RESEARCH PROPOSAL IN SOCIAL RESEARCH

 

RESEARCH PROPOSAL ?

-         YOU NEED TO HAVE A RESEARCH QUESTION

-         For example…how child labour is taking place or how poverty is increasing or why there is still gender inequality or why there is so much of unemployment….so on and so forth

-         YOU CANNOT START A RESEARCH PROPOSAL OR ANY RESEARCH WITHOUT A RESEARCH QUESTION

-         ONCE THE RESEARCH QUESTION IS FIXED THEN YOU TRY TO READ DIFFERENT LITERATURE ON THE PARTICUALR ISSUE ON WHICH YOU ARE KEEN TO WORK

-         DIFFERENT LITERATURE- ALL THE EXISTING DOCUMENTS, EXISTING BOOKS, EXISTING JOURNALS, PAPERS, ARTICLES, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF INFORMATION WHICH YOU RECEIVE ON THE PARTICULAR ISSUE

-         THIS WILL ALSO INCLUDE TAKING INFORMATION BASED ON SECONDARY DATA OR DATA WHICH IS ALREADY AVIALABLE ON THE TOPIC

-         For example NSS DATA, CENSUS DATA…ECONOMIC REVIEW REPORTS…OR any such data which is already existing in the same issue on which you are working----------------

-         REVIEW OF LITERATURE----

-         INITIAL PHASE- THE FIRST PHASE------WHERE YOU LEARN ALL THE BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE ISSUE WHICH YOU ARE WORKING ON. This first phase of review literature helps in exploring the topic and the various ways in which the topic can be taken up for doing research.

-         After the initial phase of searching and reading through various forms of literature on the given topic, then the researcher fixes on the exact topic which he or she wants to work on.

-         The researcher has to decide on the various parameters on which he or she wants to conduct the research.

-         Also if the researcher is keen to do field work then there is a necessity that the researcher has to explore the field which is also called as PILOT SURVEY OR PILOT STUDY.

-         Pilot study is basically a brief study or a brief survey of the field which the researcher is keen to take up. The researcher mainly tries to find out the various aspects of the field which can be taken up for study.

-         In this way, after the initial phase of review literature and a brief pilot study or pilot survey, the researcher is able to fix the topic of the research .

-         In this way, the first stage or the fixing of topic for the Research proposal is completed.

-         1^ST STAGE OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL-----

i)                  FIXING THE RESEARCH QUESTION

ii)               FIXING THE RESEARCH TOPIC

iii)            INITIAL PHASE OF REVIEW OF LITERATURE

iv)            IN CASE OF FIELD STUDY THERE IS A NECESSITY OF PILOT SURVEY OR A PILOT STUDY

-         2^ND STAGE OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL

i)                  DETAILED REVIEW OF LITERATURE

ii)               TO FRAME THE HYPOTHESIS OF YOUR RESEARCH

iii)            TO FRAME THE TOPIC OF YOUR RESEARCH

iv)            TO UNDERSTAND AND FRAME THE DETAILED METHODOLOGY WHICH IS NEEDED FOR THE RESEARCH

v)               IF THE RESEARCH IS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH THEN THE DETAILED QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS, THE KIND OF VARIABLES, THE KIND OF SAMPLE NEEDED FOR THE RESEARCH, THE KIND OF STATISTICAL ANALYSIS NEEDED FOR THE RESEARCH, THE TIME PERIOD NEEDED FOR THE COMPLETION OF THE RESEARCH AND THE TOOLS for example, the questionnaires and interviews and how they will be carried out needs to be determined in this stage of research proposal.

-         3^rd stage of RESEARCH PROPOSAL- THAT WHAT DO YOU THINK THE RESEARCH WILL YIELD. What does the researcher aim to find out with the help of the research and how the research can bring new information or new form of contribution to the existing research or to the existing knowledge.

-         In this way, a complete research proposal is prepared.

-         What is variable?

-         Any value or component which varies.

-         For example if a research is taken up on understanding the impact of gender inequality in education then some of the important variables can be: age, educational qualification, family income, caste and others.

-         In other words, it will be assessed in what ways age impacts on the nature of employment of the person. Similarly, even caste and family income can also impact on the nature of employment they receive. In this way, there are several factors which impact on a particular social issue. Identifying these several factors and what can be some of these important factors is called as variables.

-         Thus a research proposal needs to have a research question, a clarity on the research topic or the social issue which will be taken up for analysis and examination by the social researcher, a hypothesis which is essential for the beginning of the research, a detailed review of literature of the existing information or literature on the topic or the social issue on which the research is taken up, a detailed methodology of how the research needs to be carried out; whether it will be quantitative methodology or qualitative methodology and this will depend on the nature of social issue which is taken up for doing research, the kind of questions which the research will deal with and the aspects which needs to be focused in the research needs to be clarified in the proposal, the field and the expected sample needs to be mentioned clearly based on the kind of research or the social issue which has been taken up for the research and finally, what is the expectation out of the research or in what ways the research can help the present literature and kind of contribution which can be done to the existing literature. With all these aspects, a research proposal is formed and framed in accordance with the kind of research which is taken up.