MACHAME HEALTH TRAINING INSTITUTE
NMT AND CMT
GUIDELINE FOR WRITING RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND REPORT
FOR BOTH STUDENT’S RESEARCHER AND RESEARCH SUPERVISORS
PREPARED BY
DR. PAUL SHEMDOE
ISDORY ELIUS KIMARIO RN, NOII,
NURSE TUTOR.
FLORENCE FOCUS KIMARIO RN, NO1,
NURSE TUTOR
4rd EDITION, DECEMBER 2025.
Timelines during research proposal and research report writing
Every student should abide to the time deadline, no extra time will be added and no excuse will
be accepted. Failure to follow timetable may lead to your work not accepted.
S/N EVENT DEADLINE DATE
1 SUBMISSION OF RESEARCH 15th December 2025
TOPIC
2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL 15th December 2025
WRITTNG
3 ALLOCATION OF 15thNovember 2025
RESEARCH SUPERVISOR
4 RESEARCH PROPOSAL 10th January 2026
SUBMISSION
5 MARKING OF RESEARCH 15th January 2026
PROPOSAL
6 DATA COLLECTION 18th January 2026
7 REPORT WRITING 01st February 2026
8 REPORT SUBMISSION 24th February 2026
9 REPORT MARKING As per end of semester 1 exam
10 RESULTS As per end of semester 1 exam
Timetable
GENERAL INFORMATION
Make sure you use your own knowledge and skill in developing your research, don’t steal
(plagiarism) other’s work or pay/ask someone to write it for you. There will be consequence in
case you forge, steal or someone else write for you.
The research is of student and not of supervisor, so it is the role of student to search for
literatures and write in his/her own. The role of supervise is to review your research and use
his/her expert and experience in guiding, correcting and advising about the best ways of
improving your research. Inform your supervisor and keep in touch in every step during the
writing process. There will be a student/ supervisor contact form, where by a student should meet
his/her supervisor physically for work defectiveness more than three times before submitting of
research proposal or research report. Make sure your supervisor signs the form after each
contact, that form will be submitted together with your research proposal or research report.
Student / supervisor research proposal/report contact form
Machame Health Training Institute
School of Nursing
Student registration number……………….. Examination number…………………….
Supervisor name………………………………….
SN CONTACTS DATE CONTACT STUDENT SUPERVISOR
HOURS SIGNATURE SIGNATURE
1 1st Contact
2 2nd Contact
3 3rd Contact
I ,..........................................................Have seen the above-mentioned student with
examination
number……………………………as his/her supervisor in research proposal/ report writing for
three/more than three physical contact for guiding the submitted
work.
……………………………………..
Supervisor signature
Organization of your research work
Except for cover pages and chapters, all other works should have 12 font sizes, written in times
new roman, aligned to the left and justified. Line space has to be 1.5.
Title page/cover page. The information here should have 16 font size, written in times new roman
and aligned at center.
Page numbering. The numbering from table of contents to the abstract should be by lowercases
romans system while from introduction to the end by Arabic numerals. Numbers should be at
bottom of the page and centered. The cover page should not be numbered.
Table of contents should be set automatic.
Headings. For headings use heading styles (heading 1, heading 2 and heading 3)
Proof read your work before sending to your supervisor or submitting for marking. You may also
request your fellow student to proof read before.
Proposal format
Title page
Table of contents
List of tables and figures
Declaration and certification
Acknowledgement
Abbreviation
Definition of key terms
Abstract (Structured)
Chapter One; introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem of statement
1.3 Justification
1.4 Objectives
1.5 Broad objective
1.6 Specific objective
1.7 Hypothesis formulations
1.8 Research question
Chapter two: Literature
review
2.1 Literature search strategy
2.2 Specific objective one
2.3 Specific objective two
Chapter three; Research methodology
3.1 Study design
3.2 Study area
3.3 Study population
3.4 Sampling
3.5 Sample size
3.6 Eligibility criteria
3.7 Data collection methods and tools
3.8 Data processing and data analysis
3.9 Validity and reliability of data
3.10 Ethical consideration
3.11 dissemination plan
Chapter four: Research work plan and budget
4.1 Research work plan
4.2 Research budget
Reference
Appendix
● Data collection tools
● Ethical clearance letter
● Consent form
● Permission letter
DETAILS FOR EACH COMPONENT
Title page. The tittle page which may also been referred as cover page should involves the
following details.
● Institution name and its log below
● The tittle of the research
● Name of the author/ researcher
● Purpose of research proposal or report
● Date or (month and year of submission)
Table of contents should be written in its own page and been set automatically.
Declaration and certification
Declaration. The student should declare that he/she is the original owner of the research and has not
been submitted for a similar program by any other student or in any other institution.
Certification The supervisor will sign and certify that he/she has read the student’s work and
satisfied that it is in accordance to the institution and NACTEVET/ MOH format and that it is
student’s original work.
Acknowledgement Recognize the people who have academically contributed in a successful
completion of your proposal and or research report.
Abbreviation. List the key abbreviations used in your work and provide its long form. The
abbreviations must be arranged in alphabetical order. Put only abbreviation that will appear in
the text.
Definition of key terms Define all variables (exposure and expected outcome) as applied to your
work. Give citation to the standard definitions and reference for the operation definitions.
Abstract.
It appears first but should be written at last. Give summary of your proposal or report. It should
be brief and concise not more than one page. No citations. It should be organized to include the
following parts. Background a brief introduction of the problem and justification for the study.
Objectives, states the aim of doing your study
Methodology, state the study design, area and population, sampling technique and sample size,
data collection methods and tools as well as the plan for data analysis.
Intended use of results States the beneficiaries of your study finding by considering
stakeholders analysis.
CHAPTER ONE; INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background information
Introduces your topic or problem/ what you want to investigate. Provides the short history, gives
classification, etiology, risk factors, affected group and management if any or if applicable based
on your topic.
Show how big or burden or important is the problem. Start broadly (globally and regional) and
narrow it down to the study area (national to local area).
State the health complication of the problem including morbidity or disability and mortality if
any. Also states the economic consequences both at nation, family and individual level, and how
does it impact health system
Show the effort done by various stakeholders (previous researchers, policy makers, and
governmental agencies, professional bodies) to mitigate the problem.
Show the gap. State what is not known despite the previous efforts. Why the problem still exists.
Your intention to conduct your study should base in the gap and you should state how your result
will fill that gap.
1.2 Problem statement
This part summarizes what is exactly the problem and why we need to do the study. It should be
short and concise with two to three paragraph. It should state the nature of a problem, indicate
the scope of a problem, identify its effect and show the gap and the proposed solution
1.3 Justification or study rationale.
In this part, show how different stakeholder like policy makers, health personnel, and scientist,
patient and or general community members may benefit from your study findings.
1.4 Objectives.
Broad /general objectives. Should reflect the title and should be clear. It has to start with action
verb. Has to include all what is planned to be assed in the proposal or research.
Specific objectives. Should address every aspect of research broad objectives, should start with
action verb and mast have SMART features ie Specific, Measurable, Attainable Reliable and
Time bound. Specific objectives should be numbered. Two to three specific objectives are
enough.
1.5 Research Question
Should reflect each specific objectives but be structured in form of question. A good research
question has the following features. FINER which means Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical
and relevant.
1.6 Research hypothesis
State your predictions of what you may find as a result after data collection. This should base on
the previous studies and your own knowledge regarding what you want to investigate in relation
to your study population. It give answers to your research question. Should be numbered to
reflect the research questions.
1.7 Conceptual framework.
The conceptual framework govern the entire concept of your research should be described. This
is mandatory for all qualitative researches.
CHAPTER TWO; LITERATURE REVIEW
This section involves what have been published by others in the same topic. Start the first
paragraph by stating how was the literature searched. The followed paragraphs should be
organized in sections as per your specific objectives. In every section, organize your literature by
starting broadly and narrow down to your locality. It should be structured into three sections
which are introduction, main body and conclusion.
CHAPTER THREE; RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This part is very important is it shows the plan to answer the research question. It should be
organized in the following.
3.1 Study design. Mention the study design which will be used (in case of research proposal) and
state the reason for choosing that study design over the others. Also state the time when the data
collection will be conducted.
3.2 Study area. State where your study will be conducted also give administrative, economical
and geographical information. Show how the area relates with the topic you want to investigate.
3.3 Study population. State your population of interests and justify. The selected population
should be appropriate to answer your study questions.
3.4 Eligibility criteria. State the criteria which you will use for recruiting your study
participants from your population of interests. This will be a framework for to choose your
sample. Make sure it gives you a representative sample to avoid selection bias.
3.5 Sampling techniques. State step by step how you will select your study participants. If your
population of interests is small and you will study them all (Census) then, sampling techniques
will not be applicable.
3.6 Sample size. States the estimated size of your population whom you will study and show
how you reached that conclusion.
3.7 Data collection tools, method and study procedure
In the first paragraph, mention the tools which will be used in data collection and state how was
developed (was it adopted/ modified from previous studies or self-developed by the researcher)
Explain shortly the method for data collection.
In the second paragraph, explain the sequence of events since you will first meet your subject until
you finish your data collection until you left each other.
3.8 Validity and reliability of the data.
You should explain how you are going to maintain the validity and reliability of your study
3.9 Data processing, analysis and presentation plan
Show how your data will be processed and analyzed. If your data are huge or study participant are
more than 30, then the use of statistical soft wares will be necessary but if they are less, then you
may process your data manually and use scientific calculator to analyze.
Show how your data will be summarized which can be by percentage, mean and mode and medium
also show the way your result will be presented which can either be by texts and or tables.
3.10 Ethical Considerations
Show how you will abide to the following research ethical principles.
Ethical Clearance or permission from the college, permission from the heads of institution where the
research will done, informed consent for the study subjects and confidentiality of subject’s
information as well as their privacy.
3.11 Dissemination plan.
The plan on how you will share or disseminate your research finding to reach your research
beneficiaries should be well explained
CHAPTER FOUR; WORK PLAN AND BUDGET
4.1 Work plan. Show clearly when each activity is going to be implemented and who is
responsible to perform it. Major activities may include but not limited to the following; research
topic development, literature review, proposal writing, proposal submission for marking and
ethical approval, data collection, data processing and analysis, report writing and report
submission.
4.2 Budget. This should reflect the actual cost of your research from proposal development to
completion of research report. It should include stationery cost, transport if applicable and any
other cost which may be directly be incurred during the whole research project
REFERENCE
Should strictly follow the Harvard system of referencing. All the in-text citations should also
appear hear. Include only the materials (books, articles, reports and website information) which
have used to base your study.
APPENDIXES
This part Include all the attachments used in your study.
The following should be included but not limited to; your data collection tools, request for
ethical approval, letter to head of your area, or institution to request a permission to conduct the
study, consent form.
REPORT WRITING
GENERAL INFORMATION
Generally, research reports is continuation of research proposal with additional of analysed data
(results/findings) obtained during the data collection and discussion of those findings. What
usually changed is the presentation language, during proposal writing, the researcher presents the
intention of future research conduction but during the report writing, the researcher presents
what is already done.
WHAT WILL CHANGE
Cover page.
Title, name, examination number and name of Institution remain the same. The name of
document submitted should be changed from the “proposal” to the word “research report”
Time for submission will also change
Table of contents
There should be additional of chapter 4 and five; chapter four will be for results and five for
discussion.
Declaration and certification
Declaration should be changed from declaring …. “Research proposal” to “research report”. Also
certification will change as it is in declaration.
Abstract
Changes of tenses in methodology, from future tense to past tense to show that the task is already
done. Other changes will include omission of “intended use of results” and additional of results
and conclusion.
Literature review
May remain unchanged or with additional of new literature read after proposal submission if any.
Methodology section
Tenses need to be changed from future tense to past tens so as to reflect the actual procedure.
WHAT WILL BE NEW
There will be Additional of chapter four (results) and chapter five (discussion, conclusion and
recommendations)
In annex or appendixes, there is a need to scan and attach the ethical approval letter and that of
permission given by the responsible bodies where the study was conducted.
Research Report format
Title/ cover page
Table of contents
List of tables and figures
Declaration and certification
Acknowledgement
Abbreviation
Definition of key terms
Abstract (Structured)
Chapter One; introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem of statement
1.3 Justification
1.4 Objectives
1.5 Broad objective
1.6 Specific objective
1.7 Hypothesis formulations
1.8 Research question
Chapter two: Literature review
2.1 Literature search strategy
2.2 Specific objective one
2.3 Specific objective two
Chapter three; Research methodology
3.1 Study design
3.2 Study area
3.3 Study population
3.4 Sampling
3.5 Sample size
3.6 Eligibility criteria
3.7 Data collection methods and tools
3.8 Data processing and data analysis
3.9 Ethical consideration
Chapter four: RESULTS/ FINDINGS
4.1 Response rate
4.2 Characteristics of research participants
4.3 Presentation of other results based on the study objectives
Chapter five; DISCUSSION
5.1. Discussion of the main results based on study objectives
5.2 Strength and limitation of the study
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendations
Reference
Appendix
● Data collection tools
● Ethical clearance letter
● Consent form
● Permission letter
DETAILS FOR CHAPTER FOUR AND FIVE
CHAPTER 4; RESULTS OR FINDINGS
Presentation of your findings can be in three ways; using texts mixing with tables or figures/ graphs.
NB; you should not present the same information more than one. Choose the appropriate means of
presentation based on your findings. Different means may be used for different information.
1. Start by presenting the response rate in first section
2. Follow by presenting the characteristics of study participants/demographic information of
your study participants.
3. Then present your study finding in different section each one corresponding with your study
objectives.
CHAPTER 5; DISCUSSION
This will be organized in different paragraph. The first paragraph should start by summarizing the
key findings of your study. You have to pick these findings by being guided by your study
objectives
In the next paragraphs, you choose some of the important finding and discuses. Your discussion
should focus on the major or controversial findings. At least, discus 3 to 4 findings from among
other findings. In discussion be guided by the following information;
● Start by introducing the key finding that you want to discuss.
● Then compare and contrast with the previous published work (previous literature)
● States why your results are the same with previous if so or why are they differ from
previous if so and state its implication. .
Limitation and strength of your study
State the limitations that may have influenced the results of your study.
Conclusion
Basing from your results of your work, Write a conclusion in reflection to your study objectives.
Recommendations
Recommendations should base on your study and findings. Should be action oriented targeted
stakeholders of your study identified in justification. Should have who, what and when ie, what
is the recommendation, to whom (who) are you recommending it and at what time (when) should
it be done.