Developing a Qualitative Research Proposal

Original Editor - Mariam Hashem

Top Contributors - Mariam Hashem, Kim Jackson, Ewa Jaraczewska and Tarina van der Stockt

Introduction

A research proposal is a document that describes the idea of the research, why it's important, and the research method. The format can vary widely among different higher education settings, different funders, and different organizations.

background and context

The title of your research proposal can be different from the publishing title. You can consider it to be more like a working title that you can revisit later after finishing the research proposal and amend it if needed.

The title should have some keywords of what your research encompasses such as:

• The patient population e.g. women who had breast cancer
• Methods e.g. quantitative research, feasibility study or a pilot randomized control trial, a systematic review
• An intervention

Example: experiences of pregnant women using in-depth focus groups

Word count is similar to writing an abstract and can vary from a proposal to another.

Tips:

• Pin down your key points
• Use the filter approach by starting off broadly then refine it down to our research question.

For example, a qualitative study in Ireland by Algeo looking at the facilitators and barriers for women with Breast Cancer in returning to work. The author started by looking at Breast Cancer in terms of the statistics nationally and worldwide. Then moved to issues that women with breast cancer experience, highlighting policies and guidelines. To narrow it down, she made it more specific to work and its importance and returning to work after Breast Cancer. The proposal looked at national and cultural differences in return to work in Breast Cancer and highlighted a gap in an Irish context.

When thinking of the research proposal, it's your tool to sell the research to probably an ethics committee or a research funder so you want to show them why your research is important to be done. Here are some prompting questions to help with writing the background:

• how much do we know about the problem?
• What are the gaps in our knowledge?
• How would new insights contribute to society? Or to clinical practice?
• Why is this research worth doing?
• And who might have an interest in this topic?

Defining your research question: SPIDER tool

Research question(s) give your research a clear focus and guide on the design, research methodology, and data collection. It should be focused and researchable whether through primary or secondary sources. It should be feasible to answer within a given timeframe and it should be specific enough for you to be able to answer thoroughly.

The SPIDER tool is a question format tool and helpful method to structure the research questions. It's similar to the PICO tool which is used for experimental studies:

• P: population
• I: intervention
• C: comparison
• O: outcome.

For qualitative research and mixed methods, we can use the SPIDER Tool:

• S: sample. who is your population? Who do you want to study?
• P and I: the phenomenon of interest. what exactly are we trying to explore? it could be anything like an event, an occurrence, or an object.
• D: the design
• E: the evaluation.
• R: research type.

An example of a research question: what are women with Breast Cancers' experiences of attending a lymphedema clinic?

S = sample is women with Breast Cancer

PI=Phenomenon of interest is the lymphedema clinic. What are their experiences of this phenomenon ( lymphedema clinic)?

D= design which could be a questionnaire, interviews, focus groups, a case study, an observation

E = evaluation, evaluating the experience.

R =research type using a qualitative approach or mixed methods. This something that you need to decide further down the line but will be based on your research question.

After formulating the question(s) you need to look at the way you're going to answer it. Answering the question(s) will depend on the question, the design and research type.

Each design method has its pros and cons and the selection depends on the question and the participants. For example, looking at the experiences of somebody who's had severe trauma or exploring a sensitive topic, a one to one interview is probably the most appropriate method to respect the privacy and build a rapport, trust, and transparency.

Data collection technique

Participant recruitment and sample

Setting a research timeline: Gantt chart

Other considerations such as costings and budgeting