This document provides an overview of the key components and structure of a research proposal. It discusses the purpose of a research proposal as a means to communicate a research plan and obtain funding or authorization for a project. The document then outlines the typical sections included in a research proposal, such as the title page, abstract, introduction/background, literature review, methodology, timeline, budget, and references. It provides guidance on what to include in each section, with an emphasis on clearly presenting the problem statement, objectives, methodology, and significance of the study. Overall, the document serves as a guide for developing a well-organized research proposal that follows standard conventions.

1. 1
Research Proposal

2.  A research proposal can be defined as a written document
requesting both authorization and funds to undertake a specific
research project.
 A research proposal is also known as a work plan, prospectus,
outline, statement of intent, or draft plan.
 It systematically outlines the particular research methodology
and details the process that will be utilized at each stage of the
research process.
 It tells us what will be done, why it will be done, how it will be
done, where it will be done, to whom it will be done, and what
is the benefit of doing it?
 A research proposal is essentially a road map, showing clearly
the location from which a journey begins, the destination to be
reached, and the method of getting there.
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3. Functions of the research proposal
Research proposal may function at least in three ways:
 Proposal as a means of communication :
To communicate the investigator’s research plan to those
who-give consultations and / or disburse fund.
Proposal is the primary source on which the graduate
students’ essay, thesis or dissertation committee must
base the function of: review, consultation and approval for
implementation of the research project.
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4.  Research proposal as plan :
After the acceptance of the proposal, the document serves as a
guide for the researcher throughout the investigation.
It helps the researcher to organize his idea in a systematic
manner and to look for strengths and flaws. A successful
proposal sets out the plan in step-by-step detail.
It provides an inventory of what must be done and which
materials have to be collected as a preliminary step.
Generally, the acceptability of results is judged exclusively in
terms of the adequacy of the methods employed in recording,
analyzing and interpreting the data in the planned study.
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5.  Proposal also functions as a contract:
A completed proposal approved for execution and signed by all
members of the sponsoring committee, constitute a bond of
agreement between the researcher and that committee.
An approved grant proposal results in a contract between the
investigator (and often the university) and funding sources.
Proposal for thesis and dissertation should be in final form prior
to the collection of data. Once document is approved in final
form, neither the student nor the sponsoring faculty members
should be free to alter the fundamental terms of the contract by
unilateral decision.
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6. General Format and Elements of Proposal
There is no single way of writing research proposal. It varies
from organization to.., country to.. Though the format
varies, the essence expressed in different proposal remains
the same. The major components (elements) of a scientific
research proposal are described as follows.
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1) Cover/Title page 9) Significance of the study
2) Summary/Abstract 10) scope/delimitation of the study
3) Acknowledgment 11) literature review
4) Table of content 12) research Methodology
5) Background of the study 13) time plan
6) Statement of the problem 14) cost budget
7) Hypotheses and/or Questions 15) Reference
8) Objective/Aim of the study 16) Appendix

7. 1) Cover/Title page
The cover page contains an introductory information for the
proposal:
The title of the proposed project or research(Titles should almost never
contain abbreviations.)
The name of the researcher /author of the proposal/ or principal
investigator/; and the name of the advisers
The name of the department/ faculty/college, institution;
Presentation/submission date
 The title page has no page number.
In titles, a researcher has to use specific, familiar, and short
words. Use of ‘waste words’ like ‘A study on …’, ‘an
investigation on…’, ‘an observation on…’ should be avoided.
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8. 2) Summary/Abstract
The abstract is a short (one page), brief summary of the research
proposal.
It allows a busy manager or sponsor to understand quickly the
thrust of the proposal.
It should be informative, giving readers the chance to grasp the
essentials of the proposal without having to read the details.
N.B: Do not put information in the abstract that is not in the main
text of your research proposal AND Do not put references, figures
or tables in the abstract.
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9. The abstract of a proposal should contain the following
points
 Title or topic of the research
 Statement of the problem, objective and scope of the research.
 Methodology of investigation
 Types and sources of data to be gathered for the research
 tools to be used to analyze the collected data
 Expected result (tentative only if a researcher starts with a
formulated hypothesis)
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10. 3) Acknowledgment
This part of the research proposal/paper is reserved for the
researcher to extend his/her own huge vote of thanks to
those who have played significant contribution in the
preparation of the research proposal.e.g for your advisors,
friends, parents, husband or wife, colleagues, respondents
or any other stakeholder of your research proposal.
4) Table of contents
This section should consist of the main headings and
subheadings of the research proposal and the page numbers
in which the headings and subheadings are found.
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11. 5) Background of the study
In the background, the researcher presents the background
of what he wants to do and say briefly why s/he thinks the
work should be done and relate it to what is already known
about the problem.
This part of the research provides some general theoretical
basis or justifications for conducting a research.
It tells to the reader from what perspective that the research
is to be conducted.
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12. 5.1) Background of the organization:
This part of research proposal deals with
 where the subject organization is?
 When the organization or subjected entity
existed/formed?
 What main achievements made by the entity?
 What activities are availed in the subjected entity
regarding the problem selected to be
researched?
 What will the entity seems in the future
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13. 6) Statement of the problem
 This part captures the essential focus of your study.
 Here a researcher has to capture the reader’s attention by stating
the problem and its consequences.
 It is important that the problem is distinct from related problems
and that the sponsor can see the delimitations clearly.
 It may focus on literature based disagreements concerning the
issue under investigation.
 Generally, this part of your research proposal will focus on finding
the gap existed or to be existed between yours and other
researchers.
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14. 7) Questions and/or Hypotheses
 A hypothesis represents a declarative statement of the
relations between two or more variables.
 Hypotheses are thus tentative statements that should either
be acknowledged or rejected by means of research.
 Hypotheses are relevant to theoretical research and are
typically used only in quantitative inquiry.
 A research question poses a relationship between two or
more variables but phrases the relationship as a question.
 although their use is also in quantitative inquiry Questions
are mostly used in qualitative inquiry.
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15. 8) Research Objective
 It summaries what is to be achieved by the study.
 It delineate the ends or aim which the inquirer seeks to bring about as
a result of completing the research undertaken.
 An objective may be thought of as either a solution to a problem or a
step along the way toward achieving a solution; an end state to be
achieved in relation to the problem.
 Commonly, research objectives are classified into general objectives
and specific objectives.
 The general and specific objectives are logically connected to each
other and the specific objectives are commonly considered as smaller
portions of the general objectives. (specific objectives will come after
the general one)
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16. 9) Significance of the study
 This part states the importance or contribution that the study will
have for different bodies. The importance could be to create
awareness about the problem, to provide basis for other
researchers, or to extend the scope of knowledge.
In this part the student researcher should get clear answers for the
following questions:
Why you consider it to be important?
For whom it is important?
To the researcher
To theoreticians
To practitioners
To policy makers and others too.
How it could be important?
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17. 10) Delimitation (Scope) of the study
 A researcher cannot tackle everything. It should be
delimited to manageable size.
 This should be done in relation to the area coverage as well
as to the treatment of the variables in the study.
 Narrow down the study by limiting it to a particular group,
time, region, enterprise or occupation or a particular
function (e.g. generating staff morale as a function of HR).
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18. 10.1 Limitations of the study (optional)
 This is a part that you will include some constraints or
difficulties you think that they have influence on the results
of your study.
 This may be in relation to the weaknesses in the
methodology, lack of access to data, faulty instruments,
sampling errors, lack of recent literature in the area etc.
 Any restrictions or areas of the problem that will not be
addressed must be indicated.
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19. 11) Literature Review
 It is a part research that explains, interprets and discusses what
has been researched and documented previously.
 It examines recent research studies, company data, or industry
reports that act as a basis for the proposed study.
 In discussing literature, you must analyze the following issues:
important results and conclusions of other studies,
the relevant data and trends from previous research, and
 particular methods or designs that could be duplicated or should be
avoided.
how the literature applies to the study you are proposing;
show the weaknesses and faults in the design,
 how you would avoid similar problems.

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20. Objective of the literature review
a. To establish a familiarity with a body of knowledge and
credibility.
b. To show the path of prior research and how a current project is
linked to it
c. To integrate and summarize what is known in the area. A good
review points out areas where prior studies agree, where
they disagree, and major questions remain. It collects what
is known up to a point in time and indicates the direction for
future research.
d. To learn from others and stimulate new ideas. A review tells what
others have found so that a researcher can benefit from the efforts
of others.
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21. 12) Research Methodology
In this section you need to tell your reader about:
 Your information and data sources-Where you will get your
information and data for research?
 The methods and techniques you will use for obtaining information
and data- How you will obtain the information and data?
 Your justification for your choice of method/s and technique/s- Why
you will use, from the range of available methods / techniques, the
particular methods /techniques you propose?
 Where appropriate, how you intend to verify the reliability of the
information and data you collect.
 The plan for data analysis- What methods are you going to use for
analysis? Example, are you going to use SPSS?
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22.  Method of presenting the outcome- Sometimes it is worth to
mention how the outcome of the research will be presented to
consumers (general public).
 Avoid being too ambitious in the number of methods you
intend to use or the number of interviews/ observations/
experiments you are planning to undertake.
Generally; This part may include:
Description of study area
Description of study design
Determination of sample size (if any)
Description of selection process (sampling method)
Methods of data collection
Operational definition
Presentation of the data analysis methods.
So, we can say that research methodology is the heart
of any investigation
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23. 13) Time Plan
Here you need to outline a work schedule which couples the various research activities you
will be involved in with a time-frame.
14) Cost Budget
In order to carry out a given research you need to have money. Whatever the source may be,
the money we have, need to be planned on how to spend it.
Budget breakdown has to be prepared for all activities. It may include the details of:
 Personal Costs - Principal researcher, boarding,
assistants(salary/per-diems).
 Support Services - Secretarial Costs/ data input and analysis
 Fieldwork costs - Transport/ other relevant expenses/ subsistence
 Overheads - Stationery/ photocopy/ printing/ computer media
 Books/journal costs - Books and journals to be purchased
 Equipments - Equipment to be bought/ hired ( if any)
ETC.
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24. 15) Reference /Bibliography
Here, All works cited in the proposal are listed either
alphabetically or numerically at the end of the document.
There are several ways of making citation and recording
references. The two main systems of referring are:
A) Vancouver System: uses text number instead of an
author, date and page reference. For Example:
“In an investigation conducted in large factories, Gibbs1 reported that
absenteeism was higher on the night shift than the day “
Reference:1. Gibbs, Jennifer M. (1993) ‘Absenteeism in SMEs’International Small
Business Journal, 13 (1), pp. 13-26.
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25. B) Harvard System: This system uses author’s name, date,
and page reference. This system is used mainly by
Anthropology, Social science (business research) and health
science research. It can be used in citation & reference.
i) Citation
 Citing one author: In an investigation conducted in large
factories, Gibbs (1993) reported that absenteeism was
higher on the night shift than the day.
 Citing more than one author: A number of research studies
have been conducted into the effect of the recession on small
business (Smith, 1984; Anderson, 1990; Jones, 1995)…
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26. ii) Referring
A) Reference for books:
Davidson, Alan. B. (1994), the Pursuit of Business, London,
Chapman & Halls
B) Reference for Journal article
Porter, Michael E. (1994), competitive advantage of nations,
Harvard Business Review, 68(2), pp. 73-83
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27. 16) Appendix (Annex)
 It is not mandatory to have this section; but if the researcher
thinks that having this section will increase the quality of the
research proposal he is free to do so.
 Information types provided in this section are those additional
details, which are difficult to accommodate within the standard
headings.
Stuffs to be included in appendix:
Detail Questionnaires and interview schedules
Detailed experimental design (in experimental research)
Detailed statistical procedures
Samples of research materials (chemical and some biological
materials)
Survey and other geographic maps
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28. Aለቀ !!!
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