PhD Proposal Guidelines

Purpose

The dissertation proposal serves as the plan for the PhD research project, and as a means to ensure that the planned research is appropriate for a dissertation. It is not required that the student should have already obtained new results in the proposed research.

The basic purposes of all research proposals are to convince the reader that:

a)The research project has clear objectives

b)The research project is worth doing (it is significant/important in some sense and will make an original contribution to knowledge/understanding in the field)

c)There is a well thought through plan for achieving the research objectives in the available timeframe.

d)The proposed methods are both suitable and feasible.

Structure

It is not enough simply to describe previous works, your project, and your methods. Explicitly addressing the following is strongly recommended:

A.Introductory sections (2000-3500 words)

• Problem statement/description of the problem area

• Significance/relevance of the research (the “so what” question)

• Purpose/goal of the research

• Research questions/testable hypotheses/objectives

• Critical (exposing strengths and limitations) summary of background literature

• Theoretical/conceptual framework

B. Methods (as long as necessary)

• Proposed methods (provide as much detail as possible)

• Data collection (instrument(s) and methods)

• Data analysis strategy and methods

• Timeline/schedule – from acceptance of proposal to thesis submission and defense

• Brief discussion of risks (i.e., the unexpected happening), and contingency plans to adjust

C. Dissemination (1-2 pages)

• Format of the dissertation (monograph vs. article-based)

• Plan for publication/dissemination of the research

D. Appendices (as long as necessary)

PhD Proposal Guidelines