Group Presentation - Writing Research Proposal

Introduction

Research proposal and research reports are similar in many respects, the main difference being that a research proposal is generated before a study begins, whereas a research report is prepared after a study has been completed.

·      Research proposal – spells out in detail what the researcher intends to do. It hels researcher clarify what needs to be done and helps them to avoid pitfalls or unknown problems.

·      Research report – those involving the results of the study and the subsequent discussion of those results.

Organization of a Research Report – Page 626

Introductory section

                        Title Page

                        Table of Contents
                        List of Figures
                        List of Tables

Main Body

I.              Problem to be investigated

A.           Purpose of the study (including assumptions)

B.           Justification of the study

C.           Research question, hypotheses, and propositions

D.           Definition of terms

E.           Brief overview of study

II.            Background and review of related literature

A.           Theoretical framework, if appropriate

B.           Studies directly related

C.           Studies tangentially related

III.           Procedures

A.           Description of the research design

B.           Description of the sample

C.           Description of instruments used (scoring procedures; reliability; validity)

D.           Explanation of the procedures followed (the what, when, where, and how of the study)

E.           Discussion of internal validity

F.            Discussion of external validity

G.           Description and justification of the data analysis methods (e.g. statistical techniques for quantitative studies and data reduction strategies for qualitative studies)

IV.          Findings

Description of findings pertinent to each of the research questions, hypotheses, and propositions stated

V.           Summary and conclusion

A.           Brief summary of the research question being investigated, the procedures employed, and the result obtained

B.           Discussion of the implications of the findings – their meaning and significance

C.           Limitations – unresolved problems and weaknesses

D.           Suggestions for further research

References (Bibliography)

Appendixes

The Research Proposal (Chapter I - Chapter III)

Chapter I       Research Overview

1.1         Background – of the study/ topic

1.2         Statement of the Problem

1.3         Objectives of the study

·         The purpose of this study was to identify and describe …..

·         The purpose of the study was to explore relationship …..

·         This study attempts to identify …..

·         To study the difference in …..

·         To investigate/ examine …..

1.4         Research Questions

·         What is the level of academic achievement among students of.....

·         What are the personality traits that are the norms to students of…

·         Is there any significant relationship between personality traits and academic achievement among students of …..

1.5         Significance/ Important/ Implication of the study

1.6         Definition of Terms

i.                    Personality

ii.                  Academic achievement

iii.                Personality model

iv.                 Openness/ Extraversion, etc…

Chapter II      Literature Review – relevant to the topic (components and variables)

2.1         Organizational Culture

2.1.1   Concepts and definitions

2.1.2   Ethnic Cultural Values in the Malaysian Workforce

2.1.3   Measures of Organizational culture

2.1.4   Empirical Studies on Organizational culture

2.2         Organizational Strategy

2.1.1     Concepts and definitions

2.1.2     Strategic behavior

2.1.3     Empirical Studies on strategy

2.3         Organizational Change

2.3.1   Concept and definitions

2.3.2   Empirical studies on organizational change

Chapter III     Conceptual Framework

3.1         Conceptual Framework

·         A conceptual framework is used in research to outline possible courses of action or to present a preferred approach to an idea or thought.

·         Conceptual frameworks (theoretical frameworks) are a type of intermediate theory that attempt to connect to all aspects of inquiry (e.g., problem definition, purpose, literature review, methodology, data collection and analysis).

·         Conceptual frameworks can act like maps that give coherence to empirical inquiry. Because conceptual frameworks are potentially so close to empirical inquiry, they take different forms depending upon the research question or problem.

·         Several types of conceptual frameworks have been identified, such as: Working hypothesis; Descriptive Categories; Practical ideal types; Models of operations research; Formal hypotheses

3.2         Hypothesis development

H1.      Attitudes towards organizational change will be positively associated with openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness and negatively associated with neuroticism.

H2.      Attitudes toward organizational change will demonstrate positive relationship with use of emotions for problem solving, control of emotions as well as with overall emotional intelligence score.

H3.      There will be no significant difference between males and females regarding attitudes toward organizational change.

 

The Research Report (Chapter IV to Chapter VI)

Chapter IV    Methodology

4.1         Research Design

·         Experimental/ survey method, etc…

4.2         Sampling

4.3         Data collection

·         The data were collected by distributing a set of self-inventory questionnaire adapted from _________ was distributed to each randomly selected student of ________________.

4.4         Questionnaire

·         Open-ended the respondent to formulate his own answer

·         closed-ended questions - the respondent pick an answer from a given number of options

4.5         Measurement

i)             academic achievement by GPA/ CGPA

ii)            degree of the personality traits (Likert scale)

4.6         Reliability Test

·         Reliability test requirements can follow from any analysis for which the first estimate of failure probability, failure mode or effect needs to be justified.

·         Conduct suitable test in order to find out either the result is significant (reject the hypothesis) or not significant (fail to reject the hypothesis/ accept the hypothesis)

·         Data Analysis

·         Descriptive statistics were used to measure ……..

·         The frequency and percentage of the data were analyzed using SPSS

·         The correlation between the variables was measured using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient in order to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between ______.

Chapter V     Results/ Findings and Analysis

5.1         Demographic Characteristic of the Respondents – gender/ ethnic/age/ semester

5.2         Profile of the Company (optional – depends on the research topic)

5.3         Profile of Organizational Culture, Strategy, and Attitudes Towards Organizational Change

5.4         Testing of Hypothesis

5.4.1   The relationship between Organizational Culture and Organizational Strategy

5.4.2   The relationship between Organizational Culture and Attitudes towards Organizational Change

5.4.3   The relationship between Organizational Strategy and Attitudes towards Organizational Change

5.4.4   The relationship between Organizational Culture and Ethnic Culture

5.4       The Relationship between Organizational Culture, Organizational Strategy, Attitudes towards Organizational Change, and Organizational Characteristic.

·         To explain the strength of association. E.g. There is strong/ weak; positive/ negative - relationship/ association between …..

Chapter VI    Discussion and Conclusion

6.1         Summary

6.2         Implications of the findings

6.2.1   Managerial Implications

6.2.2   Theoretical Implications

6.3         Limitations to the study - correspondent/ questionnaire/ researcher’s bias

6.4         Suggestion for Future Research

·         Based on the findings of the present study, the researcher suggests some related and follow-up studies that might be conducted in the future to advance knowledge in respective field.

References (Bibliography)

·         Reference APA Style

McCrae, R. R. (1993). Moderated analyses of longitudinal personality stability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 577-585.

Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Abma, J. C., Chandra, A., Mosher, W. D., Peterson, L. S., & Piccinino, L. J. (1997). Fertility, family planning, and women’s health: New data from the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. Vital and Health Statistics, 23(9), 1-67.

Alper, S., Schloss, P. J., Etscheidt, S. K., & Macfarlane, C. A. (1995). Inclusion: Are we abandoning or helping students? Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Appendixes

            Questionnaires

            Table

            Graph