Follow the structure and suggestions in the Research Proposal
Template:
1.
Introduction (100 words)
The introduction should draw from either
industry or business reports or academic sources and include the following:
1.1.
Background
and Context.
Lead the reader into the topic and scope of your research, explain why this
research has value and why it will be original, and why the research is
required.
1.2.
Problem
Statement.
Describe the theoretical or practical
research problem that you want to address.
What is already known about the problem?
What is missing from current knowledge?
Briefly refer to 2-3 main
policies/reports/frameworks that introduce the reader into the context and
specify the contradiction/problem that still exists and needs solution. Here
you will use relevant terminology: relate to the key concepts, theories, and
empirics (reports/statistics which reveal the problem)
2.
Literature Review (800 words)
The literature review
summarises, compares and critiques the most relevant scholarly sources on the
topic. There are many different ways to structure a literature review, but it
should explore:
There will be three main
subtopics mentioned in the Literature Review, usually in the synthesised ways:
–
Key
Concepts, Theories and Studies (and include three topics there under headings).
–
Key
Debates and Controversies (optional for undergraduate research)
–
Gap(s)
in Existing Knowledge
Important: Students are free to organise their Literature review in one of two ways:
Students either divide the
Literature review as suggested into subsections:
2.1.
Key
Concepts, Theories and Studies.
Compare, contrast, and establish the theories and concepts that will be
most important for your project. These should be divided into topics.
2.1.1.
Topic
1.
2.1.2.
Topic
2.
2.1.3.
Topic
3.
2.2.
Key
Debates and Controversies (optional for undergraduate research)
Identify points
of conflict and situate your own position as for any controversies or conflict
research/academic opinions you might find in the literature related to the
research topic.
2.3.
Gap(s)
in Existing Knowledge (around
50 words within 800 of Literature review)
Show
what is missing and how your project will fit in.
Alternatively, students may have three subsections,
Topic 1; Topic 2; Topic 3, and include in each of
them Key Concepts, Theories and Studies; Key Debates and Controversies
(optional for undergraduate research) and Gap(s) in Existing Knowledge.
2.1.
Topic
1 (including Key
concepts, theories, debates, and a gap).
2.2.
Topic
2 (including Key
concepts, theories, debates, and a gap).
2.3.
Topic
3 (including Key
concepts, theories, debates, and a gap).
There must be at
least three topics with 4-5 resources minimum for each of topic. The
resources must be synthesised. Topics
present key theories and concepts definitions, reflect previous research and
analysis.
Generally, in your Literature Review you
will:
–
Compare
and contrast the main theories, methods, and analyse the debates and
controversies;
–
Critically
analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches;
–
Show
how your research fits in the previous research and/or the issues of the
economic activities of the tourism enterprise, destination, etc. How will you
build on, challenge or synthesise the work of others?
–
Fill a
gap in the existing body of research and explain why you consider your research
idea innovative.
3.
Research Question, Research Aim and Research Objectives (150 words)
3.1. Research Question.
State the specific question that you aim to
answer.
One research question is enough for the
undergraduate degree. However, these may be two or more related questions. The
more specific questions you ask, the wider the scope of the research will be,
usually at higher levels of scientific research.
3.2. Research Aim.
Make it clear what new insights you will
contribute.
Formulate a clear research aim in one line,
e.g.
•
The
aim of this study is to determine…
•
This
research aims to explore…
•
This
research aims to investigate…
3.3. Research Objectives.
Define research objectives (at least three).
Justify a major approach you will take (general methodology to achieve these
aims)
Start using active verbs, e.g.
• To discover current research surrounding
the topic of dark tourism.
• To evaluate the motivations of
travellers visiting destinations associated with dark tourism.
• To use focus groups to examine
whether tourist perspectives are influenced by dark tourism.
OR include specific detail HOW you will
achieve these objectives, e.g.
• To measure …… using quantitative methods.
• To analyse … by means of ….
analysis.
• To test (e.g. customer brand
awareness).
DO NOT REPEAT THE VERBS!
Note.
Verbs will differ depending on your research methodology.
If you apply quantitative methodology, you will need to
formulate quantitative research objectives,
using verbs like determine, measure, assess,
quantify, analyse…metrics/score, investigate (indices), examine effects, assess
influence, determine the correlation between X and Y, predict… rates,
etc. see Verbs for research objectives on Lecture Week 1 slides)
If your research
approach is qualitative, you will need verbs for qualitative
research objectives, like determine, predict, assess, investigate, explore, understand,
uncover, capture, delve into, explain, explore, and the like, see Verbs
for research objectives on Lecture Week 1 slides)
For mixed methods you will probably need both.
4.
Research Methodology (800 words)
This section should explain
your approach to the research and describe exactly what steps you will take to
answer your questions:
4.1. Research Design.
Explain how you will design the research: qualitative/quantitative/mixed data research. Determine
what kind of data you need to analyse, and which resources you will use,
primary or secondary. Decide and justify if this will be a descriptive,
correlational, or experimental research.
4.2. Research Methods and Sources.
Describe the tools, procedures, participants and sources of the
research. Specify when, where and how you will collect and select data. Justify
chosen methods. State exactly what or who you will study and if you will
collect data personally or use the databases. If the databases will be used,
which ones and what data will be taken from there. State clearly how you will
access the databases or the resources of information.
Include data analysis methods and justify them.
4.3. Sampling Design.
Describe the procedure and the sample of the participants of your
research.
Outline the proposed sample group, including any specific criteria, e.g.
for a consumer behaviour analysis you might need data on the age, sex, marital
status/family size, income level, frequency of travel, travel length,
occupation, etc.
In case you collect primary data via the interview or questionnaire
survey, make sure you explain this and make reference to Appendices where the Questionnaire
must be enclosed.
4.4. Research Procedure and Ethical
Considerations.
Indicate clearly what the involvement of the sample group will be in the
research process. Address any ethical issues which might arise during the
research, e.g. data protection, ownership of the research materials, etc. How
will you plan for and deal with problems?
Specify how the consent of subjects will be obtained. Refer to
Appendices where the Consent Form must be enclosed. Please include within this
a description of any information with which you intend to provide the subject. Indicate
any potential risks to subjects and how you propose to minimise these. Mention
policies and guidelines regulating data collection and data protection in the
university and in the UK (there will be at least two documents). Include them
in the reference list.
4.5. Practical considerations.
Give a balanced view of the chosen research methodology based on the
literature (Pros and Cons of this approach). Address any potential obstacles,
limitations or practical issues. Clarify how you plan to deal with problems?
5.
Implications and contributions to knowledge (150 words)
This section should emphasise
why your proposed project is important and how it will contribute to practice
or theory.
5.1. Practical Implications.
Explain if your research findings
will help to improve a process, inform policy, or make a case for concrete
change. State in one sentence who will benefit from your research findings /solution
of the problem (the audience).
5.2. Theoretical Implications.
Explain
if your research findings will help to strengthen a theory or model, challenge
current assumptions, or create a basis for further research. How?
References.
Include at least 15 references
here (These sources are highlighted in green
throughout the template).
Please, include only the resources that you
used for:
• contextualising your research topic,
• analysing the previous research in the
Literature Review
• regulating your research procedures,
especially Ethical Considerations.
Do NOT use bullet
points or numbering!
Appendices are mandatory, though not included in the
word count. The content of the appendices impacts the mark and is reflected
in the grading rubrics. There are three appendices as specified in the Research
Proposal Template:
Appendix A.
Questionnaire
You will have to
create a research questionnaire on one of the online platforms, e.g. Google
Forms, SurveyMonkey, etc., then download it and present as Appendix A.
The survey will
have different types of questions depending on the type of data you will need
to collect. It is obligatory that developed questionnaire contains both closed
and open questions. This may be one long survey, or two short (up to 10
questions) questionnaires. If you opt to have two questionnaires, name them
Appendix A.1. Title, and Appendix A.2. Title.
Appendix B.
Consent Form
You will develop
the consent form or, alternatively, use the CCCU Consent Form with a proper
reference.
Appendix C.
Research Timeline
A nice way to lay
out the timeline for your program is to use a Gantt diagram as shown in the
Research Proposal Template. Alternatively, create your timeline in Excel. It is
best to arrange the time divisions according to your particular timeline as
described in the Research Methodology section, so if it works better for you to
divide your months into weeks.
The sample in the
Research Proposal Template must be replaced with an actual Gannt Chart created
in Microsoft Office, which will reflect all stages of your research and
relevant dates, starting with research proposal preparation (now) till project
completion. In case you will use the research proposal for your degree paper in
Level 6, you will be able to make changes and adapt the actual dates.
The dates must be
realistic, and the tasks feasible withing the set time limits.
The final stage will
the presentation of tour research findings – either a thesis, or paper,
presentation to the business owner/ destination board, etc, depending on the
research audience and context.
