Hkac moodle

Research Proposal Writing A good proposal can take months to write.

Keep reading, Keep thinking, Keep writing

Calvin LUK email: calvin.luk@hkac.edu

Calvin Luk

Why do you need to write a proposal?

• You have a problem that you want to solve. • Research Questions • Business-related problems • (e.g. Improving the sales, persuade someone to

invest in your business)

Calvin Luk

Before writing the proposal (WHO)

• Think about the 5W2H (Who, What, Why, Where, When and 2 How?) • Think about who is your reader? (WHO?) • Research proposals: Funding agency? Scientists? Policy-makers? • Business proposals: Clients? Investors?

• This would determine what you would like to put into the proposals as you want to present in a way that your readers will get the key ideas.

Calvin Luk

Before writing the proposal (WHAT)

• Think about your research question (WHAT) • Research proposals • What do you want to study? • Define your topic • Start thinking from a general area that you’re interested in. • Then develop that into a focused research question to be answered.

Calvin Luk

Process of Defining a Research Question

Define a Research Question

Literature Review

Possible Methods/ Solutions

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Before writing the proposal (WHY)

• Think about why they need to choose you or fund your research? (WHY) • Importance/Significance of your research question.

• Is your topic related to real life? • Is your topic related to societal problems or influence policy? • Is your topic going to be useful/interesting? • Can your idea fill a gap in existing research? • Will this study generate new knowledge? • Will the study promote advance understanding?

Calvin Luk

Before writing the proposal (WHERE)

• Is your research topic limited to a certain geographical region? (WHERE) • Not so much for basic science research (universal) • Social science research – Hong Kong only? China? Asia? Globally?

Calvin Luk

Before writing the proposal (WHEN)

• Any Timeline/Timeframe for your proposal? (WHEN) • Your proposed solution is feasible in a specific timeframes.

• Can this be done in 3-year time if you are asking for a 3-year funding?

Calvin Luk

Before writing the proposal (2 HOW)

• How will work be done? (HOW) • Methodology/Solutions

• How much it cost? (HOW) • Cost/Budgets?

Calvin Luk

Process of Defining a Research Question

Define a Research Question

Literature Review

Possible Methods/ Solutions

Calvin Luk

List of Questions you need to answer for defining your research topic

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• Is your topic related to real life? • Is your topic related to societal problems or influence policy? • Is your topic going to be useful/interesting? • Can your idea fill a gap in existing research? • Will this study generate new knowledge? • Will the study promote advance understanding? • IS YOUR TOPIC FOCUSED AND SPECIFIC?

Real life? Societal problems? Useful? Interesting?

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• Making cancer drugs • How well people learn through online

platform • The role of women in business

management • How the presence of social media affect

companies around the world

These topics are good start but needs further refinements.

Fill a gap? New knowledge? • If your topic is a pure science/mathematic topic, you

would like to answer these questions. • Can your idea fill a gap in existing research? • Will this study generate new knowledge? • Will the study promote advance understanding?

• Basic research can lead to applications. • Develop new methods in solving N-dimensional

equations (Maths) • Might provide a speed-up in computations of a real-

world problem.

Calvin Luk

Focused and specific? • Making drugs for cancer

• TOO BROAD! • Are you making drugs for a

specific cancer? • How your drugs would work? • How is it different from the

existing drugs in market? • Why new drugs needed?

Focused and specific? • How well people learn through

online platform?

• TOO BROAD! • Are you studying for all age-group? • Are you looking at learning a specific

subject? • A specific online platform? Moodle,

Canva, Blackboard or Coursera? • How are you going to assess how well

they learn?

Focused and Specific? • Case studies on Barack Obama as a

charismatic speaker

• Maybe too focused (on 1 guy?)/ too general (charismatic speaker) • Why pick Barack Obama? • Do you want to include more people in

your study? • How do you define charismatic speaker?

Is there something that is measurable? Persuasion theories? Psychological notions he used?

Calvin Luk

This Photo s licensed under CC BY-SA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:President_Barack_Obama.jpg

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Golden Rules

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• You need to be passionate about the subject. • Your topic can lead to great discovery. • Your title should be catchy and reflecting the truth about your proposal. • Aims and Objectives must be well formulated.

Proposal Format

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Title

• Specific and Accurate • Not too long • Catchy • Contain the main idea • Maybe try to start with an action verb

• Example: • Simulation of …. • Comparison of … • Assessment of … • Developing... • Impact study of ….

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Title (Example)

• To examine the performance of ISO 9000 • Bad title – Too broad

• An investigation into the performance of ISO 9000 in construction industry in Hong Kong • Better title - More specific

• Effectiveness of ISO 9000 in raising construction quality standards in Hong Kong: empirical evidence using CONQUAS scores • Better title • more interesting, “effectiveness” • Show how you assess the effectiveness, certain scores

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Abstract

• Not too long • Max 250 words • Address the following: • Research Problem • Aim and Objective • Methodology • Results (Expected) • Impact of research

• GOAL: The reader can get what you would like to study in 5 minutes.

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Problem Statement (Background)

• Background of your problems • Concise • Refers to paper • Quantified approach (Problem defined + supported with numbers) • Contain an overview of most relevant work • Describe your hypothesis. • Propose your problem • Show the significance of what you would find for carrying out the research

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Aims and Objective

• Aim well and hit your target cleanly. • Say what you want to do simply and directly and explain how your

research will benefit the world. • Provide an answer to a ”general” problem. • Layman should understand aims.

• Think of it as your grandma should be able to understand what you’re doing in research when reading the aims.

Calvin Luk

Objective

• Objectives are more specific • More specific to your study • More accurate than aims and is operational • Correspond to what you will try to produce, generate • The central research question – Often contextualized on a specific area.

• Examples: Aim: To discover an effective cure for lung cancer. Objective: Synthesizing the drug (Compound A) and testing its efficacy.

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SMART Objectives

• Specific •Measurable •Achievable •Relevant • Time bound

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Frame your Aims + Objectives

• Is it Novel? • Is the Question Answerable? • Is it Specific? • Is it Interesting? • Any added-value?

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State of the Art / Literature Review

• The purpose of a literature review • To become familiar with the research area and

keep up to date with the current research in your area of interest. • Identify an appropriate research question. • Establish a theoretical framework for the

research. • Justify the need for research

• It establishes a context and orientate the reader to your research topic.

Calvin Luk

Research Methodologies vs. Methods

• Research methodology is the procedures by which researchers go about their work of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena. • The aim is to give the work plan of

research • Includes justifications of why a

certain method are used.

• Research methods are various procedures, schemes and algorithms used in research. • Experimental studies • Mathematical modeling • Statistical approaches

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Research Methodology • Methods • Sample size • Case studies • Target users • Equipment and data analysis

• Explain why it is the most appropriate to effectively answer the research question. • Explain what alternatives have been considered and why these have been

disregarded. • It should be written in a way that others can replicate your study.

Calvin Luk

Research Methodology • Present your overview of

your study design • For social science

research, you might choose a few methods based on your topic and justify it. • This is a tree diagram

showing different types and the corresponding questions/objectives (Q1, Q2, Q3) that the study is trying to answers

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Research Study Design

Research Methodology

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Research Design Goal Advantages Disadvantages

Descriptive To create a snapshot of the current state of affairs (Survey, interviews, case studies, naturalistic observations)

Provides a relatively complete picture of what is occurring at a given time. Allows development of questions for further study

Does not assess relationships among variables. May be unethical if participants do not know they are being observed.

Correlational To assess the relationship between and among two or more variables

Allows testing of expected relationships between and among variables and the making of predictions. Can assess these relationship

Cannot be used to draw inferences about the causal relationships between and among the variables.

Experimental To assess the causal impact of one or more experimental manipulations on a dependent variable

Allows drawing of conclusions about the causal relationships among variables.

Cannot experimentally manipulate many important variables. May be expensive and time consuming.

Expected Outcomes/Results

• Data – raw and unorganized facts that need to be processed. (Description of the world)

• Information – data is processed, organized, structured or presented in a given context so as to make it useful.

• Knowledge – information with analysis and experience. • It is like the map of the World we build inside our

brains to tell how things are interconnected with each other.

• It helps you to distinguish one thing from the other.

Calvin Luk

Expected Outcomes/Results

• The expected research outcomes should be expressed as: • Research that expands the current state of knowledge

• Hence, it is closely related to your literature review • Evidence for or against the hypotheses with the scope limitations of planned

research method. • Exploratory findings that may yield new insights or lead to other research • Potential impact on policy or business (e.g. outcomes leads to new

opportunities for business etc.)

• Try to show how the expected outcomes are linked to the aims ad objectives laid out earlier.

Calvin Luk

Expected Results/Outcomes

• Explain what you will produce and why • Make sure you put it as something concrete • e.g. synthesis a new compound: • It is expected compound A would be synthesized and characterized. (bad)

VS. • Compound A would be synthesized according to the scheme laid out and

the expected yield is ~70% based on previous similar experiments1. (better)

• Evidence based with numbers. (Give citation to your numbers) • Usable by others (people can use your results)

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Implications and Contribution to Knowledge

• This is an extension based on the expected results/outcomes • Address the following questions: • What might the results mean about the theoretical framework that frames

the study? • What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential

outcomes of the study? • Will the results influence policy decisions? • How might the results contribute to the solution of social, economic or other

types of problems? • What will the results mean to people in the “real world”?

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Reference List and Bibliography

• Make sure you use the citation machines • Always cite the source. • Use the correct format (consult the reader of your proposal on which

format to be used.)

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Appendices: Research Schedule

• Gantt Chart • Milestones

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Appendices: Research Budget

• Cost • Justifications • Source: How did you calculate the amount?

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Final Key to Success

• Be sure that all relevant chapters of the proposal have been addressed accurately. • Be brief and concise as possible in the formulation. • Statements are supported with proof evidence, numbers and relevant

sources. (Don’t bluff) • Always think about your audience when you write • Try to talk about your research to your Grandma! • Ask peers to review your proposal • Keep Reading (Literature Review), Keep Thinking, Keep Writing!

Calvin Luk