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Introduction (guide: 1500 words)
Introduce and review the scientific literature, and perhaps the industry situation, within the
experimental area in which you are proposing to work. Discuss the background to the project
and explain why you intend to carry out this project. This is your chance to justify the proposed
research by use of current and relevant scientific literature and with reference to a current issue
relevant to your industry. You should include the aims and objectives of the research.
2. Experimental Plan (guide: 1000 words)
This should include the following:
• Hypotheses (or detailed Research Questions where hypotheses are not appropriate)
• Materials and methods
• Data collection: Method of data collection, type of data and potential statistical tests to be
used.
• Feasibility: Costs, time, resources available and ethical considerations
Additional Guidance on the Written Research Proposal
1. Writing Style: The two sections of the written proposal with some editing could act as the
Introduction and Method sections of a dissertation and you should look at these sections from
scientific papers to get a feel for the writing style. There is however one obvious difference
between your work and a report in that reports are written in the past tense as they are reporting
what was done, while your proposal is for something that may be done in the future so write in
the future tense (e.g. ‘ten trees will be randomly selected’ rather than ‘ten trees were randomly
selected’).
2. Introduction
Aims are broad statements of the desired outcomes, or the general intentions, of the research.
Aims emphasize what you wish to accomplish in the longer term / bigger picture rather than
saying how this will be accomplished. Your aims should lead on from the results of previous
studies and will often relate to the industry situation. (Generally, a project will have no more
than two or maybe three aims.)
Objectives are subsidiary to aims and relate to the specific outcomes you expect from your
study (they are not a list of actions to be taken). An objective should:
• Be achievable/feasible
• Be precisely described
• Read as a statement to convey your intentions
(Generally, a project will have no more than 3 or 4 objectives.)
3. Experimental Plan
In order to design an experimental plan that will match your objectives it is important that you
first think in detail about exactly what you are trying to find out. Research Hypotheses are the
specific testable predictions made about the independent and dependent variables in the study
that you will be testing with your experimental plan. The independent variable is the variable
you alter to give a response in the dependant variable. E.g. alteration of fertiliser application
rates (independent variable) may result in differences in plant size (dependant variable). The
key to carrying out useful research is that at the end of it you can state what has actually
happened and relate this to your hypothesis.
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Some proposed research, particularly social science research, will not be suitable for use of
hypotheses. In this instance, you should instead provide detailed Research Questions that
you intend to answer instead of hypotheses.
Material and methods should explain exactly what you propose to do. The materials to be
used, equipment and consumables, should be included as part of the description of the
methods rather than listed separately. Sufficient detail should be included to make it quite clear
what you intend to do, for example equipment might include the make and model of a mowing
machine, consumables might include how much fertiliser is required and its specification in
terms of N, P & K levels. The methods should explain things such as how the equipment will
be used or how the fertiliser will be applied. If standard procedures are to be adopted then they
should be referenced and emphasis given to justifying any changes made to this standard
method. In this section it is very important to consider good scientific practice e.g. random
selection of individuals to ensure that groups are not inherently biased and ‘blinding’ of the
observer so they are not aware of which treatment a particular result is being obtained from.
We appreciate that in reality as a single researcher these ideals may be compromised, but they
should still be considered.
Data collection should explain the basics of how the data will be collected, i.e. what will be
done, who will do it and when and how often will the measurements be recorded. It is not
necessary to state the blindingly obvious e.g. don’t state a pen and paper will be used to write
things down or that the weight will be recorded in grams. Note you should be using metric units
of measurement in the first instance but may convert these to imperial units if they are the
industry standard.
The potential statistical tests to be used should relate to the nature of the work being done
e.g. if differences between two groups are to be examined then a two-sample t-test could be
suggested, if relationships between measurements from individuals are to be sought then a
Pearson correlation would be a suitable approach. You should also consider the non-parametric
alternatives if the data was tested and found not to be normally distributed (in relation to the
examples above these would be a Mann-Whitney test and a Spearman correlation).
Feasibility should identify any potential problems with carrying out the work and how they are
likely to be overcome. The costs should include estimates of the cost of equipment and
consumables needed to carry out the work, it is also useful to estimate the amount of your time
required to complete the practical aspects of the work.