The Elements of a Proposal Egon G. Guba With Annotations and Explanation By John C. Lewis, Ed.D. 1991,2001, 2008 2 Elements of a Proposal Elements of a Proposal Egon G. Guba, copywritten c. 1960 With Annotations and Explanations by John C. Lewis, Ed.D., copywritten, 2001, 2008. Editor's Note: The following document is presented in both italicized and standard type. The italics denote Guba's original comments; my commentary appears in standard type and substantially enlarges the original document. Unfortunately, the original material is undocumented, for no source materials other than the attribution to Egon Guba, have yet been located. The concepts, however, expressed by Guba, a management and educational specialist, still remain significant elements of proposal documents. In short, the work may be considered a classic. A. Statement of the problem 1. State the problem in terms intelligible to someone who is generally sophisticated but who is relatively uninformed in the area of the problem. It should be noted that the statement of the problem is not always a statement of a "problem" as we might formally conceive it. While some research plans and studies are designed to actually solve problems with which we may be confronted in administration, patient care, or other management scenario, they are often pleas for support for further investigation into the understanding of a phenomenon or concept, the promotion of a cause or the investigation of an historical perspective. More problem-related are issues surrounding the promotion of the reduction of suffering, cures for a societal malady such as unemployment, illiteracy, health care deficits and the like. It is noted that writers should limit the use of disciplinespecific jargon unless the reviewers are assuredly going to be drawn from peers and peer-related groups. Even then, the document should not read like a technical journal. Problem statements usually define the scope of the issue, the populations involved at both ends of the research, i.e., the researcher and those studied, and the implications of what might be the outcome if the research is not to be conducted. Reviewers are not sympathetic to grandiose statements like "people are dying every minute because..." rather, it is better to make statements such as, "A reduction of injury remains one of the single objectives of this research, in that airbags significantly reduce the potential for debilitating head injuries resulting from automobile crashes." Further justification of the need for the study may be found in statements of other research related to the topic that may have been done or is currently under way. Be very careful about sweeping statements such as "Little has been said or done about the problem of headband lice; therefore this research will be unique." Your reviewer may have just completed a dissertation and five follow-up articles yet to be published on this devastating issue! Similarly, in Guba's words, avoid statements that imply that what has been done is too extensive to permit easy summary. Statements of this sort are usually taken (and often rightly) as indications that the proposer is not really familiar with the [topic] literature. Try to think of ways to be candid in your statement of why they (the funders or the readers) should be interested in helping anyone do anything Elements of a Proposal, continued around your topic. Remember, you are the one asking for their help, and they may be less than convinced if even you, the supposed expert, are hard pressed to say why the project needs to be undertaken. Watch for global and emotional terms; eradicate them whenever they raise their ugly vulnerable-to-injury heads in your writing. Writers should further assume that the reviewer knows very little about what may be studied, therefore, any special terms which you absolutely must use should be clearly defined internally; to be specific--right on the page where the term is first used. Glossaries are usually not necessary nor are they in good form. As with several other elements described within this document, it will serve proposal writers well if they read some existing (hopefully successful) proposals to determine what is meant by the " problem statement" concept. You may be delightfully surprised at how easy it is! 2. Define and delimit the specific area of the research. For all practical purposes, defining the problem means to make it clearer to understand. Most writers can define terms in dictionary fashion, but several of them do not provide examples of what they mean. If you are talking about the need to reduce head injuries, give an example of the potential scope of that type of injury in personal and economic costs or the like. Avoid exaggerating the problem with statements like, "Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost by the American people each year because of the problem of..." Usually, the reviewers simply file such statements in the categories of creative use of statistics. Do not, however, fail to cite statistics that you know are true and those that can be documented carefully from a reliable source. Sources such as the NLN, the Social Security Administration, the National Safety Council or the American Trauma Society are usually good bets; local neighborhood newspapers or colleagues estimates are generally regarded less. Line, bar or pie graphs are of value here if used sparingly. Remember, it is a proposal, not an annual report of the General Motors Corporation. The art of delimitation is one that can be learned quickly. Writers need to make clear what is not part of the research as well as what is part of it. For example, a proposal relating to the study of domestic violence may not attempt to treat date rape or elder abuse, and you should be direct about the actual topics that are to be considered in your study. Nothing should be left to the imagination of the reviewer, nor should you assume that because of a clever or lengthy title, they would somehow divine the scope of your study. In the domestic abuse example, you may state clearly that you plan to study husband/wife conflicts, clues to early detection of problem couples, or related areas. Say what you mean, and mean what you say when it comes time to outline what you are going to be doing. There is no room for subtlety. 3. Foreshadow the hypotheses to be tested or the questions to be raised. Your favorite novel or play may employ the device known as "foreshadowing," 3 Elements of a Proposal, continued or giving less-than-subtle hints that something either awful or great is going to happen to a character. TV does it well with shadowed music to suggest impending doom; everyone can identify with the musical prelude to the appearance of one of the more striking "Jaws" characters. Likewise, in a proposal, writers will suggest in the early paragraphs that a concept or notion will be examined in some meaningful way. Writers do not have the advantage of music, but they do have the opportunity to present ideas within carefully developed statements that may prepare the reader for concepts that follow. A foreshadowing statement within the opening paragraph of a literature review might read, “Research directed toward outcome measurements pertaining to injury reduction through the use of the child safety seat can lend credence to public awareness campaigns..." And, then, you move on to cite some literature describing some existing studies. Presto! You have foreshadowed. 4. Indicate briefly the significance of the study (This item will be elaborated upon later). Guba is telling us now that we can ill afford to delay making some kind of statement relating to the importance of the project at hand. While not exactly the need for the study, the two ideas are closely related. Need statements indicate clearly that there is "room" for the project to be undertaken, and that there is a population who will read it and who will benefit from its results. Benefit, however, is greatly enhanced by a strong significance statement as the writer identifies where this project will fall within the entire scheme of area-related study. It is appropriate in this sense to cite that there are local, state, federal, private agencies or individuals who are genuinely interested in what you propose to study, and if your objectives are supported, their interest will be both piqued and/or rewarded in some way. You are going to be contributing to existing knowledge, and you need to let the reader know that this effort is being conducted significantly. More later. 5. Be certain to indicate somewhere a sentence such as, "The purpose of the research is..." Today's writers tend to leave some concepts open to hint or innuendo. However, the purpose statement is not the place to allow the reader to rely solely upon his own interpretive devices. Rather, it is up to the writer to place all cards upon the table with a direct statement such as these: "The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of acid rain on fountain statues." "This study proposes to relate the effects of alcoholism in pregnant women on infant mortality." "The purpose of this research is to develop a conceptual framework for the use of the desktop computer in facilitating patient education." By casting a statement which directly presents the purposes toward which your project will be directed, you have actually removed all doubt about what is and what is not to be included. In fact, most rating sheets used by grant and article reviewers have a checklist-type item that seeks verification of the existence of a 4 Elements of a Proposal, continued 5 purpose statement. Do not let your document leave home without it! B. Review of the Literature 1. Demonstrate to the reader that you have a comprehensive grasp of the field and are aware of important recent substantive and methodological developments. There is no substitute for knowing what you are talking about when it comes to a specific topic for which you seek funding or reader respect. It is in this area that your true research and writing skills come into play, for you should really be certain that you have looked over what has been and is being said about your topic. On-line searches are good for this purpose, but be certain that they are inclusive enough not to leave any major gaps in the research. For example, if you are doing a topic relating to medical sociology, you might not get all of the pertinent literature from a service like MEDLINE; be prepared to go to other library based sources as well. Also, do not overlook the popular literature for clues to other works that you may have missed. Utilize your favorite search engine and let fly; then run the thesaurus option in Word and find out what else might jog out some sources. Be patient. A word should be said about study replications. It is not necessary to duplicate the literature search conducted concurrent with the original study, provided you so summarize and document where the original search may be found. However, it is absolutely necessary that you update the search by including material completed subsequent to the last investigation. Of course, your literature review will be cast as much as possible in your own paraphrased wording; lengthy quotes do little. If you find something to be important from your viewpoint, note such by highlighting special areas or giving greater coverage to that topic or author. Be careful about saying, "Another significant work is..." unless you mean it. It is heresy to state that everything written is significant; even if someone had it published in a respected journal or received a doctoral degree as a result of it. Just mention it, period. If it had something to say, summarize its contribution appropriately. 2. Delineate the "jumping-off place" for your study; how will your study refine, revise, or extend what is now known? This process is best done within the final paragraphs of the literature review. In general, it is in good form to work toward a statement that says, "This study will enlarge upon existing investigations by providing a basis for comparison (conclusion, correlation, refuting, supporting, defining, et al.)." By performing this step, you will provide necessary structure and basis. Researchers are cautioned again about making sweeping statements about the sorry state of existence of "real research" on the topic. While such may be quite the truth, most of the time this type of statement appears like a fancy footwork attempt to shorten or to avoid the literature review. Do not be paranoid about missing something, however; be thorough and take all reasonable steps in an effort Elements of a Proposal, continued 6 to locate the best of what has been written. See the note in the foregoing about using a reputable search engine and consulting library on-line databases. Remember also that simply because you do not agree with the point of view of a resource you have located, that fact alone does not eliminate it from your review. Good reviewers are most objective. C. Questions and/or Hypotheses 1. Questions are relevant to normative or census type research. (How many of them are there? Is there a relationship between [or among] them? Hypotheses are relevant to theoretical research, and when you state hypotheses the reader is entitled to have an exposition of the theory that led to them (and of the assumptions underlying the theory). By the word, exposition, Guba is asking for an explanation in some manner of the way that the proposer has developed the hypotheses. Crystal balls are effective sometimes for mystic rationale, but they simply are not appropriate tools for research—and most of them do not work very well, either. In order to satisfy this requirement, the writer need only examine the "clues" which led to the hypothesis, and present them accordingly. It is appropriate to refer to the literature review for areas wherein an author may have suggested or even crafted the hypothesis you will test or enlarge upon. You need not reinvent the wheel, but there needs to be something other than barometric pressure on your big toe to suggest the reasons for your hypothesis (es). 2. Hypotheses can be couched in four kinds of statements: a. Literary null: a "no-difference" form in terms of theoretical constructs, e.g., "There is no difference in school achievement for high and low intelligence pupils." While the null hypothesis is good research form, the actual attempt to prove a non-existent relationship lacks a degree of luster. Do not, however, get the wrong impression. There are many times when these types of null statements work well. For example in the extreme, you would be on sound ground with a null statement like this: "There is no relationship between snow depth in Milwaukee and the price of unwrinkled chili beans in San Diego." You will know when a literary null statement can be used best. b. Operational null: a "no-difference" form in terms of the operations required to test the hypotheses, e.g., "There is no difference between the mean grade point averages achieved by students in the upper and lower quartiles of the distribution of the Stanford-Binet I.Q.'s." Strictly speaking, this is the preferred form of hypothesis writing. If your operational null is bold enough to make a non-relationship type of statement, the luster has returned! You are actually saying that regardless of one variable, there will be no change in another, (but you are really not saying it in exactly those words). If it sounds a bit like a game, it does and it is. But the game is best played when the rulebook is read and interpreted in the same manner by all players. Hence, there is sanity in casting hypotheses which are sound and which are less likely to carry both the researcher and the reader astray. There are enough Elements of a Proposal, continued 7 forces operating in the whole process to carry you afar; you do not need to start out on shaky ground. (San Andreas paraphrased). c. Literary alternative: a form that states the hypothesis you will accept if the null hypothesis is rejected, stated in terms of theoretical constructs (this is usually what you hope the experiment will show), e.g., "High intelligence pupils will achieve more in their classes than low intelligence pupils." This is the form you are most likely to find in an unsophisticated proposal. This concept of unsophistication has been tempered a bit in the years since Guba set out to define the standards. Not that the idea is now wrong; however, there is more tolerance now for boldness of statement of relationship. The problem of caution still remains, though. You might wind up doing some real disclaiming if you build both your literature review and the entire design around a relationship that does not prove in any way to be existent. Like relationships in life, real world phenomena of what we think will work or in some fashion may be related to something else, often prove unworkable or not to be related at all. Be warned and be prepared for that fact of life. d. Operational alternative: Similar to (c) except that the operations are specified, e.g.: "Pupils in the upper quartile of the Stanford-Binet I.Q. distribution achieve significantly higher grade point averages than do persons in the lower quartile. Here, a plea is made to operationalize the hypothesis by providing a recognized method to increase its confidence level. It is important here, as in all places where the word is used, to address what is meant by "significance." Cozby says it rather clearly. "The plea for null hypotheses is presented because they are very exact statements, i.e., the population means are exactly equal. This type of structure permits us to know precisely the probability of the outcome of the study occurring if the null is correct. Such precision is not possible with the research hypothesis, so we may generally infer that the research hypothesis is correct only by rejecting the null. The null is rejected when there is a very low probability that the obtained results could be due to some type of random error. This is what is meant by statistical significance. [in that] A significant result is one that has a very low probability of occurring of the population means are actually equal. (Behavioral Research, 1989). Remember, that such significant results are those that have a very low probability of occurring if the means are equal. Note this statement well: Significance indicates that there is a low probability that the difference between the [researched] sample means was due to random error. Both Guba and Cozby, then, indirectly and directly state that significance is a function of probability. Not clear? Think about it, and it begins to make sense. What kinds of phenomena can be explained solely through probability constructs and terms? Many! 3. In general, you should be prepared to interpret any possible outcome with respect to the questions or the hypotheses. It will be helpful if you visualize in your mind's eye the tables (or other summary devices) that you expect to come out of the research, short of the actual data. This statement is directed toward the process of planning what your project will look like after the whole task is completed. While you have not necessarily drawn conclusions prematurely, it is good practice to be ready to launch off on detailed explanations of the nature of the conclusions that you do find. Proper tables and graphs will add much to a rapid scan of your findings; more will be said about Elements of a Proposal, continued 8 these tools in the final section of this document. D. The Design 1. Indicate the steps you will take to answer every question or to test every hypothesis indicated in the previous section. Under the actual heading, Design of the Study, you will outline your processes. How will you find out more about, define, divide, explain, and determine the answer...? This is your opportunity to tell the reader that you will, in effect, leave no stones unturned in the process. However, the same words can be said here regarding the need to delimit (see foregoing) what you are studying. A statement like, "No attempt will be made toward equalizing of data for political factors inherent to the philosophies of the respondents." Then, when politics rears its ugly head, you will be ready to do nothing. (Except, maybe, allude to the political influences when you talk about implications for further research in another document.) At that point, you can say basically anything you please, provided you have research rationale for doing so; however, leave it out of the proposal. 2. All research is plagued by the presence of confounding variables: the noise, as it were, that covers up the information you would like to have. Such confounding variables must either be eliminated by various kinds of controls, or be estimated and taken into account by randomization processes. Thus, in this section it will be proper for you to indicate: a. The variables you propose to control, and how you propose to control them, experimentally or statistically. b. The variables you propose to randomize, and the nature of the randomizing unit (pupils, grades, school, etc.). First, it is well to understand what Guba means by randomizing. Remember, that the experimental method eliminates the influence of certain prevalent variables such as income, grade level, parents' occupations and the like, by the process of randomization. This process makes certain that the extraneous variable(s) is(are) just as likely to affect one experimental group as it is another. You are simply not trying to control for extraniae (my word); you are using the tools of randomizing-tables of random numbers, arbitrary choice, alpha listing--whatever--to assure that what is occurring on one side of the equation is occurring on the other. Recall, though, that this ability to randomly assign subjects to groups is an important difference between experimental and correlational methods of research. Note that you must list the variables you propose to control as well as those you propose not to, and it is far better to mention some variables which may have little chance of interfering rather than being sorry later. There is little room at the close of a project for the words, "Ah, rats! We never thought of that!" 3. You should be aware of the possible sources of error to which your design exposes you. No one can expect that you will in every situation produce a perfect, errorless design. However, you can be expected to be aware of the possible sources of error and to do what you can to overcome them or to take them into Elements of a Proposal, continued 9 account in your interpretation. To demonstrate this awareness, you should yourself point out the sources of error in this section. It was most likely Caesar, Patton, Rommel or Attila that said something about blunting the edge of the opponent's fire, or tenting his feet to the quick, or words to that effect. In actuality, by your recognizing and stating those factors that you will not or cannot control, you have legally delimited your task to a manageable one. There is, however, a caution to be noted here. That is, if you tend to ignore a very significant influence or variable, the confidence and value placed in your study will be markedly reduced. You may have made a perfectly balanced and exquisite diamond YOYO, but if you have forgotten to allow room for the string you will lose sales after the glow is forgotten. Not that every variable that could matter should be explained away; far from it. Just be certain that those obvious items that a critic could see as having an outrageous influence on your conclusions are addressed appropriately in some manner acceptable to sound research principles. For example, factors of time of the study, or when it was conducted, may rightly affect outcome. But if you do recognize the influence of time, but do not think it is really that important, say it and be done! E. Instrumentation 1. In this section you should outline the instruments you propose to use. These should be described if they are already available; if not, the procedures you will follow to develop or select the instruments should be described. 2. since the selection of instruments is in most cases also the operational definition of the variables, this is a most crucial step. It is at this level that a literary conception such as, "Intelligence is related to school achievement,” becomes, "Stanford-Binet I.Q. is related to Grade Point Average." Strictly speaking, any findings of your research will be relevant only to the instrumental or operational statements. You may adequately represent the variables contained in the conceptual statement of the problem. Of course, operational definitions are always arbitrary, but you should defend your particular brand of arbitrariness on some bases, even if none better are available than, expedience, availability, or simplicity. 3. In addition to the validity problem posed in (2.), you should also be aware of questions of reliability and objectivity and deal with these. Probably the most critical part of any proposal is the tool kit that will be used in the conduct of the study or project. If you say that you will be using a questionnaire, pray earnestly that there is already a package prepared which will enable you to conduct your research. This request, of course, is a large order, since many prepared packages closely approximate but do not exactly match your requirements. The dilemma, then, is whether to tailor your study to the existing instrument, or whether to make one of your own. If you decide on the latter (and you most likely will need to), plan to work a bit harder in making certain that issues related to Validity and Reliability are appropriately and methodologically addressed. It is suggested here that you consult a basic statistics handbook to determine what methods you may use to both craft your instrument and to make certain concepts of the big V and R are considered and duly covered. Elements of a Proposal, continued 10 The point made about relevance cannot be overstressed, since specific limitations of interpretations are actually built in to the documents that are used in measurement. For example, if you are to determine patient satisfaction, the only absolute conclusions that you can derive are those that are measured by your questions. In reality, however, most of us are willing to make certain leaps of faith in your ability to measure what others will or have measured in a similar or replicated study. If this leap were not to be made in continued fits of distrust of substantive or process transferability, little general progress could be made in building from one study to another, thereby enlarging our knowledge and enabling us to build a new knowledge base entirely. In defining arbitrariness, again cautions can be diffused by simply saying something like, "The Grimble-Gramble Test of Global Investiture was used because of its commercial availability and inexpensive nature; the accompanying administrative materials greatly facilitated its use for the purposes of this study." By thus doing, you have answered questions of why on earth did you use that Grimble-Gramble thing, and how much did you spend, anyway? If it does the job, and you can defend it, go for it! F. Sampling 1. the first reason for being concerned with sampling is that of external validity, i.e., knowing the population to whom the findings apply. To generalize validly the finding for a sample to some defined population requires that the sample shall have been drawn from that population according to one of several probability sampling plans. By a probability sample we mean that the probability of inclusion in the sample of any element in the population must be given a priori consideration (all probability samples involve the idea of random sampling at some stage). In experimentation, two distinct steps are involved: a. Random selection, i.e., the subjects to be included in the sample must all be chosen at random from the same population. You should define the population and indicate the sampling plan in detail. b. Random assignment, i.e., the subjects selected for the sample must be assigned at random to one of the experimental treatments. Subjects assigned to a group on the basis of some already existing basis, e.g., membership in Boy Scouts vs. no membership in Boy Scouts, are not randomly assigned and, hence the data are [may be subjected to invalidation, depending on design parameters], although not as study data (such studies are sometimes referred to as "ex post facto" experiments. You should indicate the assignment procedure you will use. 2. The second reason for being concerned with sampling is that of internal validity. Without a probability sample we cannot construct an error estimate; hence, we have no way of telling whether the findings represent more "noise" or whether they also contain information and, if so, in what proportion. Much has been said about samples and their values and attendant cautions. Many inexperienced researchers either under- or overestimate the attention which must be rightly directed toward sampling. It might well be that the population that you choose is the only population you could get, e.g., managers who hold the MBA. Aspects of size of the sample toward which you direct your conclusions are those related to what this editor refers to as "what the traffic bears." You may have Elements of a Proposal, continued 11 tried everything from follow-up letters, enclosed five-dollar bills, and direct threats preceded by heavy-breathing phone calls, and you still are unable to improve your response rate. Given this dilemma, quite separate from the probability sampling issues, you will need to determine for yourself whether anyone will put any credence in your responses based on the total N. For sure, you could not generalize from responses from twenty or so managers, but a group of two hundred may have some credibility even though you would have liked to have over a thousand. Do not confuse sample size with probability sampling and bias-related errors, since there is basically no connection. Your probability sample involves characteristics of the respondents much more so than how many respondents constitute the group which, in essence, speaks for all the ones who did not choose to participate or whose dog shredded your questionnaire. Indicate that you will make every reasonable effort to maximize sample size, and then move on to the next section. G. Data Collection 1. You should outline your general plans for collecting the necessary data, including an explicit statement covering the field controls you will employ. The major concern here is generally that you will maintain equivalent situations for all groups. The data collection section of a proposal is critical to the strength of the document as well as its value to the researcher. By giving some advance planning to methods of collection, the armamentum of equipment that you will use will be determined and the sources thereof secured. Today's society, much more so now than in Guba's time, allows for researchers to utilize remote data collection by modem and fax, to employ videotape for interviews and the like, and to call into play much more sophisticated computer resources than have been the case in the past. Common to many researchers are software packages heretofore reserved for statistics laboratories and libraries, and for a few more fortunate users and proposal authors, the vast capabilities of CD-ROM and its storage immensity. In your proposal, without becoming a catalogue for technology, indicate how your data will be collected from the assembly of raw data toward the ultimate refinement that will enable conclusions to be drawn by all of the accepted processes and mechanisms. A line drawing or flow chart is suggested to graphically present to the reader how the process of quantifying data will be conducted. There is time now for a warning to proposers who do not have a real sophisticated statistical design as a part of the project; if such is not the case, do not try to make your study look like a multivariate analysis of the causes of world hunger, poverty and depression at holiday time. If you have a simple study, keep it simply stated and bag the charts. Also, save the actual collection documents for the appendices to the final document; remember, your proposal is only a prospectus, large as it may appear to you to be growing at this point in time. 2. You should give some idea of the time schedule you expect to follow, including any plans for counterbalancing to take care of order effects. In an effort to interpret what is meant in this short but extremely important statement, we need once again to consult Cozby in his work, Methods in Behavioral Research. He suggests that we consider an experiment conducted to Elements of a Proposal, continued investigate the relationship between the meaningfulness, or content, of material and the learning of that material. In an independent groups design, one group of subjects would be given low content material to learn, and another group would receive high content material. In a repeated measures design, the same subject would be used in both conditions. These subjects might first read low content material and take a recall test to measure learning. The same subjects would then read high content material and take the recall test (you can see why this is called a repeated measures design--subjects are repeatedly measured on the dependent variable after being in each condition of the experiment). There is an immediate problem associated with the repeated measures experiment. Suppose that there is greater recall in the high content condition. Such a result could be caused by the manipulation of the content variable. However, the result could also simply be an order effect-- the order of presenting the treatments affects the dependent variable. Thus, greater recall in the high content condition could be attributed to the fact that the high content task came second in the order of the presentation of the specific conditions. Performance on the second task might increase simply because of the practice developed on the first task. Be careful of equating this phenomenon with the Hawthorne Effect; while similar, they are not exactly the same. In a repeated measures design, order effects must be controlled by counterbalancing. With complete counterbalancing, all possible orders of presentation are included in the experiment. In the preceding example, half of the subjects would be randomly assigned to the low-high order, and the other half would be assigned to the high-low order. Counterbalancing principles can be extended to experiments with three or more groups; with three groups, there would be six possible orders. In practice, with for or more groups, the order of presentation is randomized across subjects. If there are many groups, complete counterbalancing with all orders represented is usually not practical or necessary. (Cozby, p.82). Guba is careful to note this caution not to nitpick or to highlight a favorite model; rather, it is chosen because of the perfection of this example. He speaks indirectly of the need to pay attention to details to increase confidence and credibility in a study. No one will support or fund a study that is rife with design errors or has set itself up for such errors before it has been undertaken. Ergo, this caution by example is presented as words to the wise. The proposal might well be enhanced by a project plan document. Gantt Charts or PERT diagrams are of great value, as is output from one of the more popular planning software packages. There are some excellent chart making packages available to the researcher; they have a way of making complicated projects easier to understand and complex time lines are clarified. Be careful, not to build your research project plan such that it resembles the old “boat in the basement” comparison; you may build it, but the time line or series of activities may be too much to accomplish if the time line is too restrictive. H. Data Analysis 12 Elements of a Proposal, continued 13 1. You should specify the statistical and/or analytic procedures you will use. Where instrumentation remains to be developed it may not be possible to make a very specific statement in the absence of information regarding the strength of measurement, continuity, form of distribution, etc., which may be expected. 2. Indicate briefly any special analytic tools you have available, e.g., IBM equipment. In following what was said about the development and presentation of a project plan, it is important that any measures that you will apply to a data set and their timetable be included in that plan. It is a bit scary to consider that a researcher would go very far in the design phase without knowing what measures the instrument (either developed or not) would be subjected to. Guba is a bit charitable here in allowing that type of flexibility. It is suggested that even though you may need the money to construct the instrument, a sound idea of what measures it will facilitate would be almost mandated if support were to be obtained. It would not be in your best interest to include a statement like, "We do not know what we are going to do with the data until we collect it." The necessity of updating Guba is indicated in his statement about "special analytic tools." In his day, the best we could hope for was a calculating early mainframe or mechanical Monroematic Calculator, and a miracle--the electric typewriter! Today's tools are more powerful, cheaper, more readily obtained, and are user-friendly enough to allow most researchers to work with them confidently and effectively. SPSS, SAS, MINITAB, and other statistical packages are readily available for desktop computers. Whatever you decide to use, (or request funding for), should be listed in your budget as well as in your project plan. I. Significance 1. Indicate how your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge. Note that such refinements, revisions, or extensions may have either substantive or methodological significance. 2. Almost all studies have two potential audiences: practitioners and professional peers. Statements relating this research to both groups are in order. All right, now you have the design in order, your project has been planned, the budget is cast, and your time has been placed in escrow to allow for actually doing what you say you are going to do. Now, not considering the term significance in statistical contexts, rather in terms of its value to your profession, it is up to you to place a final paragraph or two regarding who will be able to use, benefit from, or otherwise expand their horizons because of your efforts. Statements such as "After completion, it is expected that this project will contribute to the set of data relating to the reduction of injury through passive restraints, and will, hopefully, influence automotive manufacturers and legislators to take action promoting wider acceptance of these devices to increase driver and passenger safety,” should establish the value of the project clearly in the minds of the readers. Look for ways in which your closing statements will address those who are reinforced by the "What's in it for me (us)?" questions. Identify how the Elements of a Proposal, continued 14 project will improve what is already out there and how it will chart the course of future study or action. Avoid statements that say, "This project will be yet another in a series..." or, "In some small way it is hoped that...” Nuts! Get to the real value of what you are taking time to propose without overstating its purposes or outcomes, and then tactfully suggest to readers that they cannot live without your project. A Final Note This document is intended to provide a framework for your proposal. It is neither all-inclusive nor absolutely prescriptive. It is, however, intended to provide a road map for the direction that proposers should follow and does identify some potential pitfalls to avoid. Your task is to develop a proposal that will satisfy both the requirements of the project and the requirements of those who will be in a position to help you in some meaningful way. Your personality, attention to detail, and careful planning can go far in promoting the type of outcome you seek. *The following page presents a suggested proposal outline. Elements of a Proposal, continued REQUIRED ELEMENTS OF A PROPOSAL Title Page (See institutional or sponsoring body guidelines) Table of Contents (see note above) Orientation to the Problem or Background to the Study; Significance of the Study Hypotheses or Questions, Statement of the Problem Review of the Literature Definition of Terms (not already contained in the literature review) Design of the Study Instrumentation Population and Sample Data Collection (De) Limitations of the Study Data Analysis Thorough explanation of how the data will be analyzed Clarification of the operations the data will be put through to result in the findings. Conclusions Recommendations Final Notes References Appendices NOTE: Bold type indicates those elements that must be contained in a Research Proposal as opposed to the final product. 15
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