Initially, chapter three should restate the research questions and

hypotheses. Then, it should outline the research design, followed by

a description of the participants, instruments, and procedure.
Finally, it should explain the data analysis plan and justify the
sample size

FAQwriting an introduction

How to Write a Research Proposal |

Examples & Templates
Published on October 12, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on January 16,
2025.

A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it’s important, and
how you will conduct your research.

The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals will
contain at least these elements:

 Title page
 Introduction
 Literature review
 Research design
 Reference list

While the sections may vary, the overall objective is always the same. A research
proposal serves as a blueprint and guide for your research plan, helping you get
organized and feel confident in the path forward you choose to take.

Table of contents

Research proposal purpose

Academics often have to write research proposals to get funding for their projects.
As a student, you might have to write a research proposal as part of a grad school
application, or prior to starting your thesis or dissertation.

In addition to helping you figure out what your research can look like, a proposal can
also serve to demonstrate why your project is worth pursuing to a funder,
educational institution, or supervisor.

Research proposal aims

Relevance Show your reader why your project is interesting, original, and important.

Context Demonstrate your comfort and familiarity with your field.

Show that you understand the current state of research on your topic.

Approach Make a case for your methodology.

Demonstrate that you have carefully thought about the data, tools, and procedures necessary to conduct your
research.

Achievabilit Confirm that your project is feasible within the timeline of your program or funding deadline.
y

NoteAI tools can be helpful resources when brainstorming and outlining your
research proposal. However, it’s important to use these tools responsibly to avoid
academic dishonesty. Your university or institution may use an AI detector to detect
generative AI content.

Research proposal length

The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor’s or master’s
thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or
research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can
help you determine the best length for your work.

One trick to get started is to think of your proposal’s structure as a shorter version of
your thesis or dissertation, only without
the results, conclusion and discussion sections.

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Research proposal examples

Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could
be to look at some examples. We’ve included a few for you below.

 Example research proposal #1: “A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling

Constraint Management”
  Example research proposal #2: “Medical Students as Mediators of Change in
Tobacco Use”

Title page
Like your dissertation or thesis, the proposal will usually have a title page that
includes:

 The proposed title of your project

 Your name
 Your supervisor’s name
 Your institution and department

TipIf your proposal is very long, you may also want to include a table of contents and
an abstract to help your reader navigate your work. Scribbr’s paraphrasing tool can
help you rephrase your most important points to include in your abstract.

Introduction
The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project. Make sure it
succinctly explains what you want to do and why.

Your introduction should:

 Introduce your topic

 Give necessary background and context
 Outline your problem statement and research questions

To guide your introduction, include information about:

 Who could have an interest in the topic (e.g., scientists, policymakers)

 How much is already known about the topic
 What is missing from this current knowledge
 What new insights your research will contribute
 Why you believe this research is worth doing

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Literature review
As you get started, it’s important to demonstrate that you’re familiar with the most
important research on your topic. A strong literature review shows your reader that
your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that
you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said, but rather
using existing research as a jumping-off point for your own.

In this section, share exactly how your project will contribute to ongoing
conversations in the field by:
  Comparing and contrasting the main theories, methods, and debates
 Examining the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches
 Explaining how will you build on, challenge, or synthesize prior scholarship

TipScribbr’s Chat PDF tool can help you break down complex texts to determine if a
source is relevant to your research. For more information on this stage of the writing
process, read our guide on how to write a literature review.

Research design and methods

Following the literature review, restate your main objectives. This brings the focus
back to your own project. Next, your research design or methodology section will
describe your overall approach, and the practical steps you will take to answer your
research questions.

Building a research proposal methodology

Research type  Qualitative or quantitative?

 Original data collection or primary and secondary source analysis?
 Descriptive, correlational, or experimental research design?

Population and sample  Who or what will you study (e.g., high school students in New York; local newspaper arch
1976-80)?
 How will you select your subjects (e.g., probability sampling, non-probability sampling)?
 When and where will you collect your data?

Research methods  What data collection tools and procedures will you use (e.g., surveys, interviews, observat
studies, experiments)?
 Why?

Practicalities  How much time will you need?

 How will you gain access to your population?
 How will you address any obstacles you face?

Contribution to knowledge
To finish your proposal on a strong note, explore the potential implications of your
research for your field. Emphasize again what you aim to contribute and why it
matters.

For example, your results might have implications for:

 Improving best practices

 Informing policymaking decisions
 Strengthening a theory or model
 Challenging popular or scientific beliefs
 Creating a basis for future research

Reference list
Last but not least, your research proposal must include correct citations for every
source you have used, compiled in a reference list. To create citations quickly and
easily, you can use our free APA citation generator.

Research schedule
Some institutions or funders require a detailed timeline of the project, asking you to
forecast what you will do at each stage and how long it may take. While not always
required, be sure to check the requirements of your project.

Here’s an example schedule to help you get started. You can also download a
template at the button below.

Example research schedule

Research phase Objectives Deadline

1. Background research and  Meet with supervisor for initial discussion 20th January
literature review  Read and analyze relevant literature
 Use new knowledge to refine research questions
 Develop theoretical framework

2. Research design planning  Design questionnaires 13th February

 Identify channels for recruiting participants
 Finalize sampling methods and data analysis methods

3. Data collection and  Recruit participants and send out questionnaires 24th March
preparation  Conduct semi-structured interviews with selected participants
 Transcribe and code interviews
 Clean data

4. Data analysis  Statistically analyze survey data 22nd April

 Conduct thematic analysis of interview transcripts
 Draft results and discussion chapters

5. Writing  Complete a full thesis draft 17th June

 Meet with supervisor to discuss feedback and revisions

6. Revision  Complete 2nd draft based on feedback 28th July

 Get supervisor approval for final draft
 Proofread
 Print and bind final work
 Submit

Budget
If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a
detailed budget. This shows your estimates of how much each part of your project
will cost.
Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover. For each
item, include:

 Cost: exactly how much money do you need?

 Justification: why is this cost necessary to complete the research?
 Source: how did you calculate the amount?

To determine your budget, think about:

 Travel costs: do you need to go somewhere to collect your data? How will you
get there, and how much time will you need? What will you do there (e.g.,
interviews, archival research)?
 Materials: do you need access to any tools or technologies?
 Help: do you need to hire any research assistants for the project? What will they
do, and how much will you pay them?

Writing an introduction of chapter three

rCHAPTER 3 You'll probably start with a brief introduction, stating

once again the purpose of your study. Provide a brief introduction
linking what you presented in Chapter 2 to your research questions.
Then list your research questions exactly as they were listed in
Chapter 1.

How to

Sample size is a research term used for defining the number of individuals included
in a research study to represent a population. The sample size references the total
number of respondents included in a study, and the number is often broken down
into sub-groups by demographics such as age, gender, and location so that the total
sample achieves represents the entire population. Determining the appropriate
sample size is one of the most important factors in statistical analysis. If the sample
size is too small, it will not yield valid results or adequately represent the realities of
the population being studied. On the other hand, while larger sample sizes yield
smaller margins of error and are more representative, a sample size that is too large
may significantly increase the cost and time taken to conduct the research.

This article will discuss considerations to put in place when determining your sample
size and how to calculate the sample size.
Confidence Interval and Confidence Level

As we have noted before, when selecting a sample there are multiple factors that
can impact the reliability and validity of results, including sampling and non-sampling
errors. When thinking about sample size, the two measures of error that are almost
always synonymous with sample sizes are the confidence interval and the
confidence level.

Confidence Interval (Margin of Error)

Confidence intervals measure the degree of uncertainty or certainty in a sampling

method and how much uncertainty there is with any particular statistic. In simple
terms, the confidence interval tells you how confident you can be that the results
from a study reflect what you would expect to find if it were possible to survey the
entire population being studied. The confidence interval is usually a plus or minus (±)
figure. For example, if your confidence interval is 6 and 60% percent of your sample
picks an answer, you can be confident that if you had asked the entire population,
between 54% (60-6) and 66% (60+6) would have picked that answer.

Confidence Level

The confidence level refers to the percentage of probability, or certainty that the
confidence interval would contain the true population parameter when you draw a
random sample many times. It is expressed as a percentage and represents how
often the percentage of the population who would pick an answer lies within the
confidence interval. For example, a 99% confidence level means that should you
repeat an experiment or survey over and over again, 99 percent of the time, your
results will match the results you get from a population.

The larger your sample size, the more confident you can be that their answers truly
reflect the population. In other words, the larger your sample for a given confidence
level, the smaller your confidence interval.

Standard Deviation

Another critical measure when determining the sample size is the standard deviation,
which measures a data set’s distribution from its mean. In calculating the sample
size, the standard deviation is useful in estimating how much the responses you
receive will vary from each other and from the mean number, and the standard
deviation of a sample can be used to approximate the standard deviation of a
population.
The higher the distribution or variability, the greater the standard deviation and the
greater the magnitude of the deviation. For example, once you have already sent out
your survey, how much variance do you expect in your responses? That variation in
responses is the standard deviation.

Population Size

The other important consideration to make when

determining your sample size is the size of the entire population you want to study. A
population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about. It is from the
population that a sample is selected, using probability or non-probability
samples. The population size may be known (such as the total number of employees
in a company), or unknown (such as the number of pet keepers in a country), but
there’s a need for a close estimate, especially when dealing with a relatively small or
easy to measure groups of people.

As demonstrated through the calculation below, a sample size of about 385 will give
you a sufficient sample size to draw assumptions of nearly any population size at the
95% confidence level with a 5% margin of error, which is why samples of 400 and
500 are often used in research. However, if you are looking to draw comparisons
between different sub-groups, for example, provinces within a country, a larger
sample size is required. GeoPoll typically recommends a sample size of 400
per country as the minimum viable sample for a research project, 800 per country for
conducting a study with analysis by a second-level breakdown such as females
versus males, and 1200+ per country for doing third-level breakdowns such as
males aged 18-24 in Nairobi.

How to Calculate Sample Size

As we have defined all the necessary terms, let us briefly learn how to determine the
sample size using a sample calculation formula known as Andrew Fisher’s Formula.
1. Determine the population size (if known).
2. Determine the confidence interval.
3. Determine the confidence level.
4. Determine the standard deviation (a standard deviation of 0.5 is a safe choice where
the figure is unknown)
5. Convert the confidence level into a Z-Score. This table shows the z-scores for the
most common confidence levels:

Confidence level z-score

80% 1.28

85% 1.44

90% 1.65

95% 1.96

99% 2.58

6. Put these figures into the sample size formula to get your sample size.
Here is an example calculation:

Say you choose to work with a 95% confidence level, a standard deviation of 0.5,
and a confidence interval (margin of error) of ± 5%, you just need to substitute the
values in the formula:

((1.96)2 x .5(.5)) / (.05)2

(3.8416 x .25) / .0025
.9604 / .0025
384.16

Your sample size should be 385.

Fortunately, there are several available online tools to help you with this calculation.
Here’s an online sample calculator from Easy Calculation. Just put in the confidence
level, population size, the confidence interval, and the perfect sample size is
calculated for you.

GeoPoll’s Sampling Techniques

With the largest mobile panel in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and reliable mobile
technologies, GeoPoll develops unique samples that accurately represent any
population. See our country coverage here, or contact our team to discuss your
upcoming project.

Population vs. Sample | Definitions,

Differences & Examples
Published on May 14, 2020 by Pritha Bhandari. Revised on June 21, 2023.

A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about.

A sample is the specific group that you will collect data from. The size of the sample
is always less than the total size of the population.

In research, a population doesn’t always refer to people. It can mean a group

containing elements of anything you want to study, such as objects, events,
organizations, countries, species, organisms, etc.
Population vs sample

Population Sample

Advertisements for IT jobs in the The top 50 search results for advertisements for IT jobs in the Netherlands on May 1
Netherlands 2020

Songs from the Eurovision Song Winning songs from the Eurovision Song Contest that were performed in English
Contest

Undergraduate students in the 300 undergraduate students from three Dutch universities who volunteer for your
Netherlands psychology research study

All countries of the world Countries with published data available on birth rates and GDP since 2000

Table of contents

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Collecting data from a population

Populations are used when your research question requires, or when you have
access to, data from every member of the population.

Usually, it is only straightforward to collect data from a whole population when it is

small, accessible and cooperative.

Example: Collecting data from a populationA high school administrator wants to

analyze the final exam scores of all graduating seniors to see if there is a trend.
Since they are only interested in applying their findings to the graduating seniors in
this high school, they use the whole population dataset.
For larger and more dispersed populations, it is often difficult or impossible to collect
data from every individual. For example, every 10 years, the federal US government
aims to count every person living in the country using the US Census. This data is
used to distribute funding across the nation.

However, historically, marginalized and low-income groups have been difficult to

contact, locate and encourage participation from. Because of non-responses, the
population count is incomplete and biased towards some groups, which results in
disproportionate funding across the country.

In cases like this, sampling can be used to make more precise inferences about the
population.

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Collecting data from a sample
When your population is large in size, geographically dispersed, or difficult to
contact, it’s necessary to use a sample. With statistical analysis, you can use sample
data to make estimates or test hypotheses about population data.

Example: Collecting data from a sampleYou want to study political attitudes in young
people. Your population is the 300,000 undergraduate students in the Netherlands.
Because it’s not practical to collect data from all of them, you use a sample of 300
undergraduate volunteers from three Dutch universities who meet your inclusion
criteria. This is the group who will complete your online survey.
Ideally, a sample should be randomly selected and representative of the population.
Using probability sampling methods (such as simple random sampling or stratified
sampling) reduces the risk of sampling bias and enhances both internal and external
validity.

For practical reasons, researchers often use non-probability sampling methods. Non-
probability samples are chosen for specific criteria; they may be more convenient or
cheaper to access. Because of non-random selection methods, any statistical
inferences about the broader population will be weaker than with a probability
sample.

Reasons for sampling

  Necessity: Sometimes it’s simply not possible to study the whole population
due to its size or inaccessibility.
 Practicality: It’s easier and more efficient to collect data from a sample.
 Cost-effectiveness: There are fewer participant, laboratory, equipment, and
researcher costs involved.
 Manageability: Storing and running statistical analyses on smaller datasets is
easier and reliable.

Population parameter vs. sample statistic

When you collect data from a population or a sample, there are various
measurements and numbers you can calculate from the data. A parameter is a
measure that describes the whole population. A statistic is a measure that
describes the sample.

You can use estimation or hypothesis testing to estimate how likely it is that a
sample statistic differs from the population parameter.

Research example: Parameters and statisticsIn your study of students’ political

attitudes, you ask your survey participants to rate themselves on a scale from 1, very
liberal, to 7, very conservative. You find that most of your sample identifies as liberal
– the mean rating on the political attitudes scale is 3.2.
You can use this statistic, the sample mean of 3.2, to make a scientific guess about
the population parameter – that is, to infer the mean political attitude rating of all
undergraduate students in the Netherlands.

Sampling error
A sampling error is the difference between a population parameter and a sample
statistic. In your study, the sampling error is the difference between the mean
political attitude rating of your sample and the true mean political attitude rating of all
undergraduate students in the Netherlands.

Sampling errors happen even when you use a randomly selected sample. This is
because random samples are not identical to the population in terms of numerical
measures like means and standard deviations.

Because the aim of scientific research is to generalize findings from the sample to
the population, you want the sampling error to be low. You can reduce sampling
error by increasing the sample size.

Practice questions : Populations vs. samples

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