Topic: The rise of teenage prostitution in post war Sierra Leone: Exploring education and health outcome.
Structure of the dissertation proposal
• Around 6-8 pages in length (about 2000-3000 words), and include a:
o Title
o Rational for the study
o Conceptual framework
o Aim and overarching research questions
o Methodology and methods
o Ethical issues
o Timeline
o References
The table, below, offers an example of a proposal template developed you can adapt for your own use.
Research Proposal (2000-3000 words in total) - suggested template
1. Title(this can be working title which you might revise later on)
2. Background (about 400 words). This section should briefly:
a. Inform readers about what is known about the problem or issue at the international, regional, national and local level
b. Inform readers about what has already been published on the problem/ issue
c. Outline what gaps you identified regarding what is known about the issue
d. Provide a brief discussion of key concepts in your field (about 250 words). For example,
i. For education in general, you may wish to outline what you mean by education and learning and its political and social nature
ii. For planning, you may wish to briefly outline what is meant by planning and/or which planning approach you are using and why
iii. For health and wellbeing, you may wish to discuss how you locate your study with regard to the World Health Organisation definition of health and wellbeing, and what you understand to be the key features of health promotion
iv. For gender, you may wish to outline what you mean by ‘gender', and note its social, political and relational features
3. Conceptual framework (about 300 words)
Describe which conceptual framework(s) you are using to guide your research and why. This may relate to the overarching concepts addressed in the core CTI module, such as rights-based approaches, the capability approach, gender relations, human capital theory, the Ottawa Charter.(Please choose gender relations and human capital theory).
4. Aim and overarching research questions (which guide the study overall)
The aim will provide readers with a general sense of the purpose of the study, such as to increase an understanding of.... (for example, issues that affect the quality of education)
Overarching research questions let readers know what answers the study is likely to provide with regard to the aim. They might follow this format:
1. What is already known about [such and such] an issue in general terms: (This could be answered through your literature review)
2. What are the current factors that relate to the issue in the context in which you are interested? (This could be answered through data/information collected through your field (or desk-based) study)
3. What implications do findings have for the development of .... - forexample, policy, practice and research. (This could be answered through the discussion of your findings and your implications)
5. Methodology (usually include all the headings and sub-headings in bold) (about 600 words)
a. The overall approach: Whether the study adopts a broadly positivist, interpretive or a critical approach - and why you have adopted this approach
b. Study design: What overall design will be used (such as case study or survey or another design you decide) - and why this design is being used
c. Methods
i. For the literature review: information about how you will conduct the literature review. Which usually has two sub-headings:
1. Literature search: information about which databases and search terms you will use
2. Literature analysis: how you will analyse the literature to answer a research question
3. What do you know about why young people end up in prostitution?
4. The impact of prostitution on their health and education
5. Implication for appropriate policies/response
ii. For the fieldwork: how the fieldwork will be conducted with the following sub-headings:
1. Sampling: What site (general geographical area), settings (local settings or organisations) and people you will sample and your reasons for choosing each of these
2. Data collection: How you will collect data/information and what led you to select one or more particular methods
3. Data analysis: What steps you are going to take to ‘make sense' of the data collected
6. Ethical issues (about 300 words): What ethical issues are to be addressed and which ethical guidelines you are following - such as those from BERA or the BSA
7. Management and timescale: What tasks you will complete by which particular time
8. References