Every research attempt, in both qualitative and quantitative research, in every academic and professional field is preceded by research proposal. It informs your academic supervisor or promising research contract provider about your conceptualization of the overall research process that you suppose to conduct so that they can examine its validity and appropriateness. In any academic field, your research proposal will go through a number of committees for approval. Unless it is approved by all of them, you will not be allowed to start your research. Therefore, it is necessary for you to study closely what a research proposal is made up of.  

You have to write your research proposal whether your research study is quantitative or qualitative and, in both cases,, you use a similar structure. The main difference is in the proposed procedures and methodologies for carrying out the research endeavor. When providing details for different parts of the research proposal, for quantitative studies, you will detail quantitative methods, procedures and models, for qualitative studies, your proposed process will be based upon methods and procedures that shape the qualitative research methodologies.

Certain requirements for a research proposal may vary from university to university, and from discipline to discipline within a university. What is outlined here will fit most requirements but you should be selective considering what is needed in your situation.

A research proposal is total plan, scheme, structure and strategy designed to obtain answers to the research questions or problems that your research project is consisted of. A research proposal should outline the different tasks you plan to undertake to fulfill your research objectives, test hypotheses (if any) or obtain answers to your research questions. It should also state your reasons for conducting the study. Broadly, a research proposal’s main function is to detail the operational plan for acquiring answers to your research questions. In doing so, it ensures and reassures the reader of the validity of the methodology for obtaining answers to your research questions accurately and objectively.

In order to obtain this function, a research proposal must tell you, your research supervisor and reviewers the following information about your study

Ø  What you are proposing to do

Ø  How you plan to find answers to what you are proposing

Ø  Why you selected the proposed strategies of investigation