Lack of Awareness on Students Lead to Poor Research Proposal- Tutors India

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L A C K O F A W A R E N E S S O N S T U D E N T
S - S U P E R V I S O R S R E S P O N S I B I L
I T I E S L E A D
T O P O O R R E S E A R C H P R O P O S A L
An Academic presentation by Dr. Nancy Agens,
Head, Technical Operations, Tutors India
Group www.tutorsindia.com Email
info_at_tutorsindia.com
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Today's Discussion
In Brief Introduction Topic of
research Objectives and Questionnaire
Techniques/Methodologies Research
Ethics Conclusion
OUTLINE
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In Brief

• To make a responsiveness amongst students and
  supervisors about their duties in making a
  dissertation research proposal. The
  identification and f ormulation of objectives
  towards a specific problem must be done in an
  appropriate manner in any research proposal
  writing.

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Introduction
Dissertation r esearch proposal writing is indeed
essential for any student who wish to be engaged
in research.
In fact, the primary stage of research starts
with identifying the research area and preparing
a proposal on the topic chosen. An organized
proposal is mandatory so that it is approved by
the designated committee. A proposal is
constructed as a group of sections containing
theoretic/ hypothetical background, objective, a
set of questionnaire that provide solution to
the focused problem, a narrative and validation
of technique involved to accomplish the goal,
and inference.
Contd..
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The supervisor is supposed to refer various
literatures to authenticate the methods
available and guide to include innovations on the
feasible technique. In that case, the
responsibility has to be borne by both the
student and the supervisor. Also, they must be
conscious about the research ethics. A proposal
seeking any funding from agencies/organizations
should also include a clear budget inclusive of
contingencies.
Contd..
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Moreover a time-chart should be added to assess
the probable finishing time of the research. It
is noticed out of experience that students face
troubles while writing a research/ thesis
proposal as they do not figure out the vital
components of a proposal. It is also found that
the lack of awareness on students as well as
supervisors on how to write a proposal simply
leads to rejection. This article emphasizes on
the key elements of good research proposal.
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Topic of Research
As mentioned earlier, the crucial part of
research proposal is finding an appropriate
research topic.
But then literatures may not be explored as such
for choosing a topic rather it has to be derived
from the range of interest. The students for
this purpose can explore the literatures on the
wider subject areas of their interest.
Contd..
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They should analyze the available problem in a
particular domain, understand the methodologies/te
chnologies used, investigate the negativities or
limitations of the methods applied , identify
the part of the problem left-out in a particular
research and acquaint themselves with the
subject field. Afterwards, they can compress the
subject area leaving the widely accessed portions
where there is no scope of improvement. Then,
they can expand on the m ethods/techniques which
may possibly be applied for the problem in a
better way.
Contd..
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Finally, they can add new methods with the
existing methods or they can find similar new
methods to improvise the result. The student
then should seek the help of the supervisor about
the feasibility of the method through
discussion. Thus, the t opic of research in
present trend can be identified and consolidated
by the student and supervisor.
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Objectives and Questionnaire
The next significant stage is setting clear goals
for the research.
In order to attain the prime objective, a few
small- term goals may be fixed. By doing this,
we could progress in a streamlined manner. This
could perhaps satisfy the supervisor about the
work progress of the student.
Contd..
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The small-term goals may be formed as
questionnaire so that it is in a presentable
format. The committee who looks into the
questionnaire will understand the nature and
possible progress of ones work. The questions
that are formed should be concrete and
substantiate the dissertation work and should
convey a perception to the supervisor and the
committee in such a way that the research must be
carried out.
Contd..
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L iterature exploration is must in every stage or
section of thesis /dissertation research
proposal, which would add value to the entire
research. The questionnaire of other proposals
similar to the intended research may be explored
to get an idea of how to frame the questions but
definitely new and relevant questions are to be
defined to authenticate the new research.
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Techniques/ Methodologies
The important next stage is the knowledge towards
the present trend.
Though we have similar problems the t echnology
or m ethodology what we apply could make our
work innovative. And definitely, one particular
method will not suit a specific problem under
all constraints. So, a thorough investigation on
various new techniques is needed for successfully
achieving the objective.
Contd..
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In most of the cases, more than one particular
method can be suggested or more methods can be
hybridized or combined to give a better
solution. The method well suiting for a
particular situation should be properly stated in
the r esearch proposal. All the constraints or
boundaries under which the research is to be
carried out is to be visibly specified. This is
not only enhancing the quality of the research
but also provides scope of improvement of ones
research at various stages or by various
researchers.
Contd..
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In this stage, the data collection and analysis
may be added pertaining to the research. The
technique or method adopted will definitely
improve the final quality of the proposal. It
is the technique/method which offers space for
narration and improvement.
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Research Ethics
Even though, there are many ethics related to
research, the plagiarism and authorship are the
main concerns.
Once, the research proposal is well structured,
before submitting the committee, the plagiarism
of the writing should checked with the help of
the supervisor in order to avoid potential
rejection. There are many tools and mechanisms
available to check the similarity of the content
written and one of such reliable tool may be
used to refine the proposal work with negligible
similarity.
Contd..
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While writing dissertation proposal at Masters
level, sometimes more than one person will be
involved. In such a situation, the agreement
with co-author should be clearly defined. Also,
if any statistical or other data are being used
for research there should not be any fabrication
or falsification, which will make the students
repute in stake. Though the ethics part is not
going to affect the work progress, this is the
most important component in legal aspect and it
makes the work undisputed.
Contd..
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Moreover, the recommendation committee might have
framed a set of rules relating to research
ethics, which cannot be violated at any point of
time. The overall general structure of flow of r
esearch proposal is illustrated through the
flow-diagram shown in Fig.1. After suitably
sequencing the various sections of the d
issertation proposals with the help of the
supervisor and similarity checking of the writing
the same must be submitted to the committee for
recommendation. The writing should also contain
a conclusion part stating the apparent work
progress and should include the inference.
Contd..
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General Structure of Low of Research Proposal
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Conclusion
There are many responsibilities for the students
who are likely to carry their research. The
spine of the r esearch is its proposal
writing. Many struggle to submit a proposal due
to lack of awareness on how to write it. The
student and the supervisor should know ones
responsibility while writing a proposal without
overburdening each other.
Contd..
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There are stages in writing at which student and
supervisor meet together to write and refine the
writing. This article describes how a proposal
writing to be progressed. It also throws light
on the importance of s electing a topic that are
presently in trend and of social/technical
attention. It also emphasizes on how a major
objective may be defined with a help of set of
goals in questionnaire format.
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