The document provides guidance on writing a research proposal. It begins by defining a research proposal and noting that its format can vary. The aims of a proposal are to convince the reader that the project is interesting, original and important. It also aims to show familiarity with the field and that the methodology is feasible. The body of the proposal typically includes an introduction, literature review, and methodology chapter. The introduction defines the problem, objectives, and justification. The literature review analyzes prior work on the topic. The methodology chapter describes the research design, participants, instruments, and analysis plan. References and appendices are also included to provide supporting documents.

1. Writing a research proposal
Laban Sabiti

2. Definition
• A research proposal refers to the description of what the researcher
wants to investigate, why it’s important, and how the research will be
done.
• The format of a research proposal varies between fields and from
institution to institution
Note: A research proposal is written in the future tense because it
tells the reader what the researcher intends to undertake.

3. Aims of a research proposal
A research proposal aims to:
• Convince the reader that your project is interesting, original and important
• Show that you are familiar with the field, understand the current state of
research on the topic, and your ideas have a strong academic basis
• Make a case for your methodology, showing that you have carefully
thought about the data, tools and procedures you will need to conduct the
research
• Confirm that the project is possible within the practical constraints of the
programme, institution or funding

4. Title page
This includes:
• The proposed title of your research
• Your name
• Index number
• The institution and department
• The year
• The layout varies from institution to institution

5. Preliminary pages
Proposal
• Title Page
• Approval page
• Dedication
• Preface or Acknowledgement (if applicable)
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures (if applicable)
• List of Tables (if applicable)
• Definition of terms
• Abbreviations
Report
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Copyright Page
• Authorization Page/Approval page
• Dedication
• Preface or Acknowledgement (if applicable)
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Definition of terms
• Abbreviations

6. Body of the proposal
• A research proposal mainly consists of three chapters;
1. Chapter one- Introduction
2. Chapter two- Literature review
3. Chapter three- Methodology
• Finally, there should be references and appendices like study tools, work
plan, budget, consent forms etc

7. Chapter one- Introduction
• This tells us in detail what your study is all about. It intends to
introduce the topic to the readers interested in your research.
• It has the following sub sections;
1.0 Introduction of the chapter
1.1 Background to the study topic
1.2 Problem statement
1.3 Purpose of the study
1.4 Specific objectives
1.5 Research questions
1.6 Justification of the study

8. Introduction of the chapter
• This briefly summarises the what the chapter is all about.
• It aims at giving the reader what he/she should find in this chapter.

9. Background to the study topic
• An overview of the study and what is its context/situation across
different regions in the world.
• Understand the situation of your research problem globally, regionally
and locally
• It is an in-depth explanation of how big is the problem you are
studying
• It aims at convincing the reader that your problem is worth studying
• Usually it should not exceed three pages

10. Problem statement
• This is the account of how big the
problem you have identified is
• It summarises the following;
• Magnitude of the problem
• The actual problem
• Consequences/Effects of the problem
Key questions in problem statement
• What is the problem?
• What is the magnitude of the
problem?
• Who is affected most?
• What are the known causes of the
problem?
• What has been done to address the
problem?
• What are the consequences of the
problem?

11. Purpose of the study
• This explains the why you intend to do the study and probably what
will be its benefit to the body of knowledge to research.
• It is a broad statement indicating what the researcher intends to do
about the problem being investigated and how you intend to do it
• Also stated and the general objective

12. Specific objectives
• These refer to the specific aims/objectives that the researcher intends
to accomplish
• They spell out what the researcher intends to accomplish in a specific
period of time
• They are related to and obtained from general objective/purpose
• Must have the following objectives abbreviated as ‘SMART’

13. Characteristics of specific objectives
• S- specific meaning that it should clearly state what the researcher intends
to achieve. This means to should be free from any unclear interruptions
• M- measurable means it should be stated in quantifiable terms that can be
achieved at the end of the study
• A- Achievable: the aim must be feasible attainable with in the specified
period of time
• R- Realistic: the objective must be stated in a sensible and practical idea of
what can be expected and achieved.
• T- Time bound: what the researcher wants to do should be set to be done
in a given period of time

14. Research questions
• These are directly extracted from the specific objectives of the
research
• They are stated in the questions form so that at the end of the
research, we can evaluate to see if these questions have been
answered

15. Justification of the study
• To justify is to defend, to give reasons why or to give an explanation
• Justification of the research problem is to explain to the reader why this
study is worth to be done
• It aims at giving the readers all the possible reasons why your study is
worth to be carried out

16. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
• Literature review refers to the collection of scholarly information about any
research problem/topic
• It is a systematic gathering of information, analysing and reviewing documents
from written or done by other scholars that have a relation to your problem being
investigated
• It is a requirement for ay researcher to do a preliminary background search of
information about a problem so that one discovers what has been done and what
the gap in the field of study is.

17. Purpose of literature review
• To identify what is already known in your area of study
• To justify why you need to study the problem you are interested in
since it identifies the gaps
• To orient the reader on how the research will be used to make
discussion of the findings
• To know what has been reported so that you report on what needs to
be reported on
• Forms part of the research process

18. Sources of literature review
1. Primary data sources
• This is where we get the data from the first hand information
especially the people who existed, observed and witnessed the
occurrence of a certain event
2. Secondary sources
• This is where we get the literature from the second hand information
like published data, articles books, etc written by people/Authors who
were not present when these events were happening

19. Examples of secondary sources
• Journals
• Articles
• Text Books
• Reports
• Government documents
• References quoted in books
• Abstracts
• Grey literature- any written material but not published
• Internet –computer search etc

20. Writing the literature
• Ensure to use the most recent literate especially not more than 10
years from the present year of study
• Divide your work into themes according to your objectives eg
2.0 introduction
2.1 literature related to objective one
2.2 literature related to objective two
2.3 literature related to objective three
• Adhere to the institutions guidelines of citations and referencing eg
APA format, Harvard format of referencing

21. • When reviewing literature always ensure to keep a file of all the cited
and referenced work
• The rationale behind this is that you may need to refer to this work
form time and again

22. How do reference or cite?
• This is the recognition of statements or findings of another author
that have been used in your literature of research or any other write
up
• Referencing refers to the list of all authors whose work has been used to build
up your research and it comes at the end of research
• Citation refers to the acknowledgement with in the text/your work
• Note: All cited authors must appear in the reference list

23. Importance of referencing and citation
• To avoid plagiarism
• To recognise the efforts and the ideas of the original authors
• Enable the reader find the location of the quoted ideas/work
• Demonstrate your ethics and integrity in research
• Showed you have widely and extensively searched/read about your topic

24. Ways of referencing and citing
• Referencing with in the text
• Quotations
• Foot notes

25. Referencing with in the text
• This has two methods
• The authors last name and the year of publications are put at the end of the
paraphrased statement and both put in brackets eg
• The study found a significant relationship between performance in class and
absenteesim (Sabiti L., 2019)
• The second method is where the authors name and the year come first at the
beginning of the sentence eg;
• According to the study by Sabiti L., (2019), there was a significant relationship
between performance in class and absenteesim

26. Quotations
• This is where some one directly quotes the authors statements
without making any adjustments. The reasons for this would be;
• For the sake of accuracy
• When some statements are unusually clear
• To add strength to your work especially when its from a recognised author

27. Foot notes
• This is where the used references appear at the bottom of the paper
rather than at the end of the text. Its role is to provide additional
information to the reader and to indicate the source of the idea.
• For example; the likelihood of acquiring HIV can be expected from
people with multiple sexual partners1.
• In this case number 1 represents the first citation of your work and
will appear as your number one list of references

28. CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
• Introduction
• Study Design
• Study Setting
• Study Population
• Sample Size Determination
• Diploma level studies should have a
minimum of 30 participants
• Student should give justification for
selected sample size.
• Sampling Procedure
• Inclusion Criteria
• Definitions of Variables
• Research Instruments
• Data Collection Procedures
• Data Management
• Data Analysis
• Protection of Human Subjects
• Dissemination of Results
• Limitations of the Study

29. Study Design
• This defines the approaches, methods and the rationale of picking
that appropriate research design
• Eg descriptive cross sectional design
• Approaches can be Quantitative/qualitative or both
• Note that it is advisable to use one of these at our level

30. Study Setting
• Also called the study area
• It helps the reader to locate where your study is to be done from
• Explain the geographical scope, content scope and the time scope
• State the rationale for choosing this setting

31. Study Population
• Explain the population from which your sample will be collected from
• This is the population that the results will be generalised to
• Give the rationale for the selected population

32. Sample Size Determination
• Sampling is the process of selecting a subset(sample) from a large
group of people(population)
• Steps in sampling
• Define the population
• Identify the sampling frame ie list of participants from which a sample can be
selected
• Select a sampling procedure this could be probability or nonprobability
sampling
• Determine the sample
• Draw the sample
• Give justification

33. Sampling Procedure
• This refers to the way you select your participants to include in your
study
• It can be Probability or non probability sampling
• Probability sampling involves
• Simple random sampling
• Systematic sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Multistage sampling

34. Non probability sampling involves
• Convenience sampling/Reliance
• purposive/judgemental sampling
• Snowball sampling
• Consecutive sampling

35. Inclusion Criteria
• This gives a narration of which people among the selected population
will qualify to participate in your study
• Those who do not qualify are the excluded from your study

36. Definitions of Variables
• A measurable characteristic that assumes different values among the
subjects
• It’s a value of interest to the researcher
• Basically variables can be;
• Dependant
• Independent
• Intervening

37. Research Instruments
• This refers to the tools you are going to use to answer your objectives
• They include;
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Checklists
• Standardised tests

38. Questionnaires
• This mainly involves the use of pre-determined answers to gather
information from participants
• It mainly has two forms
• Self administered
• Researcher administered
• Questions can be closed ended or open ended
Look for advantages and disadvantages of @

39. Interviews
• These are mainly used to get responses for qualitative data
• They could be used as;
• Interview guides
• Focus Group discussion interviews- of 5 to 10 members

40. checklists
• Also called observation forms
• Researcher ticks responses on observation of what has been done or
not
• In many studies rating is done there after

41. Standardised tests
• These are tools used to score all populations across the board
• For example when scoring IQ levels of children, cognitive tests

42. Data Collection Procedures
• This involves the use of the selected tool/tools to gather information
from the participants
• It explains how the selected data tool will collect the information
• These are selected depending on the design and approach selected

43. Data Management
• This involves the cleaning of data to correct any missing errors
• It involves pre cleaning before actual data entry to eliminate wrong
data entry

44. Data Analysis
• After data has been cleaned, it then analysed and interpreted to
make meaningful statements
• This is then followed by making interpretation of findings before the
actual generalisation of the research findings

45. Protection of Human Subjects
• This looks at the ethics of your research
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality
• Ethics committees
• Privacy

46. Dissemination of Results
• Research findings must be shared to the relevant concerned bodies
who might be interested in your findings
• It can also be published as reports, journals, CMEs, posters in
conferences etc
• Dissemination helps other scholars know what has been done

47. Limitations of the Study
• These are anticipated challenges imposed by methods, period and
location of research
• The researcher may not have control over them and therefore the
need to identify them so that possible solutions before beginning the
study
• They also help in predicting the necessary help need and the
feasibility of the research

48. References/Bibliography
• This includes all sources of cited, used and have been reffered too in
he write up
• It is a list of all authors whose work has been used in your proposal
• This is written following the referencing guidelines of any institution
• APA style is the preferred fro our case

49. Appendices
• These extra things necessary for you to finalise your proposal
• They include;
• Budget
• Work plan
• Consent for patients
• Data collection tools
• Any other necessary document

50. Thanks you very much