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Writing a good research proposal

Writing a good research proposal. Prabhas Chongstitvatana Faculty of Engineering Chulalongkorn University. Goal of a research proposal. 1 convince others that you have a worthwhile research project and you have the competence and the work-plan to complete it. Paul T. P. Wong.

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Writing a good research proposal

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  1. Writing a good research proposal Prabhas Chongstitvatana Faculty of Engineering Chulalongkorn University

  2. Goal of a research proposal 1 convince others that you have a worthwhile research project and • you have the competence and the work-plan to complete it. Paul T. P. Wong

  3. One's research is only as a good as one's proposal.

  4. Elements of a proposal 1 all the key elements involved in the research process and 2 sufficient information for the readers to evaluate the proposed study.

  5. Summary • The proposal should have sufficient information to convince your readers that you have an important research idea, that you have a good grasp of the relevant literature and the major issues, and that your methodology is sound.

  6. Writing a good proposal • Read the advice offered by your funding agency • Write your proposal for non-expert too. [Your case for support will, with luck, be read by one or two experts in your field.] • You have one minute to grab your reader's attention. Simon Peyton Jones and Alan Bundy

  7. Two Golden Rules 1 Ask lots of people to help you improve your proposal. 2 Make sure that the first page acts as a stand-alone summary of the entire proposal.

  8. Major criteria to evaluate a proposal • Does the proposal address a well-formulated problem? • Is it a research problem, or is it just a routine application of known techniques? • Is it an important problem, whose solution will have useful effects?

  9. Major criteria • Do the proposers have a good idea on which to base their work? [The proposal must explain the idea in sufficient detail to convince the reader that the idea has some substance, and should explain why there is reason to believe that it is indeed a good idea.] • Does the proposal explain clearly what work will be done? [Does it explain what results are expected and how they will be evaluated? How would it be possible to judge whether the work was successful?] • Is there evidence that the proposers know about the work that others have done on the problem? • Do the proposers have a good track record, both of doing good research and of publishing it?

  10. Common Pitfalls • It is not clear what question is being addressed by the proposal. • The question being addressed is ill-formed. • It is not clear why the question is worth addressing. • The proposal is just a routine application of known techniques.

  11. Common Pitfalls • There is no evidence that the proposers will succeed where others have failed. "We have an idea, give us the money and we will start thinking about this problem". • A new idea is claimed but insufficient technical details of the idea are given for the committee to be able to judge whether it looks promising.

  12. Common Pitfalls • The proposers seem unaware of related research. • The proposed research has already been done - or appears to have been done. • The proposal is badly presented, or incomprehensible to all but an expert in the field. • The proposers seem to be attempting too much for the funding requested and time-scale envisaged. • The proposal is too expensive for the probable gain.

  13. Practical advise to avoid mistakes 1. Failure to provide the proper context to frame the research question. 2. Failure to delimit the boundary conditions for your research. 3. Failure to cite landmark studies. 4. Failure to accurately present the theoretical and empirical contributions by other researchers. 5. Failure to stay focused on the research question.

  14. Practical advise to avoid mistakes 6. Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research. 7. Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major issues. 8. Too much rambling -- going "all over the map" without a clear sense of direction. 9. Too many citation lapses and incorrect references. 10. Too long or too short.

  15. References Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D., C.Psych. Research Director, Graduate Program in Counselling Psychology, Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, Canada http://www.meaning.ca/ archives/ archive/art_how_to_write_P_Wong.htm S. Jone, A. Bundy, Writing a good grant proposal, http://research.microsoft.com/en-us /um/people/simonpj/papers/Proposal.html

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