Research Methods Research Proposals Research Methods 1 Types

Research Methods Research Proposals Research Methods 1

Types of Research Proposals: • Graduate Studies Research Proposals – Thesis for MSc students – Dissertation for Ph. D students • Research Funding Proposals – Research projects funded by research funding agencies • Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus • European Union • Industry Research Proposals – Research projects funded by the Industry to solve specific problems – Incubators – Government • Ministry of Commerce • Life-Long Learning Foundation Research Methods 2

Graduate Studies Research: • MSc Students: Content of the research work must be within the boundaries of knowledge in the specific area • Ph. D Students: Content of the research work must extend the boundaries and produce new of knowledge in the specific area Research Methods 3

Graduate Studies Research Proposals: • Research Proposal – An informal contract between the student and the Department • States what the student promises to deliver as part of the research coursework • If approved by the Department, it states what the Department is expecting from the student in order to consider the coursework successful – Changes on the proposal are valid if agreed by both parties. • Topics proposed must be in accordance to the areas of interests and expertise of the faculty of the School or Department – Students rely on the guidance and help from their advisors to carry out their research • Advisors must be able to assist the students they are supervising – The student must get a preliminary approval from the research advisor in advance Research Methods 4

Graduate Studies Research Proposals: • Format of the proposal – Check with advisors for any specific guidelines or templates – It includes a report and possibly an oral presentation/defence • Evaluated by a committee of experts - academics – Assessment is based on: • the content of the proposal (if it is within the program areas of concern) , • its contributions with respect to novelty and innovation • weather it can be done within – the given time limit – economic restrictions, – as well as student’s potential Research Methods 5

Graduate Studies Research Proposal Contents • The Research Proposal must include: – The motivation for doing this specific research • What is the Research Question and the Research Hypothesis • Why it is important to do this research • Does this research have an added value to science, economy, society etc – The proposed methodology to conduct the research – The expected outcome or results of the research work – Any background information related to the issues concerned with the specific research • Not including common knowledge issues Research Methods 6

Graduate Studies Research Proposal Contents • The Research Proposal must include: (cont. ) – The validation and evaluation methodology • Need to specify how you will check that the results achieved are correct, and how good is the achieved outcome of the research work – Any economic issues • What resources are required to carry out the research – Need for equipment, software, or other human resources • Are any of the resources needed available – Use of existing equipment or software – Donations from the industry or other interested parties – Any ethical issues – A time schedule showing the planning of the research work Research Methods 7

Research Funding Proposals • Research Funding Organizations (EU, RPF, etc) – Within a framework or action – Specific aims and thematic areas – Usually predefined format for the proposal – Evaluated by a small team of experts • Assessment based on the – idea, – research team, or research network (consortium) – available infrastructure, and – Host organization experience – Important Issues • Budget • Deliverables • Patents and ownership • Ethical Issues • Dissemination Research Methods 8

Other Proposals – Industry and other Organizations • Research Funding requested from non-research related organizations such as the industry, electricity and communication organizations (EAC, CYTA), banks etc • The topic of the research can be: – predefined according to the needs of the funding organization • The industry/organization assigns a project to a university, or research organization, instead of hiring researchers or using their own human resources – open to be specifiedby the researchers • The researcher might have an idea than might be useful to the industry • Other cases include research call from organizations such as incubators, technology farms, or government agencies Research Methods 9

Proposal Structure • • • Your Research Proposal must answer four critical questions: – what research project you propose to undertake, – why is important to carry out this specific research, – Which are the contributions of the proposed work (novelty), and – how you intend to carry out and evaluate that research. The structure of a research proposal is usually predefined by the research funding organization or the university A typical proposal must include the following: – Title – Abstract (in many cases optional) – Introduction – Literature Review – Methodology – Implementation – Evaluation / Validation – Planning – Budget/Infrastructure required – Conclusions – References Research Methods 10

Research Proposal: - Preamble • Cover page – The cover page must include the • Title of the proposed work (project) • Program Identification or Call – MSc in Engineering Management, etc • Name of the researcher or student submitting the proposal • Date of the Submission (Month and Year) – In most cases a template for the cover page is predefined by the Department or the Funding Agency – For funded research programs it is necessary to specify the Host Organization • Table of Contents – For lengthy documents it is useful to provide a table of contents Research Methods 11

Research Proposal: - Abstract • Might not be needed for small size proposals – less than 10 pages • It must describe clearly the content of the proposed work – It will give the first impression of the proposed work to the evaluators – Do not insert references or citations in the abstract • Up to three paragraph summarising • Why you propose the specific research? • What you are proposing in order to solve the stated problem? • What is the expected outcome and conclusion? Research Methods 12

Research Proposal: - Introduction • Introduction Structure: – Problem definition and Thesis • Introduce the problem and state your thesis (what you intent to do) • State clearly the expected outcome of the proposed research – Motivation • Why this research is needed – Brief background information • Summary of the main issues given in the literature review • It must relate to your proposal and direct the reader to conclude that the work of your proposal is indeed original/novel and that it has a value. • It must also provide the foundation for the previous subsection (the motivation for doing this research) Research Methods 13

Research Proposal: - Introduction • Introduction Structure: (Cont. ) – Contributions • Clearly identify your Contributions (what is the new knowledge to be produced) • What is the expected outcome and the expected results – Proposed Methodology • How do you propose to do it • How do you propose to evaluate and validate and evaluate the outcome of the proposed research – Conclusions: • Restate the problem and your thesis, and emphasise why it is essential to carry out this work. Research Methods 14

Research Proposal: - Literature Review • Describe and critically analyze the most important work in the area of your research – Either completed or in progress • To find what to include: – Search the most relevant journals and conferences • More emphasis on the last 2 -3 years – Find the most frequently cited articles and authors • Most authors provide on their web site a list of their publication and research projects • The review must be coherent: – Try to find common attributes and classify the work presented according to these attributes – If necessary show also a historical evolution of the related work • The review must be up-to-date: – More emphasis on work recently completed or in progress – Summarize older work to show the foundations and historic evolution of the work • It should lead to the conclusion that: – your idea of research • is novel and original – has not been undertaken yet • is interesting – others are currently doing similar research – you have the background knowledge in the field to carry out your research • Make sure you cite properly all referenced work – It is essential to acknowledge the work of others Research Methods 15

Research Proposal: Methodology • Methodology refers to – How you intent to solve the problem • The proposed methodology must be – Technically correct – Completed within the predefined time constrains – Economically reasonable and affordable – How you will evaluate your work and show that it is the valid • Use experiments /simulators / benchmarks / surveys • The implementation of a methodology is usually divided into tasks – Examples: • set up the questions of a questioner • build a software simulator – In “longer projects” such as Ph. D or funded projects tasks are grouped into Work-Packages – In funded research programs there is a leader (organization) for each workpackage Research Methods 16

Research Proposal: - Implementation and Planning • Implementation is expressed in the form of – Tasks and work-packages: • Distinct pieces of the work needed to be carried out in order to complete the work of the research project – Milestones: • Critical points in the implementation of the project where – A decision needs to be taken » e. g. decide on which benchmarks to use – A part of the work has been completed » e. g. the completion of a survey – Deliverables • Items that must be submitted by the researcher in order to monitor the progress of the research • Submitted to either the student’s advisor (for student project) or to the funding agency (for funded programs) • It can be – A report such as a literature review, a technical manual, a progress or final report – The source code of the software produced – A hardware prototype etc • Planning – Time schedule showing the implementation of the project • Relation to work-packages, milestones and deliverables • Use a Gantt Chart Research Methods 17

Gantt Charts • A Gantt chart is a bar chart, that illustrates the schedule of a project. – – Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of work-packages or tasks Some Gantt charts also show the dependencies between tasks Gantt charts can also show the current schedule status using %age shadings Gantt charts can also show the dates of deliverables (bottom line) Month 1 Task 1 System Specification 2 Hardware Design 3 Software Design 4 Testing & Evaluation Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Deliverables D 1 Research Methods D 2 D 3 D 4 18

Gantt Chart Examples Research Methods 19

Research Proposal: - Budget and Infrastructure • Budget/Infrastructure for student projects – In most cases not required – It is needed if specialized equipment or software is required • Clarify if already available in the lab • If not available, specify how it will be obtained (donation from industry, from research funding etc) • Budget/Infrastructure for funded research projects – In most research projects infrastructure is partially funded • The rest must be covered by the organization undertaking the project – Must be very careful with cost of installation and maintenance, as well as the depreciation of the cost – It is essential to show that the organization undertaking the project has already a significant infrastructure to by used, while funding is needed only partially Research Methods 20

Research Proposal: - Conclusions and References • Conclusions – Shortly state • why your proposed work is new, • why it advances knowledge, • why is it worth researching and • how, are you going to do that. • References – Make sure these follow a recognised format, and do so consistently. Research Methods 21