Sample research proposal for post-graduate

Sample research proposal for post-graduate

Research Proposal Template – optional template to answer assessment 3 MGMT617

Length: 2,500 words (max.) You may use fewer than 2,500 words; that’s not an issue.

The word limit excludes references.

General guidelines

• Look to the methods sections of high-quality articles in your area for inspiration. That’s the kind of writing and structure that we are looking for. I have used my recent publication in IMM in this template.

• Don’t forget to justify your methodology choices!

• High-quality writing is important. Researchers need to be understood by the general public. The most important thing is that the writing is organized logically. A few grammatical errors will not be too bad. However, writing that is incomprehensible or lacking logical structure will earn poor marks.

I have included the Assessment 3 within the following template under various subheadings.

This is an optional template and you can add to it, revise it, or change the order of the materials if needed. Explanatory and guidance text have been included in each section to assist you with answering the question.

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PROJECT TITLE

1. INTRODUCTION

Note: Review Discussion in Week 4, You may like to review the introduction of the IMM paper as well as slides 11 & 12 in Week 10

• Introduce the reader to what you are going to do, how you are going to do it.

• Justify here why this study needs to be done? (Research importance and research gap) This may relate to the need to tackle a problem, or the application of a theory to a particular context (such as within an organisation).

• Explain here exactly how the knowledge generated in your study can be used in the workplace/business.

2. PROJECT AIM & OBJECTIVES – RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES (where applicable)

 Note: This section must link to the gaps in the knowledge identified by your literature review (assessment 2). Review Discussion in Week 4, and slides 10-13 in Week 10, Review IMM paper as an example for the overall aim.

• State the overall aim of the study.

• List research objectives (3-4 at most).

• State the specific research question(s) and associated hypotheses (if applicable) that will be tested.

3. RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Method: Outline your research method here – either quantitative, qualitative (Note: Review Week 5 and slides 13 & 14 in Week 10), or both. For either of them, you also need to outline our research strategy. The possible research strategies for quantitative research are survey or experiment (Note: Review Week 6) or archival/secondary data (Note: Review Week 9). The possible research strategies for qualitative research are focus group, depth interview, semi-structured interview, observation and so on (Note: Review Week 7 and slides 15-17).

Reflect here on the strengths and limitations of your proposed method using concepts covered in the course.

4. SAMPLING STRATEGY AND METHOD (Note: Review Week 8, Review the IMM paper, go to the Methodology section as an example)

In this section you need to describe your research participants (Project Target Group), data sources, data collection method, measurement instruments, research setting, sampling method, negotiating access (how you will gain and maintain access to the source of primary and/or secondary data) and maximizing response, and time frame. You need to convince the reader you are capable of collecting your data.

1. Research setting section: describe the setting in which the study will be conducted.

1. Participants section: summarize and justify the intended sample, inclusion/exclusion

criteria to be used (Note: Review the IMM paper to see an example, go to page 4). If your choice of research method is qualitative by doing interviews, what type will you use, how many will you conduct, with what type of participant, their intended duration, how you will record the data (e.g. note taking and/or audio-recording

1. Sampling method (if you are utilising probability or non-probability sampling). For either probability or non-probability you need to outline the specific technique you want to choose (Note: Review Week 8, Review slides 23-26 in Week 10). Reflect here on the strengths and limitations of your proposed data collection technique(s).
2. Procedure section: summarize and justify how you will collect data, including but not limited to securing organizational access (Note: Review slides 27-29 in Week 10), recruiting participants, maximizing response rates, and collecting data (Note: Review slides 30-32 in Week 10).

1. Measurement instruments: Describe here your measurement instrument(s). If your research method is quantitative, list the validated measures to be used and any evidence that the measure is valid (Note: Review Week 6 class activities, slides 33-36 in Week 10). If your research method is qualitative, outline the interview schedule you plan to use (questions, probes) with supporting justification (Note: Review Week 7 class activities).

5. DATA ANALYSIS Briefly describe how you will analyse the data including any statistical techniques that will be used.

1. Quantitative data: you must ensure that the data collection methods you intend to use have been designed to make analysis by computer as straightforward as possible. You can simply say SPSS (or any other statistical software) is used for data analysis.
2. Qualitative data: Describe here whether you will summarise, categorise or develop a narrative for your data. Describe the coding scheme for each variable, how you will present the data, for example tables, diagrams, etc. (Note: Review Week 7, Review slides 18-22 in Week 10).

6. FEASIBILITY AND ETHICS.

Briefly summarize in one paragraph each the practical feasibility and ethical considerations in your study. For the paragraph on ethical considerations, you are expected to: (1) identify possible harms to participants from participating in the study; and (2) explain precisely how you mitigate that harm in your research design (Note: this will be discussed in Week 11). Sample research proposal for post-graduate

7. TIME FRAME:

Document your time frame in a Gantt chart located in this research proposal template (feel free to revise it or use any other chart). Present here the various stages and tasks for the proposed project together with a detailed timeline using a Gantt Chart. Please remember to allow enough time for ethics approval and remember that no data can be collected until ethics is obtained.

Item

Project Proposal Development & Submission

Project Progress Presentation

Ethics Application Development & Submission

Ethics Approval

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Project Draft Report Write-up

Draft Report Feedback

Final Draft to Supervisors

Report Submission

8. RESOURCES AND DRAFT BUDGET PLAN FOR PROJECT

Conducting research costs money. In this section you are required to briefly provide details for the proposed costs such as time of all researchers, travel, subsistence, help with data entry or transcription. Add specific detail to each row e.g., what staff will be required (use position description only, no names), salaries and hours required, and insert additional rows as required. Use the following table as an example.

9. REFERENCES (Harvard referencing style must be used) (no word limit) Sample research proposal for post-graduate