Notes on Research Proposals
Components of the Research Proposal
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Problem Description/Statement
Research Objectives
Importance/Benefits of the Study
Literature Review
Research Design / Data Analysis
Deliverables
Schedule
[Facilities and Special Resources]
References
Budget (Appendix)
Problem Statement
• Review the discussion from Week 2 on
problem statements.
Purpose of the Problem Statement
• Represents the reasons/motivation behind your proposal
(based on the specific domain of study).
• It specifies the conditions you want to change or the gaps
in existing knowledge you intend to fill (this is the
specification of the research problem).
• Should be supported by evidence.
• Specifies your hypothesis that suggests a solution to the
problem.
• Shows your familiarity with prior research on the topic and
why it needs to be extended.
• Even if the problem is obvious, your reviewers want to
know how clearly you can state it.
Guidelines for writing a good
abstract/problem statement
All should have the following elements in this order:
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State the general case / problem
Describe what others have done
What’s missing / where is the gap in knowledge?
Describe the proposed solution or research
objectives/questions
5. Specify one or more specific hypotheses
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Should include specific metrics/measurements
Discuss how their validation addresses the research questions
6. Specific results (or research design, if it is a proposal)
Purpose of the Research
Objectives Section
• Specify the outcome of your project, the
end product(s)
• Keep you objectives
– Specific: indicate precisely what you intend to
change through your project
– Measurable –what you accept as proof of
project success
– Logical – how each objective contributes to
systematically to achieving your overall goal
Research Objectives
• Flows naturally from the problem statement
– state your hypotheses clearly
– give the reader a concrete, achievable goal
• Verify the consistency of the proposal
– check to see that each objective is discussed in
the research design, data analysis and results
sections
Literature Review
• Recent or historically significant research
studies
• Always refer to the original source
• Discuss how the literature applies, show the
weaknesses in the design, discuss how you
would avoid similar problems
• How is your idea different/better?
Importance/Benefits of the Study
• Importance of the doing the study now
• What are the potential impacts on
– Research in the area
– Applications of the research if successful
– Broader impact (in other areas, on the society,
in education, etc.)
• If you find this difficult to write, then most
likely you have not understood the problem
Research Design
• What you are going to do in technical terms.
– May contain many subsections
– Be specific about what research methodology you
will use and why
– Provide details of your proposed solutions to the
problem and sub-problems
– Provide information for tasks such as sample
selection, data collection, instrumentation,
validation, procedures, ethical requirements
Schedule & Deliverables
• Include the major phases of the project
• exploratory studies, data analysis, report generation
• Critical Path Method (CPM) of scheduling may help
• Deliverables:
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Measurement instruments
Algorithms
Computer programs / prototypes
Comparative evaluation
Other technical reports
Budget and Resources
• Itemized Budget
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Access to special systems or computers
Infrastructure needs
Costs of surveys, user studies, etc.
Cost of travel if related to research design
• Provide a Budget Narrative
• This part is usually an appendix.
Proposal Characteristics
• Straightforward document
– No extraneous or irreverent material
• Don’t tell us why you became interested in the topic
– The first words you write are the most important ones
• Not a literary production
– Clear, sharp and precise
– economy of words; no rambling sentences
• Clearly organized
– Outlined with proper use of headings and subheadings
Suggested Organization
• Title, Abstract, Keywords (problem statement)
• Introduction and Overview
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Background information; problem description in context
Hypotheses and objectives
Assumptions and delimitations
Importance and benefits
Related Work/Literature Review
Research Design and Methodology
Plan of Work and Outcomes (deliverables, schedule)
Conclusions and Future Work
References
Budget (appendix)
Weaknesses in Research Proposals
• Research Problem
–unfocused
–unimportant (done before!)
–more complex
–limited relevance
Weaknesses in Research Proposals
• Research Design
– so vague it prevents evaluation
– inappropriate or impossible data
– procedures inappropriate for problem
• Threats to validity
• Lack of reliable measures
– lacking controls
Purpose of the Research Design
• Describes your project activities in detail
• Indicates how your objective will be
accomplished
• Description should include the sequence,
flow, and interrelationship of activities
• It should discuss the risks of your method,
and indicate why your success is probable
• Relate what is unique about your approach.
• Much more on this later ….
Writing Tips for Research Design
• Begin with your objectives
• Describe the precise steps you will follow to carry
out each objective, including what will be done,
and who will do it.
• Keep asking and answering the “What’s next?”
question.
• Once you have determined the sequence of events,
cast the major milestones into a time-and-task
chart
Scientific Writing
• Prosaic
• Clear, accurate, but not dull
• Economy – every sentence necessary but
not to the point of over condensing
• Ego less – you are writing for the readers
not yourself
Scientific Tone
• Objective and accurate
• To inform not entertain
• Do not over qualify – modify every claim
with caveats and cautions
• Never use idioms like “crop up”, “loose
track”, “it turned out that”, etc.
• Use examples if they aid in clarification
Scientific Motivation
• Brief summaries at the beginning and end of
each section
• The connection between one paragraph and
the next should be obvious
• Make sure your reader has sufficient
knowledge to understand what follows
Other Writing Issues
• The upper hand – inclusion of offhanded remarks
like “ …this is a straightforward application …”
• Obfuscation – aim is to give an impression of
having done something without actually claiming
to have done it
• Analogies – only worthwhile if it significantly
reduces the work of understanding, most of the
time bad analogies lead the reader astray
Writing Issues
• Straw men – indefensible hypothesis posed
for the sole purpose of being demolished
– “it can be argued that databases do not require
indexes”
• Also use to contrast a new idea with some
impossibly bad alternative, to put the new
idea in a favorable light
Unsubstantiated Claims
• Example:
– Most user prefer the graphical style of interface.
– We believe that ….
• Example
– Another possibility would be a disk-based
method, but this approach is unlikely to be
successful.
– Another …, but our experience suggests that …
References and Citation
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Up-to-date
Relevant (no padding)
Original source
First order: books and journal articles
Second order: conference article
Third order: technical report
No private communications or forums ( material
cannot be accessed or verified) if you must leave
as a footnote not in the bibliography
• Do not cite support for common knowledge
Reference and Citation
• Carefully relate your new work to existing
work, show how your work builds on
previous knowledge, and how it differs
from other relevant results.
• References – demonstrate the claims of
new, knowledge of the research area,
pointers to background reading
Citation Style
• References should not be anonymous
– Other work [6] -> Marsden [6] has …
• In self-references, readers should know that
you are using yourself to support your
argument not independent authorities
• Avoid unnecessary discussion of references,
Several authors …., we cite …
Citation style
• Ordinal-number style, name-and-date style,
superscripted ordinal numbers, and strings.
• Use anyone, but use one!
• Entries ordered
– By appearance of citation
– alphabetically
Quotation
Text from another source
If short – enclosed in double quotes
If long – set aside in an indented block
Long quotations, full material, algorithms,
figures may require permission from the
publisher and from the author of the original
Use of quotes for other reasons is not
recommended
Acknowledgements
• Anyone who made a contribution
• Advice, proofreading, technical support,
funding resources
• Don’t list your family, unless they really
contributed to the scientific contents
Ethics
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Present opinions as fact
Distort truths
Plagiarize
Imply that previously published results are original
Papers available on the internet – authors put out an
informal publication and becomes accepted as a formal.
It is expected that the informal version will be removed