Writing a proposal for your dissertation: guidelines and examples

"This user-friendly guide helps students get started on—and complete—a successful doctoral dissertation proposal by accessibly explaining the process and breaking it down into manageable steps. Steven R. Terrell demonstrates how to write each chapter of the proposal, including the problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions and hypotheses; literature review; and detailed plan for data collection and analysis. Of special utility, end-of-chapter exercises serve as building blocks for developing a full draft of an original proposal. Numerous case study examples are drawn from across the social, behavioral, and health science disciplines. Appendices present an exemplary proposal written three ways to encompass quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs. Pedagogical Features: "Let's Start Writing" exercises leading up to a complete proposal draft. "Do You Understand?" checklists of key terms plus an end-of-book glossary. End-of-chapter quizzes with answers. Case study examples from education, psychology, health sciences, business, and information systems. Sample proposal with three variants of the methods chapter: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods"--

1. Developing the problem statement for your dissertation proposal -- Introduction -- The doctoral experience -- The problem is the problem -- Finding a good research problem -- Characteristics of a good problem -- Writing the problem statement -- The problem statement as part of a dissertation proposal -- Summary of chapter one -- Do you understand these key words and phrases? -- Review questions -- Let's start writing our own proposal -- 2. Writing purpose statements, research questions, and hypotheses -- Introduction -- The quantitative purpose statement -- Purpose statements for qualitative studies -- Defining and describing a research question -- The methodological point of departure -- Getting back to stating our research questions -- A word of caution! -- Putting it together: problem statements, purpose statements, and research questions -- Problem statements, purpose statements, and research questions in the literature -- Stating hypotheses for your research study -- An example of stating our hypothesis -- Understanding the four basic rules for hypotheses -- Hypotheses must be testable via the collection and analysis of data -- Research versus null hypotheses -- All hypoth…