What a research proposal contains
A research proposal connects a question and its significance with the work, people, resources and time needed to answer it. Its components make that plan assessable by supervisors or funders and explain why support is warranted.
The question and the planned work
A research proposal should explain what the investigator plans to accomplish, why and how, while demonstrating the investigator’s scientific and communication capabilities. A research-grant application adds a request for resources, supported by relevant previous work, a realistic budget and timetable, and evidence of the team’s training, experience and facilities. Research proposals can also form part of ethics applications for studies involving people or human tissue.
A proposal describes planned work in the future tense; hypotheses and expected results are distinct from completed findings, although relevant preliminary results may be included. Methods generally need more detail than a scientific paper so the sponsor can assess expenses, with statistical plans and any randomisation procedure explained fully. Applicant CVs usually document capability, and some institutions also require supervisors’ résumés.
The receiving organisation’s format, extent, forms and templates take precedence; in their absence a research-proposal structure can provide a starting point.
A research-proposal structure
A suggested structure for an early-career academic research proposal comprises the following components.
| Component | Suggested contents |
|---|---|
| Title page | Name, academic title, position and contact details; a brief, clear title of no more than 10 words (60 characters) with subject-classification keywords; supervisors, intended department and collaborators where required or applicable |
| Abstract or project summary | A one-page account of relevant aspects of the proposed research |
| Literature review | Current research and important contributions, the unanswered question and its significance |
| Investigator history and preparation | The impact of relevant previous work and, where available, copies of related publications |
| Objectives | Academic and other applicable objectives, significance and relevance |
| Project outline | Research procedure, evidence sources, analytical techniques and schedule; strategies for adequate empirical data; collection, controls, statistics and literature or documentary analysis |
| Timetable | Research phases in sequence and the time each needs, preferably in a table or flowchart |
| Selective bibliography | References cited and other important literature |
| Attachments | Additional material such as CVs and references |
A grant-application structure
Grant proposals may describe educational programmes or other activities as well as research, so their components differ from a research protocol’s. A basic grant-proposal outline comprises:
- Executive summary or abstract
- Overview of the institution and project team
- Problem and background, including literature and preliminary work
- Project objectives: hypothesis or project aim
- Project methods — participants, methods and analysis — or the proposed educational programme or other activity
- Timeline
- Budget and justification
- Other funding
- Plans for future funding
- Appendices: support letters, affiliation agreements, investigator biographies, references and other items
Title and executive summary
A grant application addresses external reviewers, only some of whom may read it fully before one presents it to the panel. The title should accurately describe the project and remain memorable a day later. A mnemonic can help: a funded three-year training programme on advocacy, cultural competence and ethical issues used “ACE” to help reviewers recall its three components.
Most panel members may read the executive summary, and the presenting reviewer may use it word for word to introduce the proposal. The summary should therefore state the concept, keywords and approach. The summary orients readers early and may help NIH decide which study section reviews the application. It can be as short as three sentences, and should be drafted early and revisited as the application develops.
For example, a hypothetical summary proposed comparing serum copper in people with and without previous weight-loss gastric surgery, using blood samples from those cohorts, to determine whether postoperative copper deficiency might warrant changes to long-term management. For foundations with interested lay donors, separate scientific and lay abstracts may serve the two audiences.
Institution and scientific rationale
A short institutional overview should show experience, trustworthiness, resources and financial-management capability, supported by relevant accomplishments and research success. Within a large institution it should identify the applicant’s role, potentially through an organisation chart. Previous relationships with the funder do not replace this account, because personnel and institutional memory change.
The background should explain the problem and importance through a selective literature review, or sometimes a systematic review for a major project, and describe relevant pilot or preliminary work, especially publications. A few references may sit at the section’s end; longer lists or citations used across sections can be collected under References in an appendix, with only pertinent studies included rather than an impressive-looking long list.
Objectives state specific aims and hypotheses for research, or the activity proposed for a non-hypothesis-based project. Primary and secondary hypotheses or other project elements can follow in a paragraph or two; repetition of the executive summary is acceptable to keep the aim clear. Nonresearch examples include developing, teaching and evaluating a domestic-violence course for medical students, or a one-year leadership fellowship for primary-care physicians who have completed residency and at least three years of practice.
Methods and timetable
A comprehensive protocol can make the methods section easier to write. For clinical research the topics are:
- Study design
- Availability of participants
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Intervention strategy
- Safety considerations
- Data collection methods
- Analysis
- Outcomes to measure
Subheadings help ensure each topic is fully described. One grant-writing recommendation was to devote at least half the total page allowance to methods, addressing their frequent underdevelopment. The completion timetable should be consistent with the funding available.
Lay summaries for funders
Public funding bodies and charities request lay summaries so lay audiences can judge whether supported research meets their members’ needs. These summaries should answer why the research matters, rather than how it will be conducted.
In 2015 most organisations requesting lay summaries supplied guidance on content, structure, language variety, plain wording, punctuation, spelling, active voice and tone, including the Asthma UK Foundation and Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. Limits were not always supplied and varied: the UK Research Councils allowed 4,000 characters, the Stroke Association 1,000 words and the British Heart Foundation 100 words. Forms can help by posing the questions lay readers want answered, as the Stroke Association’s forms did.