RESEARCH PROPOSAL

and REPORT
PREPARATION
LUISITO I. TABADA, Ph.D.
Associate Professor IV

1
 Definition
"thesis“
- from a Greek word meaning
"position"
- refers to an intellectual proposition.

"Dissertation" - from Latin dissertātiō,

meaning "discourse."

In some countries/universities, the word

thesis is used as part of a Bachelors or
Masters course, while dissertation is
normally applied to a Doctorate.
 Language Used

 Today mainstream international scientific

journals are effectively only published in
the English language.

 This means that your manuscript must be

written in CLEAR ENGLISH.
Research Proposal
an organized written presentation of a
proposed activity/ies aimed at achieving
a defined goal and objectives

Means by which research

proposals may be generated
● solicitation from funding agencies
 management‘s initiative
 proponent’s initiative

4
Types of Research Proposals
Research – an inquiry or investigation directed at acquiring
new or additional knowledge/information about a certain
topic.

Development
a systematic work, drawing on existing knowledge gained from
research and/or practical experience directed towards
producing
- new materials, product or device,
- installing new processes, systems and services
- improving substantially those already produced or installed
for the benefit & welfare of particular target beneficiaries.
• may include pilot-testing projects
• innovative work that aims to confirm and demonstrate the
feasibility of using a technology, modality or approach,
gauging end-user’s reaction to introduction of improved
technologies and identifying potential problems related to
wider dissemination 5
Forms of R&D Proposals
Study - the basic unit in the investigation of a
researchable problem with predetermined
objectives, and conducted in a specific time frame.

Project - a group of interrelated research studies

in the same field or discipline designed to meet
certain established goals within a specific time
frame. Two or more studies may make up a project.

Program - a group of interrelated research

projects requiring an interdisciplinary or
multidisciplinary approach to meet established goals
within a specific time frame.
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Rationale in preparing
a research proposal
• To enable the proponent to thoroughly analyze
and understand the research problem and
determine the feasibility of the proposed
activity.

 To guide the researchers during project

implementation

 To win the appreciation & support of funding

institutions

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 Shaping a research proposal

 Need to establish two key questions:

 What is the broad problem to be investigated?

 What are the specific initial activities to

undertake and outcomes to pursue?

 Choosing a topic and advisor

 Students and advisors form close working relations

 Student is typically responsible for most of the 8

effort… but the intellectual input is shared

Shaping a research proposal

 Is the research at right kind of technical level?

 Make use of your strength

 Scope

 Don’t be too ambitious – entering research with

hope of achieving something dramatic significance
 Identify easily achieved outcome… then move on
to more challenging goals

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Typical Parts of a Research Proposal

 Program/Project Title
 Introduction
 Problem Statement
 Objectives
 Significance of the Study
 Review of literature
 Conceptual Framework
 Methodology
 Work Program
 Estimated budget
 Literature cited
 Bio-data of the proponents
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 Research Title

Importance:

 Introduces the research to the reader

 Identifies the research components

 Reflect the main purpose and gives the reader the

idea on what the researcher proposes to do

 The goal in making the title is to describe the

coverage of the research and delineates its scope

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Research Title (continued)

Features of a good title:

 Concise and informative, have specific rather

than general terms, and accurately describe the
content

 Short, easy to remember, and can easily be

indexed and retrieved

 Has few words that adequately describes the

contents of the paper

 Clearly embody the focus of the proposal and is

supported by the stated objectives and
expected outputs
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Research Title (continued)
Tips on coming up with a good research title

• List the most important factors to be studied (e.g.,

performance, directed-acyclic graph, buffered
switch, architecture), as well as
methodology/treatments to be used
 Categorize the words that can be grouped (e.g.
bipartite matching, traveling salesman, quick sort
and binary search can be grouped as algorithms)
 Compose the words to form a clear, eye-catching
title
 Review for grammar and improve some of the
words without changing its meaning/message

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Research Title (continued)

Guidelines in making the Title

 Do not include too much information in the title

 Avoid using unnecessary words (effects,

evaluation, study, experiment, trials, observations,
results, test, factors, analysis, etc.)

 Title can be expressed in terms of scope of the

results

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 Titles should: Titles should NOT:
•Describe contents clearly •Include wasted words such
and precisely, so that as "studies on," "an
readers can decide whether investigation of"
to read the report •Use abbreviations and
•Provide key words for jargon
indexing •Use "cute" language
Good Titles Poor Titles
• The Relationship of • An Investigation of
Luteinizing Hormone to Hormone Secretion and
Obesity in the Zucker Rat Weight in Rats

•Fat Rats: Are Their

Hormones Different?
Parts of a Research Proposal
Introduction

 Use the first paragraphs to describe the context

 The opening sentence should clearly indicate the
topic

Example:

Underutilization of main memory impairs the

performance of operating system

 Operating systems are traditionally designed to use the

least possible amount of main memory, but such design
impairs their performance 16
 Parts of a Research Proposal

Introduction (continuation)
Underutilization of main memory impairs the
performance of operating sentence
 Operating systems are traditionally designed to use the
least possible amount of main memory, but such design
impairs their performance

The second version is better for the ff reasons:

 Clear – states the context which can mean that OS
don’t use much memory
 positive

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Parts of a Research Proposal

Introduction (continuation)

 Take care to distinguish description of existing

knowledge from the description of paper’s
contribution
Example:

Many user interfaces are confusing and poorly

arranged. Interfaces are superior if developed
according to rigorous principle.

 Many user interfaces are confusing and poorly

arranged. We demonstrate that interfaces are superior
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if
developed according to rigorous principles.
Parts of a Research Proposal

Introduction: four-element organization

1. A general statement introducing the broad research

area of the particular topic being investigated.
2. An explanation of the specific problem (difficulty,
obstacle, challenge) to be solved.
3. A brief review of existing or standard solutions to this
problem and their limitations.
4. An outline of the proposed new solution.

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Questions to address (in INTRO) How to address them
What is the problem? Describe the problem investigated.
• Summarize relevant research to
provide context, key terms, and
concepts so your reader can
understand the experiment.

Why is it important? Review relevant research to provide

rationale. (What conflict or
unanswered question, untested
population, untried method in
existing research does your
experiment address? What findings
of others are you challenging or
extending?)

What solution (or step toward a Briefly describe your experiment:

solution) do you propose? hypothesis(es), research question(s);
general experimental design or
method; justification of method if
 Parts of a Research Proposal

Problem Statement

Definition:
• A problem is a set of conditions needing discussion, a
solution, and information… (conventional sense)
• Implies the possibility of empirical investigation, that is,
of data collection and analysis… (technical)

• IT IS NOT:
• How to do something
• A vague or too broad a proposition
• A value question
But… by asking these types of questions a researchable
problem may emerge
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 Parts of a Research Proposal

Problem Statement

Usual Format:
• The purpose of this [type of study] study is to understand
[what] of [who or what] involving [what or who] from
[when] to [purpose].

• Example

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 Problem Statement: Example
 the type & purpose of  The purpose of this project is to
study create four different WebQuests
which employ constructive active
learning pedagogy, teach higher
 who or what order thinking skills, and that
introduce feminist issues to 6th -
 limits of when (time period) 8th grade art students. I will pilot
the WebQuests over a period of 3
months and document student
 major constructs (identified written responses, my
as observable variables) observations of their process, and
 theoretical framework (this student WebQuest products in
supports how the construct order to evaluate student learning
is defined and defines the and interest in the feminist
lens used to analyze & technological art curriculum
interpret the data)
 Parts of a Research Proposal
Objectives

• state the specific purposes to address the problem

areas of the project
• should be clear as to what the proposal intends to
achieve
• must be attainable within the timeframe and resources
required.

Formulating the Objectives

Statements of the goals of the study

Set the limit by which the problem will be studied
Should be attainable under reasonable conditions
Simple, specific, narrow enough to permit definite
answers 24
Parts of a Research Proposal
Research Objectives (continued)

SMART Guide
SPECIFIC
MEASURABLE
ATTAINABLE
RELEVANT
TIMEBOUND
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Parts of a Research Proposal
Research Objectives (continued)
State what you expect to accomplish

 The words survey, examine, quantify, and investigate tell

what the researcher intends to do
 The words evaluate, compare, characterize, determine,
or recommend tell what the researcher will do with the
data to come up with conclusions and recommendations

Have a general objective, if there are many studies all

leading to a common goal
Objectives like “To solve the social problems of the
Philippines” or “To attain self sufficiency in rice” are too
presumptuous and should be narrowed down to attainable
objectives under reasonable conditions.

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 REASONS FOR READING A
SCIENTIFIC PAPER
 to understand the work that has been
presented in the study.

 to place it in context and possibly to build

on its results by carrying out more
research.
Parts of a Research Proposal

Review of Literature

 An organized and synthesized presentation of

previous works - answers the question “what has
been done relative to the problem at hand?”

 Shows the state of knowledge about a subject

matter -indicates the finding on which the proposal
is building on

 Ensures that there will be no duplication of work,

and all the researchable areas will be covered

 Indicate related researches/activities which have

been conducted for the last 5-10 years.
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Parts of a Research Proposal
Review of Literature (continued)

 The state of the art of current technology/information from

which the project proposal will take off should likewise be
discussed.
 The results of the prior art search conducted during the
capsule stage of the proposal should be included in this
section (include any related technology which is protected by
any of the intellectual property rights scheme e.g. patent,
trademark, copyright, etc).

● Which Literature to Review?

- Books and reviews but use them with caution - data may not
be original
- Technical journal
- Internet

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Parts of a Research Proposal

Review of Literature (continued)

Organizing the Review

• Make an outline of the topics to be presented

• Classify the pertinent abstract of the reviewed literature into
topics; interrelate or group similar findings;
• Compare or contrast findings where appropriate
• Use the review of literature to clarify, augment, support or
contradict the idea
• Present one idea per paragraph
• Do not include a literature not relevant to the problem

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Parts of a Research Proposal
Review of Literature (continued)

Organizing the Review

- Provide smooth transitions by using such words as “on the
other hand”, “nevertheless”, “in addition”, “in contrast”, etc.
- Avoid so many reviewed articles on the same subject
- Limit and avoid complementary papers by the same author
- Cite results but not tabulated data
- State research findings in your own words
- Citing word for word requires enclosing them in quotation
marks
- Acknowledge sources of sentences or sections lifted from text
or articles, and other vividly striking expressions

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 Parts of a Research Proposal

Methodology – this consist of the following:

 Conceptual or Analytical Framework

 Research design/Experimental layout
 Sample size & sampling procedure/# of
replications
 List of data to be collected & method of
collection
 Methods of data analysis

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 Parts of a Research Proposal

Methodology

• The methodology should be geared towards providing

answers to the research objectives
• The measurable outputs that the project will produce and
their set of indicators and expected values should be
included
• The methodology should also show the appropriate, sound
treatments, experimental layout, and appropriate
statistical analysis
• There should be a discussion on how the data required
based on the set of indicators will be obtained, by whom,
what sources, how frequent the data collection and how
the collected data will be processed and reported. 33
 Methodology
Tips on developing a conceptual framework:

 Generally used in social science R&D; equivalent to research

design in the other sciences

 Show how the problem is viewed and how the proposed

interventions will lead to the solutions of the problem under study;
guides the researcher on how to analyze the data and what
methodology to use

 The review of literature should guide the researcher in

contextualizing the problem and identifying the variables to be
looked into

● Usually contains variables and depicts their relationships

 Illustrated using a diagram or a figure

 Should always be accompanied by a textual explanation

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Parts of a Research Proposal

Sampling procedure

 Sampling is done in most researches for

economy of time, money and effort

 Sampling is a selection of a part of a population

in such a way that the sample is representative
of the population

 Depending on the degree of homogeneity or

heterogeneity of the population, the degree of
accuracy required, and the objectives, the
sample size is determined

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 Parts of a Research Proposal

Methods of data collection

 What information will be collected?

 How does the researcher propose to gather the data –

from secondary or primary sources?

 If data will come from primary sources, how will they

be collected – through personal interviews or mailed
questionnaires, laboratory or experimental observation
or field survey?

 Processing of the research proposal will be facilitated if

a questionnaire is appended to it. Otherwise, a list of
needed information has to be incorporated in the
procedure. 36
 Parts of a Research Proposal

Project Duration:

• Presenting the timetable of planned activities

(work plan) typically involves the use of a Gantt
chart to illustrate activity duration.

• Enumerate in chronological order the activities

to be undertaken. The activities should answer
the expected outputs. The expected outputs on
the other hand should be anchored on the
proposed objectives.
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Parts of a Research Proposal

Estimated Budgetary Requirement

• The total financial requirement indicated

must be reasonable and appropriate in
relation to the objectives of the study
• It must be consistent with the work plan
• Counterparts funds should be indicated and
line-item expenditures should be consistent
with existing allowable rates

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 Parts of a Research Proposal

Estimated Budgetary Requirement (continued)

• The said counterpart fund maybe provided anytime

during the duration of the proposed project so long
as the accumulated allocation satisfies the
percentage counterpart fund required
• Personal services - Honoraria of research leaders,
salaries of full time researchers, research assistants,
research aides and interviewers
• Maintenance and operating expenses - supplies and
materials, travel expenses, attendance to meetings/
workshops, communications, contracted services,
gasoline and oil, patenting, publication in a refereed
journal and other expenses
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Parts of a Research Proposal

Literature Cited - list alphabetically all materials used, quoted, rates,

or referred to. Use standard system for citation.

Books

Author(s)/Editor(s)/Corporate Author(s). Year of Publication. Title of

publication. Place of publication: Publisher, year. Pagination.

Hnannesy J and Patterson D. 1996. Computer Architecture: A

Quantitative Approach. San Francisco, California: Morgan
Kauffman Publishers, Inc., 1996. 521-522pp.

Technical Journal:

Author(s). Year of Publication. Title of article. Name of Journal, Vol

and Issue No. Pagination.

Tabada, LI and Tagle, PU. 2009. Reliability Analysis of Fault Tolerant

Buffered Switch. Proceedings of International Conference on
Computer Engineering and Applications. 319-325pp.

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Parts of a Research Proposal

Internet

Author(s)/Editor(s)/Corporate Author(s). Year of Publication.

Title of publication. Available at: <URL>. Access Date:
<date>.

International Engineering Consortium. 2007. Internet Model

for Control of Converged Networks. Available at:
http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/emerg- multi/topic01.html.
Access Date: March 7, 2008.

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 Formatting the manuscript

 Depends on the college or organization’s

formatting

 Can be automated using LateX software

 open source
 manual available at the CEIT office – for
reproduction
 Writing the Manuscript
 Title
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Context

 Statement of the Problem

 Objectives

 Significance

 Review of Related Literature

 Methodology
 Results and Discussions
 Conclusion
 Recommendations
 Literature Cited/ References
 Abstract
 Find out maximum length (may vary from 50
to 300+ words).
 Process: Extract key points from each
section. Condense in successive revisions.
What to avoid:
 Do not include references to figures, tables,
or sources.
 Do not include information not in report.
Question to
address in How to address it:
ABSTRACT
What is the report •State main objectives.
about, in miniature (What did you investigate?
and without specific Why?)
details? •Describe methods. (What
did you do?)
•Summarize the most
important results. (What did
you find out?)
•State major conclusions
and significance. (What do
your results mean? So what?)
 Writing the Manuscript
 Introduction
 Context
 Statement of the Problem
 Objectives
 Significance of the Study
 Review of Related Literature
 Methodology
Basically, have the same contents as Proposal Writing:
Except in Methodology…
Questions to address: How to address them:
How did you study the Briefly explain the general type of
problem? scientific procedure you used

What did you use? Describe what materials, subjects,

(May be subheaded as and equipment (chemicals,
Materials) experimental animals, apparatus,
etc.) you used.
(These may be subheaded Animals,
Reagents, etc.)

How did you proceed? Explain the steps you took in your
(May be subheaded as experiment.
Methods or Procedures) (These may be subheaded by
experiment, types of assay, etc.)
 Additional Tips: Methodology
 Provide enough detail for replication.
For a journal article, include, for example,
genus, species, strain of organisms; their
source, living conditions, and care; and
sources (manufacturer, location) of
chemicals and apparatus.
 Order procedures chronologically or by
type of procedure (subheaded) and
chronologically within type.
 Additional Tips: Methodology
 Use past tense to describe what you did.

 Quantify when possible: concentrations,

measurements, amounts (all metric);
times (24-hour clock); temperatures
(centigrade)
 Results

 Display of data with logical development

showing how your findings satisfy your
objectives
 If possible, give illustrative examples and
compare those with known results in the
literature
 Use tables and figures/ pictures
Question to How to address it::
address in
RESULTS:
What did you For each experiment or
observe? procedure:
Briefly describe experiment
without detail of Methods
section (a sentence or two).
Report main result(s),
supported by selected data:
Representative: most
common
Best Case: best example of
ideal or exception
 Results… Additional Tips

 Order multiple results logically:

 from most to least important
 from simple to complex;
 organ by organ; chemical class by chemical
class

 Use past tense to describe what

happened.
 Discussion

 AN INTRODUCTION is to place
the reason for carrying out
your study in context, so the
DISCUSSION is to place your
results in context.
 Discussion
 the hardest section to write
 you discuss, you do not recapitulate the
Results
 the relationship among observed facts
show
 Don't over-generalize.
 Don't ignore deviations in your data.
 Avoid speculation that cannot be tested
in the foreseeable future.
 Discussion… Additional Tips
 Move from specific to general: your
finding(s) --> literature, theory, practice.

 Don't ignore or bury the major issue. Did

the study achieve the goal (resolve the problem,
answer the question, support the hypothesis)
presented in the Introduction?

 Make explanations complete.

 Give evidence for each conclusion.
 Discuss possible reasons for expected and
unexpected findings.
Questions to How to address them
address
What do your •Summarize the most important findings at the beginning.
observations
mean?
What For each major result:
conclusions can •Describe the patterns, principles, relationships your
you draw? results show.
•Explain how your results relate to expectations and to
literature cited in your Introduction. Do they agree,
contradict, or are they exceptions to the rule?
•Explain plausibly any agreements, contradictions, or
exceptions.
•Describe what additional research might resolve
contradictions or explain exceptions.
How do your •Suggest the theoretical implications of results.
results fit into a •Suggest practical applications of your results.
broader •Extend your findings to other situations or other species.
context? •Give the big picture: do your findings help us understand
a broader topic?
 Conclusion

 Draw together the topics discussed

 Should include concise statement of the
paper’s important results and an
explanation of their significance
 State any shortcomings in the
experiments, problems that the theory
does not address, and so on…
 Conclusion

 Look beyond the current context to other

problems that were not addressed, to
questions that were no answered, to
variations that could be explored

 If you have no conclusion to draw, write

“Summary”
 Common Problems
 Too long – only about 2.5% of manuscript
 Too much detail – emphasize on evaluation,
implication, etc.
 Failure to comment on larger, more significant
issues – Introduction is deduction while
conclusion is inductive (how the research affect
the world)
 Failure to reveal the complexities of a conclusion
or situation – negative aspects can be included
 Lack of a concise summary of what was learned.
 Failure to match the objectives of the research
 REMEMBER
 Writing helps you to think and to
learn. Don’t misjudge your
audience. They can tell you when
you are bluffing and when you
don’t believe what you are
saying or doing.

 Write clear and simple, science is

not an entertainment.