Proposal Development Research Proposal Template

All students submitting this assessment should follow this template.

The research proposal is worth 70% of the assessment for this module, and should be between 2500 (minimum) – 3000 (maximum) words (excluding title page, contents page, footnotes, tables/charts, diagrams, and the reference section).

1. Title page (words here do not count towards the word count)

The title page should include:

You name and ID number. The title of your research/project. The name of your Tutor The submission date.

2. Contents page (words here do not count towards the word count)

Detail your contents and their page numbers.

3. Title of your research

You need to frame a title for your research. Something short, which describes it as precisely and succinctly as possible.

4. Background

In the background section you need to tell the reader why you feel the research/project you are planning is going to be worthwhile. For example, this could be expressed as a problem that needs solving or improving for the organisation.

This is also the section where you demonstrate your knowledge of the literature relevant to your research. You should provide an overview of the key literature sources from which you intend to draw. You should perhaps draw from 12 (min) and 20 (max) key journal articles in the area of your proposed research. The aim is to demonstrate that you have done some preliminary research in the area, which should support and underpin your research proposal.

5. Research question(s) and objectives

The background section should lead smoothly into a statement of your research question(s) and objectives. The reader should be in no doubt as to precisely what it is that your research project hopes to achieve.

What question(s) are you trying to address/answer? Be very clear here.

Your objectives need to be precise, following the SMART criteria explained during lecture time.

6. Methodology

This should detail exactly how you intend to achieve your research objective(s). This section should also justify/explain your choice of method(s) for achieving the objective(s).

You need to have two parts to this section:

a. Research design, andb. Data collection.

The research design section should give an overall view of the method(s) chosen and the reason(s) for your choice(s) i.e. your rationale.

You need to:

Explain where the research is to be carried out i.e. what organisation, what section/department? Why you are carrying out your research there?

What/who your research sample will be, and why?

What method(s) of data collection you will be using, and why? E.g. questionnaire, interviews etc? Primary and/or secondary data?

The data collection section goes into much more detail about how specifically the data are to be collected.

If you are using a survey/questionnaire and/or interviewing a sample, you should specify who your population is, your sampling method, and sample size;

Provide details of how you will distribute the collection instrument e.g. how many questionnaires, how many interviews and how long they would be, whether your would record them, and how they would be analysed; and

Explain how the data will be analysed.

In other words, this section should convince the reader you have thought carefully about all the issues regarding your method and their relationship to the objectives of your project.

NB: it is not necessary to include your questionnaire, or questions you would use in an interview.

You also need to include a statement about how you are going to stick to any ethical guidelines appropriate to your particular project. For example, how you plan to protect identities if relevant, or maintain confidentiality, or protect commercially sensitive data.

7. Timescale Providing a table or Gantt chart that details your timescale for achieving all the elements of your project will help you and the reader decide on the viability of your research proposal.

You should divide your research plan into stages. This will give you a clear idea of what is possible in the given timescale.

Warning… however well planned, things always seem to take longer than expected, so design in some ‘slippage time’!

As you only have limited words to use in the proposal you should use a table or Gantt chart to present your timescale (remember that words in charts and tables don’t count towards your word count!).

8. Resources

This should be a short section where you should list what resources you will need e.g. access to data, staff, and equipment. This is important, as both the employer and tutor will need to ensure you will be able to access what you need in order to make the project work.

9. References (words here do not count towards the word count)

You should have made reference to sources in the proposal, which need including in a reference section. Only include the sources you refer to.

These guidelines were adapted from

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2007) Research Methods for Business Studies. 4th edition. Harlow: Pearson. Wickham, P.A. (2004) Management Consulting: Delivering an Effective Project. 2nd edition. Harlow: Pearson.