research proposal for phd in sociology

School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies

How to write a phd research proposal.

In order to help you with your application, the information below aims to give some guidance on how a typical research proposal might look.

Your research proposal is a concise statement (up to 3,000 words) of the rationale for your research proposal, the research questions to be answered and how you propose to address them. We know that during the early stages of your PhD you are likely to refine your thinking and methodology in discussion with your supervisors.

However, we want to see that you can construct a fairly rigorous, high quality research proposal.

We use your research proposal to help us decide whether you would be a suitable candidate to study at PhD level. We therefore assess your proposal on its quality, originality, and coherence. It also helps us to decide if your research interests match those of academics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS) and whether they would be able to provide suitably qualified supervision for your proposed research.

Format of the research proposal

Your proposal should include the following:

Title. A short, indicative title is best.

Abstract. This is a succinct summary of your research proposal (approximately 200-300 words) that will present a condensed outline, enabling the reader to get a very quick overview of your proposed project, lines of inquiry and possible outcomes. An abstract is often written last, after you have written the proposal and are able to summarise it effectively.

Rationale for the research project. This might include a description of the question/debate/phenomenon of interest; an explanation of why the topic is of interest to you; and an outline of the reasons why the topic should be of interest to research and/ or practice (the 'so what?' question).

Aims and initial research question. What are the aims and objectives of the research? State clearly the puzzle you are addressing, and the research question that you intend to pursue. It is acceptable to have multiple research questions, but it is a good idea to clarify which is the main research question. If you have hypotheses, discuss them here. A research proposal can and should make a positive and persuasive first impression and demonstrate your potential to become a good researcher. In particular, you need to demonstrate that you can think critically and analytically as well as communicate your ideas clearly.

Research context for your proposed project. Provide a short introduction to your area of interest with a succinct, selective and critical review of the relevant literature. Demonstrate that you understand the theoretical underpinnings and main debates and issues in your research area and how your proposed research will make an original and necessary contribution to this. You need to demonstrate how your proposed research will fill a gap in existing knowledge.

Intended methodology. Outline how you plan to conduct the research and the data sources that you will use. We do not expect you to have planned a very detailed methodology at this stage, but you need to provide an overview of how you will conduct your research (qualitative and/or quantitative methods) and why this methodology is suited for your proposed study. You need to be convincing about the appropriateness and feasibility of the approaches you are suggesting, and reflective about problems you might encounter (including ethical and data protection issues) in collecting and analysing your data.

Expected outcomes and impact. How do you think the research might add to existing knowledge; what might it enable organisations or interested parties to do differently? Increasingly in academia (and this is particularly so for ESRC-funded studentships), PhD students are being asked to consider how their research might contribute to both academic impact and/or economic and societal impact. (This is well explained on the ESRC website if you would like to find out more.) Please consider broader collaborations and partnerships (academic and non-academic) that will support your research. Collaborative activity can lead to a better understanding of the ways in which academic research can translate into practice and it can help to inform and improve the quality of your research and its impact.

Timetable. What is your initial estimation of the timetable of the dissertation? When will each of the key stages start and finish (refining proposal; literature review; developing research methods; fieldwork; analysis; writing the draft; final submission). There are likely to overlaps between the stages.

Why Bristol? Why – specifically – do you want to study for your PhD at Bristol ? How would you fit into the School's  research themes and research culture . You do not need to identify supervisors at the application stage although it can be helpful if you do.

Bibliography. Do make sure that you cite what you see as the key readings in the field. This does not have to be comprehensive but you are illustrating the range of sources you might use in your research.

We expect your research proposal to be clear, concise and grammatically correct. Prior to submitting your research proposal, please make sure that you have addressed the following issues:

• Have you included a clear summary of what the proposed research is about and why it is significant?
• Have you clearly identified what your proposed research will add to our understanding of theory, knowledge or research design?
• Does it state what contributions it will make to policy and/or practice?
• Does the proposal clearly explain how you will do the research?
• Is the language clear and easy to understand by someone who is not an expert in the field?
• Is the grammar and spelling correct?

How to write a Research Proposal: Explained with Examples

At some time in your student phase, you will have to do a Thesis or Dissertation, and for that, you will have to submit a research proposal. A Research Proposal in its most basic definition is a formally structured document that explains what, why, and how of your research. This document explains What you plan to research (your topic or theme of research), Why you are doing this research (justifying your research topic), and How you will do (your approach to complete the research). The purpose of a proposal is to convince other people apart from yourself that the work you’re doing is suitable and feasible for your academic position.

The process of writing a research proposal is lengthy and time-consuming. Your proposal will need constant edits as you keep taking your work forward and continue receiving feedback. Although, there is a structure or a template that needs to be followed. This article will guide you through this strenuous task. So, let’s get to work!

Research Proposal: Example

[ Let us take a running example throughout the article so that we cover all the points. Let us assume that we are working on a dissertation that needs to study the relationship between Gender and Money. ]

The Title is one of the first things the reader comes across. Your title should be crisp yet communicate all that you are trying to convey to the reader. In academia, a title gets even more weightage because in a sea of resources, sometimes your research project can get ignored because the title didn’t speak for itself. Therefore, make sure that you brainstorm multiple title options and see which fits the best. Many times in academic writing we use two forms of titles: the Main Title and the Subtitle. If you think that you cannot justify your research using just a Title, you can add a subtitle which will then convey the rest of your explanation.

[ Explanation through an example: Our theme is “Gender and Money”.

We can thus keep our title as: A study of “Gendered Money” in the Rural households of Delhi. ]

Insider’s Info: If you are not confident about your title in your research proposal, then write “Tentative Title” in brackets and italic below your Title. In this way, your superiors (professor or supervisor) will know that you are still working on fixing the title.

Overview / Abstract

The overview, also known as abstract and/or introduction, is the first section that you write for your proposal. Your overview should be a single paragraph that explains to the reader what your whole research will be about. In a nutshell, you will use your abstract to present all the arguments that you will be taking in detail in your thesis or research. What you can do is introduce your theme a little along with your topic and the aim of your research. But beware and do not reveal all that you have in your pocket. Make sure to spend plenty of time writing your overview because it will be used to determine if your research is worth taking forward or reading.

Existing Literature

This is one of the most important parts of your research and proposal. It should be obvious that in such a huge universe of research, the topic chosen by you cannot be the first of its kind. Therefore, you have to locate your research in the arguments or themes which are already out there. To do so, what you have to do is read the existing literature on the same topic or theme as yours. Without reading the existing literature you cannot possibly form your arguments or start your research. But to write the portion of existing literature you have to be cautious. In the course of your dissertation, at some point either before or after you submit your proposal, you will be asked to submit a “Literature Review”. Though it is very similar to existing literature, it is NOT the same.

Difference between “Literature Review” and “Existing Literature”

A literature review is a detailed essay that discusses all the material which is already out there regarding your topic. For a literature review, you will have to mention all the literature you have read and then explain how they benefit you in your field of research.

Whereas, an existing literature segment in your research proposal is the compact version of a literature review. It is a two to three-paragraph portion that locates your research topic in the larger argument. Here you need not reveal all your literature resources, but only mention the major ones which will be recurring literature throughout your research.

[ Explanation through an example: Now we know that our topic is: Our theme is “A study of “Gendered Money” in the Rural households of Delhi.”

To find the existing literature on this topic you should find academic articles relating to the themes of money, gender, economy, income, etc. ]

Insider’s Info : There is no limit when it comes to how much you read. You can read 2 articles or 20 articles for your research. The number doesn’t matter, what matters is how you use those concepts and arguments in your own thesis.

Research Gap

As you read and gather knowledge on your topic, you will start forming your own views. This might lead you to two conclusions. First, there exists a lot of literature regarding the relationship between gender and money, but they are all lacking something. Second, in the bundle of existing literature, you can bring a fresh perspective. Both of these thoughts help you in formulating your research gap. A research gap is nothing but you justifying why you should continue with your research even when it has been discussed many times already. Quoting your research gap helps you make a place for yourself in the academic world.

Based on 1st Conclusion, you can say that the research gap you found was that most of the studies done on the theme of gendered money looked at the urban situation, and with your analysis of ‘rural’ households, you will fill the gap.

Based on 2nd Conclusion, you can say that all the existing literature is mostly written from the economic point of view, but through your research, you will try to bring a feminist viewpoint to the theme of gendered money. ]

Insider’s Info : If you are unable to find a research gap for your dissertation, the best hack to fall back on is to say that all the research done up to this point have been based on western notions and social facts, but you will conduct research which holds in your localized reality.

Research Question / Hypothesis

Once you are sorted with your existing literature and have located your research gap, this section will be the easiest to tackle. A research question or hypothesis is nothing but a set of questions that you will try and answer throughout the course of your research. It is very crucial to include research questions in your proposal because this tells your superiors exactly what you plan to do. The number of questions you set for yourself can vary according to the time, resources, and finances you have. But we still recommend that you have at least three research questions stated in your proposal.

[ Explanation through an example: Now that we know what our topic is: our theme is “A study of “gendered money” in the rural households of Delhi.”

Some of the research questions you can state can be,

• Study the division for uses of wages, based on who earned it and where it is getting utilized. 
• How gender relations also play a role within the household not only in the form of kinship but in the indirect form of economics as well.
• How, even when we have the same currency signifying the meaning of money, it changes according to the source of who earned it.
• How moral values and judgments are added to the money comes from different sources. ]

Insider’s Info: If you are confused about your research question, you can look at the questions taken up by the other authors you studied and modify them according to your point of view. But we seriously recommend that the best way to do your research is by coming up with your research question on your own. Believe in yourself!

Research Methodology / Research Design

This part of the research proposal is about how you will conduct and complete your research. To understand better what research methodology is, we should first clarify the difference between methodology and method. Research Method is the technique used by you to conduct your research. A method includes the sources of collecting your data such as case studies, interviews, surveys, etc. On the other hand, Methodology is how you plan to apply your method . Your methodology determines how you execute various methods during the course of your dissertation.

Therefore, a research methodology, which is also known as research design, is where you tell your reader how you plan to do your research. You tell the step-by-step plan and then justify it. Your research methodology will inform your supervisor how you plan to use your research tools and methods.

Your methodology should explain where you are conducting the research and how. So for this research, your field will be rural Delhi. Explain why you chose to study rural households and not urban ones. Then comes the how, some of the methods you might want to opt for can be Interviews, Questionnaires, and/or Focused Group Discussions. Do not forget to mention your sample size, i.e., the number of people you plan to talk to. ]

Insider’s Info: Make sure that you justify all the methods you plan to use. The more you provide your supervisor with a justification; the more serious and formal you come out to be in front of them. Also, when you write your why down, it is hard to forget the track and get derailed from the goal.

This will not even be a section, but just 2 lines in your proposal where you will state the amount of time you plan to complete your dissertation and how you will utilize that time. This portion can also be included in your “Research Methodology” section. We have stated this as a separate subheading so that you do not miss out on this small but mighty aspect.

For this project, you can mention that you will be allocated 4 months, out of which 1 month will be utilized for fieldwork and the rest would be used for secondary research, compilation, and completion of the thesis. ]

Aim of the Research

The aim of the research is where you try to predict the result of your research. Your aim is what you wish to achieve at the end of this long process. This section also informs your supervisor how your research will be located in the ongoing larger argument corresponding to your selected topic/theme. Remember the research questions you set up for yourself earlier? This is the time when you envision answers to those questions.

You can present that through your research you will aim to find if the money which enters the household belongs equally to everyone, or does it get stratified and gendered in this realm. Through this research, you aim to present a fresh new perspective in the field of studies of gendered money. ]

Insider’s Info: The aim you write right now is just a prediction or the expected outcome. Therefore, even if the result of your research is different in the end it doesn’t matter.

Bibliography

The bibliography is the easiest and most sorted part of your proposal. It is nothing but a list of all the resources that you will study or already have studied for the completion of your research. This list will contain all the articles or essays mentioned by you in the existing literature section, and all the other things such as books, journal articles, reviews, news, etc.

The most basic format to write a bibliography is:

• Author’s Name with Surname mentioned first, then initials (Tiwari, E.)
• Article’s Title in single or double quotes ( ‘ ’ or “ ” )
• Journal Title in Italics ( Like this )
• Volume, issue number
• Year of Publication in brackets

Example: Tichenor, Veronica Jaris (1999). “Status and income as gendered resources: The case of marital power”. Journal of Marriage and Family . Pg 938-65 ]

Insider’s Info: You do not number or bullet your bibliography. They should be arranged alphabetically based on the surname of the author.

Learn: Citation with Examples

Also Check: How to Write Dissertation

https://www.uh.edu/~lsong5/documents/

https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/

Hello! Eiti is a budding sociologist whose passion lies in reading, researching, and writing. She thrives on coffee, to-do lists, deadlines, and organization. Eiti's primary interest areas encompass food, gender, and academia.

• Department of Sociological Studies

Writing a research proposal

Guidelines on preparing a thesis proposal to support your application.

These guidelines are intended to assist you in developing and writing a thesis proposal. Applications for admission to a research degree cannot be dealt with unless they contain a proposal.

Your proposal will help us to make sure that:

• The topic is viable
• That the department can provide appropriate supervision and other necessary support
• You have thought through your interest in and commitment to a piece of research
• You are a suitable candidate for admission

The process of producing a proposal is usually also essential if you need to apply for funding to pay your fees or support yourself whilst doing your research. Funding bodies will often need to be reassured that you are committed to a viable project at a suitable university.

The research proposal – an outline

Your proposal should be typed double-spaced, if possible, and be between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Your PhD proposal can be added under the 'Supporting Documents' section of the Postgraduate Applications Online System .

Your proposal should contain at least the following elements:

• A provisional title
• A key question, hypothesis or the broad topic for investigation
• An outline of the key aims of the research
• A brief outline of key literature in the area [what we already know]
• A description of the topic and an explanation of why further research in the area is important [the gap in the literature - what we need to know]
• Details of how the research will be carried out, including any special facilities / resources etc. which would be required and any necessary skills which you either have already or would need to acquire [the tools that will enable us to fill the gap you have identified]
• A plan and timetable of the work you will carry out

For more detailed information on each element of your research proposal, see our extended guidance document .

Three additional points:

• Try to be concise. Do not write too much – be as specific as you can but not wordy. It is a difficult balance to strike.
• Bear in mind that the proposal is a starting point. If you are registered to read for a PhD you will be able to work the proposal through with your supervisor in more detail in the early months.
• Take a look at the Department’s staff profiles, research centres, and research clusters. Can you identify possible supervisors and intellectual support networks within the Department?

Examples of Successful PhD Proposals

• PhD sample proposal 1
• PhD sample proposal 2
• PhD sample proposal 3
• PhD sample proposal 4
• PhD sample proposal 5
• PhD sample proposal 6
• PhD sample proposal 7
• PhD sample proposal 8

Related information

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Preparing a research proposal

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• Proposal writing

The goal of a research proposal is to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting the research are governed by standards within the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, so guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. Research proposals contain extensive literature reviews. They must provide persuasive evidence that a need exists for the proposed study. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from the study's completion.

Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005.

"Document that is typically written by a scientist or academic which describes the ideas for an investigation on a certain topic. The research proposal outlines the process from beginning to end and may be used to request financing for the project, certification for performing certain parts of research of the experiment, or as a required task before beginning a college dissertation."

Web Finance Inc. (c. 2019). What is research proposal? definition and meaning. Retrieved July 1, 2019, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/research-proposal.html

Your professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons:

• Develop your skills in thinking about and designing a comprehensive research study;
• Learn how to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature to ensure a research problem has not already been answered [or you may determine the problem has been answered ineffectively] and, in so doing, become better at locating scholarship related to your topic;
• Improve your general research and writing skills;
• Practice identifying the logical steps that must be taken to accomplish one's research goals;
• Critically review, examine, and consider the use of different methods for gathering and analyzing data related to the research problem; and,
• Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself and to help see yourself as an active participant in  the process of  doing scholarly research.

A proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a completed research study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the findings of the study and your analysis of those results. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the quality of your writing and, therefore, it is important that your writing is coherent, clear, and compelling.

Regardless of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions:

• What do you plan to accomplish?  Be clear and succinct in defining the research problem and what it is you are proposing to research.
• Why do you want to do it?  In addition to detailing your research design, you also must conduct a thorough review of the literature and provide convincing evidence that it is a topic worthy of study. Be sure to answer the "So What?" question.
• How are you going to do it?  Be sure that what you propose is doable. If you're having trouble formulating a research problem to propose investigating,  go here .

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Failure to be concise; being "all over the map" without a clear sense of purpose.
• Failure to cite landmark works in your literature review.
• Failure to delimit the contextual boundaries of your research [e.g., time, place, people, etc.].
• Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research.
• Failure to stay focused on the research problem; going off on unrelated tangents.
• Sloppy or imprecise writing, or poor grammar.
• Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major issues.

Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal.  The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Sanford, Keith. Information for Students: Writing a Research Proposal. Baylor University; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal. University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Beginning the Proposal Process

As with writing a regular academic paper, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. Proposals vary between ten and twenty-five pages in length. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the proposal.

A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:

• What do I want to study?
• Why is the topic important?
• How is it significant within the subject areas covered in my class?
• What problems will it help solve?
• How does it build upon [and hopefully go beyond] research already conducted on the topic?
• What exactly should I plan to do, and can I get it done in the time available?

In general, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study. Approach it with the intention of leaving your readers feeling like--"Wow, that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"

In general your proposal should include the following sections:

I.  Introduction

In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea or a thorough examination of the significance of a research problem. After reading the introduction, your readers should not only have an understanding of what you want to do, but they should also be able to gain a sense of your passion for the topic and be excited about the study's possible outcomes. Note that most proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the introduction.

Think about your introduction as a narrative written in one to three paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions :

• What is the central research problem?
• What is the topic of study related to that problem?
• What methods should be used to analyze the research problem?
• Why is this important research, what is its significance, and why should someone reading the proposal care about the outcomes of the proposed study?

II.  Background and Significance

This section can be melded into your introduction or you can create a separate section to help with the organization and narrative flow of your proposal. This is where you explain the context of your proposal and describe in detail why it's important. Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is relevant to help explain the goals for your study.

To that end, while there are no hard and fast rules, you should attempt to address some or all of the following key points:

• State the research problem and give a more detailed explanation about the purpose of the study than what you stated in the introduction. This is particularly important if the problem is complex or  multifaceted .
• Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth doing. Answer the "So What? question [i.e., why should anyone care].
• Describe the major issues or problems to be addressed by your research. Be sure to note how your proposed study builds on previous assumptions about the research problem.
• Explain how you plan to go about conducting your research. Clearly identify the key sources you intend to use and explain how they will contribute to your analysis of the topic.
• Set the boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus. Where appropriate, state not only what you will study, but what is excluded from the study.
• If necessary, provide definitions of key concepts or terms.

III.  Literature Review

Connected to the background and significance of your study is a section of your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation . The purpose here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored, while demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about  what questions other researchers have asked, what methods they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and, where stated, their recommendations. Do not be afraid to challenge the conclusions of prior research. Assess what you believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately examine the issue that your study addresses. For more information on writing literature reviews,  GO HERE .

Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your study in relation to that of other researchers. A good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual categories" [themes] rather than systematically describing groups of materials one at a time. Note that conceptual categories generally reveal themselves after you have read most of the pertinent literature on your topic so adding new categories is an on-going process of discovery as you read more studies. How do you know you've covered the key  conceptual categories  underlying the research literature? Generally, you can have confidence that  all of the significant conceptual categories  have been identified if you start to see repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being made.

To help frame your proposal's literature review, here are the "five C’s" of writing a literature review:

• Cite , so as to keep the primary focus on the literature pertinent to your research problem.
• Compare  the various arguments, theories, methodologies, and findings expressed in the literature: what do the authors agree on? Who applies similar approaches to analyzing the research problem?
• Contrast  the various arguments, themes, methodologies, approaches, and controversies expressed in the literature: what are the major areas of disagreement, controversy, or debate?
• Critique  the literature: Which arguments are more persuasive, and why? Which approaches, findings, methodologies seem most reliable, valid, or appropriate, and why? Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe what an author says/does [e.g., asserts, demonstrates, argues, etc.] .
• Connect  the literature to your own area of research and investigation: how does your own work draw upon, depart from, synthesize, or add a new perspective to what has been said in the literature?

IV.  Research Design and Methods

This section  must  be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader must have confidence that it is worth pursuing . The reader will never have a study outcome from which to evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results. Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.

Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other researchers have used but methods of data gathering that have not been used but perhaps could be. Be specific about the methodological approaches you plan to undertake to obtain information, the techniques you would use to analyze the data, and the tests of external validity to which you commit yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you can generalize from your study to other people, places, events, and/or periods of time].

When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:

• Specify the research operations you will undertake and the way you will interpret the results of these operations in relation to the research problem. Don't just describe what you intend to achieve from applying the methods you choose, but state how you will spend your time while applying these methods [e.g., coding text from interviews to find statements about the need to change school curriculum;  running a regression to  determine if there is a relationship between  campaign advertising on social media sites and election outcomes in Europe ].
• Keep in mind that a methodology is not just a list of tasks; it is an argument as to why these tasks add up to the best way to investigate the research problem. This is an important point because the mere listing of tasks to be performed does not demonstrate that, collectively, they effectively address the research problem. Be sure you explain this.
• Anticipate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in carrying out your research design and explain how you plan to address them. No method is perfect so you need to describe where you believe challenges may exist in obtaining data or accessing information. It's always better to acknowledge this than to have it brought up by your reader.

V.  Preliminary Suppositions and Implications

Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyze the results, doesn't mean you can skip talking about the analytical process and potential implications . The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact future scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or policymaking. Note that such discussions may have either substantive [a potential new policy], theoretical [a potential new understanding], or methodological [a potential new way of analyzing] significance.   When thinking about the potential implications of your study, ask the following questions:

• What might the results mean in regards to the theoretical framework that underpins the study?
• What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential outcomes of the study?
• What will the results mean to practitioners in the natural settings of their workplace?
• Will the results influence programs, methods, and/or forms of intervention?
• How might the results contribute to the solution of social, economic, or other types of problems?
• Will the results influence policy decisions?
• In what way do individuals or groups benefit should your study be pursued?
• What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?
• How will the results of the study be implemented, and what innovations will come about?

NOTE :  This section should not delve into idle speculation, opinion,  or be formulated on the basis of unclear evidence . The purpose is to reflect upon gaps or understudied areas of the current literature and describe how your proposed research contributes to a new understanding of the research problem should the study be implemented as designed.

VI.  Conclusion

The conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and provides a brief summary of the entire study . This section should be only one or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance existing knowledge.

Someone reading this section should come away with an understanding of:

• Why the study should be done,
• The specific purpose of the study and the research questions it attempts to answer,
• The decision to why the research design and methods used where chosen over other options,
• The potential implications emerging from your proposed study of the research problem, and
• A sense of how your study fits within the broader scholarship about the research problem.

VII.   Citations

As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your proposal. In a standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so consult with your professor about which one is preferred.

• References --  lists only the literature that you actually used or cited in your proposal.
• Bibliography --  lists everything you used or cited in your proposal, with additional citations to any key sources relevant to understanding the research problem.

In either case, this section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to make sure the project will complement and not duplicate the efforts of other researchers. Start a new page and use the heading "References" or "Bibliography" centered at the top of the page. Cited works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the discipline of your course [i.e., education=APA; history=Chicago, etc] or that is preferred by your professor. This section normally does not count towards the total page length of your research proposal.

Develop  a Research Proposal: Writing the Proposal . Office of Library Information Services. Baltimore County Public Schools;  Heath, M. Teresa Pereira and Caroline Tynan. “Crafting a Research Proposal.”  The Marketing Review  10 (Summer 2010): 147-168; Jones, Mark. “Writing a Research Proposal.” In  MasterClass in Geography Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning . Graham Butt, editor. (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), pp. 113-127; Juni, Muhamad Hanafiah. “Writing a Research Proposal.” International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences  1 (September/October 2014): 229-240; Krathwohl, David R.  How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005; Procter, Margaret.  The Academic Proposal . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Punch, Keith and Wayne McGowan. "Developing and Writing a Research Proposal." In  From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills . Nigel Gilbert, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 59-81; Wong, Paul T. P.  How to Write a Research Proposal . International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University;  Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University;  Writing a Research Proposal . University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Proposal Writing

The advice given in this section is geared towards the proposals you will be required to submit when applying for OUR programs and funding opportunities. Though much of this information will be useful when writing proposals or personal statements for non-OUR applications, we recommend you refer to the guidelines in the application you are working on and the advice provided by the  UConn Writing Center  to guide the development of your proposal. If you are applying for OUR Programs you should also review the criteria specific to the program to which you are applying to ensure your proposal is appropriately tailored.

Where to Begin

Start by brainstorming answers to the following questions:

• Why am I doing this project? What issues, problems, or questions will I explore and answer?
• What am I hoping to gain or learn from this experience? Why is this project important to me?
• What are my goals for the project and how will I accomplish those goals? What do I hope to realize as a result of my efforts?
• Is my topic too broad or too narrow? Is it feasible?

Use your answers, in conjunction with the guidelines below, to develop the first draft of your proposal. Once you have a draft, plan to seek feedback from trusted sources. You should also plan to attend a workshop at the Writing Center and review their  resources on writing personal statements .

Guidelines for a Successful Proposal

While there is no magic formula to follow for a successful proposal, following these general guidelines will help you develop a thorough, well-developed proposal.

Guideline 1: Review the prompts

The applications for OUR programs will ask you to answer specific questions relating to your project, including some combination of the following:

• the purpose of the work
• the steps you intend to take to complete the project
• why the work is meaningful to you
• how participating in this project will contribute to your educational and career goals

A good proposal clearly outlines the project or research question and convinces others of its merits. The proposal should demonstrate why the project is worthy of support, and why the topic is of interest to you, the applicant. Avoid simply writing a summary of what you’ve done (unless specifically asked to do so); rather, focus on your project or research, and what you’re hoping to accomplish.

Each application is a different, and you need to carefully read and understand all the questions being asked to assure your proposal addresses them. Stay focused on your topic and make sure to fully answer the questions that are asked. Neglecting to answer or not focusing on the questions at hand will hurt your proposal.

Guideline 2: Follow directions

Word and character limits, as well as format requirements, are given for a reason. Stay within the guidelines and parameters. Though you may think it won’t matter if you are 10 words over the limit, or your font size is .5 smaller than instructed, it does matter. Not following the guidelines indicates to the reviewers that you are either unable to follow directions or that you did not read the directions carefully. This is not the impression you want to make.

Guideline 3: Consider your audience

At UConn, the review committees are composed of faculty and professional staff from across the University. They are not experts in every field of study and may not be familiar with the topic of study or type of project you are proposing. Therefore, your aim should be to write your proposal for a well-educated audience that does not have the in-depth technical knowledge associated with your field.

Do not assume the reader will know what you’re talking about or what contribution your project may make to your field of study.  Give the reader enough background information to understand the importance of the research or project without overwhelming them with technical details.

Guideline 4: Be specific

You can have a well-developed idea or solid research question, but if you fail to clearly articulate how you plan to execute your idea or answer your research question, the feasibility of your proposal will be questioned. Be as specific as possible. If you intend to bring speakers to campus, indicate who you hope to bring and why you chose those individuals. If you propose to travel to archives to conduct research, describe why you chose those archives and what special collections you plan to access at the archives. If you intend to conduct focus groups, indicate why you chose to do focus groups and how you plan to recruit participants.

It’s not enough to only state what you intend to do, you need to indicate why and how. Explain the thought process behind the steps you will take to execute your project or answer your research question.

Guideline 5: Allow time for revisions and rewrites

Plan ahead; a well-written proposal doesn’t emerge overnight. Perfunctory proposals rarely excite anyone, and if your proposal comes across as a last-minute endeavor it may signal a lack of sincere investment in your project.

Starting early will also give you time to seek feedback, which is a necessary part of proposal writing. Ask for a critique from faculty mentors, advisors, and writing tutors to assure your intended message is clear and that your proposal addresses the key points. Take feedback into consideration, but make sure that you don’t lose your voice in the process. Your proposal needs to be genuine and sincere, accurately representing your interests, goals, and intentions, and not those of well-meaning reviewers.

Proofread your proposal. Spell check does not catch all errors. Read your proposal aloud; this will help you catch spelling, grammatical, and word use errors. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, and poor word choice are the quickest ways to undermine the effectiveness of your proposal.

Thank you to the University of Southern California Libraries  for a great resource!

Additional resources

• The Research Proposal - video
• Writing a research proposal video
• Example from Psychology Today
• Writing for psychology

This is a video produced at Massey University in New Zealand for GRADUATE STUDENTS. It is the model which your assignment is based. It is a useful introduction to proposals as one type of undergraduate paper. 

The opening discusses doing graduate work.  You can start the video at 2:40.

Yes, this is a long video (1 hour). However, the presenter makes good points. There is a link to the documents he uses in the presentation.

How to Write a Psychology Research Proposal : Writing a brief research proposal cultivates all kinds of intellectual skills.

A PDF of the document is available at the end of the article.

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• Last Updated: May 24, 2024 2:37 PM
• URL: https://umalibguides.uma.edu/soc1

Professional Sociology Research Proposal Writing Example

A research proposal is a draft that is made up of what your original research work would contain. If you’re writing a research paper that should get approval from your supervisor, your proposal becomes equally important. This is because it would determine if your research work would be approved and given an affirmation for you to begin working. Hence, your proposal must be professional and perfect.

Different sociology research paper examples are available for different professional purposes. You may be looking to get examples on Ph.D., Master’s, or a workplace research proposal. While the sociology research proposal example in this article may not be detailed, it gives a general outline of how a professional sociology research proposal should be.

A Good Combination Sociology Research Proposal Example Would Feature:

• The title of your research work

These are often known as sociology research paper topics and it is the base of your research. A good research proposal topic should aim to answer a relevant question. Some sociology research proposal topics include topics on religion, racism, sex, education, etc.

• An Introduction

This is also known as the abstract of your work. It is a summary of what your research would entail. The abstract should not be too lengthy, rather you want your work to be concise and give out the right information.

• Aims and objectives of your research

This is usually an outline of the primary goals that you hope to achieve by carrying out your research. You may need to be creative in this area because it gives your work purpose. Your supervisor would not approve a research work that will not achieve useful results.

• Literature review and research methodology

Sociological research proposal topics need to be decided based on the availability of materials for your research. Your research methodology may include field works, the use of books, or the internet. Either way, it is important that you briefly state how you wish to carry out your research. For books, you should give a brief review of what the books contain and how they will help you in your research work. If your research would require that you use specific resources or get some extra fundings, you might have to state it in your proposal.

Your research proposal would require references to back up the information that you give. This is similar to endnotes or footnotes contained in your original research paper. The more your references, the more your work is considered factual and valid.

The concluding notes of your proposal are a summary of everything that your research must achieve. You must be optimistic and write your conclusion like you have achieved what you wanted to achieve.

A Sociology Research Proposal Example

The internet as a unifying factor: The Role of the Internet in the “Black Lives Matter” Campaign of 2020.

This research project aims to address the role that the internet plays as a platform for unity. The specific area of study is the global unrest fuelled by the black lives matter campaign of 2020. In May 2020, a singular event that occurred in the United States of America, speedily metamorphosed into a significant event in world history. Nations across the globe formed a united front against police brutality and racism in general. This topic is of great fascination as the protests were organized even amid lockdowns and restrictions from the outbreak of the COVID-19.

Some of the characteristics of these protests are; their method of assembly, and universal symbols and phrases irrespective of language barriers. The black lives matter also piqued the interest of celebrities who joined in the cry for justice. This was evident several times when celebrities joined in kneeling or laying on the ground, as well as taking to their large platform to express their support.

For days, the angry crowd gathered in front of strategic places, seeking justice for the death of George Floyd. This research project will examine how the internet helped the spread of the campaign across continents, even amid a restriction of movements. It will also examine the outcome of the protest, to see if it yielded the results that the people clamored for.

Research Description and Goals

The internet performs many roles today and its importance cannot be undermined. Many people would argue that the internet has been a curse as much as it has been a blessing from the time of its emergence. This research topic is highly sensitive because it expands beyond internet activities. It also covers different fields that have contributed to the outcome of the 2020 black lives matter campaign. Some of these fields include racism and police brutality at their peak.

This research work is unique because it touches important aspects of human behavior, and helps determine if the unifying factor of the internet is indeed a blessing or a curse. For this research, I will be examining:

• Past scenarios where the internet have been a yardstick to appeal for important issues
• Past protests in comparison to the 2020 black lives matter protests
• Past black lives matter protests in comparison to the 2020 black lives matter protest

The black lives matter campaign of 2020 appears to have been the outburst of years’ worth of frustration bottled up on the inside. The primary goals of this research are:

• To describe and analyze one of the many effects of the internet in our everyday lives, using a highly significant event in world history
• To examine how people took to virtual protests to express their discomfort on the issue.
• To discuss how certain symbols and converging points were unanimously agreed
• To outline the different ways that the internet has been used as a force to achieve set goals.
• To weigh the power of the internet and foretell the height of its power

Research Methodology

The broadness of this topic is such that it touches the internet, social movements, as well as the fight against racism. Many of the facts are contained on the internet. However, the following methods will be applied:

• Oral interviews

Oral interviews will be conducted both physically and virtually with participants of the movement. Although there are fewer available books on the subject matter, physical interviews with key activists in strategic points of convergence will be carried out. The virtual protestors will also be interviewed, and their views on how they were involved through the internet will be used in this research project.

• Questionnaires

Online and physical questionnaires will be given out to persons concerning the topic. Data gathered will be compiled to aid the research work.

• Internet research

The data analysis of the internet within the time frame of the protest will be a primary source of research.

• Extra fundings

Extra fundings will be needed to access the data analysis of the internet within the course of the research.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/30/950053607/in-2020-protests-spread-across-the-globe-with-a-similar-message-black-lives-matter (accessed on October 10)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_George_Floyd_protests_outside_the_United_States ( accessed on October 10)

At the end of this research project, information gathered would portray how the internet has proven to break barriers and facilitate unity. Also, there will be facts as to how the internet aided the speedy popularity of the 2020 black lives matter. We should also be able to analyze the different ways that the internet can be explored for the benefit of man to produce wanted results.

Your Professional Research Proposal

Finally, you now know that the research proposal is extremely important. However, a good professional research proposal is more important. Hence, you should carefully construct yours with the guidelines listed above to get the best research proposal for you.

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Sociology Research Proposal: A Complete Guide & Topics for Inspiration

Need some push to start with sociology research proposals? Here it is!

Sociology Research Proposals: What, Why, and How

Are you taking a sociology class? If so, you will be required to write a thesis or dissertation at some point in your journey. For this, you will have to submit a brief, formally structured document known as a sociological research proposal. This document explains:

• What you intend to investigate (or your topic).
• Why you are performing this investigation (or justification of your topic).
• How you intend to conduct the investigation (or the approach you are going to take).

Its goal is also to convince your supervisor and other people involved that the work you’re doing is worthwhile and feasible for your academic position.

Writing such a paper is a lengthy, nerve-wracking process. However, this guide from our best experts is here to save you time and equip you with all the information you need for a winning copy: length, structure, a sociological research proposal example, a list of compelling sociology research proposal topics worthy of investigation in 2023, and much, much more. So, let’s dive right in!

How Long Should a Research Proposal for Sociology Be?

Sociology proposals are organized in the same way across most social science disciplines and have a general structure or template to follow. Their length typically depends on the supervisor’s instructions and ranges from ten to twenty-five pages.

A typical sociology research proposal includes the following sections:

One of the first things your supervisor will come across is the title or topic of your project. It should be concise and engaging yet reflect the essence of the study. Therefore, our experts recommend developing a list of potential topics and determining which fits best. If you cannot justify your investigation with just a title, you can try adding a subtitle that will include the rest of the explanation.

• Introduction

This paper is typically submitted by students seeking grant funding for their project or as the first step in obtaining approval to write a dissertation. Even if this is only a class assignment, think of your introduction as a pitch of an idea or a brief yet in-depth examination of the chosen problem’s significance. After reading your introduction, your supervisor should get a sense of your passion for the subject matter. Make them excited about the potential outcomes of the study. So, you must approach your introduction with care and attention to detail to do this.

Note that the majority of sociology research proposals do not include an abstract or summary before the introduction.

• Literature Review

Since this section serves as an information defense, it should be intelligently structured. Devote it to a comprehensive review and synthesis of prior studies relevant to the problem under investigation. It should also highlight knowledge gaps and provide a theoretical framework. In other words, the goal here is to place your study within the greater context. Tell what is being investigated while demonstrating that your project is unique and innovative. Do not be scared to question previous study findings. Explore what you believe is missing and explain how a prior study has failed to thoroughly investigate the subject matter that your study addresses.

A good strategy is to break the literature into conceptual themes rather than describe groups of materials individually and keep the five C’s (cite, compare, contrast, critique, and connect) of literature review writing in mind.

• Research Questions & Hypothesis

Once you’ve located the gap and decided on the literature, this section will be easy. A study question is just a series of questions you will attempt to answer during your investigation. The number of these questions can vary depending on various factors, such as your time and resources. However, we recommend including at least three questions in your research proposal sociology.

Next, provide a clear statement of expectation or make a prediction that will be tested by your study.

• Methodology

This section explains how you intend to undertake and complete your investigation. Consequently, in your “Methodology,” inform your supervisor of things you intend to use with an explanation of your choices. Such things may be the following:

• The step-by-step plan.
• Data collection methods
• Instruments and tools.
• Data analysis techniques.

This will not even be a section but rather two lines in your research proposal for sociology. Here, you will specify the time you plan to spend on your project and how you want to use that time. It can be combined with the “Methodology” section.

• Aim of the Study

This is where you try to predict the expected outcome of your investigation or what you want to attain at the end of the process. The section also tells your supervisor how your sociology study will fit into the existing body of knowledge.

Remember the study questions you asked yourself earlier? This is the time to envision your answers to them.

The references page is the most uncomplicated and organized section of your research proposal in sociology. It is just a list of all the sources you will or have previously studied to complete your investigation. This list will include all the articles or essays you indicated in the existing literature section. You can also add any other books, reviews, journal articles, news, etc., cited in your project.

The most basic format for a bibliography is as follows:

• Author’s name, followed by surname, then initials.
• Title of the article in single or double quotes.
• Italicized journal title.
• Volume, number of the issue.
• Publication year in brackets.

Note that your bibliography should not be numbered or bulleted. All sources have to be listed alphabetically by the author’s surname.

Now that you know the basics, let’s move on to the sociology research proposal example and the best sociology topics to research in 2023.

20 Powerful Sociology Research Proposal Topics to Consider in 2023

Check out the list of pertinent sociology topics to help you fetch impressive scores in the subject this year:

• Impact of Social Media on Self-Identity.
• Community Policing & Crime Prevention.
• Gender & Leadership Roles.
• Online Dating & Intimate Relationships.
• Racial Disparities in Educational Achievement.
• Youth Gangs & Urban Violence.
• Mental Health Stigma in Different Cultures.
• The Aging Workforce.
• Political Polarization in the Digital Age.
• Family Structures & Child Well-Being.
• Inequality & Access to Healthcare.
• Religion & Social Integration.
• Cyberbullying Among Adolescents.
• Environmental Activism & Social Change.
• Housing Segregation & Neighborhood Development.
• Criminal Justice Reform & Recidivism.
• Immigration & Cultural Identity.
• Addiction & Social Support.
• Globalization & Indigenous Cultures.
• Social Media Activism & Social Movements.

Read also: Helpful tips on selecting a research topic .

Other Actual Sociology Topics to Research to Choose From

In case none of the above options seem to fit your needs, we’ve compiled a list of other, not less effective sociology research topics for you to consider:

• Disability & Workplace Inclusion.
• Aging & Social Isolation.
• Food Insecurity & Health Outcomes.
• Social Networks & Career Advancement.
• Humanitarian Aid & Global Crisis Response.
• Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System.
• Inclusive Education & Special Needs Students.
• Social Media & Body Image.
• Hate Crimes & Social Media.
• War-Induced Migration & Refugee Integration.

Note that you shouldn’t refuse to investigate a topic if you possess an emotional response to it. However, you must keep your strong reactions under control so that they do not affect the overall result of the sociology study.

Read also: Writing a social science research proposal

Still Stuck? Let Pros Handle Your Research Proposal Sociology Today!

If such a task seems like a real challenge, a good option is to seek professional assistance from a legitimate writing service like phdresearchproposal.org. Our experts have extensive expertise working on sociology papers of varying complexity levels and will gladly assist you with the task at any time of the day or night, 24/7.

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Applying for admission as a doctoral student in Sociology may seem quite a daunting process. These notes are offered as practical guidelines for prospective students. They do not replace the official rules and regulations (as laid out in UCT’s official handbooks on General Rules and Policies   and the Humanities Faculty’s Postgraduate Studies Handbook ).

 As a first step, please read the following document on applying for a PhD in the Sociology Department.  Please also see links and downloads in the right-hand column of this page.

Minimum Admission Requirements 

You need to be academically very well prepared to be admitted as a PhD student. This usually means having at least a good Master’s degree in Sociology (or an acceptable alternative social science discipline) and proven competence as an independent social researcher. A good research Master’s degree (i.e. a degree completed by dissertation only, without coursework) usually fulfils these requirements. Alternatively, a Master’s by coursework and dissertation may be acceptable if both the overall mark and the dissertation mark are very good, that is at least 70%. These minimum requirements do not guarantee admission.

These entrance requirements are sometimes relaxed for "mature" students, i.e. students who are older and have been out of the university world for some time. In such cases, we look for other evidence that the applicant is motivated and capable of completing a doctorate.

Students are sometimes admitted to study for a research Master’s degree with the possibility of a later change of registration to a PhD. A change of registration to PhD will only be approved if the student has demonstrated clearly that they are capable of completing successfully the PhD.

The admission of students to study for a PhD entails three stages:

1. A preliminary stage to ascertain whether there is a fit between the student’s interests and the department. 2. The formal application. 3. Transfer from provisional to full registration.

At this stage you should communicate with the Administrator in the Sociology Department, [email protected]. You may also communicate directly with academic members of staff who are possible supervisors. However, it is advised that you CC the administrator in all correspondence during this preliminary stage.

Please send: 

• Your CV (which includes the University contact details of two academic referees) 
• A short proposal: this should be 6 to 8 pages or 2-3000 words in length; it should indicate clearly and succinctly (1) what you propose to research, (2) how you propose to research it, and (3) why this will be a significant contribution to one or other branch of sociology, including with respect to the existing literature. This is not a binding commitment on your part: if you are admitted, then we expect that the design of your thesis will evolve. But you must demonstrate the basic coherence of your proposed thesis topic.
• All past academic transcripts (undergraduate and postgraduate) 
• A writing sample. This should provide evidence of your academic – preferably sociological – writing ability and your command of research methods; your Master’s dissertation would best serve this purpose.
• A motivation letter

If you have identified one or more possible supervisors in the Department, you should also indicate this. You might then be referred to a potential supervisor for further discussion. This step is important because the Department of Sociology will only take on a new doctoral student if that person has met the academic requirements and there is an appropriate supervisor within the Department who is both qualified, available and willing to provide the necessary supervision. Even if there is a qualified supervisor in the student’s proposed field of research, he or she might not be available or willing to supervise.

If none of the professors or lecturers in the department is qualified, available and willing to serve as supervisor, then the Department will not admit the student. It is at this point, therefore, that the administrator, on behalf of the Department’s Postgraduate Committee, will advise you whether or not to proceed with your application.

All requested documents must be provided in order for a proper assessment to be made. If there is definite interest expressed in your potential candidature, you will still be required to complete the full application process (see section below) before a formal response is given.   

Once you have established that the Department of Sociology will consider your formal application, you should proceed with applying formally for admission. Formal applications are done online, on: http://applyonline.uct.ac.za

Dates - application and registration

PhD applicants may apply at any time, but keep the various registration deadlines in mind (see section below).  Allow for enough time (at least 2 months) for the assessment process to be completed in order to make the registration deadlines.  Please ensure that all required documentation is provided - both for the preliminary assessment and, should it be recommended to apply formally, for the online application.  Bear in mind that university holidays may impact on assessments.  Mid-June to mid-July, as well as mid-December to end-January, are not advisable times to submit applications or expect a prompt response.

First-time registrations

New PhD students may register throughout the academic year but it must be  before 1 May  if it is to count as the first academic year of study (towards the minimum period of registration).  This is pertinent for those candidates who would like to graduate within the minimum time of 2 years, and may also impact scholarship funding.  

• A new PhD student registering before 30 June is charged the FULL annual fee.
• A new PhD student registering after 30 June is granted a 50% rebate of the annual course fee.

Returning candidates: must register by no later than February each year

Students will be required to register provisionally for a PhD, and will transfer to full registration only when the Department is satisfied with the student’s progress, and once their research proposal has been approved by the University's Doctoral Degrees Board.  

Students who are registered provisionally for a PhD are expected to spend their first six months developing, under supervision, their research proposal. To assist new students with provisional registration, the Department endeavours to hold an 'induction' session for new PhD students to discuss the requirements of a full proposal. New students are required to attend.  Students are sometimes required or advised to take appropriate Masters- or even Honours-level courses to help their preparations.

After six months, or earlier if you and your supervisor agree that the proposal is ready, you will be required to submit a full proposal and present it at a Departmental seminar. This full proposal should be approximately 20 pages (6-8000 words) in length. 

For more information on the research proposal, and the presentation thereof, see the Department's PhD Application guidelines.

**Please note that the Department is unable to respond to fee-related queries**

Fees information can be obtained from the fees office:  [email protected] It is also imperative that you consult the  UCT Fees Handbook  

International Students 

**See Section 5 of the Fees Handbook for particulars**

An annual International Fee (not applicable to local, SADC or PhD students) is levied every year of registration. SADC students are levied an annual Administrative Service Fee.

Scholarships and bursaries are administered by the Postgraduate Funding Office. 

For information on funding, see the  Postgraduate Funding Office web pages  and the  Financial Assistance for Postgraduate Study and Postdoctoral Research handbook .  The Postgraduate Funding  notice board  is another useful source for funding opportunities. 

You can  contact the Funding Office at  [email protected] . 

The deadlines for the UCT- administered awards vary from July to the end of October and usually pre-date the deadline for application submissions, so please submit your financial applications in on time if you are considering applying for a degree. 

**Note that the closing date for the International Students' Scholarship is 31 July of the preceding year of study**

School of Social Sciences

How to write a research proposal

You will need to submit a research proposal with your PhD application. This is crucial in the assessment of your application and it warrants plenty of time and energy.

Your proposal should outline your project and be around 1,500 words.

Your research proposal should include a working title for your project.

Overview of the research

In this section, you should provide a short overview of your research. You should also state how your research fits into the research priorities of your particular subject area.

Here you can refer to the research areas and priorities of a particular research grouping or supervisor.

You must also state precisely why you have chosen to apply to the discipline area and how your research links into our overall profile.

Positioning of the research

This should reference the most important texts related to the research, demonstrate your understanding of the research issues, and identify existing gaps (both theoretical and practical) that the research is intended to address.

Research design and methodology

This section should identify the information that is necessary to carry out the analysis and the possible research techniques that could deliver the information.

Ethical considerations

You should identify and address any potential ethical considerations in relation to your proposed research. Please discuss your research with your proposed supervisor to see how best to progress your ideas in line with University of Manchester ethics guidance, and ensure that your proposed supervisor is happy for you to proceed with your application.

Your research proposal will be used to assess the quality and originality of your ideas, whether you are able to think critically and whether you have a grasp of the relevant literature. It also gives us important information about the perspectives you intend to take on your research area, and how you fit into the department's research profile overall. This is helpful when assigning a supervisor.

If you are applying to study an Economics postgraduate research programme, our advice and requirements are slightly different:

• How to write an economics proposal

Supervisors

We encourage you to discuss your proposal informally with a potential supervisor before making a formal application to ensure it is of mutual interest.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that we will be able to allocate you to the supervisor you initially contact and that we may allocate you to another expert in the area.

• Find a supervisor

Flexibility

You will not be forced to follow the proposal exactly once you have started to study. It is normal for students to refine their original proposal, in light of detailed literature review, further consideration of research approaches and comments received from your supervisors (and other academic staff).

Pitfalls to avoid

We sometimes have to reject students who meet the academic requirements but have not produced a satisfactory research proposal, therefore:

• Make sure that your research idea, question or problem is very clearly stated and well-grounded in academic research.
• Make sure that your proposal is well focused and conforms exactly to the submission requirements described here.
• Poorly specified, jargon-filled or rambling proposals will not convince us that you have a clear idea of what you want to do.

The University uses electronic systems to detect plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice and for assessment. All Humanities PhD programmes require the submission of a research proposal as part of the application process. The Doctoral Academy upholds the principle that where a candidate approaches the University with a project of study, this should be original. While it is understandable that research may arise out of previous studies, it is vital that your research proposal is not the subject of plagiarism.

Example proposals

• Philosophy - Example 1
• Philosophy - Example 2
• Politics - Example 1
• Politics - Example 2
• Social Anthropology - Example 1
• Social Anthropology - Example 2
• Social Statistics - Example 1
• Social Statistics - Example 2
• Sociology - Example 1
• Sociology - Example 2

Further help

The following books may help you to prepare your research proposal (as well as in doing your research degree).

• Bell, J. (1999):  Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education & Social Science , (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
• Baxter, L, Hughes, C. and Tight, M. (2001):  How to Research , (Open University Press, Milton Keynes).
• Cryer, P. (2000):  The Research Student's Guide to Success , (Open University, Milton Keynes).
• Delamont, S., Atkinson, P. and Parry, O. (1997):  Supervising the PhD , (Open University Press, Milton Keynes).
• Philips, E. and Pugh, D. (2005):  How to get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors , (Open University Press, Milton Keynes).

If you need help and advice about your application, contact the Postgraduate Admissions Team.

Admissions contacts

University guidelines

You may also find it useful to read the advice and guidance on the University website about writing a proposal for your research degree application.

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Course closed:

Sociology is no longer accepting new applications.

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Apply using the Applicant Portal

The Apply Now button on the right will take you to the Applicant Portal. There, you can create and submit your application and supporting documents, and you can also request your references.

An application is only complete when:

• you have submitted your application and supporting documents via the Applicant Portal
• you have paid the application fee if applicable. For further information on application fees, and which courses require an application fee, see here .
• your referees have provided their references.

If you miss the deadlines specified in this section, you will not be able to submit your application.

Applicants are advised to apply in good time before the relevant deadlines. We attach great importance to a well-motivated and viable research proposal; please read carefully the guidelines relating to the research proposal. 

We welcome applications from those wishing to study part-time. Part-time applicants from outside the UK should note that visa restrictions may apply, and that not all sources of funding are available to part-time students. Please  contact the Department for further details.

Selection Process

Applications are considered in batches. Final decisions are made at a meeting of the Postgraduate Education Committee in December, February and June.

The Department will consider applications made at any time until 1 May 2024. We advise applicants to apply by 15 February to have the best possible chance of securing a place. Those who apply by Postgraduate Funding deadline (5 December 2023) will receive a decision around late January, those who apply by 15 February will hear in early April, and those who apply after this time will hear in early June.

Shortlisted applicants are invited to participate in an interview with a prospective supervisor.    

Further information on How To Apply

Things You'll Need

In order to apply for this course you'll need to think about getting a few things ready before you apply.

• Two academic references  
• Transcript  
• Evidence of competence in English   If required - you can check using our tool
• Research proposal (M) Please upload a research proposal of around 2,000 words. Special formatting is not required. Your proposal would generally contain: • A clear, well-motivated and viable research question • A brief review of the literature, covering the theoretical basis for your research, the current state of knowledge in the field, and details of what your research will add • The research methods you propose to use • You may also want to explain the reasons for your own interest in the subject, and any previous work you have done in the area The word limit includes footnotes, appendices, figures, tables, etc, but does not include references.
• Sample of work (optional) Applicants may submit written work. This can be an essay written for your previous course, a published academic article or another piece of writing that you feel shows your suitability for the course.

Gates Cambridge Scholarships

If you wish to be considered for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship you will also need to provide the following:

• Gates Cambridge Reference  
• Research Proposal (PhD applicants only)

See Gates Cambridge for more information.

How to Find a Supervisor

Applicants to the PhD should name a prospective supervisor on their application form. Not all members of the Department are available to take new students every year; please see the list of available supervisors at Choosing a Supervisor.

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, department of sociology, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, michaelmas 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Funding Deadlines

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

• Latin American Studies (by thesis only) MPhil
• Development Studies MPhil
• Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Modern Middle Eastern Studies) MPhil
• Latin American Studies PhD
• Latin American Studies MPhil

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Sociology and Criminology

Lexi bibbs: rooted in iowa and studying crime in a new ph. d. program.

Lexi Bibbs says that she is very local, born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In school growing up, she was active in mock trial, show choir, musical theatre, regular theatre, dance, gymnastics, and cheerleading. “It was a lot,” she says. While it is hard for her to find time to perform as an adult in college, “I still sing in the car,” she laughs.

Criminology was not her first career plan. Aptitude tests in school all suggested the same two careers for her: actress or coroner. She went to science camp and considered studying medicine. Trying to understand violent crime intrigued her as she watched “Criminal Minds” on TV.

Lexi studied psychology and criminology at the University of Northern Iowa but wanted to do something investigative. She wanted to study violent crime. She took the LSAT and qualified for law school but that didn’t feel right, and she took time off to become a 911 emergency dispatcher for Cedar Rapids. She enjoyed the job, but the environment wasn’t good for her, alone in a dark room hearing people at their worst and never knowing what happened to them. She missed being around people and took a job in the Cedar Rapids Library but still missed school. Her family often joked that she would be in school for life. She says that while many people can never imagine going back to school, “I can never imagine leaving it.”

Graduate programs in psychology weren’t the right fit. She wanted to understand psychology but specifically to investigate criminal behavior. Then she chanced upon the new Criminology PhD program right down the road in Iowa City. “It was everything I wanted in one place,” she says. The program covers research in crime, law, and social control, and having sociology in the department helps too.

The emergency dispatcher job gave her the idea for a current research project on resilience. One young man called in to calmly describe how he stabbed his father after an argument. Another person called for help finding the access panel to their attic. People respond so differently to the events in their lives. Why do some people recover from childhood trauma that ruins the lives of others from similar backgrounds? A combination of underlying tendencies and a triggering event could explain it.

Lexi says that she loves everything about the new criminology program and the professors she has come to know. Meg Rogers became more like a friend as they worked together teaching undergraduate classes. James Wo challenged her to conduct independent research and write her first real research paper. Alison Bianchi motivated her to develop a research grant proposal. “It has been terrifying and great,” she says. 

Lexi Bibbs has discovered that becoming a professor is the best way to never leave school.

NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

Writing a social sciences PhD proposal

For many academics, each new year brings a flurry of email enquiries about PhD supervision. In my experience these tend to range between a vague notion about a topic (or a few possible topics) and a detailed account of a research idea, usually drawn from a successful MA thesis or an area of professional interest. What I hardly ever get, however, is a proper draft proposal that I can start working up with an applicant.

For me, having at least a rough draft of your proposal before you contact potential supervisors is good practice, for a number of reasons:

• it shows you have given the matter some thought
• it identifies you as someone who is able to work independently
• it allows you to take ownership of your work from the start (and some supervisors WILL take over if you let them).

If you are planning to apply for Research Council funding, a draft gives you a valuable head start – I also see the process of feedback and amendment for these high-profile applications as an excellent insight into what a student will be like to supervise (I generally ask for several redrafts before I will sign off).

A PhD proposal does not need to be long. In fact, I encourage applicants to be as concise as they can – Research Council application forms generally allow a couple of sides, 10 pt font minimum, so I would stick to that. For a social science PhD, proposals will contain a number of common elements:

A short paragraph describing your topic, stating why it is important. First and foremost, you should be proposing a project which is fresh and interesting rather than repeating previous studies. This doesn’t necessarily mean a completely new topic (and there are no completely original arguments), but it could mean, for instance: looking at an existing topic in a new way; asking slightly different questions; researching a specific population; or bringing together two theories that haven’t been used together, or haven’t been used to explore this topic, before.

The best research in my field tends to be both policy/society-relevant  and  able to make a contribution to academic debates, so look for a social need  and  gaps in the relevant literature. Your project should pass the ‘so what?’ test on both intellectual and practical grounds. This is especially the case if you want to work with a marginalised group as an outsider – your study needs to have clear benefits for your participants, and it should be obvious that you are the right person to do it and are doing it for the right reasons (if you’re not sure this is the case, perhaps  read this post  and reflect). If you’re applying for research funding, your project rationale should also link to the strategic priorities of the funding body.

Research questions

Two or three  specific questions you will answer. They must be ones which have not been asked before in the particular way you will ask them. They should usually be open but narrow, focusing on aspects of issues or relationships between phenomena (e.g. ‘what are the causes of violence against sex workers?’ is too broad, but ‘what are sex workers’ experiences of violence under different legal/regulatory models?’ is more promising). You should also be realistic – what exactly are you going to be able to find out? Be wary of questions which are too ambitious – in social research this often means causal, categorical, or conclusive. Avoid making assumptions that will threaten the validity of your analysis (e.g. ‘how can parents who formula-feed be made aware of the benefits of breastfeeding?) Never ask something you feel you already know.

The trick is to develop research questions which both create a do-able project and account for the complexity of the social world, and to represent these as simply as you possibly can. This is difficult! Your research questions will probably go through several iterations with your prospective supervisor, so they don’t have to be perfect first time.

Literature review

This is directly linked to your rationale and research questions – a summary of existing relevant work, identifying the gaps (both empirical and theoretical) your project will fill. You may be looking at several areas of literature – some providing general context while others relate to particular issues. In a project on violence against sex workers under different legal/regulatory models, you would probably be making use of general work on violence against women/sexual violence, more specific literature on violence against sex workers (of all genders) and violence against particular groups who may be more at risk within the industry (women of colour and trans women, for example), and literature covering different models of sex industry regulation and their implications. Studies would probably be both empirical and more conceptual in focus.

Don’t just write a list in this section – introduce different bodies of literature, summarise key themes and points, identify gaps, and make explicit how all this frames your particular project. Be clear in your mind about how you are using the literature at hand, and how you might feed back into the literature and make new contributions when you have completed your research.

Theoretical framework

The conceptual material in your literature review might inform your theoretical framework – the concepts most central to your research project. You might be focusing on gender as a key category of analysis; you might (should) also be taking an intersectional approach. You might be making use of other concepts such as agency or stigma, or developing the work of particular theorists. You need to have an idea of how all this relates together and whether there are any useful connections or knotty contradictions at work.

Your theoretical framework will and should change as you develop your PhD project, coming to fruition when you have finished your data analysis and are (hopefully) ready to say something new. It need not be fully developed in your proposal. In fact, if I see a PhD proposal which has an elaborate theoretical framework already, it often raises questions about whether the student is setting out to confirm things they feel they already know. Nevertheless, your proposal should contain some indication of the theories and concepts you find relevant to your research questions, and (most importantly) some thoughts about how you might operationalise these. How can you identify agency, for example? How might you measure stigma? How can you  put intersectionality into practice?

N.B. Not all proposals will have a separate literature review and theoretical framework: if your project is heavily conceptual these might be merged into one longer section, or if you are conducting a large empirical study which will generate an entirely new dataset you may not need to be so focused on the theory.

Methodology

This is probably the most important part of your proposal – a description of what you are going to do in very precise terms. This should include your your broad methodological approach – is it quantitative or qualitative? Are you using a particular research design, for instance ethnography or case study? Are you situated within a specific epistemological framework, and why? It should also include any specific methodological techniques or elements of research design – for instance, if you are trying to explore the interactions between phenomena, how will you measure and establish these? (e.g. in a qualitative study exploring how breastfeeding impacts on mothers’ experiences of bonding with their babies, you would need to consider how you would tease out the role of breastfeeding from other factors).

Your methodology should give details of your planned sources of data and how you will sample them. Be specific: if you are doing interviews, how many? What types of people will you hope to recruit as participants, and why? If you are working with documents, how many and how will they be selected? You need to give assurances that you are not just cherry-picking your sample to confirm what you feel you already know – for instance, a proposed study on whether the media contains racist bias will be stronger if you are not just working with content from the  Daily Mail . You should also give details of how you will negotiate access to your sources, and the more groundwork you can do in advance the better, especially if you are working on sensitive issues or with marginalised communities. Your methods should then be described as accurately as you possibly can, as well as your planned techniques of data analysis, with full attention paid to how you might operationalise your theories.

Your methodology section should be primarily descriptive – your prospective supervisor needs to be confident that you have thought your project through and are in a good position to carry it out. It should also be mostly practical: although reflexivity is essential to qualitative social research, your PhD proposal is probably not the best place to present your autobiography. You need to show that you are conversant with the methodological literature and with other, similar studies, and have thought about your planned project with reference to these. Of course, your methodology will evolve during the course of your project and it is always possible to change it – but it is essential to be thinking like a researcher from the start.

Sometimes this section will be part of your methodology; sometimes it will be separate. If you are doing any research with human subjects you will probably undergo a rigorous ethical review process within your institution, before you are cleared for fieldwork. If your topic is sensitive or you are working with marginalised communities, this can take a while and can involve various requests for amendments. This section is your chance to show that you have engaged with the literature on research ethics and thought about any potential issues for your study: use it to identify these and talk about how you might address them. Power relations, informed consent, anonymity/confidentiality, risk/harm, participant and self-care all need to be covered.

University ethics committees can be conservative;  you  can take a critical perspective, especially where notions of ‘risk’ and ‘harm’ are concerned, and particularly in relation to the differences between working with more marginalised and more elite groups. However, you should also be aware that this is a bureaucratic process that could potentially stand between you and the successful completion of your research: some hoop-jumping may be necessary.

As the last section, your proposal should present a description of how you will break your research into manageable tasks and deadlines in order to get your PhD finished within the time you have (3-4 years full-time, 6-8 years part-time). It is best to present this in the form of a table, specifying dates by which you will have completed particular tasks. This timeline may change – but it is useful to have done some advance planning to show potential supervisors and funders that you are organised and likely to be able to deliver.

Finally, remember that you should probably try to fit all this on to two sides of A4. This usually includes references, so be strategic/sparing with these, and remember that you can allude to wider reading by using phrases such as ‘such as’, or ‘amongst others’ as part of your citations (this last tip is for PhD proposals only – you must not do this in your final thesis!)

Alison Phipps is Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Sussex. She was Chair of the Feminist and Women's Studies Association UK and Ireland, 2009-2012. You can visit her blog at https://genderate.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Twitter @alisonphipps.

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