The presentation talks about the systematic journey of inquiry undertaken to investigate [Your Research Topic]. It is more than a simple report of facts; it is a structured argument that validates a specific hypothesis or explores a complex phenomenon through rigorous academic discipline. The presentation is designed to move the audience through the four pillars of formal research: the Motivation, the Mechanism, the Evidence, and the Implication. The Intellectual Catalyst: Framing the Inquiry The presentation begins by establishing the Rationale for Study. It talks about the "Knowledge Gap"—the specific area within the current field where information is missing, outdated, or contradictory. By reviewing the existing Literature and Theoretical Framework, the presentation grounds the research in historical context. It then culminates in the formal Research Question or Hypothesis, clearly stating the specific variable or social issue the project aimed to dissect. This section is vital because it proves that the research is not only interesting but necessary for the advancement of the field. The Rigor of Inquiry: Methodology and Design Transitioning into the technical heart of the project, the presentation talks about the Research Design. This provides a detailed look at the "Laboratory of Ideas," describing: * The Paradigm: Whether the approach was Qualitative (focused on nuance and meaning), Quantitative (focused on data and scale), or Mixed-Methods. * Data Collection Protocols: The presentation details the instruments used—surveys, interviews, longitudinal observations, or archival research—and justifies why these tools were the most effective for this specific inquiry. * Sampling and Ethics: It addresses the "Who" and "How," explaining the selection of subjects or data points and the ethical safeguards (such as informed consent or data anonymization) that ensured the integrity of the study. The Evidence: Data Analysis and Synthesis A significant portion of the presentation talks about the Empirical Findings. This is where raw data is transformed into "Intelligence." Using advanced analytical techniques—such as Regression\ Analysis, Thematic\ Coding, or Statistical\ Significance testing—the presentation reveals the patterns discovered during the research. It doesn't just show graphs; it interprets them. It talks about the correlations found, the anomalies that appeared, and the moments where the data either supported or challenged the initial hypothesis. This section demonstrates the researcher's ability to remain objective while navigating complex information. The Final Synthesis: Discussion and Contribution In its final phase, the presentation talks about the Interpretation of Results. It connects the new findings back to the original literature review, discussing how this research adds to the "Global Conversation" on the topic. * Limitations: The presentation provides a transparent look at the constraints of the study, such as sample size .

1. PROJECT WORK

2. Before we start

3. PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT

4. Course objectives
By the end of this course students will be able to:
• Select of research area
• Select a good research topic
• Write a good background
• Write a good Problem Statement
• Review literature comprehensively
• Outline the method to be use in carrying out the research
• Write a proposal for approval

5. Selecting a topic
• The ability to develop a good research topic is an important skill. A
supervisor may help you with a topic, but most often they require you to
select your own topic of interest. When deciding on a topic, there are a
few things that you will need to do:
• Brainstorm for ideas
• Choose a topic that will enable you to read and understand the literature

6. Selecting a topic
• Ensure that the topic is manageable and that material is available
• Make a list of key words
• Be flexible
• Define your topic as a focused research question
• Research and read more about your topic
• Formulate a thesis statement

7. Selecting a topic
• Be aware that selecting a good topic may not be easy. It must be
narrow and focused enough to be interesting, yet broad enough to
find adequate information. Before selecting your topic, make sure you
know what your final project should look like

8. Chapter One/The Introductory part
• Introduction
• Background to the study
• Statement of the Problem
• Objectives of the Study
• Research Questions/Hypothesis where applicable
• Significance of the Study
• Delimitation (scope) of the study
• Definition of terms (if any)

9. Background
• It is the first section of a research and justifies the need for
conducting the study
• Background summarizes what the study aims to achieve
• The background of the study establishes the context of the research
• It explains reason for this particular and the essence of
understanding the main aspects of the study

10. Background of the study
• It highlights historical developments in the literature that led to the
current topic of research concisely and gives an overview of the topic
This section should be organized as:
• What is known about the broad topic?
• What are the gaps or missing links that need to be addressed?
• What is the significance of addressing those gaps?
• What are the rationale and hypothesis of your study

11. NOTE
• Your background should begin with defining a topic and audience
• The background section should discuss your findings in a
chronological manner to accentuate the progress in the field and the
missing points that need to be addressed.
• It should be written as a summary of your interpretation of previous
research and what your study proposes to accomplish.
Do not elaborate as this would be done in the literature review

12. How to avoid common mistakes in writing the background
• Don’t write a background that is too long or too short. Focus on
including all the important details but write concisely.
• Don’t be ambiguous. Writing in a way that does not convey the
message to the readers defeats the purpose of the background, so
express yourself keeping in mind that the reader does not know your
research intimately

13. How to avoid common mistakes in writing the
background
• Don’t discuss unrelated themes. Try and center your discussion
around the pivotal aspects of your research topic i.e. highlight the
gaps in the literature, state the novelty of the study, and the need to
conduct the study
• Don’t be disorganized. Not discussing the themes in a chronological
manner can confuse the reader about the progress in the field, so try
and organize your writing carefully

14. Problem statement

15. Problem Statement
• It is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to
be improved upon
• It identifies the gap between the current (problem) state and desired
(goal) state of a process or product
• The main purpose is to identify and explain the problem

16. Problem Statement
• The health problem under study
• Ensure it is linked to the research topic
• You need to be specific

17. Problem Statement
• What is the size of the health problem being studied?
• Globally, Regionally, Locally
• What are the effects of the problem being studied?
• What is being done about it?
• What will happen is nothing is done about the problem?

18. Essential component Problem Statement
The problem statement leads the reader from a general context to the perception of a
problem and then to a proposed solution. It must be stated in clear, precise and
concise sentences.
General context Perception of problem Proposed solution
1. Context
• Establish a context for the reader
• State what the status quo is?
• Briefly explain the nature of the problem (i.e., discrepancy between ideal situation
and current situation)

19. Essential component Problem Statement
• Identify what the inadequacies are and write them out clearly
• Determine what the needs are and write them out clearly
• State what the difficulties are and write them out clearly
2. Problem
• Define the problem within the context
• State what the core problem is and write it out clearly.
• Describe the magnitude of the problem.

20. Essential component Problem Statement
• Explain the extent of distribution of the problem.
• Ascertain the severity of the problem on the population and write them out
clearly.
• Explain affected population by the problem and write it out clearly.
• Determine where the problem exists and write tit out clearly.
• Describe when the problem usually occurs (if applicable) and write them
out clearly.
• Indicate the cost of the problem if possible in terms of money, life, etc and
write them out clearly.

21. Essential component Problem Statement
• State the consequences for those affected and for the state, group, or service and
write them out clearly.
3. Solution
• Propose a solution to this problem Answer the question ‘and so what?’
• Indicate to the reader that this discussion is worthwhile and its significant.
• Report all that your audience need to know to appreciate the solution you propose
(i.e., the purpose of your study)
• State all that which make it easy to accept your solution and write them out clearly.

22. Essential component Problem Statement
• State the benefits of your solution and explain the benefits of your
solution over other solutions and write them out clearly.
• Conclude your statement

23. Essential component Problem Statement

24. Objectives of the study
• It gives the reader an idea as to why you want to conduct the study
• It has two sessions
• General objective and specific objectives
• While your problem formulation serves to describe the aim of your
thesis, the objectives provide an accurate description of the specific
actions you will take in order to reach this aim
• As with the problem formulation, the overall objective should be
framed in a single sentence

25. Example
• Is the level of knowledge on recommended nutritional practices
related to the nutritional status of pregnant women attending
antenatal care at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital?
General Objective
• To determine the association between nutritional knowledge and the
nutritional status of pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC)
at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital

26. Objectives of the study
• Here you see that the overall objective states exactly how you intend
to address your problem: “I want to find the answer to problem A, by
completing action B”. You then have to explain or detail action B
through a set of specific objectives (usually between two and four)

27. Example
• To assess the knowledge level among ANC attendees on the
recommended nutritional practices during pregnancy
• To assess the nutritional status of pregnant women attending ANC
• To analyse the statistical association between nutritional knowledge
level and nutritional status in pregnant women attending ANC

28. Objectives of the study
• Each specific objective consists of one infinitive sentence and should be
phrased in a way that makes it possible to draw a conclusion from within
the scope of the thesis.
• The more precisely you formulate your specific objectives, the simpler it
will be to define the type of study and which method(s) you will use in your
further research. You can refine your specific objective by clearly stating if

29. Objectives of the study
your given action is to understand, analyze or create
• In this way, your specific objectives will signal your level of ambition
as well as where you will place the greatest effort in your thesis.

30. Justification

31. Justification
• Research justification refers to the rationale for the research, or the
reason why the research is being conducted
• Also known as the significance of the study/ Purpose of the study
• Seeks to ‘sell’ the study
• Convince the reader of the importance of the study
• The section that would make a person choose to fund a study

32. Justification
• In writing the significance of the study, always refer to the statement
of the problem. This way, you can clearly define the contribution of
your study
• To simplify, your research should answer this question, “What are the
benefits or advantages of the study based on the statement of the
problem?”

33. Example
• Research topic
Trends of Diarrhoel diseases among children under five years at the Princess Marie Louise
Childrens Hospital; 2011-2014
Justification
Diarrhoeal disease is a common condition that affects children under five years in Ghana.
Studies have explored the trends of diarrhoeal disease in Ghana but review of empirical

34. Example
literature found that Accra Metropolis has not adequately covered. Hence there
is the need to study the trend of diarrhoeal diseases in terms of proportionate
morbidity, by age, place and case fatality
The study will highlight the peak periods within the period, risk
factors, morbidity and fatality trends. This will help the Ghana Health Services
and Accra Metropolitan Health directorate in taking proactive steps to
combating the disease

35. Example
Diarrhoea. Consequently, their community outreach programmes by
community nurses will be mindful of areas that are considered
susceptible to under five years diarrhoeal
diseases and concentrate more time on such areas on awareness and
sensitization programs aimed at reducing diarrhoea cases in Ghana

36. The Research process so far….
• Research topic identified
• Background
• Problem Statement
• Research question formulated
• Objectives formulated

37. Theoretical basis for your work….
• Previous knowledge
• Discussion with people
• Some general reading

38. Literature Review

39. Literature review
• A literature review is an account of what has been published on a
topic by accredited scholars and researchers
• In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your
reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic,
and what their strengths and weaknesses are
• As a piece of writing, the literature review must be defined by a
guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the problem or issue
you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a
descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries

40. Literature review
• Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature
review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas
• Information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using
manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles
and books
• Critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify
unbiased and valid studies

41. Aims of literature review
• To know the work which has been done on your research topic
• To discover the different aspects of your research topic
• To identify the different methods that have been used to study your
research topic
• To identify the answered and unanswered questions related to your
research topic
• To increase your theoretical foundation so that you can refine all the
stages of the research process up to this point

42. Literature review
• A literature review must do these things:
• be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question
you are developing
• synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known
• identify areas of controversy in the literature
• formulate questions that need further research

43. Literature review
• What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps
to define?
• What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory?
methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new
procedure)? qualitative research (e.g., studies of loneliness among migrant workers)?
• What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g.,
journals, books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in
(e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?

44. Literature review
• How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure
I’ve found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant
material?
• What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing psychology, sociology, medicine)?
• How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure
I’ve found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant
material?

45. Literature Review
• Is the number of sources I’ve used appropriate for the length of my
paper?
• Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a
set of concepts and questions, comparing items to each other in the
ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing and summarizing
items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
• Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
• Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and
useful?

46. Caution!
• No definite writing should be done until the literature review has
been performed

47. Stages of the Literature Review
• Perform a literature review
• Write a literature review

48. Performing the literature review
• Identify key words and search terms related to your research question
• Identify general text books, journal articles and other reading material related to
your topic that you are aware of
• Read through the general material and put down the different aspects of your
topic that you have identified from your reading
• Refine your key words and search terms based on your reading
• Perform an electronic search

49. Some Useful databases
• HINARI
• PubMed
• Science Direct
• African Journals on Line
• JSTOR

50. Keeping track of your information
• Save list of references
• Save abstracts
• Save URLs

51. Working with the information
 Read through titles of papers and select appropriate ones
 Read through abstracts of selected papers and select the ones you want to use
 Get full text of all finally selected papers
 Read through papers and their references
 Retrieve references that are helpful
 Organize the information into your literature review section
 Use information to develop your research methodology
 Use information to design your data collection instrument
 Avoid, if possible, references older than 10 years

52. Finalizing the research questions
• Review original research questions in light of information from
literature search:
• May modify some questions
• May delete some questions
• May develop new questions

53. Making use of searched outputs
• Must be able to answer the following:
• What is known about the subject
• What is not known about the subject
• How will the current study add to knowledge
• Use the information to design an appropriate data collection tool
• Know the types of analytic methods commonly used

54. After performing the literature review
• Two options
• OPTION 1: Write the literature review immediately; review the research
process up to this point; continue your definite writing (introductory chapter)
• OPTION 2: Make notes; review the research process up to this point; start
your definite writing (introductory chapter)

55. Writing the literature review
• Place information under topical headings
• Summarize information with appropriate referencing
• Aim to educate your reader on the basics of the research topic
• Address the methodology of the research
• Avoid plagiarism