When we want something, we need to make an approach that is convincing and appropriate enough to manifest our desire to achieve something. A dissertation reflects the same effort when we want to achieve the acknowledgment of early learning at the end of a semester or learning course. Before completing a dissertation, students or learners must present a proposal and manifest their ideas in a brief encounter. A dissertation proposal carries importance in convincing the reliability and relevance of the chosen topic. Irrespective of the facts, a student might get the question about how to write a dissertation proposal? This article will address such questions. At the same time, it also provides a better overview of what the dissertation intends to deliver as research work.
Understanding the concept and purpose of the research proposal:
The research proposal and its concept refer to the presentation of a documented format where the researcher will explain the intended aspects of the dissertation. In other words, a research proposal can be considered a mini approach of a researcher regarding their deliverables and the research area to the professor. The primary purpose of a research proposal is to involve the articulated and relevant keywords related to your research area and help your assessor get convinced about its viability and future feasibility as a standard and original research work. A research proposal aims to cater to the researchers’ ideas regarding the research area. It covers three main aspects: the research question, research objectives, research problem, etc. Hence, there are certain aspects that a student needs to consider when preparing for a dissertation proposal.
Step 1: Selecting a unique idea or topic
The first rule of writing a proposal is selecting and developing a solid idea for your dissertation. Do some preliminary research on the relevant field to find out the main research topics and key concerns in that field, the areas suggested by other researchers for further research developments, and what makes you interested personally in the specific research gaps present in the field.
When selecting the topic or idea, frame it and narrow it down from a broad field to a specific niche. Remember that the subject of the dissertation needs to be clear and feasible enough; it can neither be vague nor be too much ambitious.
Step 2: Present your topic or idea directly in the dissertation proposal introduction.
Like any other academic writing, a dissertation proposal also begins with an introduction. One has to, most importantly, present and provide the aim, research questions and objectives of the research, along with introducing the selected topic of the study.
Attract and hook the reader:
Directly start with the topic you have selected, stating why it is essential and exciting. Never use lengthy generalised statements.
Dissertation proposal example of an introduction:
In the 21st century, social media has been the most vibing and most significant technological trend. It has changed the ways to influence our lives daily. Most psychologists agree that the profound impact of social media in the lives of young adults is long-lasting. However, future experiments and results await the exact magnitude of their influence on them.
Context of the topic:
Present the context and background of the topic clearly after the issue and area of your research are made clear. Mention the current scenario and state of research on the respective subject and field. What are the things that the readers need to know? How is the research question will be formed, and in what way will your dissertation work contribute to the respective field? Just give a brief sense of the context and your research questions if you are providing a literature review.
Aims of the research:
The aim, objectives, and research questions are essential parts of the introduction. They should stand out from the text and be very clearly presented, described and identifiable easily. One can use bold fonts or bullets to make them stand out from the text. Always make sure that it could be answered within the mentioned syllabus or scope of the dissertation. It should be peculiar, feasible and workable. It should never have too many questions nor be too broad in its area. It should be specific enough to work on it.
Remember, a dissertation proposal’s primary goal is to persuade and convince the reader that your respective research work is valuable and feasible.
Step 3: Explore, analyse and evaluate other related research.
Once your topic is precise, you must explore other related research on the relevant subject and idea. Exploring further research made by other researchers in the field will enhance the importance of the research gaps in the appropriate field and make the missing areas prominent from existing ones. It also ensures that your research questions are not similar to those already asked by other researchers. Thus, it makes your research work much more valuable and unique.
You need to thoroughly analyse the literature review’s most relevant sources and current research works. You must briefly comment and summarise the most relevant research findings and the research gaps present in the study of the respective field. Make it short, concise and brief since there may be a lot of research to cover. The main point is to highlight each research’s limitations and gaps and identify relevant theories and findings to influence your research.
Step 4: Describe your proposed methodology.
In this step, you need to describe the proposed methodology of your research work. The structure of the research, the things you expect and hope to do, and a detailed description of all the methods you wish to use to collect and analyse data. This section is vital from the technical aspect. It persuades the supervisor that you provided enough thought behind the research, especially your research approach and methods. It can carry through the process realistically to get the desired outcomes successfully. This section varies in length according to the respective field of research and study.
One must be engaged in an empirical research methodology focused on data collection and discovering new information and data. The theoretical process involves developing new conceptual models and adding to the existing ones. But in dissertation research, both are often applied together and vary according to the importance of the topic to the approaches.
Empirical research approach:
In an empirical approach, one has to collect and analyse the various new data to answer your research question. It can be qualitative, which focuses only on words and meanings, and quantitative, which only focuses on numbers or even a combination of both. It is imperative to describe in detail the ways how one plans to collect the data in empirical research.
- What should you opt for: surveys, interviews, or even raw data?
- What are the measurable variables?
- Ways to select a sample representative.
- You take ethical measures to help people participate in your research?
- Conceptual and physical tools to be used and reasons for them?
One can cite and justify their choice of methods and tools by citing a text with advantages and disadvantages. Never exaggerate it; mention the relevant techniques and tools and the reasons for their selections.
However, your primary task of the research is to analyse the collected data and thus choose the respective statistical or thematic analysis method in advance to analyse the collected data.
Theoretical approach
In this approach, one must focus on the relevant conceptual models and the individual course you intend for your dissertation research. It does not involve any data collection and only focuses on the specific theory you have planned to work with your dissertation research. Here the emphasis is on how one plans and utilises the contributions of the existing models and ideas in your research.
Step 5: Project potential implications of your research
One must end the dissertation proposal with the expectations from the research you wish and hope to achieve. One must clearly describe your research work’s projected potential implications and contributions to the relevant field knowledge.
One must consider and analyse and decide on the type of potential implications of their research by:
- Will it provide new information to governments or businesses?
- Will it develop or test a new theory?
- Will it challenge a widespread belief held?
- Will it suggest an improvement to an existing process?
Then analyse and describe the projected potential practical or theoretical impact of your research’s expected outcomes.
Step 6: Create a bibliography and list of reference
It is vital for a dissertation proposal to effectively reference all the sources used in detail, like any other academic text. One should and must always provide and present well-formatted bibliography and a reference list at the end of the proposal. Different institutions and universities go for different styles of referencing styles. Commonly used are Harvard, APA, MHRA, and Vancouver. A bibliography includes every other source regarding the topic and the field, even if it is not mentioned in the text. It may consist of relevant authorities you haven’t read yet but expect to use. At the same time, a reference list is just the sources list directly cited in your proposal.
Dissertation proposal example:
- Exploring the contemporary feminine activist’s perspectives toward changing societal views towards women.
- Construction of student identity in the higher education scenario.
- Strategies to enhance international student enrollment in foreign universities.
