1-Write a Reasearch Proposal-Q&A

In this episode of Grad Coach TV, the host discusses how to write a research proposal for a thesis or dissertation. The purpose of a research proposal is to clearly and concisely communicate the research focus, justify the research, and demonstrate that it is doable within the given constraints. The host emphasizes the importance of convincing the reader on these three criteria in order to increase the chances of approval. The video also covers essential components of a solid research proposal, such as a provisional title and an introduction with a research problem. The host provides examples and tips for writing these sections effectively. It is important to consult the university's guidelines and requirements for the research proposal. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Grad Coach TV, where we demystify the ivory tower world of academia and show you how to work smart and earn the big marks. In this video we're going to be looking at how to write up a research proposal, whether that's for a thesis or a dissertation at undergraduate, master's, Ph.D. level. Whatever level, we're going to be looking at how to write up a solid research proposal. Now this video is based on a chapter from our free dissertation e-book, which you can download at the Grad Coach website. I'll share the link to that below this video. So without any delay let's get right into it. Now, before we jump into how to write a research proposal, it's important for us to take a step back and ask the bigger question of why. In other words, what is the purpose, what is the function of a research proposal? If you understand the why, then the how and the what everything becomes a lot clearer, a lot simpler to execute on. So what is the function of the research proposal? Quite simply, it's to communicate, in a very clear and concise way, to communicate what your research is all about and convince the reader, whoever they might be, convince them that they should approve the research. Now convincing is the key word here. If you don't have a convincing proposal, you don't really have any chance of getting approved. So what do you need to convince the reader of? Obviously, I can't speak for every university, but I can say there are a few common things that they're looking for. So there are at least three things that you need to convince the reader of. Number one, you need to convince them that your research focus is clearly articulated. In other words, is it crystal crystal clear what exactly you're going to be researching? What are your research questions? Where will you be focusing? What will you be covering? What will you not be covering? So you need to communicate that you know exactly what it is that you're going to be focusing on. The second thing that you need to convince them of is that your research is well justified. In other words, are you filling a gap in the research, or are you just doing the same thing that everyone else has done? Does your research have clear justification in terms of originality? Is it something new, or at least is it something within a new context, and importantly, is it something that is worth figuring out? If your research questions are answered, are they going to add some value to the body of knowledge to whatever industry that you're working in? So that's another important requirement. The third thing that you need to convince them of is that your research is doable. Now what I mean by doable is that you can execute on this research within the constraints that you have. Constraints such as time, constraints such as money, constraints such as your own research skills. So you need to show them that not only is this research worth doing, but you are the right man or woman for the job and that this is very doable within the time frame. Even the best research ideas won't be approved if they're not achievable, if they're not plausible within your context. So make sure that you're convincing on that front as well. If you're not convincing the reader on at least these three criteria, your chances of getting approved are really really slim. So give some thought to these three things. If you can't answer these these questions, if you can't hit back with responses on these three points at this at this stage, you might want to just go back and think a little bit more about what exactly you're going to be doing and whether that's doable and whether it's worth doing before you start writing a research proposal. Otherwise you're just going to be wasting time. So make sure you cover those three bases. Right, now that we've covered the why, let's move on to how to write a solid research proposal for your dissertation or thesis. So I'm going to explain how to write a dissertation or thesis proposal by looking at the essential components, the essential ingredients, if we can, of a solid research proposal. Now it's important to note that there are variances between schools and some schools might want a little extra. So make sure that while you take in whatever is covered in this video, make sure that you're consulting whatever brief or whatever workshop notes or whatever your university has provided so that you are 100% aware of exactly what they expect in the research proposal, right? So enough about that. Let's have a look at the essential ingredients of a rock-solid research proposal. Ingredient number one is a provisional title or a working title. Provisional is the key word here because this is something that might change, probably will change as you work through your dissertation or thesis or research project. So don't get too stuck up in conjuring up the perfect research title at this point in time, but nevertheless give it some thought. So what makes for a good research title? A good research title should convey the essence of what exactly you're going to be focusing on as concisely as possible. So let's take a look at an example. An example here is a quantitative study into the drivers of consumer trust in robo-advisors, a British context. Within 15 words here this title clearly communicates a few things. The first thing it communicates is the broad topic of consumer trust. So we already have an idea, this topic or this dissertation or thesis is broadly about consumer trust. It fits within that category. The next thing that it communicates is the focal topic. So it narrows down the focus to the drivers of consumer trust in online robo-advisors. So now we're narrowing that down to a specific industry. It also sets the context. So it's very clear from this title that this is within a British context within the UK and another thing that it sets is that it's online. Robo-advisors are online products and so we already know that now we are talking about a British context and an online environment, which is is naturally quite different from an offline environment. The last thing that it communicates is the methodology, or at least it gives a hint as to the research design, and that is quantitative. In other words, this is going to be a study that hinges on numbers, that hinges on statistics, on some sort of statistical analysis. So that's a good example of a research title that conveys quite a bit in 15 words or so. Now it's important to state here that your university might have some limitations in terms of how long a title should be. They might even have their own convention, so make sure that you check in and that you check your notes, check your workshop notes, your study guide, etc. Make sure that you're not missing some specific requirements in terms of your university, but as I say don't get too wrapped up in terms of working title because it is just something to put down in the interim. Of course, whoever is going to approve your research proposal is not going to just look at the working title and make a decision on that, so don't get too stuck in it. You might want to take this example as a nice way of laying out, as a nice nomenclature for a title. Alright, let's get on to the next ingredient of a solid dissertation or thesis proposal. The second ingredient of a solid research proposal is an introduction and a research problem. These might take the form of chapters or just sections, depending on whatever format your university prefers, but you definitely need to include both of them. So how do you go about writing up this section? The first thing that you need to do is you need to provide a broad view of the topic and the context that you're looking at. In other words, introduce the reader to the broader topic. For example, consumer trust, in the in the previous example that I gave you. You're going to provide a broad overview of the topic, introduce key terminology, introduce any jargon, and introduce anything that's required for the reader to wrap their head around the big picture of whatever you're going to be focusing on. Once you've done that, you then need to narrow it down to your specific focus. In other words, what exactly are you going to be researching, what are you going to be sinking your teeth into in your dissertation or thesis? What's really important here is to not just get stuck in the what, but to also focus on the why.in fact, the why is arguably even more important. In other words, how is your dissertation or your your thesis topic justified? What is the gap in the research that you're going to be filling? For example, you might argue that there is a wealth of existing research on topic X, but that that topic has not been covered in your specific country or within your specific industry. And within your specific country, within your specific industry, there's reason that the existing research might not be applicable. It might be down to cultural components, it might be down to regulatory components, but if you're going to make an argument that there is a wealth of existing research but it doesn't necessarily apply in industry X or country X, then make sure that you justify why that is. Another angle that you might take is that there is a wealth of research on topic X already and that that was done quite some time ago and the context has changed quite significantly. So we live in a world where there is just consistent change, a lot of which is driven by technology, and that might have some impact on whatever topic you're looking at and you might say, well, times have changed and therefore we need to revisit this topic we needed to reassess the validity of the state of research there. Because there are these new variables that potentially throw things into a new state. Another argument that you might make is that the existing research has methodological limitations. Now this would require that you have a pretty solid understanding of research design, so be careful with this one. You might argue that existing research is lacking in terms of sampling. You might argue that it's lacking in terms of the approach that was taken, qualitative or quantitative. Lacking in some way. So again, you would justify that your research is warranted, that it's worth doing because of some sort of methodological limitation. Whichever way you go, and I'm just presenting a few justifications, but whichever way you go, make sure that you really focus on both the what, in other words what are you going to be researching, and the why, why is it important that this gets researched, why is it that this hasn't been done before in other words how are you going to be original. So make sure that you cover both the what and the why in this section of introduction and research problem. What is the primary objective of a research proposal according to the text? The primary objective of a research proposal is to effectively communicate the nature of the research and persuade the reader to approve it. How does the text emphasize the importance of understanding the purpose of a research proposal? The text highlights that comprehending the purpose of a research proposal is essential because it clarifies the approach and content required for effective execution. What are the three key elements that the author suggests need to be convincing in a research proposal? The three key elements are articulating the research focus clearly, justifying the research thoroughly, and demonstrating the feasibility of conducting the research within given constraints. How does the text suggest researchers should approach justifying their research in a proposal? The text suggests researchers should justify their research by addressing gaps in existing literature, contextual relevance, changes over time, or methodological limitations in previous studies. What does the text propose as essential components of a solid research proposal? The essential components include a provisional title, an introduction providing a broad overview and context of the topic, and a clear justification for the research problem being addressed.