will comply with those ethical guidelines or ethical requirements and if there are any potential issues how you're going to deal with them, how you're going to seek approval for any specific requirements. So make sure that you cover those potential bases in terms of the practicalities of your research. So those are the six essential ingredients of how to write a winning dissertation or thesis proposal. Why is it important to consult with someone knowledgeable about research methodology when developing a research proposal? Consulting with someone who understands research methodology ensures that the chosen approach is appropriate and feasible for the study. They can provide valuable guidance and prevent potential errors or missteps in the research design process. What role does the reference list play in a dissertation or thesis proposal? The reference list serves to demonstrate the researcher's familiarity with existing literature and theoretical frameworks relevant to their study. It showcases the depth of research conducted and ensures proper attribution of ideas and sources throughout the proposal. Can you explain the significance of including practicalities in a research proposal? Including practicalities in a research proposal demonstrates the researcher's preparedness to execute the study effectively. It covers aspects such as project planning, resource allocation, risk management, and ethical considerations, ensuring that the proposed research is feasible and ethically sound.