How to Write a Strong Research Proposal
A proposal is a promise you have to keep. Here is the structure supervisors are actually looking for.
· 8 min read
A research proposal has one job: to convince your supervisor that your question is worth answering and that you have a realistic plan for answering it. Everything else is detail.
1. Start with a question, not a topic
'Social media and students' is a topic. 'How does daily social media use relate to academic performance among first-year students at Caribbean universities?' is a question. Only the second one can be researched.
2. Justify the gap
Show that you have read enough to know what exists and what does not. Two or three well-chosen studies that stop short of your question do more work than twenty citations dumped in a paragraph.
3. Make the methodology concrete
- Design: qualitative, quantitative or mixed — and why.
- Population and sample: who, how many, and how you will reach them.
- Instruments: questionnaire, interview guide, secondary data.
- Analysis: name the tests or the coding approach you will use.
- Ethics: consent, confidentiality and approvals.
4. Be honest about scope
Most rejected proposals are too ambitious, not too small. A narrow question answered well beats a broad one answered thinly.