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What to include in Chapter 1 of Thesis Proposal

In this section, you will learn how to write the various parts of an undergraduate
Thesis Proposal. The first chapter focuses on what to include in Chapter 1 of an
undergraduate thesis proposal.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this section, you will be able to achieve the following:

1. Be familiar with the various parts and sections of a thesis proposal;

2. Know what details to include in writing the sections of Chapter 1 of thesis proposal;
3. Determine what details to include under Rationale of the Study;
4. Learn the basics of identifying a research problem and coming up with research
questions or research objectives;
5. Identify the assumptions of the study, its hypotheses, significance, and scope and
limitations;
6. Determine what technical terms to include under Definition of Terms and to
differentiate between dictionary definition and operational definition of a term;
7. Know what to include in the section: Organization of the Study; and
8. Know what to include in the front matters of the research proposal.

THE SBE THESIS PROPOSAL FORMAT

APPENDIX A contains the template for the SBE thesis proposal format. The
discussion of each section in the thesis proposal is presented below.

Discussion follows the contents of the thesis proposal (Chapters 1, 2, and 3)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page
Approval Sheet
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Chapter
1 INTRODUCTION
Rationale of the Study
THE PROBLEM
Statement of the Problem
Statement of Assumptions
Statement of Hypothesis
Significance of the Study
Scope and Limitations of the Study
DEFINITION OF TERMS
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Review of Related Literature
Theoretical Framework
Conceptual Framework
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Environment
Research Respondents
Research Instruments
Research Procedures
Gathering of Data
Treatment of Data
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BIBLIOGRAPHY (Use APA Style American Psychological Association)

APPENDICES
A Transmittal Letter
B Research Instrument
C Timetable of Activities
D Program Budget
CURRICULUM VITAE

Here are the GUIDELINES on how to write the Chapter 1 of the thesis proposal
following the SBE thesis proposal format:
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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The title of Chapter 1 is INTRODUCTION. This implies that this chapter

introduces the problem statement, justifies why you have chosen such a topic for your
thesis and provides the research questions or research objectives, the statement of
assumptions, statement of hypothesis, the significance of the study, the scope and
limitations, if there are any, the definition of terms, and lastly, the organization of the
study.

In short, the first chapter of the research proposal introduces the problem
statement.We will look into each of these sections of chapter 1 so that you can write the
details of the chapter effectively and thoroughly.

Rationale of the Study

The rationale of the study is the first section of Chapter 1. This is an important
part as this provides the overview of the chosen thesis topic. When we say providing the
overview, we mean that you will provide the overall context of their study. The best way
to do this is to start from the global context, to national, then local. What do we mean by
context? This refers to the particular situation from which the problem has occurred. If
you start your rationale of the study from the international context, you will need to read
more on the global situation when it comes to your thesis topic. This is what we call pre-
literature review phase. You will need at least 5 in-text citations in their rationale. This
would imply that you would cite sources to support their justification in choosing the
topic. You will start by reading books, journal articles, new items, and previous
researches. What do they say regarding the relevance of the chosen topic? What are
happening in the field where your topic belongs? What is happening in the global
scene?
What is the historical background of the topic? Why are you interested in investigating
the research problem? What are the research gaps? Which research gap will your study
focus on?

This is what we mean by a situationer in which you will provide under this
section. You will also need to explain the reasons for choosing such a thesis topic and
create the need to carry out an investigation on the topic.

THE PROBLEM

Statement of the Problem

This is the problem that you will have identified to be investigated in your study.
The main problem statement should be stated in complete, declarative sentence. It
should be able to capture all the relevant variables that that need to be investigated in
relation to solving the research problem.

Once you have stated the problem statement clearly, concisely, and effectively,
you will then identify the sub-problems stated as research questions or research
objectives (if you choose to state them as research questions, then there is no need to
come up with research objectives, meaning choose only one or the other). It will be
redundant to have both research questions and research objectives. If they are stated
as questions, then use the interrogative statement. This means it is in the form of a
question.

However if you choose to state the sub-problems as research objectives, these

should be stated in the infinitives, for example, identify the factors that affect the
implementation of best marketing practices. If it is in the form of a research question, it
will be What are the factors that affect the implementation of best marketing
practices?.

Normally, the research questions should not be too many; ideally, at most three
research questions/objectives. The more sub-problems, the more answers you will need
to research on. The last objective of the study should be on the original contribution of
the thesis.

Statement of Assumptions

While this section of Chapter 1 is optional, it is better for you to include it since it
will enable you to identify those assertions, propositions, and situations and that will
enable you to conduct the research. You should state these propositions that you assert
as your assumptions based on your own intuition, experiences, and observations. If you
think you do not need to have assumptions, then you can have the option not to include
it.

Statement of Hypothesis

Hypotheses are sometimes called educated guesses. You should have somehow
some inkling as what the results of your study will be and you will state them as either a
research hypothesis or a statistical hypothesis. How will you differentiate one from the
other? Here are the definitions of these two types of hypothesis:
A. Research Hypothesis this is an educated guess which you will state in a
complete statement. You may have a number of research hypotheses, but you
should not have too many.
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B. Statistical Hypothesis this requires statistical testing. You should always state
the null hypothesis; there is no need to express its opposite, the alternative
hypothesis. You have to use the correct null hypothesis and this depends on
what statistical technique is appropriate for the research questions. You may
have one or two statistical hypotheses, or you may not have one.
For example: Ho: There are no significant differences in the implementation of best
marketing practices of Company A and Company B.

Significance of the Study

This section of chapter 1 of the thesis proposal provides you the opportunity to
mention those who are to benefit from the study and how each may be benefitted. You
have to discuss the value of the study to individuals, groups, institutions, and to the your
own field of discipline. Who are the stakeholders who will benefit from the findings of
your study?

You should identify the stakeholders one by one and write one brief paragraph
on the benefits for each stakeholder. You should follow the correct format of writing this,
with the stakeholder clearly identified and how he will benefit from the study.

For Example:
Customers. They will benefit from the findings of this study on how best to
implement marketing practices for increased profitability.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This optional; however, it would be good to have this is if you have some
constraints in conducting your research. The scope and coverage of the study can be
highlighted in this section. There may be some limitations in the proposed study that
need to be mentioned here so that the readers will not expect more from the study. The
constraints can be time, cost, mobility, availability of the respondents, among others.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

This section presents the important terms included in the Statement of the
Problem that needs to be made operational. The terms should be defined as how these
will be used in the study. Now, there are two types of definitions. One is, of course its
dictionary meaning and you can easily find the meaning of a term from a standard
dictionary.

However, what we want is the operational definition of the term, not usually its
dictionary meaning. When we say operational , the term should be defined as it will be
used in the study. For example, the term, age. There are many meanings of age in the
dictionary, but for the purpose of the study, it will be defined according to age of
respondents belonging to18 to 40 age range, thus, they have limited the definition of the
term, age, by specifying which age group they are referring to.
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It should be remembered to define only the terms that are found in the title,
problem statement, and research questions/objectives. If you would like to define
more technical terms, you can create a Glossary of Terms and put this after the
Bibliography.

ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This section describes the organization of what the final thesis will be. You
should describe how many chapters the final thesis will have and what each chapter will
contain. Ordinarily, a thesis proposal has three chapters, so you need to include this
under this section.

Each chapter should be described. Furthermore, you also need to include other
chapters of the final thesis such as Chapter 4: Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation
of Data, and, Chapter 5, Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations. There are
some instances when a researcher would add one chapter to highlight his original
contribution to the pool of knowledge, so he will now have all in all, six chapters with the
additional chapter becoming Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 becomes the summary,
conclusion, and recommendation section. It depends on the extent of the study. It will
be the your own judgment and of the faculty adviser who will approve to have an
additional chapter.

As a general rule, for the undergraduate thesis, it will have only five (5)
chapters.
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Note: body text of the thesis proposal should be times new roman font 12; double
spaced; 1.5- inch left margin and 1-inch margin for right ,top and bottom. Follow APA
manual of style.