Muhammed - for my PhD students, I try to set the context of the purpose of the research proposal. It is designed as a piece of summary work to represent what will become the overall thesis. It does not contain the detail of thesis chapters (for obvious reasons) and is different to an ethics submission - which is an even more summarised version of the proposal. A proposal tends to include:

1. Introduction to topic

2. Background literature

3. Aims and objectives - research questions/statements

4. Methodology/framework

5. Methods/design - with the subheadings of sample and setting, data collection, data analysis and ethics

6. Personal interest (this can come earlier)

7. Summary

8. Supplementary information i.e. references, appendices, timeline, resources

Length will vary depending on a few factors i.e. research approach. For instance, a mixed methods study will contain more information as there are several phases to report. I would argue, typically, between 3,000-5,000 words (often the word limit for a journal article) is appropriate. Remember, as well, the target audience. You have to write according to a mixed audience - those with an expert knowledge (reviewers) and those without (lay readers).

Dear Muhammad,

Check the guidance from Peter Samuels here, it is very helpful. Technical Report How to Write a PhD Proposal

Muhammed - for my PhD students, I try to set the context of the purpose of the research proposal. It is designed as a piece of summary work to represent what will become the overall thesis. It does not contain the detail of thesis chapters (for obvious reasons) and is different to an ethics submission - which is an even more summarised version of the proposal. A proposal tends to include:

1. Introduction to topic

2. Background literature

3. Aims and objectives - research questions/statements

4. Methodology/framework

5. Methods/design - with the subheadings of sample and setting, data collection, data analysis and ethics

6. Personal interest (this can come earlier)

7. Summary

8. Supplementary information i.e. references, appendices, timeline, resources

Length will vary depending on a few factors i.e. research approach. For instance, a mixed methods study will contain more information as there are several phases to report. I would argue, typically, between 3,000-5,000 words (often the word limit for a journal article) is appropriate. Remember, as well, the target audience. You have to write according to a mixed audience - those with an expert knowledge (reviewers) and those without (lay readers).

The best way is to write the proposal after you've done the research because then it fits perfectly! But you could do a small pilot study first, then write the proposal :)

Andrew - how can you write a proposal after you have finished your research? The whole point of a proposal is that it pre-empts the start of your research study. Pilot studies are not needed for research proposals - they follow a proposal if needed.

I have the same question to Dr Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman ..Would you kindly explain, how will one writes the research proposal after study done? Do you mean, only pilot study should have done before writing the proposal?

Thank you.

Dear Dr. Dean Whitehead, Dr. Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman and Dr. Nyawira Mwangi, thanks for your valuable suggestions! Appreciated!

The guidance/illustrations as per the following papers and the link (please refer to those discussions and some more suggested publications) may further help:

• Al-Riyami, A. (2008) How to prepare a Research Proposal, Oman medical journal, 23, 2, pp. 66-69.
• Sidik, S. M. (2005) How To Write A Research Proposal, The Family Physician, 13, 3, pp. 30-32.
• How to write a PhD proposal? : https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_write_a_PhD_proposal

First off: all that Dean Whitehead said. He laid out the structure of your proposal. You should, however, take the following aspects into consideration:

• What do you plan to do?
• Why do you do it?
• Why should anyone care?
• How do you plan to do it?

In answering these questions, following the structure Dean has given, you should be fine. In doing so you not only introduce the reader (supervisor to be or financing institution) to the topic, but you also illustrate your ability to deal with the topic. The aim is to convince the reader of the importance of your research and why it matters, you interest them in the topic and you convince them, that you are up to the task. Nothing worse than a PhD student who fails to deliver. It makes your supervisor look bad and your grant will be wasted on you. So you have to convince them, that they are on the save side choosing you.

Send me an email at [email protected].. Will share the useful material with u..

Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman it is not possible to conduct research without a proposal. A proposal serves as a reference point. One can only improve on it after research.

Sir,

Asking good question leads to good research proposal that you can do by good literature survey and interacting with people.

Sir,

Depend on area of research and time, otherwise research having cascading effect.

Endless.

All the ideas are quite interesting perhaps contextually! But Dean Whitehead actually nailed it. A research proposal (and I don't subscribe to writing one after the actual research) should actually set the tone and direction for the main work. It sure depends on the context and nature of the proposed research. However, I agree also with Stephan's questions to guide you only to add just two more.

What problem do you hope to solve?

What is new about your Proposed research?

Interestingly, these questions in addition to those raised by Stephan can only be answered academically through some kind of a miniature literature review.

Than you very muc. This is really useful

There is enough & more literature on this in the Internet.

How to write an effective research proposal for PhD?

You can also refer to the following RG links:

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_write_a_PhD_proposal

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_we_write_a_good_research_proposal

Different Universities have their own research proposal templates. In PNGUOT for instance, each department has its own template. Please check with the Post Graduate School the type of template they require for Post graduate research.

Hi please go to this link and have a read

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-write-a-research-proposal-for-a-PhD-admission

Regards.

Most of the universities ask the Ph D applicants to submit this significant document at the time of applying for a Ph d admission." from that link/document

NOT so-- most us universities admit and a proposal is the last/final requirement before the dissertation--after all course work -- the dissertation becomes research project concucted on that proposal

Thanks everyone for the valuable suggestions!

Regards!

very good insight Muhammad Younas Mary-Helen Castanuela @

Please see the following link

https://www.findaphd.com/advice/finding/writing-phd-research-proposal.aspx

Best Regards Muhammad Younas

Review of relevant literature is the most important work to be completed by the researcher before writing an effective proposal for Ph.D. The overview of literature will help the scholar to give final shape to the objectives. It also helps the researcher to delimit the scope of his/her study and develop a sound methodology. A pilot survey needs to be completed by the scholar for giving fine tuning to the proposal so as to make it more effective.