Research Proposal

How to Plan Your Research

Bogdan G. Popescu

John Cabot University

Background

Intro

The research proposal is a plan for how you want to do your research.

It should demonstrate that you:

  • understand the topic
  • have a clear vision for how the project will be completed

Background

Background Material

To write the research proposal, you should have covered the following materials:

It also helps to have gone through all the other materials associated with every week.

Research Proposal

Structure

1. Research Question (~20 words)

  • Check out the slides on the Research Question and how it differs from a Research Topic
  • Explain the rationale
  • Explain the gap

2. Literature Review and Fit (~600 words)

  • Check out the slides on literature review
  • Perform a short literature review (~400 words)
  • Explain the rationale and contribution (~200 words)

Research Proposal

Structure

3. Methods (~100 words)

  • Check out the slides on methods
  • Clarify here if you are using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods
  • Also explain if you need to collect data
  • If you do, what data and how will you analyze it?

Research Proposal

Structure

4. Timeline

  • Explain what paper sections you will complete by what date

Research Proposal

Template

Feel free to use the paper template provided and make changes to the section names and content accordingly.

Please write your research proposal in Quarto and produce two outputs:

  • html
  • pdf

Final Note

Flexibility

The proposal is not set in stone.

Your research question, methodology, and even your literature review may evolve as your research develops.