Research Proposal

Preparing a Research Proposal

The research proposal is the most important element of your PhD application. You need to submit a fully specified research proposal when you apply. This is your statement about why your project is interesting, how you will carry it out, and what academic debates and social problems your work addresses. It's your chance to show us how you think and what kind of sociologist you are.

We look for a robust research proposal of around 2,000-3,000 words, although this is only a guideline. It has to convince us that your topic is feasible and that we have the right expertise to supervise it. The emphasis will be on the quality of the proposal and whether or not it fits with a particular supervisor’s research interests, not on the word count.

We expect to see the following components within the proposal:

1. Title – a project title that gives a clear indication of the topic and context.

2. Introduction (approx. 200-300words)– the basic information about the topic and context, the field or disciplinary area of Sociology where the project sits, and why this project is urgent, timely, important, meaningful – and how the project has the potential to make an original contribution to knowledge. You may also wish to identify personal and/or professional as well as academic motivations for conducting the proposed study, including your suitability for undertaking this project based on your prior studies and/or professional background.
3. Literature review (approx. 500-600 words)– the areas of academic literature that are relevant to your proposed project, and giving a summary of what existing research in this area has discussed, and how your project contributes to the existing scholarship. In the proposal we are looking for evidence of applicants having located a range of relevant sources and understood how they fit together to create an ongoing debate or conversation in a field of research. You may also want to include information about your theoretical or conceptual framework in this or a separate section, if you already have ideas for this aspect of the study in place at this stage. The literature review section should end with a short conclusion stating how the proposed study is located within but also extends existing research – this forms part of the rationale or justification for the study.
4. Research aims and research questions (400-500 words).The research aims should be clearly stated. The research questions should be directly based on your topic and should relate to the rationale for the study as identified in the literature section. The research questions should form a coherent set of questions, rather than departing in different directions. Although a doctoral thesis is a substantial piece of work, the aim is to make a specific contribution to knowledge, and the project must be achievable by one person within the period of the PhD. The research questions frame this specific contribution. Along with stating the questions, include a short account of the questions, elaborating what they mean and what is being asked, and why.
5. Methodology (500-600 words)– this section should describe the research design of the study. The section should include information on how the research design and methods will help to answer the research questions. For a proposal involving empirical work, this section should include:

• • • the intended research approach (could include discussing your choice of paradigm/theoretical stance/ontology/epistemology).

• • • the proposed methodology (i.e. the approach you will take to research, such as ethnography, secondary data analysis, survey, etc) and why this is appropriate to answer the research questions you have devised.

• • • the proposed methods (i.e. what you will specifically do, for example interviewing a set number of people with particular experiences, multi factorial analysis of a specific dataset, etc).

• • • sampling, recruitment or access issues, for example how participants will be sampled and recruited or how sources will be selected/accessed.

• • • ethical issues you foresee in the proposed project, including related to your own positionality as a researcher – who are you in the research context? What might be the effects of doing this research, or power dynamics of conducting it? There is no project without some ethical issues and we are looking for brief discussion of this in the proposal.

• • • plans for analysis – of course this is very early stages to propose a mode of analysis, but we are looking for some knowledge of modes of data analysis.

For a proposal involving theoretical work only, this section may be different but you should nonetheless spell out how you plan to approach the research project. For example, you might consider the following questions:

• • • the intended research approach (could include discussing your choice of paradigm/theoretical stance/ontology/epistemology).

• • • the sources you will consult and how you will identify them (e.g. all or some of the works of a particular theorist; a specific archive of documents and what its parameters are).

• • • the methods of analysis you propose to use to answer your research questions.

• • • ethical issues involved in this research (as above).

6. Conclusion (approx. 200 words). The proposal’s conclusion should summarise how the study is intended to achieve its original contribution to knowledge, and could also include a discussion of the project’s intended impact beyond academia (but the latter is not necessary or relevant for all projects).

7. Brief timeline for the period of the doctoral degree

8. References / appendices -A list of cited references should be included after the main body of the proposal, and is not included in the word count.

Examples

Examples of Research Proposals are available to download here (example 1Link opens in a new window, example 2Link opens in a new window).

Note on use of Generative AI

Your application should be a demonstration of your own work and critical thinking skills; it is the beginning of an ongoing conversation between you and other scholars in which you demonstrate your thinking and creative skills primarily through writing. As such, we expect the research proposal and application materials to be your own original writing and not produced with assistance from Gen AI.

Students are encouraged to think critically and sociologically about Gen AI, and this is a topic covered in several of our taught modules for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Students are encouraged to make the most of their university experience and gain the long-term benefits that come from independent reading of challenging material, critical thinking and discussion, and independent writing and editing of assessments. Further information on the benefits of working without using AI, and the impact of AI on intellectual development and transferable skills are available on the department’s academic skills Link opens in a new windowwebpage.

We strongly discourage students from getting assistance from AI in the development of their research proposal and application, and their ongoing PhD writing, including editing. Where any kind of AI has been used in work submitted for the course application, applicants should:

1. 1. State that AI has been used, detail in what ways and which aspects of the work this relates to. This statement must be clearly located on the front page of their proposal.

   2. Provide full references and links to AI sources used.

Further information and advice from the university is available athttps://warwick.ac.uk/students/learning-experience/academic_integrity/Link opens in a new window