3-Write a Reasearch Proposal-Q&A

The methodology chapter in a dissertation or thesis proposal explains how the research will be conducted and why certain approaches are chosen. Researchers should approach this section knowing it is subject to change as the research progresses. Justification for each aspect of the methodology is important, including research philosophy, methodological approach, sampling strategy, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques. Justifying choices throughout the proposal demonstrates understanding and enhances credibility. Right, so that's the literature review component or ingredient covered. Let's have a look at the next essential ingredient. The fourth essential ingredient of a winning dissertation proposal or thesis proposal is the research design, or sometimes referred to as the methodology. So far in your research proposal you've covered the what and you've covered the why. What exactly are you going to be focusing on and why is that important? Why is that original? And in your literature review you expanded on that to see what else other people had to say about your what-what. What you haven't covered so far is the how, in other words how are you going to be approaching this research? How are you going to be executing on it to identify or at least try to identify the answers to your research questions? That is what the research design or the methodology chapter is all about. Explaining in detail how you're going to be approaching this and then why you've decided to approach it in the way that you have. Now much like the working title, methodology in your specific approach might change as you sink your teeth into your dissertation. You might find that you end up doing, if you were going a quantitative approach, you might find that you end up doing a slightly different set of analysis depending on the outcomes of the data, etc. So don't get too hung up in specifying or thinking that whatever you put down on paper here you are committed to. Maybe you wouldn't want to switch drastically, you wouldn't want to go from say a quant study to a qual study, although I have seen that happen, but you don't need to feel like if you write here that you're going to do analysis x, y, and z. Three different types of statistical analysis you don't need to feel like it's going to be the end of the world if you if you don't stick 100% to those. Very often the data comes out in a different way from from what we expected. For example, perhaps a little statistical, but you might expect to have a normal distribution of data and you end up with non-normal distribution and therefore you need to apply a different set of analyses. Don't don't stress out if none of this makes sense just yet, the important thing to understand is that the methodology is is somewhat tentative. Don't get too wrapped up in fearing that you're ultra committed once you put it down. In terms of discussing the how of your research design, there are a few things that you'll need to look at. So let's take a look at what those are. The first thing you want to look at is your research philosophy. In other words, are you taking an interpretivist approach? Are you in taking an empirical approach, etc? You want to cover that up front. The second thing you want to look at is your methodological approach. In other words, is it a qualitative study? Is it a quantitative study? Are you perhaps going to go a mixed method route where you incorporate a bit of both? You want to have a look at that. Your sampling is really important. In other words, who will your sample be? Who will you be collecting data from? How many people will you be speaking to? What sample do they represent in terms of their generalizability, etc? Another important point is what data you plan to collect. Data about what? In what form are you going to be collecting that data? How do you plan to collect it? Are you going to be using surveys or are you going to be using interviews or you're going to be holding focus groups? Then very importantly, how do you plan to analyze it? So if you're taking a quantitative approach, are you going to perhaps use regression analysis? Are you going to use structural equation modeling? Are you going to, in a qualitative environment, are you going to be using thematic analysis or QDA? These are all potential design choices that you need to make and most importantly, not just discuss what you will be doing, in other words what you'll be choosing for each of these variables, but why you've chosen. In other words, what your justification. Throughout your proposal you need to justify everything. You need to explain why it is that you've chosen to go this route and not that route. Remember that your dissertation or thesis is assessing research skills. It's assessing whether or not you can undertake rigorous research. So they want to see when you are proposing that you're going to cover X and you're going to do it in this way, they want to see that you understand why, that you understand why those are the appropriate choices. What is the purpose of including the research design or methodology chapter in a dissertation or thesis proposal? The research design or methodology chapter explains how the research will be conducted and why certain approaches have been chosen. It provides a detailed plan for executing the research and addressing the research questions. How does the text advise researchers to approach the methodology section of their proposal? The text advises researchers to recognize that the methodology outlined in the proposal is somewhat tentative and may evolve as the research progresses. It emphasizes the importance of justifying each aspect of the chosen methodology and being flexible to adjustments based on the data collected. What are the key elements that should be addressed in the methodology section of a research proposal according to the text? The key elements include the research philosophy, methodological approach, qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods, sampling strategy, data collection methods, and data analysis techniques. It is essential to not only outline these elements but also provide justification for why they were chosen. How does the text emphasize the importance of justification throughout the research proposal? The text highlights that justification is crucial in demonstrating the researcher's understanding of their chosen approach and its appropriateness for the study. It asserts that providing reasoning behind decisions ensures the proposal reflects rigorous research skills and enhances credibility.