8 Important Questions to Answer In Your Dissertation Prospectus

The dissertation prospectus is the first step of your dissertation that serves as a plan for your project. As a result, you can identify your research goals and articulate the importance of your work. It will include a literature review, explaining your research methodology and identifying the limitations of the work. In general, it is something that holds onto the highlight of the thesis.

Simply put, the thesis prospect is an unfamiliar sort of academic genre. So, how can you design it precisely? Different universities have different expectations to write this document. For instance, you may be asked to highlight your project’s primary and secondary texts. Moreover, you may outline how your thesis may contribute to existing scholarship on the topic. 

The research committee may raise concerns related to your project when deciding about research grants. To aid a broad range of students as much as possible, we have compiled a list of important questions to answer in your prospectus dissertation. Keep reading to achieve your intellectual goals with this effective work plan. 

What Is Dissertation Prospectus?

As per Harvard University, a dissertation prospectus is a plan about how you execute your research idea. Doctorate students are supposed to write this document in the third year of their studies. A prospectus conference is held yearly in the third week of January where researchers present this research plan. It is specific to each discipline, and researchers have to submit it soon after the completion of the candidacy test, so it should not be a huge document. 

Consider it the preliminary research of the proposed research work. The better you plan your work, the better you can write it in your thesis document. However, many students prefer to avail themselves of professional assistance from dissertation writing assistance providers to get samples as planned for their research prospectus. 

Top 8 Important Questions in Dissertation Prospectus 

A research prospectus is a preliminary research plan. Whether it is a single-page document or written on dozens of pages, it sells your key idea to the research committee. Here is the dissertation prospectus outline of general questions to answer when you apply for grants or other findings. 

1. What is the key concern of your research work? 
2. What are some assumptions related to your research? 
3. What are the main theoretical issues? 
4. What does the literature review say about your topic? 
5. What is the research plan for implementing your ideas? 
6. What is the main research question of the project? 
7. What are the research challenges? 
8. What is the real-world implementation of your work? 

Are you confused about how to address these queries in your research prospectus? Here is a detailed dissertation prospectus guide on how to write about it efficiently. 

1. What Is the Research Problem of Your Work? 

Identifying the main research problem for your research prospectus is a crucial aspect of the process. You need to define to the committee member what you are trying to achieve with this unique research setup. In this regard, it is better to learn what the research problem is. The research problem is the main concern that you need to analyse and interpret to conclude. 

It may outline various aspects of the study such as population or variables. Such queries are dynamic. It means that you can refine or change it with the research progress. Many of the research projects will be focused on a single research question. However, some may include more than one concern to address. 

How To Highlight Your Main Research Problem? 

The following steps will guide you on how to highlight a research problem in a dissertation prospectus. 

• Choose a broad topic that can provide you with plenty of avenues to explore. 
• Do preliminary research to discuss the issue that the research scholars are currently undertaking. 
• Gather enough knowledge about the topic and start focusing on a particular aspect. 
• Formulate various research questions and evaluate the soundness of each. 
• Consider the importance of the question you finalised. 

2. On What Assumptions Is Your Work Based?

The research assumptions are the realistic expectations that you believe are true about your project. Consider it an act of faith that does not have any empirical evidence to support it. However, it can provide a base for developing theories and the effect of the implementation of your research plan. Don’t confuse it with the hypothesis. 

Here are the key differences between research assumptions and hypotheses. 

• The assumptions are the ideas that are suspected to be true. However, the hypothesis is a prediction of your work that you are going to test with experimentation. 
• There is no statistical evidence for the assumption. On the contrary, the hypothesis can be tested statistically. 
• The assumption may attempt to discover the correlation, while the hypothesis provides the relation between two variables to draw meaningful conclusions. 

Types of Assumptions 

There are various types of assumptions that you can talk about while writing your dissertation prospectus. It may be, 

• Universal assumptions: These are assumed to be true by a large community. 
• Assumption based on theories: It is drawn from theories for a particular research study. 
• The assumption to conduct research: These are the common-sense assumptions that may help in conducting a particular study. 
• Warranted assumptions: These must be stated along with the evidence. 
• Unwarranted assumptions: Such assumptions are merely stated without any supportive evidence. 

3. What Theoretical Issues Arise in Your Proposed Study?

A theoretical research problem is an issue that may arise from the researcher’s theoretical perspective. Hence, it needs to be guided or researched by the researcher’s experience. To understand the main ideas, let’s compare them with the applied research problem. 

As we know, the applied issue is meant to tackle the real-world problem. It will investigate the real-world issue to conclude. On the other hand, a theoretical issue is meant to collect theoretical knowledge. Once you gather enough information, you may investigate whether this knowledge has any real-world application or is just restricted to the book texts. 

Consequently, you may organise your research findings to co-relate the theory and research explicitly. Therefore, to present a well-informed layout of your study plan, highlight all the theoretical concerns to avoid any bias in the dissertation prospectus. 

4. What Does Literature Say About Your Topic?

The literature review of your work involves collecting relevant knowledge about your topic to craft your arguments. It helps in learning current knowledge or debates about the subject. The importance of writing a literature review in your dissertation prospectus can be estimated well by the highlights below. 

• You may gain familiarity with the current knowledge. 
• You may have theoretical knowledge to write your research question. 
• You can evaluate the research methods in your field. 
• You can highlight your unique approach to the topic. 

Types of Literature Review

You must be aware of the types of literature reviews. As a result, you can choose which type you are supposed to write about in your dissertation prospectus. 

• Narrative literature review: It involves reviewing the published literature on the topic. 
• Rapid review: Here, you use the systematic review methods to highlight the best practices. 
• Scoping review: It uses iterative approaches to identify the emerging body of literature. 
• Systematic review: It is an authoritative account of existing knowledge that uses reproducible research practices. 

5. What Are the Research Questions You Are Trying to Answer?

You may be thinking that we have already talked about the research problem. However, merely identifying the research problem will not do the job. You are supposed to craft a research question that highlights the main concern of your thesis discussion. Students who can’t write their papers can contact UK-based dissertation writers for expert assistance. 

Back to the topic, let’s discuss how to craft a good research question in a dissertation prospectus. Although there is no universal set of criteria for writing it, you can consider the characteristics of a good research question below. 

• This question must be precise and focused for the reader. 
• It should not be too general or narrow. 
• It should not be easy to answer. 
• You must have access to a suitable amount of knowledge relevant to the query. 
• It must be analytical rather than descriptive. 

6. What Is Your General Research Plan? 

A research plan is the documented review of your project that defines how you approach your research goals. This is how a researcher designs a dissertation prospectus template to ensure the validity of results. It will include all the important aspects of your research, such as data collection, data analysis, and the overall framework in which research has to be conducted. 

Here are the different types of research methodologies that you can opt for writing your thesis prospectus.

Types of Research Methodologies 

• Quantitative research methodology: It involves testing numerical data to generalise the results to the wider population. 
• Qualitative research methodology: It involves collecting and analysing the textual data. 
• Mixed-method research methodology: This research methodology comprises features of both methods given above to validate the findings. 

7. What Kind of Difficulties You Might Expect in Doing Your Research?

The research challenges may be defined as the events that may pose difficulty in achieving your research goals. Although each research is unique, there are common sets of challenges that every researcher may face. It might be, 

• The slow and time-consuming research process. 
• You may face difficulty in getting funds and grants. 
• You may juggle with time management. 
• Publishing your research papers in an impactful journal. 
• Difficulty in understanding scientific nuances. 
• Staying abreast of technological developments. 

9. Who Will Benefit from Your Work?

This is the main concern, especially when you are applying for grants for a research project. No matter how much effort you put into performing your work, if you fail to explain its importance to the research committee in the dissertation prospectus, the intent will not be fulfilled. So, you need to explain the real-world application of your work. 

This is how you can propose a solution to the problem, expand knowledge and advance the understanding. For instance, you may point out a recent project in your field of study and explain how your project will foster its advancement. 

What Questions to Answer in Your Dissertation Prospectus?

There may be different questions to answer in the dissertation prospectus. It depends on the type of project or the research committee. In general, it should offer an account of, 

• What are the main arguments about your work? 
• Why does your work matter? 
• Why are you writing on that particular sort? 
• How does the research idea fit into the existing scholarship? 

How Long Does It Take to Write a Dissertation Prospectus?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this query. However, it takes almost 2-3 months to complete. It may depend on several factors, such as writing expertise, topic complexity, research progress, etc. Moreover, it can be a year-long process from the moment you start thinking about your project to the dissertation prospectus defence. 

Dissertation Prospectus vs Proposal

The research prospectus is mostly considered similar to the dissertation proposal. Although both are similar in their basic objectives, they differ in their application and research design. The key differences are as follows, 

• The proposal is written to define the significance of your work. On the contrary, the prospectus announces that you are ready to perform the research. 
• The research advisors, dissertation committee and a third party are involved in approving the proposal. The prospectus is advised by the director of the doctorate studies. 
• The proposal must be short and descriptive. On the other hand, the prospectus is comparatively longer which may be 25 pages.

Dissertation Prospectus Example

As we have discussed above, the research prospectus writing is unfamiliar to many researchers. Consequently, it might be intimidating to craft this document. Therefore, it is best to go through an example to learn about the dissertation prospectus format or other structural details. 

An example given by YUMPU is displayed below. 

Conclusion

The dissertation prospectus is mostly unknown by the researcher. They are only aware of submitting research proposals, writing a thesis and finally defending it. Those researchers who face difficulty in writing a thesis due to a lack of knowledge about the subject can seek help with their dissertation from writing experts as the subject specialist writes them. However, to craft a quality dissertation prospectus, you can take note of the above article.

Remember, it is all about planning your research work before you execute it. The better you are at making plans, the better you will be at drawing meaningful results. Every research prospectus is unique, depending on the university guidelines or research committee. However, there are some general concerns that every paper must accompany.

 In this regard, above we have listed the most important question to answer in this document. As a result, you may not face any difficulty in writing about it in the final paper. Craft a quality prospectus so that you may be able to secure the necessary funding to implement your plan.