Chapter 3: WRITING THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Abstract:

The development of a proposal is probably the most important part of the research process. It deals with all the important questions which your supervisor or sponsor may have. These include what you want to do, why it is important and how you are going to do it.

A good proposal therefore helps you to sort out your ideas and to plan a research strategy. For many new researchers, the proposal is the most difficult stage of the research process to complete. In this chapter, we help you to address the important elements of a well-written proposal.


1. Why is a high quality proposal so important?

All things being equal, the difference between a good and an excellent researcher often lies in the structured approach of the latter. The purpose of the research proposal and work plan is to help you give some structure to your ideas. The single word "proposal" is often used to include both the proposal and the research work plan. However, these elements treat two distinctly different areas.

Think of a research proposal as the statement of your current position and your intended destination. The proposal therefore focuses on the leadership questions and answers.

These questions must always be answered by all researchers. The questions deal with what you want to accomplish, why it is important to try reach your goal and how you are going to do the research. Here you prove to your client, sponsor, study leader, university research committee, etc. that you are doing the correct research.

Our experience of reviewing proposals for government and other research grants as well as for postgraduate research has shown that without exception: if you fail to adequately answer the leadership questions, your proposed project is unlikely to be accepted.

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