how to write a research propasal how to write a research propasal prof. s.o. mcligeyo prof. s.o....
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HOW TO WRITE A HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH PROPASAL RESEARCH PROPASAL
Prof. S.O. McligeyoProf. S.O. McligeyoDeputy Director, BPSDeputy Director, BPS
Prof. P.M. KimaniProf. P.M. KimaniCAVS Representative, BPSCAVS Representative, BPS
University of Nairobi ISO 9001:2008 1 Certified http://www.uonbi.ac.ke
The general standard ofresearch proposals is lowSo it is not hard to shine
Although, sadly, that still does not guarantee a grant.
Good luck!
http://research.microsoft.com/~simonpj/papers/Proposal.html
Good news
What is a research proposal?
A research proposal is your plan It describes in detail your study Decisions about your study are based on
the quality of the proposal Research funding Approvals to proceed by the Institutional
Review Board
Budget Your TimeBudget Your Time
80% planning the project 20% writing the proposal
Solid partnershipsSolid partnerships
Innovative Innovative projectproject
CommunicateCommunicate
Define your Define your budgetbudget
Avoid Plagiarism
• Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s ideas or words as though they were your own.
DANGEROUS!!!!
Research Proposal Elements Background/ significance Research Question/Aim/Purpose Methods
Design Sample/Sample Size Setting Protocol Analysis plan
Timeline
Background/ Significance
Why is your study important? Describe the significance of the
research question or problem Answer the “so what?” question
Literature review
What is the state of the science/art on this problem? Are there gaps in the literature? How will your study fill those gaps? Synthesize recent literature (within the
past 5 years)
Purpose Identify simply what you plan to do in your
study The purpose can be framed as a research
question or an aim Examples:
What is the impact of meditative music on agitation in hospitalized elders?
The purpose of this study is to show the impact of meditative music on agitated elders.
Methods This section of your proposal has
multiple parts Design Sample/Sample size Setting Protocol Analysis Plan
Detailed enough so that the reviewers could conduct the study
Methods - Design Describe your study design Design examples
Prospective vs. Retrospective Descriptive Observation Intervention clinical trial Surveys, interviews, questionnaires Focus groups, field studies Others
Example We plan a prospective randomized controlled
trial of meditative music vs. no music
Methods – Sample/Sample Size
Who are the study participants? Describe inclusion criteria Example: Adult men and women
inpatients with stage IV heart disease Who is excluded? Example: Patients who do not speak
English
Methods – Sample cont’d How will participants be recruited?
Convenience sample Flyers in research offices Advertisements Electronic Records search
How many participants are needed? How will you justify the sample size? Has there been a power analysis? Do you have a comparison or control group?
Setting
Describe the sites where you plan to conduct the study
Do you have support from the administration of the site to conduct the study? Letters of support from site
Protocol What are you going to do to study
participants? Detailed, step by step explanation Include how you will identify participants, obtain
consent, and collect data If there is an intervention, describe it in detail Will you use measurement tools? Describe the
tools, including reliability and validity and include a copy of the tools with your proposal
Include the time frame for implementing the study
Data Analysis
Describe your analysis plan What statistical tests will you use? Be sure your statistics are appropriate
for your study design
Timeline
Describe how long it will take to do your study
Provide timeline benchmarks Example:
Months 1 – 3 Prepare study tools Months 4-10 Collect data Months 11-12 Analyze data
Common pitfalls to avoid Missing aims or purpose Not enough detail about protocol
Write your proposal so anyone reading it can understand your plan
Is your study significant? Does it answer the larger “So what” question? Why should
researchers care about this work? Underpowered sample size
Describe why you are using the sample size and justify it Invalid or unreliable instrumentation
Has your instrument been tested with the population you are studying? If not, will you test it within your study?
Improper statistics Are you using the appropriate statistical analysis?
Evaluation of proposals
Proposals reviewed based on specific criteria defined by the IRB The research design must be sound enough to
yield the expected knowledge The aims/objectives are likely to be achievable in
the given time period The rationale for the proposed number of
participants is reasonable The scientific design is described and adequately
justified
Factors to Consider
1PRACTICAL
CONSIDERATIONS 2HUMANCONSIDERATIONS
3COMPREHENSION4
QUALITY5COMPETITIVE EDGE
Grants are important
• Research grants are the dominant way for academic researchers to get resources to focus on research
• INVARIANT: there is never enough money
The state of play
• Even a strong proposal is in a lottery, but a weak one is certainly dead
• Many research proposals are weak
• Most weak proposals could be improved quite easily
The vague proposal
1. I want to work on better type systems for functional programming languages
2. Give me the money
You absolutely must identify the problem you
are going to tackle
2. Blowing your own trumpet• Grants fund people
• Most researchers are far too modest. “It has been shown that …[4]”, when [4] is you own work!
• Use the first person: “I did this”, “We did that”.
• Do not rely only on the boring “track record” section
2. Blowing your own trumpetExpress value judgements using
strong, but defensible, statements: pretend that you are a well-informed but unbiased expert
• “We were the first to …”• “Out 1998 POPL paper has proved
very influential…”• “We are recognised as world
leaders in functional programming”
2. Blowing your own trumpet
Choose your area...• “We are recognised as world
leaders in – functional programming– Haskell– Haskell’s type system– functional dependencies in Haskell’s type system– sub-variant X of variant Y of functional dependencies in Haskell’s
type system”
Improving Your Odds
Read guidelines for grants if available Monitor institutions research priorities Contact grant officers in target institution(s) Discuss your ideas vs. their needs
Improving Your OddsALWAYS submit cover letter (paper & electronic)
Suggest specific study group for review Suggest one or more target institutions Refer to grant officer with whom you have been working Identify yourself as a new investigator, if so.
Improving Your OddsNew investigators are NOT penalized New investigators allowed higher payline priority score More emphasis on research potential than on track record More emphasis on research plan than on preliminary results
The arrogant proposal1.I am an Important and Famous Researcher. I have lots of PhD students. I have lots of papers.
2.Give me the money
•Proposals like this do sometimes get funded. But they shouldn’t.•Your proposal should, all by itself, justify your grant
Improving Your Odds
Seek “feed forward” before writing Identify 2-4 specific aims Discuss hypothesis & approach with grant-funded colleagues & biostatistician Contact fiscal/grants administrator
Improving Your OddsUse short, concise sentences Make points clearly Use diagrams to illustrate models Use tables to summarize data NEVER assume reviewers “know what you mean” Never create additional work for the reviewer
Improving Your Odds
Organize application for logical flow of ideas & actions Everything fits together Nothing is superfluous Nothing is omitted Time table is detailed & realistic
Improving Your Odds
Why you would not want funding: Must think of innovative ideas Must do the work Must publish papers Must submit grant progress reports Must write yet more grants for
continued funding
Improving Your Odds How to Avoid Funding Recycle old ideas Skip literature review Avoid all contact with grant providers Do not let anyone else read grant Wait until due date to contact research
administration Save time – don’t read instructions Include jargon & sweeping generalities
Key Personnel Page Key personnel are paid to participate in
the grant-funded work Other significant contributors include
unpaid consultants & mentors with no committed percent effort (include biosketch but no other support)
Personnel Pages Summarizes education, training, & professional
career highlights Lists publications (except those in prep or
submitted) & presentations Lists recent research support Establishes qualifications to do proposed work
& appropriateness for role on proposed study Only 2 pages for career info & publications –
this restriction goes away with electronic submission
Resources Page Summary of physical space,
equipment, personnel, & other resources essential to study completion
Letters of support required for shared resources critical to proposed work
Justify reliance on external resources
Budget Pages
Department fiscal/grant administrator can help with estimating costs & calculating salaries
THE FUTURE (is now)Office of Research (sponsored programs) must submit applications – NOT PIAuthorized institutional official AND PI must verify applications accepted Do NOT verify garbled images – if looks garbled when you view it, will look garbled to reviewer