Research Methods

1. Research Methods Research Proposals

2. Types of Research Proposals: • Graduate Studies Research Proposals • Thesis for MSc students • Dissertation for PhD students • Research Funding Proposals • Research projects funded by research funding agencies • Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus • European Union • Industry Research Proposals • Research projects funded by the Industry to solve specific problems • Incubators • Government • Ministry of Commerce • Life-Long Learning Foundation

3. Graduate Studies Research: • MSc Students: Content of the research work must be within the boundaries of knowledge in the specific area • PhD Students: Content of the research work must extend the boundaries and produce new of knowledge in the specific area • Student Degree Project Coursework

4. Graduate Studies Research Proposals: • Topics proposed must be in accordance to the areas of interests and expertise of the faculty of the School or Department • Students rely on the guidance and help from their advisors to carry out their research • Advisors must be able to assist the students they are supervising • The student must get a preliminary approval from the research advisor in advance • Research/Thesis Proposal • An informal contract between the student and the Department • States what the student promises to deliver as part of the research/thesis coursework • If approved by the Department, it states what the Department is expecting from the student in order to consider the coursework successful • Changes on the proposal are valid if agreed by both parties.

5. Graduate Studies Research Proposals: • Format of the proposal • Check with advisors for any specific guidelines or templates • It includes a report and possibly an oral presentation/defence • Evaluated by a committee of experts - academics • Assessment is based on: • the content of the proposal (if it is within the program areas of concern), • its contributions with respect to novelty and innovation • its added value to science, society, economy, environment • weather it can be done within • the given time limit • economic restrictions, • as well as student’s potential

6. Graduate Studies Research Proposal Contents • The Research Proposal must include: • The motivation for doing this specific research • What is the Research Question and the Research Hypothesis • Research Question: What is the problem to be addressed • Research Hypothesis: Thesis or what is the proposed solution to the research question • Why it is important to address the research question and hence do this research • Does this research have an added value to science, economy, society etc • The proposed methodology to conduct the research • How do you plan to implement your thesis • The expected outcome or results of the research work • Related work and any background information related to the issues concerned with the specific research • Highlight why your proposal is better from other existing approaches • For background information avoid including common knowledge issues

7. Graduate Studies Research Proposal Contents • The Research Proposal must include: (cont.) • The validation and evaluation methodology • Need to specify how you will check that the results achieved are correct (validation), and how good is the achieved outcome of the research work (evaluation) • Can be done by building a prototype, using simulations, experiments with actual measurements, analytical modelling, surveys etc • Any economic issues • What resources are required to carry out the research • Need for equipment, software, or other human resources • Are any of the resources needed available • Use of existing equipment or software • Donations from the industry or other interested parties • Any ethical issues • A time schedule showing the planning of the research work

8. Research Funding Proposals • Research Funding Organizations (EU, RPF, etc) • Within a framework or action • Specific aims and thematic areas • Usually predefined format for the proposal • Evaluated by a small team of experts • Assessment based on the • Idea (novelty and value added), • research team, or research network (consortium) • available infrastructure, and • Host organization experience • Important Issues • Budget • Deliverables • Patents and ownership • Ethical Issues • Dissemination of results

9. Other Proposals – Industry and other Organizations • Research Funding requested from non-research related organizations such as the industry, electricity and communication organizations (EAC, CYTA), banks etc • The topic of the research can be: • predefined according to the needs of the funding organization • The industry/organization assigns a project to a university, or research organization, instead of hiring researchers or using their own human resources • open to be specified by the researchers • The researcher might have an idea than might be useful to the industry • Other cases include research calls from organizations such as incubators, technology farms, or government agencies

10. Proposal Structure • Your Research Proposal must answer four critical questions: • what research project you propose to undertake, • why is important to carry out this specific research, • Which are the contributions of the proposed work (novelty), and • how you intend to carry out and evaluate that research. • The structure of a research proposal is usually predefined by the research funding organization or the university • A typical proposal must include the following: • Title • Abstract (in many cases optional) • Introduction • Literature Review • Implementation Methodology • Evaluation / Validation • Planning • Budget/Infrastructure required • Conclusions • References

11. Research Proposal:- Preamble • Cover page • The cover page must include the • Title of the proposed work (project) • It must precisely indicate the content of the project • Program Identification or Call • eg “MSc in Engineering Management”, etc • Name of the researcher or student submitting the proposal • Date of the Submission (Month and Year) • In most cases a template for the cover page is predefined by the Department or the Funding Agency • For funded research programs it is necessary to specify the Host Organization • Table of Contents • For lengthy documents it is useful to provide a table of contents • Might be good to add a list of tables or figures and a table of abbreviations

12. Research Proposal:- Abstract • Might not be needed for small size proposals – less than 10 pages • It must describe clearly the content of the proposed work • It will give the first impression of the proposed work to the evaluators • Do not insert references or citations in the abstract • Usually there is a strict limit on the number of words • Up to three paragraphs summarising • What is the problem and why you propose the specific research? • What you are proposing in order to solve the stated problem? • What is the expected outcome and conclusion?

13. Research Proposal:- Introduction • Introduction Structure: • Problem definition and Thesis (2 paragraphs) • Introduce the problem and state why it needs to be addressed • State your thesis (what you intent to do to solve the problem) and outline the expected outcome of the proposed research • Motivation (2 to 4 paragraphs) • Why this research is needed • How this problem is addressed up to now, what are the pros and cons of the existing solutions and why and how your proposal is better • Brief background information • Summary of the main issues given in the literature review • It must relate to your proposal and direct the reader to conclude that the work of your proposal is indeed original/novel and that it has a value. • It must also provide the foundation for (or justify) the previous subsection (the motivation for doing this research)

14. Research Proposal:- Introduction • Introduction Structure: (Cont.) • Contributions • Clearly identify your Contributions (what is the new knowledge to be produced) • What is the expected outcome and the expected results • Proposed Methodology • How do you propose to do it • How do you propose to evaluate and validate and evaluate the outcome of the proposed research • Conclusions: • Restate the problem and your thesis, and emphasise why it is essential to carry out this work.

15. Research Proposal:- Literature Review • Describe and critically analyze the most important work in the area of your research • Either completed or in progress • To find what to include: • Search the most relevant journals and conferences • More emphasis on the last 2-3 years • Find the most frequently cited articles and authors • Most authors provide on their web site a list of their publication and research projects • The review must be coherent: • Try to find common attributes and classify the work presented according to these attributes • If necessary show also a historical evolution of the related work • The review must be up-to-date: • More emphasis on work recently completed or in progress • Summarize older work to show the foundations and historic evolution of the work

16. Research Proposal:- Literature Review (Cont.) It should lead to the conclusion that: your idea of research is novel and original has not been undertaken yet is interesting others are currently doing similar research you have the background knowledge in the field to carry out your research Make sure you cite properly all referenced work It is essential to acknowledge the work of others Proposals 16

17. Research Proposal: Methodology • Methodology refers to • How you intent to solve the problem • The proposed methodology must be • Technically correct • Completed within the predefined time constrains • Economically reasonable and affordable • How you will evaluate your work and show that it is the valid • Use experiments /simulators / benchmarks / surveys • The implementation of a methodology is usually divided into tasks • Examples: • set up the questions of a questioner • build a software simulator • In “longer projects” such as PhD or funded projects tasks are grouped into Work-Packages • In funded research programs there is a leader (organization) for each work-package

18. Research Proposal:- Implementation and Planning • Implementation is expressed in the form of • Tasks and work-packages: • Distinct pieces of the work needed to be carried out in order to complete the work of the research project • Milestones: • Critical points in the implementation of the project where • A decision needs to be taken • e.g. decide on which benchmarks to use • A part of the work has been completed • e.g. the completion of a survey • Deliverables • Items that must be submitted by the researcher in order to monitor the progress of the research • Submitted to either the student’s advisor (for student project) or to the funding agency (for funded programs) • It can be • A report such as a literature review, a technical manual, a progress or final report • The source code of the software produced • A hardware prototype etc

19. Research Proposal:- Implementation and Planning (Cont.) Planning Time schedule showing the implementation of the project Relation to work-packages, milestones and deliverables Use a Gantt Chart Proposals 19

20. Gantt Charts • A Gantt chart is a bar chart, that illustrates the schedule of a project. • Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of work-packages or tasks • Some Gantt charts also show the dependencies between tasks • Gantt charts can also show the current schedule status using %age shadings • Gantt charts can also show the dates of deliverables (bottom line)

21. Gantt Chart Examples

22. Research Proposal:- Budget and Infrastructure • Budget/Infrastructure for student projects • In most cases not required • It is needed if specialized equipment or software is required • Clarify if already available in the lab • If not available, specify how it will be obtained (donation from industry, from research funding etc) • Budget/Infrastructure for funded research projects • In most research projects infrastructure is partially funded • The rest must be covered by the organization undertaking the project • Must be very careful with cost of installation and maintenance, as well as the depreciation of the cost • It is essential to show that the organization undertaking the project has already a significant infrastructure to by used, while funding is needed only partially

23. Research Proposal:- Conclusions and References • Conclusions • Shortly state • why your proposed work is new, • why it advances knowledge, • why is it worth researching and • how, are you going to do that. • References • Make sure these follow a recognised format, and do so consistently.