Research proposal

Is a document written by a researcher that provides a detailed description of the proposed project (the researcher’s plan of action). It clearly indicates how research is to be conducted, the rationale for undertaking the exercise, the problem to be investigated, the way data will be collected, the budget, and a timetable/ schedule of activities. Like all other plans, it is expressed in a future tense, indicating what will be accomplished.

It is always mandatory in research field to first write a research proposal before one embarks on conducting real study.

Reasons for writing research proposals:

1. Requesting for grant to assist in conducting the proposed study.
2. It acts as a guide to the researcher, as a plan to be followed in the course of research effort.

• For fulfilling the certification requirements of research committee for carrying out human or animal research. iv) Generation of new ideas; during proposal writing one gets more insight in topic and new ideas are generated.

1. Establish feasibility of project: the proposal helps the researcher to organize his efforts in terms of time to be spent and resources to commit to project.
2. As a condition to be fulfilled in tertiary education before research for dissertation.

• It helps the researcher to predict possible limitations to the study and how to overcome them.

How to write a research propo=sal?

Contents/ components of a research proposal:

The proposal consists of; a title/ topic, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, reference list, and an appendix with; a budget schedule, and other relevant information such as questionnaire and map of study area.

The title/ topic

The title shows what to be investigated. it must be clearly and concisely stated Relevant or significant to society, Ethical, Feasible/Researchable, Novel or the one which is not too common (been researched on), Up to date — reflecting current or future states of affairs or existing body of knowledge, Justifiable  and  With     measurable     attributes. 

The words must be 20 f 3 (Makerere format).

The title must be complete (indicate target population and study area)

Chapter 1: This chapter contains

• Introduction/background
• Statement of problem
• Purpose (General Objective)
• Specific objective
• Hypothesis /Research question
• Justification
• Significance (can be linked to justification)
• The conceptual framework / model (this is normally a requirement for master or PHD students)
• Scope (where applicable ) – may not be necessary because it provides information similar to methodology).

Introduction/ background

• It provides information to prepare the minds of the readers to comprehend the problem under investigation.
• Describe your topic i.e. describe your dependent variable (define it & link it to the independent variables where possible).
• Provide evidence of existing problem from universal view to local (global, continental, regions, countries) highlighting the

Make the reader understand the past (origin), present and future states of affairs/ problem.

• Introduction should not exceed 2 pages (About 600 words, Font type: Times New Romans, Font size 12; 1.5 line spacing)- Makerere Research format.
• Use APA (American psychological Association) for in-text referencing in introduction..

Problem statement

It should be concise and clear; not more than 1 page.

Five (5) things that should be answered by problem statement: i)       What is the extent-of the problem (statically)?

1. ii) What the problem is like in your country? iii) How it progresses with years, e.g. in 2007, in. 2008 etc (You can quote studies).
2. What is the effect of the problem in target population?
3. What has been done to a dress the problem? E.G. by Ministry, organization etc.
4. What is the gap? (E.g. .. “,   comparing the magnitude   of problem  …”)

• What is the way forward? (e.g., therefore I need to conduct study‖)

General objective/aim/purpose:

• Refers to the general intension of the research.
• Should spell out what the research is supposed to accomplish.

It is usually duplicated from the topic but with an element of action in it. For example: To identify/establish the factors  affecting the rate of spread of bedbugs among male students in Gaddafi hall at Mulago.

• When stating objective, make sure it is complete (indicate the target population and study area).
• When writing objective, do not use words with immeasurable element such as to study, understand, or know. Use words like Evaluate, Assess, Examine, Establish, Investigate, Identify, Determine, Extent, and Magnitude.

Specific objectives

• Not more than 4, not less than 2, Average 3 specific objects in number.
• Objectives must be SMART

S – Specific (to one thing)

M– measurable: do not uses words like to study, understand, and know. Use words like Evaluate, Assess, Examine, Establish, Investigate, Determine, Extent, and Magnitude.

A– Achievable (Time frame and cost). 

R –  Realistic (address a topic at hand). 

T –  Time bound.

• Directly related to the problem (Every objective should be answering a title/ topic).
• Relevant to a particular study.

Appropriately worded (Objectives must be complete ( E.g.

stating 

the target population and study area (location)

Research question/s

• Research question is like a topic but with a question mark (?)
• Research questions are like specific objectives but with question Marks (?)

Justification/ rationale

• Why? (Will the world collapse if this research is not done?).
• Why do you want to study in that particular part of the world?

If possible use statics e.g. (“Hospital records show that observation…… ” ―,‖ ―On observation……‖)  Should not be more than 1 paragraph.

Significance

• Can be linked to justification.
• How is it beneficial to; the target population, Ministry, hospital, NGO etc.?
• Significance refers to the relevance of study in terms of academic contribution and practical use. (E.G. “Once this study is done the results will be helpfulin………………….‖)

Scope (where applicable)

The scope provides for the boundary of the research in terms of depth of investigation, concept, and sample size, geographical and theoretical coverage.

Chapter 2:literature review

This chapter contains only one item, i.e. literature review.

This chapter presents literature reviewed from journal articles, Text books, Documents and reports of organizations. It deals with the analysis of existing literature on the subject with the objective of revealing contributions, weaknesses and gaps.

• The researcher should use a standard referencing method.
• You should try to arrange literature review systematically according to the order of specific objects. This means that you go specific object by specific objective giving the literature from studies similar to yours. (Write literature about every objective (one by one).

Rules of literature review:

• “A fight of win or loss”. Therefore do not write a paragraph without at least two references.

Example: “A study done in Botswana showed that male adolescents are at higher risk of suboptimal adherence to

ART than females (Ndiage, Nyasulu, Nguyen, Lowenthal, .et al, 2013). This is in conflict with a similar study done in South Africa, which indicated that being a female is a major risk of poor adherence (Wasti, Simkhada &  Teijlingen,2012).”

• Literature review is full of comparisons and similarities of results from studies done by other researchers in different parts of the world.
• It’s more of paraphrasing.
• Where possible state the results (figures) of the study your are paraphrasing

Example: ‘A study done in South Africa showed that patients were significantly more likely to be adherent on the efavirenz (taken once a day) than the nevirapine (twice a day) -based regimen. 38.2% (696 of 1,822 patients) maintained 100% adherence versus 30.1% (301 of 999 patients) in the nevirapine-based arm. (Theos, 2007)”

• As you quote in literature review indicate; the name of study. Author, year, setting (where it was done), target population and Results as seen in the above example.

How to reference in literature review:

• Use APA referencing style (as seen in session 1).
• Two different results with similar findings can be cited as

“Numerous studies have demonstrated that……… (Okello, 2013; and khisa, 2012)” or “A number of studies have been done and the factors identified’ to cause…………are;   hygiene (Okello, 2011), overcrowding (Serugo, 2000)” Words to use in literature review:

• Contrary
• However
• Similarly
• Comparing
• In line

How to conclude literature review?

“Literature has revealed contradicting causes of………….however………….and………………… among others, havebeen identified as factors likely to influence…………….‖

4. Chapter 3: Methodology.

The third chapter gives the methods the researcher is to

follow while                                                      ,

Chapter 3 (methodology) consists/ covers:

• Study design.
• Study setting.
• Study population.
• Sample size determination.
• Sampling Procedure.
• Inclusion criteria.
• Definition of variables.
• Data collection instruments.  Reliability and validity of research  Data collection procedure.
• Data management.
• Statistical/ data analysis.
• Ethical consideration.
• Limitations
• Dissemination of Results.

Research design

The design is the structure of the study. This is the framework for the methodology to be applied while collecting data, sampling, analyzing data, etc.

• The function of a research design is to ensure that the evidence obtained enables us to answer the initial question as unambiguously as possible.
• In other words, when designing research we need to ask: given this research question/problem, what type of evidence is needed to answer the question in a convincing way?
• You should always state the reason/rationale for using that particular design (why that particular design).

Example:       “The study will use  a retrospective comparative study design and this is due to the fact that it involves comparing virological outcomes in 4 different groups of patients on different arms of first-line ART regimens. The study will also employ a quantitative method of data collection in order to quantify the most efficacious 1^st – line ART regimen in terms of virological suppression‖.

Study setting

• Direct the reader in terms of location (Where are you’re going to do the study from?)
• Why that setting? (State the rationale for using that setting).

Example

“Study will be carried out at ART clinic of Kayunga Hospital in Kayunga district which is located in central part of Uganda. ART clinic operates on dairy basis from Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm.It has a total of 10 nurses, 2 laboratory technicians, 2 clinical officers and I medical officer. This clinic receives on average a number of 150 patients on every clinic day. The study setting was chosen because ART clinic serves a big population of about 4500 HIV/AIDS infected people”.

Study population

• Population: This is the total of items or events in a set; with relevant characteristics that a researcher need (It is the total number of potential subjects /respondents for a study).
• The population should be clearly defined before a decision is taken on how to sample it.
• Sampling is not necessary if the population is small.

Example:

• “This study will be carried out among HIV-infected clients attending Kayunga ART clinic and who are on first-line ART regimens for at least three years. Kayunga ART clinic has a total of 4791 of which 2728 are on 1st line ART regimen. The clinic usually receives about 50 clients who are on 1st-line ART regimen per day and therefore a total of 250 clients on 1^st-line ART will be available for Data collection within 5 days of data collection”.

Sample size determination:

• State the standardized method you will use to estimate the sample size.

For example: “Using Krejcie and Morgan (1970)’s table, when a population is-250, a total of sample size of 150 respondent is supposed to be sampled”