All research endeavours, in both qualitative and quantitative research, in every academic and professional field are preceded by a research proposal. It informs your academic supervisor or potential research contract provider about your conceptualisation of the total research process that you propose to undertake so that they can examine its validity and appropriateness. In any academic field, your research proposal will go through a number of committees for approval. Unless it is approved by all of them, you will not be able to start your research. Hence, it is important for you to study closely what constitutes a research proposal.
You need to write a research proposal whether your research study is quantitative or qualitative and in both cases you use a similar structure. The main difference is in the proposed procedures and methodologies for undertaking the research endeavour. When providing details
for different parts of the research proposal, for quantitative studies, you will detail quantitative methods, procedures and models and, for qualitative studies, your proposed process will be based upon methods and procedures that form the qualitative research methodology.
Certain requirements for a research proposal may vary from university to university, and from discipline to discipline within a university. What is outlined here will satisfy most requirements but you should be selective regarding what is needed in your situation.
A research proposal is an overall plan, scheme, structure and strategy designed to obtain answers to the research questions or problems that constitute your research project. A research proposal should outline the various tasks you plan to undertake to fulfil your research objectives, test hypotheses (if any) or obtain answers to your research questions. It should also state your reasons for undertaking the study. Broadly, a research proposal’s main function is to 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.
In order to achieve this function, a research proposal must tell you, your research supervisor and reviewers the following information about your study:
- what you are proposing to do;
- how you plan to find answers to what you are proposing;
- why you selected the proposed strategies of investigation.
Source: Kumar Ranjit (2012), Research methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners, SAGE Publications Ltd; Third edition.
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