Deck 8: Research Proposals

Question 1

Why are students asked to write research proposals?

Answer 1

Tertiary education increasingly focuses on students as active learners rather than recipients of knowledge and writing a research proposal requires you to think about how you will go about acquiring knowledge. Also, many students will be required to write research proposals during their subsequent careers, so these skills, particularly the ability to write persuasively, are important career training.

Question 2

Does your institution have a code of practice for research and/or an ethics committee? Can you find the code of practice or the ethics committee on your institution's website? Bookmark the page.

Answer 2

Rather than directing students to your institution's webpage or giving contact details for the Research Ethics Office (or equivalent), set this as an exercise. As reinforcement, provide students with a list of links to the homepages of several
tertiary institutions and ask them to locate any codes of practice, ethics committees or other relevant resources.

Question 3

What does it mean to say that a research proposal should in some ways be persuasive? What do you think is the best way to be persuasive in a research proposal?

Answer 3

A research proposal must eventually be accepted or rejected, so the person or committee making that decision must be persuaded of the proposal's merits. For example, a graduate student's supervisors must be persuaded that the research is feasible and rigorous and the student is capable of completing it successfully, and a funding agency must be persuaded that the research is important and can deliver value for money (often in competition with other proposals). The best way to achieve this is, as far as possible, to approach the proposal from the reader's perspective. Make the proposal clear, concise, and focused on the reader's needs.

Question 4

List the key things that must be included in an Introduction.

Question 5

Is the methodology section of a research proposal set out differently for quantitative or qualitative research? If so, how are they different?