From reis@stanford.edu Tue Aug 6 15:45:50 2002 Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 09:40:19 -0800 From: Rick Reis To: tomorrows-professor@lists.Stanford.EDU Subject: Tomorrow's Professor Msg. # 77 THE FUNCTION OF THE DISSERTATION PROPOSAL Folks: Whether or not your department requires you to submit a dissertation proposal, if you are a Ph.D. student you should seriously consider doing so. The work you put into such a proposal will redound to your benefit many times over once you begin working on your dissertation. The written (and approved) proposal is also a way of setting expectations for both you and your advisor(s) in advance of what is a major research undertaking. Below is an excerpt on the functions of the dissertation proposal taken from an excellent book, Proposals That Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals, by Lawerence F. Locke, Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, 3rd editon, 1993 pp 3-5. Regards, Rick Reis Reis@cdr.stanford.edu UP NEXT: An Intellectual Cooperative at ASU ------------------------------ 518 words ------------------------ THE FUNCTION OF THE DISSERTATION PROPOSAL A [dissertation] proposal sets forth both the exact nature of the matter to be investigated and a detailed account of the methods to be employed. In addition, the proposal usually contains material supporting the importance of the topic selected and the appropriateness of the research methods to be employed. A [dissertation] proposal functions in at least three ways: as a means of communication, as a plan, and as a contract. Communication: The proposal serves to communicate the investigator's research plans to those who provide consultation, give consent, or disburse funds. The document is the primary source on which the graduate student's thesis or dissertation committee must base the functions of review, consultation, and, more important, approval for implementation of the research project. It also serves a similar function for persons holding the purse strings of foundations or governmental funding agencies. The quality of assistance, the economy of consultation, and the probability of financial support, will all depend directly on the clarity and thoroughness of the proposal. Plan: The proposal serves as a plan for action. All empirical research consists of careful, systematic, and pre-planned observations of some restricted set of phenomena. The acceptability of results is judged exclusively in terms of the adequacy of the methods employed in making, recording, and interpreting the planned observations. Accordingly, the plan for observation, with its supporting arguments and explications, is the basis on which the thesis, dissertation, or research report will be judged. The research report can be no better than the plan of investigation. Hence, an adequate proposal sets forth the plan in step-by-step detail. The existence of a detailed plan that incorporates the most careful anticipation of problems to be confronted and contingent courses of action is the most powerful insurance against oversight or ill-considered choices during the execution phase of the investigation. The hallmark of a good proposal is a level of thoroughness and detail sufficient to permit another investigator to replicate the study, that is, to perform the same planned observation with results not substantially different from those the author might obtain. Contract: A completed proposal, approved for execution and signed by all members of the sponsoring committee, constitutes a bond of agreement between the student and the advisors. An approved grant proposal results in a contract between the investigator (and often the university) and a funding source. The approved proposal describes a study that if conducted competently and completely should provide the basis for a report that would meet all the standards for acceptability. Accordingly, once the contract has been made, all but minor changes should occur only when arguments can be made for absolute necessity or compelling desirability. With the exception of plans for qualitative research, proposals for theses and dissertations should be in final form prior to the collection of data. Under most circumstances, substantial revisions should be made only with the explicit consent of the full committee. Once the document is approved in final form, neither the student nor the sponsoring faculty members should be free to alter the fundamental terms of the contract by unilateral action. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Anyone can SUBSCRIBE to Tomorrows-Professor Listserver by sending the following e-mail message to: subscribe tomorrows-professor To UNSUBSCRIBE to the Tomorrows-Professor send the following e-mail message to: unsubscribe tomorrows-professor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard M. Reis, Ph.D. Executive Director - Stanford Integrated Manufacturing Association Director for Academic Partnerships - Stanford Learning Laboratory Building 02-530, Room 225 440 Escondido Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-3036 (650) 725-0919 Fax (650) 723-5034 Reis@cdr.stanford.edu Interested in preparing for, finding, and succeeding at academic careers in science and engineering? 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