Page 52 - SREENARAYANAGURU OPEN UNIVERSITY

statement.

e. Formulate a question and hypotheses
◆ Construct research Following that, the researcher should develop a research
inquiries and question and hypotheses for his study. The hypothesis is a
hypotheses predictive statement which is made in the light of the available
facts relating to the problem under study. The research hypotheses
determine what will be investigated and what will be found in the
study. They are the supposed answers to the research question.

◆ Introduction f. Write an introduction
composition The components should be included in the introduction to the

research proposal that the researcher created during the previous
stages: a problem statement, a brief description of the literature
gap, a purpose statement, and a research question.

◆ Methodology g. Define method of study
overview In this section, the researcher should outline the procedures
he intends to use to complete the proposed study. In general, the
section includes an explanation of the research design as well as
some information on the data collection process.

h. Define research design
◆ Designing research Outline the research design for the academic research proposal.
approach
A research design is a method for answering a research question
through the use of empirical data. Making decisions about
the overall aims and approach, the type of research design the
researcher will use, sampling methods or criteria for selecting
subjects, and data collection methods are all part of creating a
research design.
i. Data collection procedures
◆ Primary and
secondary sources Describe how the researcher will collect the data in this section.
Explain the procedure for collecting data and reporting the results.
There are two sources of data i.e., primary and secondary data.
Primary data refers to the collection of data by the researcher for
the first time whereas secondary data is the data that has already
been collected through primary sources and made readily available
for researchers to use for their own research.

j. Provide a timeline and budget
At this stage, researchers need to give some information on the
◆ Schedule and estimated budget and schedule of the research. Notes on the funds
finances
required are listed in this section. It is important to include this
section if the researcher is applying to a funding body.
The schedule should state all the aspects of the project, their
time tables and the milestones that signify the completion of
the project. This section will describe the sequence of activities
necessary to conduct the research.

46 SGOU - SLM -MCom Research Methodology