FOR 500 PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH: PROPOSAL
WRITING PROCESS
Dr. Kofi Akamani, Department of Forestry, SIUC
01/22/2013
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THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Phases of research (Graziano & Raulin 2007)
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Idea-generating phase
Problem-definition phase
Procedures-design phase
Observation phase
Data-analysis phase
Interpretation phase
Communication phase
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THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Attributes of a good proposal (Przeworski &
Salomon 1995)
• Conceptually innovative
• Methodologically rigorous
• Rich substantive content
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
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Choosing a research topic
Choosing a research approach
Reviewing the literature
Considering the role of theory
Writing the proposal
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CHOOSING A TOPIC
• Identify a research topic based on a research
problem
– “A research problem is the issue that exists in the
literature, in theory, or in practice that leads to a need
for the study” (Creswell 2003: 80)
• Sources of research problems
– Personal experience of researcher
– Debates in the literature
– Policy debates
• Draft a tentative title for the study
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CHOOSING A TOPIC
Judging a good topic
• Can the topic be researched?
– Availability of resources and skills
• Should the topic be researched?
– Intellectual merit
– Broader impacts
– Personal benefits
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CHOOSING AN APPROACH
Choices in research
• Paradigms
– Post-positivism, constructivism, pragmatism etc.
• Approaches
– Qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods
• Methodologies
– Survey methodology, case study, grounded theory etc.
• Methods
– Questionnaire, interviews, focus groups etc.
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CHOOSING AN APPROACH
• Choice of research approach has philosophical
and methodological implications
• Criteria for selecting an approach
– Match between problem and approach
– Personal experience and philosophy
– Audience
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CHOOSING AN APPROACH
Qualitative approach
• Aims at understanding meaning of
phenomena from participants’ perspective
• Assumption of multiple realities
• Assumption of relative truths
• holistic
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CHOOSING AN APPROACH
Quantitative approach
• Aims at explanation and prediction of
relationships
• Used in testing theory
• Assumes existence of objective realities and
absolute truths
• Reductionist
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CHOOSING AN APPROACH
Mixed methods approach
• Combines multiple methods to understand
research problem
• Problem-centered/policy-oriented
• Based on pragmatic assumptions
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REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
Purpose of literature reviews
• To identify and discuss related studies
• Relate a study to the broader literature
• Establish knowledge gaps and opportunities
for further research
• Establish importance of a study
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REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
Qualitative literature review
• More or less literature depending on
theoretical orientation
• Used in introduction to frame the problem
• Placed in separate section of proposal
• Incorporated into final section of study
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REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
Quantitative literature review
• Used to introduce research problem
• Used deductively to derive research questions
or hypotheses
• Used to compare findings
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REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
Mixed methods literature review
• Uses either qualitative or quantitative
approach to literature review
• Literature use depends on type of mixed
methods design and the major type of
research approach
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REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
Steps in literature review
• Begin with key words e.g. from research topic
• Search library data base for journals and books
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Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)
Social Science Citation Index
Dissertation Abstracts International
Annual reviews, specific journals, special issues etc
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REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
Steps in literature review
• Prepare an annotated bibliography i.e.
summaries and critique of relevant works
• Synthesize the research literature
– Clarify roots of your research questions/objectives
– Major themes, knowledge gaps etc.
– New relationships and conceptualizations
– Need for further research
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THE ROLE OF THEORY
Defining theory
• “A theory is an interrelated set of constructs
(or variables) formed into propositions, or
hypotheses, that specify the relationship
among variables” (Creswell 2003: 120)
• Theories are useful in understanding,
explaining and predicting phenomena
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THE ROLE OF THEORY
Theory use in qualitative research
• May or may not be used explicitly
• Used as lens or perspective to frame research
question
• Used to present key elements of the context
• Used to suggest potential emergent patterns
• Used inductively at the end of the study
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THE ROLE OF THEORY
Theory use in quantitative research
• Used to present constructs and propositions
• Serves as framework for research questions,
hypotheses, data collection etc.
• Generally introduced early in the proposal
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THE ROLE OF THEORY
Theory use in mixed methods research
• Used in theory testing
• Used to understand emergent patterns
• Used as lens to guide the entire study
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
• Introduction
– Literature review
– Theory
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Research purpose
Research questions/hypotheses
Methods
Outcomes/Final products
Work plan
Budget
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Introduction
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Identification of problem and background
Review of studies on the problem
Gaps in the existing literature
Focus and justification of the proposed study
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Purpose statement
• Provides orientation about the intent and
direction of the study
• Purpose statements vary among research
approaches
• Qualitative research purpose statements
include: “describe,” “understand,” “explore,”
“develop,” “examine the meaning of,” etc.
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Purpose statement
• Quantitative purpose statements identify
variables and contains words connecting
variables, such as “the relationship between,”
and “comparison of”
• Mixed methods purpose statements contain
both qualitative and quantitative components
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Research questions and hypotheses
• Qualitative approach
– Use research questions (central questions and sub
questions), not hypotheses
– Use words that convey exploratory or emergent
research, e.g. “how”
– Avoid quantitative terminologies, such as “affect”
“impact,” “determine,” “cause,” “relate” etc
– Research questions may evolve
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Research questions and hypotheses
• Quantitative approach
– To avoid redundancy, research questions or
hypotheses may be used but not both
• Mixed methods
– Use both qualitative and quantitative research
approaches
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
Methods
• Clarify and justify your research paradigm,
research approach, and methodology
• Provide detailed procedures of methods
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Sampling (probability/non-probability)
Data collection/data generation
Data analysis
Validity and reliability/trustworthiness and credibility
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WRITING THE PROPOSAL
• Final products
– Thesis/dissertation
– Publications
– Conference presentations
• Work plan/schedule
• Budget
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REFERENCES
• Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative,
quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed).
Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
• Graziano, A. M., & Raulin, M. L. (2007). Research
methods: A process of inquiry (6th ed). New York:
Pearson.
• Przeworski, A., & Salomon, F. (1995). On the art of
writing proposals: Some candid suggestions for
applicants to Social Science Research Council
Competitions. New York: Social Science Research
Council.
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