H4011 Identifying the key literature that justifies the proposed study. It should include key policy developments, academic debates, international: Research methods Dissertation Proposal, UCD, Ireland

The following section layout should be used when writing your research proposal:

Research Title

You should therefore not attempt to finalize your research title until you have provided a general overview of the core aims of the proposed research. st finalized your research aims – and this won’t be possible until you have first completed your preliminary literature review.

Preliminary Literature Review

This section should introduce and summarize the background rationale for your proposed research within approximately 1500 words – it should do so by identifying the key literature that justifies the proposed study. It should include key policy developments, academic debates, international contexts, and similar research studies. It should be sectioned in an orderly fashion according to key debates/problems/opportunities. You should clearly explain what social care work problem(s)/opportunities inspired your research. This should include summarizing what range of people/sectors/professions the relevant debates/problems/opportunities affect – along with explaining the relative impact of these problems/opportunities for each stakeholder group. In other words, you should explain using evidence-based references why your proposed research matters and is worthy of being researched. You should then explain what is currently known in the academic literature about your chosen research topic/problem(s)/opportunity(ies) — to explain how your research will build upon and clarify this. You should therefore also explicitly state how your research findings will address your chosen research topic/problem(s)/opportunity(ies).

Core Research Questions
Here, your core research questions should be outlined, and these in turn should be translated into key aims that will focus on the purpose of your research. Aims are short statements of intent, which will contribute to the answering of the research question. You won’t be able to decide what methodology is suitable for your research until you have first decided what the aims of your research are.

Methodology
This section should outline and justify how the proposed research will be carried out. It should include the following:
a) Design – qualitative/quantitative, justify the methods to be used
b) Sample – details of who you will be recruiting and why
c) Data collection – details of how you plan to recruit from your chosen population
d) Data analysis – summarize your chosen method of analysis, explaining why it is suitable for your research aims
e) Core Concepts – This section highlights the key concepts/variables/factors that will be central to your study, and it provides details of how you will be defining those concepts for the purposes of your research. Setting them out clearly demonstrates understanding, provides clarity for the reader and will aid in further developing questions in the research.