How to go about writing a Research proposal?

[Sabine Zimmerman]

Hi there… I am new here and this is the first time I am starting a thread. So, it’s been a week since I selected my research topic, “the challenges of marketing logistics: product distribution, price and promotion”. Now I need to prepare a research proposal and my supervisor is asking me for an initial draft. The problem is that I don’t know how to do it! Although my supervisor is nice to me, she’s more like an absentee. I am from Germany and it’s been only few months since I have landed at UK, so I am pretty much on my own. I would be grateful to anyone who gives me insight into this whole research proposal thing 🙂

[Austin Buzacott]

Hey Sabine_Zim, Welcome to UK! So, you got to write a research proposal! Has your guide told you anything about it? Like what you need to write in a draft? Or some kind of format or an example of proposal? And how many words of proposal do you need to prepare?

[Sabine Zimmerman]

Thanks for replying AustineBuzacott  My supervisor explained to me over the phone and told me the headings that I need to include in the proposal. They are:

1. Research background
2. Need for the study
3. Purpose and aim of the study
4. Research questions
5. Review of the literature
6. Research design
7. Research problem
8. Structure of the thesis

I think this is the format, however I don’t have any example to refer to. I need to write a proposal of approximately 2.5 to 3 thousand words.

[Austin Buzacott]

Well, your headings are a bit different from mine, but I think I can explain you the broad meaning. A research proposal basically explains what you are aiming to achieve and how you are going to do it. You need to read all the literature available related to your topic and study the methods adopted by researchers. Then, you need to identify the gap, i.e. something about the study that the others failed to address, a problem for which you can provide a solution. Based on that, prepare the research questions for which you will try to find answers through your research. Then you need to provide the research methodology i.e. the process with which you will conduct your research.

[Matilda Speight]

Hi Sabine_Zim, I hope you are doing well here! I moved to London 4 years ago and I can understand the initial hesitation of landing in a new place among new people and not really knowing what to do. Give it some time, and you’ll be okay! So, writing a research proposal, hmm, let me just explain it to you section wise.

1. Research background- It is an overview of your research area explaining the history of your topic, like how the logistics industry has emerged and the challenges encountered. Explain the essential terms in a brief manner.

2. Need for the study- Explain why there is a need for conducting this research? Write the issues that the other researches have failed to address.

3. Purpose and aim of the study- What do you aim to accomplish? What is your purpose of doing this research (that is, addressing the left out issues)?

4. Research questions- They are the questions that your findings will answer. You’ll get to know what they are, once you identify your aim. They are related to your research objectives.

5. Review of the literature- It is the critical analysis of the researches conducted by previous researchers in the same research field as yours. You need to explain the methods adopted by various researchers, their findings and limitations.

6. Research design- This is a large section. It will comprise of the research methodology, approach and methods you’ll use. Read a lot of books for this to understand the various methods.
Research problem- Here, you’ll explain the research gap of your study

7. Structure of the thesis- Divide your thesis into chapters and explain what all you’ll incorporate among them. Usually there are 5-6 chapters: Introduction, Literature review, Research Methodology, Data analysis, Results and discussion, Conclusion.

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