Research proposal

HDR Research Proposal

Instructions: You must fill in all the details below:

Student Name:

Student SID (student identification number):

Name of School:

Cohort (semester and year of enrollment – check your enrollment details):

Principal Supervisor Name:

Co-supervisor Name:

MBR students: Number and name of Research cluster. Plus ANZSRC Field of Research Code.

Title of your research study

Abstract (note: this will not be completed until the rest of your thesis is written)

Keywords:

Introduction

Justification for the Research

Review of literature

You must include your completed Literature Review Table here

Structure for Literature Review: Gaps, interview/survey questions and validated scales

Topic of Interest (use new line for each topic of interest)	Time span; keywords used; name of database/s for search/es; and number of results returned by your search/es for each topic of interest	List names and year of publication of all authors who have published in this area (Note: Ensure you list details in full in your references list)	Summary of findings in existing literature (summarise succinctly in your own words). Be accurate and thorough, as this will be checked.	Gap	Questions developed to address this gap and make an original contribution to the existing body of knowledge	Validated scales for each question/set of questions. Provide details of publication/s of the measurement scales for each question/set of questions.

Now write your Literature Review based on your publications in this table. Critically analyse the literature – do not merely describe. Synthesise the literature.

Research Objectives, Research Questions and link to research gap

Include this table here:

Sample of linking of interview/survey questions to research questions

How many rows you have will depend on the number of your Research Questions

Research Questions	Interview/survey question/s related to each Research Question
RQ1	Questions 1, 5, 7, 8
RQ2	Questions 3, 6, 9, 10
RQ3	Questions 2, 4, 11, 15
RQ4	xxxxxxx
RQ5	xxxxxxxx

Statement of proposed research methodology

What methodology is best suited for you to develop meaningful data that will make a significant contribution to the existing body of literature? Support your stated choice of methodology with a robust inclusion of peer-reviewed academic references and perhaps books. Do not include any discussion on methodologies you are not utilising in your research. The tables above should help guide you in your best choice of methodology.

MBR students: you are not permitted to use Mixed Methods.

Ethics considerations

Please include a discussion of various ethical and integrity issues related to scholarly research. Include compelling reasons, backed up by the academic literature, why cheating is never acceptable – cheating in all its forms, such as plagiarism, contract cheating (paid or unpaid), sharing any of your work with others (and that includes friends) is looked upon very seriously at Excelsia College and there are a range of punitive measures you will face for any form of academic misconduct.

Statement of Expected Research Contribution

Draw on the identified gap in your Literature Review table.

Conclusion

Describe your expected contribution from your critical analysis of the data and a robust discussion of your findings, to a number of stakeholders – the existing body of academic research scholars, social benefits to the community, public policy, managers, etc.

Research timetable

Discuss with your supervisors. Provide your supervisors with a Word document schedule where you list 5 or 6 days of the week (keep one day to rest) and the number of hours that you are realistically able to commit to research for each week, for the year. Bear in mind that this thesis year is 12 months long with no breaks (apart from 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year in line with the Excelsia College break). It is important for you to consider that you need to commit at least 40 hours a week to focused study. If you are working, consider how you might be able to dedicate enough research time to successfully complete each stage of your thesis within the stated timeline.

2

Research timeline chart

Monthly Reporting MBR Schedule

Month 1 Report

Month 2 Report

Month 3 Report

Month 4 Report

Month 5 Report

Month 6 Report

Month 7 Report

Month 8 Report

Month 9 Report

Month 10 Report

Month 11 Report

Month 12 Report

Month 13 Report

Required Milestones to be achieved

Coc of 1 and Ethics Application submission

Data collection

Data Analysis

Findings and Conclusion.

Copy editing/refinement of thesis

NOITS

Submit thesis for examination

Action/Month/Year

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Topic Selection aligning with Research Cluster

Justification for the area of research

Literature Review including Table

Methodology including Objectives and Research Questions aligned with survey/interview questions – include RQs aligned with interview/survey questions template/table

* Submission of COC for checking and when CoC of 1 achieved, develop and submit Ethics Application

Further research work, including reading, analysing and building up of peer-reviewed academic in-text citations in Literature Review and Methodology sections, whilst waiting for CoC of 1 and Ethics Application Approval.

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Robust discussion of Findings and robust Conclusion

Finalize and Edit thesis. irHHire the services of an Excelsia approved Copy Editor to ensure top quality grammar

Final Submission

Note : *whilst waiting for CoC of 1 approval, continue working on Literature Review section. Whilst waiting for Ethics Approval, continue working on Methodology section. Build up your academic references for both your Literature Review and to justify and support your Methodology

References List

Instruction: List full publication details. List in alphabetical order: First author surname (last name), first name initial, last name and first name initial of all other authors (if any), year of publication, title of academic paper, name of journal, volume, issue, range of page numbers for this article.

Refer to the APA reference guide. Only include details in your References List that you have cited in the body of your thesis.