3_nulis proposal penelitian-2

8/14/2019 3_Nulis Proposal Penelitian-2

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e given the chance to make the research.Trends come and go, fast; what are the chances that

ur years'time, when your research is done and you are ready to publish yourresults, one of th

ell-known professors who dispose of hugeresearch grants has already said whatever you had

y?

emember how, in a structured essay, right after the thesis you wouldpresent the organisation

our essay, by enumerating the mainarguments you were going to present? Same thing should

appen in a RP.After stating your thesis, you should give a short account of youranswers to tho

ree questions mention earlier. State, in a fewphrases, what will be learned from your research

at your projectwill make a difference, and why is that important to be known. You willhave

aborate on both of these later in the paper.

he next step in writing your proposal is to prove that that particularpiece of research has not

een done yet. This section is usually calledLiterature Review. Inside it, you have to enumerat

nd criticallyanalyze an impressive list of boring bibliography. The conclusion youshould -

bjectively! - reach is that your idea of research has notbeen undertaken yet. Even more, you uis opportunity to prove solidtheoretical knowledge in the field, and build the theoretical base

fyour project. One tip: don't review all the articles and books in thefields even if you mention

em in the bibliography list; pay attentionin your analysis to those you will build on. Another

ne: avoid jargonwhen writing your RP. The chances are great that the person(s) who willread

our and another 1000 research proposals are not specialists inthat very field - niche you are

xamining. If you are applying for agrant with or foundation or something similar, it might

appen thatthose reading your paper are not even professors, but recruiters,donors, etc. And ev

they actually are professors, one of thereasons busy people like them agree to undertake a hu

nd sometimesvoluntary, work, is the desire to meet some diversity, some change fromtheir w

so maybe they'll read applications for anotherspecialisation. The capacity to get your messag

ross in clear,easy-to-grasp concepts and phrases is one of the winning papers' mostimportant

dvantages.

o far, you have proven you have a research idea, that you are familiarwith the field, and that

our idea is new. Now, why should your projectbe worth researching? Because it advances

nowledge, ok. But is thisknowledge that anybody will need? Maybe nobody knows for sure h

eshoelaces were being tied in the XIXth century, but who cares, beyondtwo lace-tyingecialists? Find arguments to convince the reader thats/he should give you money for that

search: practical use,accelerating the development of knowledge in your or other fields,open

ew research possibilities, a better understanding of factsthat will allow a more appropriate

ourse of action are possiblereasons. Be clear and specific. Don't promise to save the world,

might be too much to start with. Even James Bond succeeds that onlytowards the end of the

ovie.

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We approach now one of the most difficult parts of writing a researchproposal: the methodolo

short, what actions are you going to takein order to answer the question? When will you kno

hether thehypothesis has been proven wrong, or has survived enough tests to beconsidered, f

ow, valid? Those tests and the way you are supposed tohandle them to give rigor to your

search is what is understood undermethods. Methods divide in qualitative (interviews,

uestionnaires) andquantitative (statistics, stuff that deals intensively with numbers).For some

ojects qualitative methods are more appropriate, for somequantitative, while for most a mixt

f the two is adequate. Youshould pick your methods and justify your choice. Research

ethodology,however, is too a complicated thing to be explained here. And this iswhy it's so

ugh: not much attention is given to teaching it inEastern Europe. Try, before writing your RP

read a bit more aboutmethodology - on the Internet you will find for sure some articles -and

ecide which methods suit your project best. Don't forget: readingtheoretical pieces of your wo

nd providing a critical analysis ofthose is also a kind of research. It's fine to provide a rough

heduleof your research; some grant programs will also require a detailedbudget, even though

r scholarships this is unlikely.

onclusions: After working your way through the difficultmethodological part, you only have

rite your conclusions. Shortlyrecap why your hypothesis is new, why it advances knowledge

hy is itworth researching and how, from a practical point of view, are yougoing to do that.

verall, the capacity of your project to answer theresearch question should come out crystal cl

om the body of thepaper, and especially from the conclusions. If this happens, it meansyou h

well-written RP, and you have just increased you chances forhaving a successful application

ne last word: how big should your RP be? In most cases, this isspecified in the application

rm. If it is not, we suggest that youkeep it at about 1500 words (that's 3 pages, single-spaced

ith 12size Times New Roman). In fewer words it can be really tough to write agood RP. Wit

ore you might bore your readers. Which we hope will nothappen.

ood luck!

ource: http://www.eastchance.com/howto/res_prop.asp

le:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/BENJ/My%20Do...How%20to%20write%20a%20research%20proposal%202.htm (3 of 3)2/19/2008 7:21:49 AM