How to Write a Winning Research Proposal

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How to Write a Winning Research Proposal

• Prof. Dr. Benyamin Kusumoputro
• Computational Intelligence Research Lab.
• Faculty of Computer Science
• University of Indonesia

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Principal Components of Research Proposals

• Properly fit with sponsorship view points
• Represented by examiners (refer the winning
  proposals)

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Weaknesses in Research Proposals

• Research Problem
• Unfocused Research Theme (difficult to evaluate)
• Problem Statement too complex
• Unimportant Methods (see reference)
• Limited relevance, benefits
• Not properly fit with sponsorship
• Represented by examiners (refer the winning
  proposals)

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Weaknesses in Research Proposals

• Research Design
• Unfocused Research Design (difficult to evaluate)
• Inappropriate design, produce impossible data
• Inappropriate procedures for problem
• Lacking controls
• Not properly fit with sponsorship
• Represented by examiners (refer the winning
  proposals

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Proposal Characteristics

• Straightforward document
• No extraneous or irreverent material
• The first words are the most important
• Not a literary production
• Clear, sharp and precise
• economy of words no rambling sentences
• Clearly organized
• Structurally outline your thinking (heading etc)

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Components of the Research Proposal

• Second Part
• Deliverables
• Schedule
• Facilities and Special Resources
• References
• Budget Appendix

• First Part
• Research Problem Description
• Research Objectives
• Literature Review
• Importance/Benefits of the Study
• Research Design

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1. Problem Statement

• What is the Current Status of Problem
• Current Problem, Current Methods, Current
  Analysis,
• Scope of your focus on Current Status of
  Problem (nationally, internationally)
• Why change the current status and how
• What the dilemma behind (current methods,
  analysis)
• Why we like to change (current methods, analysis)
• How we change the Current Status
• Brief explanation, explain thoroughly in methods

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Tricks on Writing Problem Statement

• Reread and adjust your proposal to the need of
  the problem of the sponsor
• Convince the sponsor to continue reading your
  proposal
• Your method self explanatory about your
  ability to solve the problem

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Purpose of the Problem Statement

• Clearly write your own angle on the problem
• Clearly state the reason behind your proposal
• Specifies the condition(s) you want to change
• Supported by evidence (prior research by you)
• Show your prior research on the topic (results,
  publish paper)
• Even if the problem is obvious, your reviewers
  want to know how clearly you can state it

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2. Research Objectives

• How you like to change current status
• state your hypotheses clearly
• give the reviewer a concrete, achievable goal
• Verify the consistency of the proposal
• checking to see that each objective is discussed
  in the research design, data analysis and results
  sections

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Tricks on Research Objectives

• Flows naturally from Problem Statement to
  Research Objectives
• Focus, concise and logically explained
• Consistent with your ability in the real problem
  (track record, publish paper etc)
• Take a look at the winning proposal for each
  sponsorship reflecting their way of thinking
• Scope of the Sponsor about those ideas (your idea
  and ability must be properly match)

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Purpose of the Research Objectives Section

• Specify the outcome of your project, the end
  product(s)
• Keep you objectives
• Specific indicate precisely what you intend to
  change through your project
• Measurable what you accept as proof of project
  success
• Logical how each objective contributes to
  systematically to achieving your overall goal

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Writing Tips for Objectives Section

• Dont confuse your objectives (ends) with you
  methods (means).
• A good objective emphasizes what will be done,
  whereas a method will explain why or how it will
  be done.
• Include goals (ultimate) and objectives
  (immediate)

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3. Literature Review

• Recent or historically significant research
  studies
• Always refer to the original source
• Discuss how the literature applies, show the
  weaknesses in the design, discuss how you would
  avoid similar problems
• Where is your position on this issue
• How is your idea different/better?

Write down what you already gain in the first
session of this workshop
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4. Importance/Benefits of the Study

• Importance of the doing the study
• Time and Place, Facilities
• What are the potential impact on
• Research community
• Applications community
• If you find this difficult to write, then most
  likely you have not understood the problem

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5. Research Design

• What you are going to do in technical terms.
• May contain many subsections
• Be specific about what research methodology you
  will use and why
• Provide details of your proposed solutions to the
  problem and sub-problems
• Provide information for tasks such as sample
  selection, data collection, instrumentation,
  validation, procedures etc

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Purpose of the Research Design

• Describes your project activities in detail
• Indicates how your objective will be accomplished
• Description should include the sequence, flow,
  and interrelationship of activities
• It should discuss the risks of your method, and
  indicate why your success is probable
• Relate what is unique about your approach.

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Writing Tips for Research Design

• Begin with your objectives
• Describe the precise steps you will follow to
  carry out each objective, including what will be
  done, and who will do it.
• Keep asking and answering the Whats next?
  question.
• Once you have determined the sequence of events,
  derive into a time-and-task chart

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5. References

• Up-to-date
• Highly relevant with the problem
• Original source
• First Order Journal Publications and Books
• Second Order Proceeding Publications
• Third Order Technical Report
• Dont include private communications
• Dont cite support for common knowledge
  (weakening yourself)

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Reference and Citation

• Carefully relate your new work to existing work,
  show how your work builds on previous knowledge,
  and how it differs from other relevant results.
• References demonstrate the claims of new,
  knowledge of the research area, pointers to
  background reading

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6. Schedule

• Include the major phases of the project
• exploratory studies, data analysis, report
  generation

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7. Deliverables

• Measurement instruments
• Algorithms
• Computer programs / prototypes
• Comparative evaluation
• Other technical reports

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8. Budget and Resources

• Access to special systems or computers
• specialized computer algorithms
• Itemized Budget
• Budget Narrative
• This part is usually an appendix.

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Suggested Organization

• Title, Abstract, Keywords
• Introduction and Overview
• Background information problem statement
• Hypotheses and objectives
• Assumptions and delimitations
• Importance and benefits
• Related Work/Literature Review
• Research Design and Methodology
• Plan of Work and Outcomes
• Conclusions and Future Work
• References
• Budget (appendix)

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Strengthening Your Proposal

• Review checklist for features of proposal
• Peer Review before submit

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Guide to Writing the Research Proposal
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5 Key Questions to Answer in Your Problem
Statement

• Does your problem statement
• Demonstrate a precise understanding of the
  problem you are attempting to solve?
• Clearly convey the focus of your project early in
  the narrative?
• Indicate the relationship of your project to a
  larger set of problems and justify why your
  particular focus has been chosen?
• Demonstrate that your problem is feasible to
  solve?
• Make others what to read it further?

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5 Key Questions to Answer for Purpose and
Objectives

• Does this section
• Clearly describe your projects objective,
  hypotheses and/or research question?
• Bury them in a morass of narrative?
• Demonstrate that your objectives are important,
  significant and timely?
• Include objectives that comprehensively describe
  the intended outcomes of the project?
• State objectives, hypothesis or questions in a
  way they can be evaluated or tested later

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Key Questions to Answer for Research Design/Data
Analysis

• Does the research design and data analysis
  section
• Describe why analysis is needed in the project?
• Clearly identify the purpose of your analysis?
• Demonstrate that an appropriate analysis
  procedure is included for each project objective
• Provide a general organizational plan or model?
• Demonstrate what information will be needed to
  complete the analysis, the potential sources and
  the instruments that will be used to collect it.

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Additional Considerations
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Scientific Writing

• Prosaic
• Clear, accurate, but not dull
• To the point but not over condensing
• Ego less you are writing for the readers not
  yourself

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Scientific Tone

• Objective and accurate
• To inform not entertain
• Do not over qualify modify every claim with
  caveats and cautions
• Use examples if they aid in clarification
• Use to contrast a new idea with some impossibly
  bad alternative, to put the new idea in a
  favorable light

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Scientific Motivation

• Brief summaries at the beginning and end of each
  section
• The connection between one paragraph and the next
  should be obvious
• Make sure your reader has sufficient knowledge to
  understand what follows

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Citation Style

• References should not be anonymous
• Other work 6 -gt Marsden 6 has
• In self-references, readers should know that you
  are using yourself to support your argument not
  independent authorities
• Avoid unnecessary discussion of references,
  Several authors ., we cite

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Citation style

• Ordinal-number style, name-and-date style,
  superscripted ordinal numbers, and strings.
• Use anyone, but use one!
• Entries ordered
• By appearance of citation
• alphabetically

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Acknowledgements

• Anyone who made a contribution
• Advice, proofreading, technical support, funding
  resources
• Dont list your family, unless they really
  contributed to the scientific contents

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Ethics

• Dont
• Present opinions as fact
• Distort truths
• Plagiarize
• Imply that previously published results are
  original
• Papers available on the internet authors put
  out an informal publication and becomes accepted
  as a formal. It is expected that the informal
  version will be removed