Research ProposalOperational Plan for obtaining answers to research questions

June 19, 2013

Proposal: An overall PlanDesign to obtain answer to the research

questions or problemsOutline the various tasks you plan to undertake

to fulfill your research objectives

FunctionTo detail the operational plan for obtaining answers to

your research questions. In doing so it ensures and reassures the reader of the validity of the methodology for obtaining answers to your research questions accurately and objectively

A research proposal must tell:What you are proposing to doHow you plan to find answers to what you are proposingWhy you selected the proposed strategies of

investigation

Contents1. Introduction – including a brief literature review

Broader perspective2. The problem

Issues relating to central themeGaps in the existing body of knowledge/unanswered questionsMain questions that are being answered through proposed

studyIdentify what knowledge is available/difference of opinionRational that how your study will fill the identified gaps

3. Objectives/research questions of your study1. Statement of main and sub-objectives

Contents4. Hypothesis to be tested (if applicable)

What you are going to test Use correct wordings

5. Proposed study design Study design used to answer your research questions Case study/descriptive/cross-sectional/etc. Identify the strength and weaknesses of study design Details about logistical procedures Details about population/sample/data collection methods/etc.

6. Setting for your study Brief description of organization, agency or community where study will

be conducted (services, administrative structure, community size and social profile, issues relevant to your study, etc.)

Salient features of study population

Contents7. Measurement Procedures

Details regarding operationalizing of major variables Discussion of instrument (including justification, strengths and weaknesses) Outline major segments of research tool and their relevance to main study

objectives Evidence of reliability and validity Attach a copy of research instrument

8. Sampling Size of sampling population (if known with source) Sample size with justification Explanation of sample design (simple random sampling/stratified random

sampling/others)9. Ethical issues

Identify relevant ethical issues propose ways to deal with them

Contents10. Analysis of Data

Data processing procedures Specify proposed strategy for data analysis

11. Structure of the report Proposed chapters of the study (in light of your objectives)

12. Problem and limitations Problems – refer to difficulties relating to logistical details Limitations – designate structural problems relating to methodological

aspects of the study Anticipated problems (availability of data, securing permission from the

agency to carry out study, obtaining sample, others) Due to limited resources– sometimes you do less than an ideal job – but –

be aware and communicate – any limitations that could affect the validity of your conclusions

Limitation of the study design, sampling or measurement procedures

Contents13. Appendix

Attach research instrument List of references???

14. Work schedule Proposed time-frame for the project Keep sometime towards end as a cushion in case of any

unforeseen hurdles15. References and bibliography

References to the literatureNo separate section for ‘literature review’References to the literature should be included in all

sectionsLiterature on issues pertaining to research design under

‘study design’Literature relating to sampling under ‘sampling’Literature pertaining to research instrument under

‘measurement procedures’and so on

ExamplesPlanned study: relationship between academic achievement and social environment

Introduction may includeRole of education in our societyMajor changes in the philosophy of education over timeFactors affecting attitudes towards educationDevelopment of education in Pakistan Role of parents and peers in academic achievementsImpact of social environment on academic achievementEtc.

The problemWhat theories have been developed to explain the

relationship between academic achievement and social environment?

Theoretical models will be basis of your study?What do previous studies have to say?

Objectives

Hypothesis

Study Design

Sampling

Analysis of data

Structure of reportIt is proposed that the report will be divided into the

following chapters:Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: Study populationChapter 3: Extent of parental involvement and academic

achievementChapter 4: Academic achievement and student attitudes

towards teachersSummary, conclusions and recommendations

Work schedule

Processing of Data in Quantitative Research

Data processingOnce data/information have been collected the next step

is to process the dataHow do you make sense of the information collected?How can you use this information to find answers to your

research questions?How the information be analyzed to achieve the objectives

of your study?

EditingRaw data (or simply data) ---- to ------ clean data (free from

inconsistencies and incompleteness)

Research Instrument: Identify and minimize, as far as possible, errors, incompleteness,

misclassification and gaps in the information obtained from respondents

Possible errors: Forget to ask a question Forget to record a response Wrongly classify a response Write incomplete response Write illegibly

CodingAfter data cleaning, next step id data codingIt is the process of transforming the information into numerical

values Depends on

measurement scales used for measuring a variablehow the findings need to be communicated

For coding quantitative and qualitative data:Step I: Developing a code bookStep II: Pre-testing the code bookStep III coding the dataStep IV: verifying the coded data

Developing a code bookCode book: provides set of rules for assigning numerical

values to answers obtained from respondentsSee example in the text book

AnalysisA frame of analysis should consist of:

Which variables you are planning to analyze?How to analyze?What statistical procedures suite to the selected variables?Cross tabulation of variablesEtc.

Role of Statistics in ResearchSimple tasks of statistics may include:

Data summarization (percentages, mean, mode, variance, etc.) Statistics can play a major role in answering research question

with a level of confidence on findingsMay assess the contribution of each variable in bringing out

changeMeasure the association, relationship or independence between

various variablesAscertain strength of these relationships (correlation coefficients)Make predictions by establishing trends (trend analyses) and

developing models (regressions models)