How to Write a Research Proposal

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How to Write a Research Proposal

• Biological Communication Skills
• (Biol 3920)

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Purpose of the Research Proposal

• Why do I Need a Research Proposal?

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Why do I Need a Research Proposal?

• To convince others of the value of your research
• To demonstrate expertise
• To demonstrate competency
• To serve as a contract
• To assist you as a planning tool
• To meet the requirements of Biol 3920
• To Demonstrate a Working Knowledge of the Process
  

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Who will Evaluate my Proposal?

• Review committees
• Review panels
• Individual reviewers
• Specialists/Generalists
• Research proposals are often reviewed by a
  mixture of experts in the field and reviewers
  from cognate disciplines
• In Biol 3920 the Instructor Evaluates your
  Proposal

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When should the Proposal be Written?
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When should the Proposal be Written?

• A research proposal (particularly at the
  postgraduate level) is an iterative process
• A substantial amount of work has to be done
  before a proposal can be written
• Some institutions assume that a research proposal
  will be written over six or even nine months
• Seek advice on your draft from faculty and peers
• For Biol 3920 it becomes part of Mid-term

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Core Components of Research Proposals

• Make sure that these are meaningful, not
  mechanistic

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General Core Elements

• A description of the research question
• A statement of why the problem is important
• A review of relevant literature
• A description of the proposed methodology
• A time frame/time-line of activities

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Or in plain English...

• What do you want to do?
• Why do you want to do it?
• Why is it important?
• Who has done similar work?
• How are you going to do it?
• How long will it take?

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Additional Components of Research Proposals

• Depending on the Project but for Biol 3920 here
  is the outline

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Depending on the project...

• A budget
• A description of how the research findings will
  be disseminated
• An outline of team members responsibilities
• Capability statement of investigator(s)
• Ethical statement
• Possible problems
• Other information required by funding agency...

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Bottom Line is
Always try to find out exactly what the funding
agency or organization expects in a proposal, and
do it for Biol 3920
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Core components

• Describing the Research Question
• First find a Research Question!

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Describing the Research Question

• Where can I find a Research Question?

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First find a Research Question!

• Researchers get their questions from many
  different places...
• Observation of the World
• Concern with Theory
• Previous Research or Lab Project
• Practical concerns
• Personal interest

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Choosing a Research Question

• A broad research area is not a research question
• Formulate a number of possible questions, and
  weigh up the pros and cons
• The proposal must reflect that the issues have
  been thought through

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Criteria for Choosing Include...

• Access to information
• Access to resources
• Theoretical background
• Value of research
• Researchers skills
• Is question big/small enough
• External requirements
• Overall probability of successful completion
• Interest to researcher
• Time constraints, i.e. only one semester!

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Topic Analysis attribute grids
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Setting the Limits Definitions

• Provide explicit definitions for key concepts
• Terms dont always have single meanings
  understood in the same way by all
• Dont under-or-overestimate your readers/audence
• Dont provide mechanistic dictionary definitions
  of all terms

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Sample Definitions

• A dependent variable is a variable that is
  influenced by another variable.
• The term ethics in research has been used to
  describe a variety of practices relating to
  scientific social and moral responsibility. For
  purposes of this study, the term will be used to
  refer specifically to the formal set of practices
  and responsibilities outlined in Doe (1999).

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Setting the Limits Boundaries

• Specify the limits of the research in a way which
  makes in clear what is and is not to be studied,
  through, for example,
• definitions
• time spans
• geographical boundaries
• other limits as appropriate to the field of study

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Setting the Limits an example

• How have North America mining regulations
  changed with regard to environmental policy over
  the years, and what has been the impact of these
  changes on freshwater ecosystem integrity?

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Setting the Limits example (cont.)

• Restrict to mining environmental regulations
• Define mining environmental regulations (e.g.
  as Act or Public Law only)
• Restrict study to uranium mining
• Restrict period (e.g. 1935 - 1990)
• Restrict impact to effect of uranium production
  on the ecological integrity of freshwater stream
  communities

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Setting the Limits a revised example

• How did United States Public Law 92-500 (Clean
  Water Act) regulating uranium mine waste
  discharges influence the ecological integrity of
  freshwater stream communities in North America
  between 1935 and 1990 ?

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Class discussion

• Refining research questions

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Literature Review

• What is the Purpose?

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Purpose of the Literature Review

• Provides a conceptual framework for the research
• Provides an integrated overview of the field of
  study
• Helps establish a need for the research
• May help clarify the research problem
• Helps to demonstrate researchers familiarity
  with the area under consideration (theory and /
  or methods)

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Skills Needed to Produce a Literature Review

• Surveying a comprehensive range of existing
  material and sources in the general areas of your
  study
• Selecting those that will be most relevant and
  significant for your particular project
• Understanding and analyzing the central findings
  and arguments
• Synthesizing the findings and integrating them
  into the research proposal
• A good literature review generally contains an
  argument

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How to Write a Literature Review

• Indicate the ways in which the authors you are
  reviewing will be relevant to your research
  (information theory methodology)
• Demonstrate that you understand the similarities
  and differences between these works and paradigms
  (Where do they stand in relation to each other?
  Where does your research stand in relation to
  them?)
• The works that you refer to should reflect recent
  scholarship as well as those considered to be of
  seminal importance
• If the study is cross-disciplinary or comparative
  you need to describe how the different areas of
  research can be drawn together in a meaningful
  way

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Questions to Help you in Compiling a Literature
Review

• What are the broad bodies of literature that have
  relevance for your research topic (local and
  international)?
• What theoretical model(s) relate to your research
  topic?
• What theories, methods results have previous
  researchers in your field produced? What is the
  history of your area of study?
  

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Questions to Help you in Compiling a Literature
Review (cont.)

• What are the most recent findings in your area of
  study?
• What gaps or contradictions exist among these
  findings?
• What new research questions do these findings
  suggest?
• What structure suits my literature review best?
• What should I leave out?

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The Literature Review is Not

• Part of the research project (although there may
  be an ongoing review of literature throughout the
  project, funding agencies expect a solid
  preliminary review to have been carried out
  before a proposal is submitted).
• A bibliography
• A series of descriptions of pieces of previous
  research with no apparent connection to each
  other or your project

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Significance of the Research

• Why do research so what?

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Research Must Convey Value

• Practical value in solving problems
• Value to policy development
• Contribution to theory
• Contribution to body of knowledge within
  discipline
• Funding agencies often specify the nature of the
  value they are looking for in research.

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Methodology

• Whats so important about Methods and Materials?

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What does the methodology section do? What should
it contain?

• The methodology section shows the reader how you
  are going to set about looking for answers to the
  research question (including, if appropriate,
  materials and methods to be used)
• It must include enough detail to demonstrate that
  you are competent and the project is feasible
• The proposed methods must be appropriate to the
  type of research

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Methodology section traditional empirical
environmental research

• Hypothesis
• Research design
• Sampling/study area
• Measurement instruments
• Data collection procedures
• Data analysis (statistical approach)
• Based solely on experiment and observation,
  not theory

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Empirical Research Methodology Format a caveat

• Appropriate for traditional empirical research
• Dont force either the terminology or the methods
  of empirical research onto proposals for other
  types of research

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Time Frame/Time-line

• Why all the fuss about Time-lines?

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Time Frames

• Be realistic - novice researchers tend to
  underestimate how long the stages of research
  will take
• Develop a realistic step-by-step timeline for
  your research i.e. a Gantt or PERT Chart

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Additional Components

• For example, Budget, Disseminating results, Your
  qualifications/capability, QA/QC, to mention a
  few

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Budget

• Most every research proposal requires one! For
  Biol 3920 see Budget Format

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Budget

• Include a detailed budget breakdown, if required
• Follow the requirements of the organization to
  which you are submitting the proposal
• Identify any other agencies or organizations
  participating

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Budget Detail example

• Salaries Wages
• Research Assistance
• Two full-time research assistants (Jr. or Sr.
  undergrad), 2 x 32 days _at_ 120/day 7680
• Two part-time research assistants, 2 x 25 days _at_
  100/day 5000
• One part-time research assistant, 12 days _at_ 70
  840

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Budget Detail example (Cont.)

• Benefits
• Travel
• Non-expendables
• Expendables
• Total Direct Cost
• Indirect Cost
• Total Project Cost
• Note will be discussed in class Example

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Disseminating Research Results
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Disseminating Results Section

• If funding agencies want to fund valuable
  research, they also want to see that the research
  results will be disseminated
• If research is intended to assist a community, it
  is of little use to publish it only as an
  internal research report

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Team Members Responsibilities
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Team Members Responsibilities Section

• Give an overview of what section(s) of the
  project each team member will be responsible for
  not simply a list of team members names

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Capability Statement/Qualifications

• Found in every research proposal

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Qualification Statement

• List your qualifications focus of those that
  uniquely qualify you to do the research
• For Biol 3920 we will develop a resume for this
  section of the proposal

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Statement of Completion

• If you have completed this Presentation please
  place link to the posted page, make a paper copy,
  complete and submit to the instructor before
  leaving class today

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Sample Evaluation Criteria (optional)
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Sample evaluation criteria

• Category 1. Quality of the research proposal
• 1.1 Problem Identification
• 1.1.1 Is the problem/line of inquiry clearly
  identified?
• 1.1.2 Has appropriate literature been examined in
  order to provide a background to the problem?
• 1.1.3 Have other relevant sources been used to
  identify the problem?
• 1.1.4 Are the aims and/or objectives of the
  inquiry clearly specified?
• Is the hypothesis/ese clearly stated, testable,
  falsified?

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Sample evaluation criteria (cont.)

• 1.2 Approach
• 1.2.1 To what extent are the conceptual framework
  and theoretical assumptions clearly stated?
• 1.2.2 Is the project design, methods of data
  collection and analysis appropriate to the aims
  of the research?

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Sample evaluation criteria (cont.)

• 1.3 Significance
• 1.3.1 To what extent will the research make an
  original contribution or be an innovative
  application of knowledge to its disciplinary
  field and/or across disciplines?
• 1.3.2 Is the proposed research a new line of
  inquiry?
• 1.3.3 Is the proposed research likely to promote
  further investigation within and/or across
  disciplines and fields?

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Sample evaluation criteria (cont.)

• 1.4 Feasibility
• 1.4.1 Do the preliminary data and the available
  resources support the feasibility of the project?
• 1.4.2 Does the researchers track record or
  potential, support his/her ability to
  successfully accomplish the project?
• 1.5 Budget
• 1.5.1 Is the budget justified in relation to the
  proposed research activities?
• 1.5.2 Does the project include a plan for
  research and budget management?

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Sample evaluation criteria (cont.)

• Category 2. Impact of the proposed research
• 2.1 Within the research community
• 2.1.1 Does the research promote teaching or does
  it have the potential to do so?
• 2.1.2 Does the research project promote research
  training?
• 2.1.3 Does the project include the participation
  of researchers, junior researchers and
  postgraduate students from historically
  disadvantaged institutions, race and gender
  groups?
• 2.1.4 Is the research likely to create networks
  and partnerships locally, regionally and/or
  internationally?
• 2.1.5 Is the research likely to promote the
  acquisition of new databases, literature
  collections, computer software and hardware or to
  promote the development of existing databases and
  literature collections?
• 2.1.6 Is there a plan to disseminate the research
  findings within the discipline and across
  disciplines?

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Sample evaluation criteria (cont.)

• 2.2 Outside the research community
• 2.2.1 Is there a plan to disseminate the research
  findings amongst stakeholders and the wider
  public?
• 2.2.3 Does the research project have a potential
  social impact, i.e. promote problem solving,
  social policy development or evaluation, etc.?