CW 1 Research Proposal Pro-forma
(word count: 2,500 words : +/-10%)
All references using Harvard Referencing/Cite Them Right style.
Suggested word counts for each section are a very rough guide – do not treat them as internal word requirements.
Research Question and Rationale – approx. 300 words
1. What is the provisional research question of the research proposal?
2. What is the clearly defined issue you identified for research that is ‘doable’? What are the reasons for researching this topic?
You need to describe some clearly defined concepts and some possible areas that warrant research.
a. Give background rationale here using references (this requires more than stating a personal interest) – essentially, why is this topic worth researching?
b. News stories or policy briefings are helpful here, in addition to books and articles
c. Will need to contain some references
Literature Review – approx. 500 words
3. What does the literature tell us about your proposed topic?
Outline your small speculative literature review. Consider a cross-section of literature; legislation, policy, theory, statistics and research.
a. Describe the major strands of thought about your topic. What are the gaps, what is known about the topic? Who are the ‘big thinkers’ of the topic?
b. Be representative, but not comprehensive at this stage.
Methodology, Design & Analysis – approx. 1000 words
Please describe the methodology as though you will be doing a piece of primary research.
These sections will need to contain references from research methods texts
4. What methodology and design are you proposing?
Briefly describe it and explain how and why this approach is appropriate. What are the tools you propose to use to gather or collect the data? Briefly describe the tool(s) and explain why you have chosen this method of data gathering.
What type of sampling are you suggesting for the study and what type of participants would you recruit? Why?
Briefly describe the sampling process and explain your choices for inclusion and exclusion (if any).
What type of data analysis are you proposing? Explain why you have selected this method of analysis.
Access & Ethical Issues – approx. 600 words
5. What are the possible access and ethical issues that you can think of for this proposed study?
Consider; access of data/participants (possible gatekeeper?), voluntary informed consent and the right to withdraw, confidentiality/anonymity (and the limits of confidentiality), welfare of participants/duty of care, safe storage of data etc.
Outline what the issues are and explore how do you plan to manage these issues.
Conclusion – approx. 100 words
6. Summarise the research proposal – no new information should be included here.
Reference List (to begin on a new page) – All books, research articles, documents, websites etc.
