22. THE FINAL ASSESSMENT -- RESEARCH PROPOSAL

University of Botswana

Department of Media Studies

BMS 328 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH METHODS

HANDOUT 20: ASSESSMENT 3 – THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Assessment 3: Research proposal

Deadline: 16.00 19 April 2012

This assessment is worth 100 marks and counts towards 50 percent of your final mark.

In Year Four you will have the opportunity to conduct a research project. In this assessment you should write a proposal for this research (but you will be able to change your topic next year if you want to). You should set out what you want to do and how you would do it. You should also explain why you have made your choice.

The research proposal should have the following headings:

Title: A working title for the project.

Purpose of the report: What the report is about and why it is an important area to research. This should include the project’s hypothesis or research question. This section should be between 400-500 words long.

Methods to be used: Give details of how information will be gathered and which research tools will be used (e.g. questionnaire, content analysis). Give as much detail as possible (e.g. give a sample questionnaire; outline the form the content analysis will take). This section should be between 400-500 words long.

Bibliography (Literature Review): List the already existing sources of written information you will use (e.g. books, journal articles). List at least 10 sources.

For this section you can use the Internet, but only choose academic papers and books – do not use general websites that are not written by experts. Here is a list of sites that might be useful for you in your search.

1.      UB Library (Go to UB homepage – then library catalogue – then fulltext journals online)

2.      Google Scholar – www.scholar.google.com

If you are still looking after visiting those websites try these:

1.      Scribd – www.scribd.com

2.      Wikibooks – www.wikibooks.org

3.      Findarticles – www.findarticles.com

Other sources of information: List sources that are not written (e.g. people you will interview for information).

Schedule / timetable for completion: Give some indication of how much time you think you will need to complete each section. Also, give details of any financial costs you expect to incur.

Your proposal should reflect what you have learnt in the course. In particular the following topics should be covered.

Topic	Where to find more information
Research	Handout 2
Choose a topic	Handout 4
Setting goals	Handout 5
Setting objectives	Handout 5
Hypothesis and research questions	Handout 6 and Handout 7
Literature reviews	Handout 8
Research methods / tools (quantitative / qualitative). E.g. questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, content analysis	Handout 9 / Handout 11 / Handout 14 / Handout 16 / Handout 17
Samples	Handout 10

The final class of the course will be Monday 2 April 2012.