Importance of a research proposal?

The Ph.D. research proposal serves different purposes including

• Testing the student/researcher’s knowledge on the chosen topic and whether he/she can explore it.
• Enables the supervisor to determine whether the research is in line with the university’s guidance or has the capacity to support you.
• If you would need funding or grants for your work, the proposal enables donors to determine the viability of the research.

What’s the of a Ph.D. research proposal

The length or word count of your Ph.D. research proposal may depend on the requirements of your university or department. Most universities give a specific number of words your proposal should fall within. Some range from 2000 to 3500 or by pages with specific fonts. If you are in doubt, seek clarification from your supervisor.

Steps to writing your Ph.D. Research Proposal

1. Title

The title is one of the most important parts of your proposal. It should be clear and not ambiguous. It should also give a clue to your research question. 

2. Abstract

The abstract summarises what your proposal entails. It should state the relevance of your work, your research question, and the procedure you would use to attain your findings.

3. Literature review

The literature review of your proposal summarises previous works or existing knowledge on your field of research. It comprises the existing theories, models of work, gaps in them, and identify potential areas needing further research. The literature review must prove the relevance of your research to your field of study. In case you are seeking funding, it must convince your potential donors about the viability of the research.

4. Research Aims & Objectives

Before embarking on every research, you should have an aim and objectives you seek to achieve. The aim stipulates the problems you intend to solve, while the objectives are the steps to be taken to achieve those aims. When stating your aims and objectives, you can also outline the relevance of the research.

5. Research design and methodology

As you go about your research design, you can follow this structure:

• Sample/Population 
  How broad is your research sample or target audience you seek to use? This should be discussed in the proposal.
• Method
  Which research method are you using to achieve your intended findings? It is workable and have you access its potentials.
• Data collection
  What type of data are you using and how will you collect and validate them. What limitations are you expecting to encounter?
• Data Analysis
  After collecting your data, how are you going to process them to fit into your research?
• Ethical Considerations 
  Does your research has any ethical issue considering the approach you would use in collecting and processing the data? If yes, how are you going to address its implications?

6. Time table

This can be done chapter by chapter or for the entire project. If you are considering chapter by chapter, try to project the time frame for the completion of each section. In deciding the time, please consider all the various stages you will go through to complete the chapter.

7. Bibliography

Refereeing is critical when it comes to academic work. A proper referencing save the author from being accused of plagiarism. As such, you need to cite every work you used in your research proposal. That said, every university has an adopted referencing style so make sure you go by the guidelines of the institution.

Summary

Your research proposal must outline why you seek to explore the chosen topic and procedures to be used. It takes the format of the main Ph.D. dissertation but with limited information. A good proposal makes your main research work easier as it serves as a prelude. You can later build on it by adding more information.

The above is why many experts emphasize writing an executive summary at the end of your proposal, as soon as you have a clear idea of how you intend to achieve your business goals.

Do you have a problem with writing a detailed executive summary that will catch the attention of investors? You will find the following helpful:

What’s an Executive Summary?

An executive summary is also known as a project summary. The main marketing document describes the most crucial aspects, financial specifications, and other essential details of a business idea. The objective of the document includes motivating potential investors as well as describe your business in more information.

Your executive summary must be short, well-structured, concise, and written at all times as against writing a long executive summary in a common language. An executive summary serves several purposes, but the primary function of an executive summary is to raise funds

If you want your project proposal to be taken seriously, your executive summary page must contain all of the following elements:

1. Company Description

Once a company is already in existence, it is important to briefly outline the history, assets and facilities, products, and services that such a company has. Talking about the company’s sales and profit is also not such a bad idea.

2. Project Description

Every investor is interested in knowing more about the essence of investing in your business and what you have to offer in return; therefore, provide a clear description of your business idea, products, and services.

3. Business Goal

Be strategic when formulating your goals and indicate how you intend to achieve them.

4. The Problem and Its Solution

What you are selling is the solution to the problems you have previously identified. Readers and investors alike want to see how your business and its technology can revolutionize existing business practices and issues.

5. Market Opportunities

Investors are interested in knowing whether the company’s founders are about to pump money to understand the market truly. Show evidence that you have studied and fully understood the market size, growth rate, main driving forces, purchasing characteristics, etc.

In this section, you can briefly analyze your main competitors’ products and services and the competitive advantages you have.

6. Technology Overview

The technology overview is the most critical section in an executive summary, especially for companies whose technologies are at their early development stages. As much as investors are looking to invest in a business based on new technologies, they still want these technologies and companies to make an immediate impact on the market. You are providing them with a technical overview of what you are trying to build.

7. Business Model

Another crucial section in an executive summary is the description of how your business project will generate revenue.  Things to talk about here include how your way of doing business can maximize your competitive advantage. It is also relevant if you mention how you intend to sell your products.

8. Main Stages of Development & Budget

In this section, you are talking about the goals that a company must achieve due to its funding. To do this, write a realistic budget and time frame to get to these stages of development and make plans for achieving the goals.

9. Project Risks

It would be best if you highlighted the risk that may hinder the successful implementation of the project.

Comprehend your research question 

It is essential that you first fully understand the research question so that you can build a roadmap and decide on the approaches you will take. It may sound obvious to you, but from experience, most students often jump into working without the knowledge of what they need to do. These behaviors often lead to back and forth and a lot of messing up, which consumes a lot of time. You should have a good understanding of the thesis question to the point that you can provide a one-line summary such as “the objective of this thesis is…” 

Break down your thesis into small segments 

The thesis has different formats depending on the field you are in. However, they all have a standard structure that includes idea-collection, editing and analysis, and polishing. So, instead of focusing on the entire thesis, focus on one section at a time. It also gives you the independence of being creative without being limited by the complexity of another section. 

Do not be dependent to your academic advisors

You will never get all the answers you need from your academic advisors. These advisors have their lives and will be too busy to focus and advise you appropriately entirely. Some might even be too demanding to the point of micro-managing you and demanding daily updates, which might be overburdening to you. You should learn to be independent when doing your thesis. Avoid having your supervisor holding your hand throughout the entire project. You should only schedule meeting to determine if what you are doing is in line with the requirement and where improvements are needed.

Writing will not be easy

Writing can at times be a cumbersome and boring job. You have to be ready for the time that you will not want to write at all. In the writing circles, they refer to it as writer’s block. It is perfectly normal, and you are not the first one to experience such a problem. Even the most prolific writer goes through it. In such a case, do not sit there waiting for inspiration. Go out and find something that inspires you to write again. You can go for short walks or watch some motivational videos.

Avoid writing the chapters in a specific order

In any form of writing, we like following a logical order. However, when writing a thesis, this should not be the case. There are sections that you will write last after completing the main thesis. For instance, the Abstract is always written last since it is a summary of the entire thesis. So, it is ok to skip other chapters and come back to them later. If you find a challenging chapter and get stuck, skip it and complete what is doable first. Then come back to it when you have the right motivation and energy to handle it.

Have a plan with timelines

Having a plan helps you never lag and, at the same time, not waste the time of a singular task. A proper schedule helps you easily manage your broken-down segment and give them appropriate resources. You will also not stray from the thesis objectives’ scope if you have a schedule of what you need to accomplish. Since the thesis is not the only thing you do in school, your schedule should include all your daily activities to have time and resources set aside for your thesis. 

Write in short bursts

Human beings lose concentration fast. So to ensure that you are always in the game, write in short bursts.

The best and recommended practice is writing the other chapters of your dissertation before the introduction, abstract, and conclusion. Why is this so?

• Writing other sections of the dissertation before the introduction and conclusion enable the writer to retrospect the important points and highlight them.
• If you write the introduction before the main chapters of your work, you may be forced to make several edits to make it sync. On a bad day, the whole content would have to be scrapped.
• Ensures the abstract contains vital information to give the reader an overview of the entire project.

Therefore, this article will explore how to write your abstract, introduction, and conclusion, and the kind of information to include.

The Introduction

The introduction of your dissertation should provide background information on your research topic and put it into perspective. It should highlight your objectives, narrow down your main focus, and tell readers why the study is relevant. There is no hard rule about how long a dissertation introduction should be. The length usually depends on how long the entire project is and must cover about 5% of the total.

The research background in the introduction section must introduce your readers to the topic. You have to justify why the research is relevant academically, socially, or economically. In doing this, take away all personal sentiments. The reason for the study shouldn’t be just because you have an interest in the topic. Of course, having an interest in your research topic is essential; however, it should be the work’s main motive.

Your background should contain essential pieces of information that would attract the reader’s attention. While doing this, you should bear in mind your research focus and objectives.

The Conclusion section

The conclusion of your dissertation should summarize the key points in your research. In your conclusion, you should summarize the key findings and your conclusion on it. This should be followed by your recommendation concerning the results. Lastly, be ready to contribute your knowledge to the field. Your conclusion should be written in a way that gives your reader an overview of your work. The reader should be able to make sense of your entire project just by reading this section.

The Abstract

The abstract is more like a synopsis of your project. A well-written abstract should attract the reader to read more. It should contain the subject of the research and the reason for it. That aside, you must highlight your research methods and the findings of your work. It is recommended to make this section very short, not more than 300 words. That said, every university has its guidelines relating to how it is written; hence, you may have to consult your department.