There are many research projects we assess at Skylink Research, including those for dissertations and theses. Others, although not terrible, aren’t particularly great either. Unfortunately, many students come to us after their request has been turned down, wasting a lot of time and energy. So that you can confidently craft your dissertation proposal and increase the likelihood that it will be approved, let’s look at ten common mistakes we notice in dissertations.

These mistakes include:

• Not clearly defining the problem or making it too broad
• The study has a weak theoretical foundation
• The research topic is not well justified.
• The research design is not articulated well enough
• The research aims, objectives and questions don’t align
• Not considering the ethical implications of your research
• Poor writing and sloppy presentation.
• Not specifying the time frame for your research
• Not formatting your proposal correctly (as per institutions specifications)
• Poor project planning and risk management.

Now let’s look at these mistakes in detail to help you understand them and how to avoid making them in your dissertation proposal.

1. Not Defining the Problem or making it too broad

When drafting a dissertation proposal, one of the most frequent errors students make is failing to describe the issue. They are researching. The rest of the plan will be unclear and aimless without a precise and concise problem statement. Make sure you spend the necessary time defining the issue you hope to solve through your research. Your dissertation proposal’s problem statement serves as its cornerstone. Your proposal will be unfocused and unfocused without a clear and precise problem statement. One of the most frequent errors that students make when drafting a research proposal is failing to define the issue statement clearly from the outset. The research question may occasionally be overly broad. In other words, the research’s emphasis is not clearly defined, which leads to a proposal that lacks direction or tries to cover too much ground.

For instance, a study that attempts to “examine trust in the workplace” would be seen as having a very broad scope. However, this subject lacks a clear emphasis and raises a number of unsolved concerns, such as:

• What kind of trust?
• Which between?
• Which kinds of workplaces?
• Which industry or which industries?

As a general guideline, you should strive for a somewhat tight emphasis while choosing a study topic. The markers want to see that you have thoroughly researched the subject; thus, doing this will enable you to do just that. When identifying and honing your study topic, quality triumphs over quantity-specifically, depth over breadth.

Another issue is that students frequently have more developed ideas for their proposals but struggle to express them well. Due to the issue being viewed as being too wide, this frequently leads to the request being denied. To put it another way, it’s crucial to ensure that your study has a clear, distinct emphasis and that you effectively convey that focus in your dissertation or thesis proposal. To ensure that your topic is clearly stated, be sure to answer the following questions:

2. The study has a weak theoretical foundation

Another common mistake is failing to review the existing literature on the topic before crafting the proposal. It is important to be familiar with the work that has already been done in the field to position your research properly. Failing to review the literature will make it difficult to situate your work within the existing body of knowledge and could lead to your proposal being rejected. A literature review is an essential component of any research proposal. It helps to provide context and background for your research problem. Not conducting a literature review is a major mistake students make when writing a research proposal. The existing research must inform your research topic. To put it another way, your study must address a glaring gap in the literature-either an issue that hasn’t received enough attention or hasn’t been studied sufficiently in a given setting.

Your dissertation proposal needs a solid theoretical underpinning to persuade your university that your issue would fill a research gap. Put another way, you need to demonstrate that you’ve read the required materials and are conversant with the field’s body of work. It would help if you highlighted the existing theoretical gap while also providing an integrated assessment of the prior research to achieve this.

We’ve observed several typical indicators of a shaky theoretical base, including:

• A general lack of sources and a preference for anecdotes and personal experience over scholarly research
• Omitting to mention important studies and works of literature that significantly impact the field
• Relying disproportionately on inferior sources, such as blog postings, individual websites, opinion pieces, etc.
• Relying disproportionately on dated sources and failing to consider more contemporary research that expands upon the classics

You still need to defend your topic by pointing out a need for your study, or the literature gap, even if it’s typically not anticipated that you conduct a thorough literature analysis at the proposal stage. As a result, be sure to invest the time to gain a thorough understanding of the state of knowledge in your field and to communicate that expertise in your proposal by basing your topic justification on a strong foundation of reliable literature.

3. The research topic is not well justified

Your dissertation proposal should have a clear and concise research question. Without a well-defined research question, your dissertation proposal will lack direction and focus. This is one of the students’ most common mistakes when writing a dissertation proposal. In order to have a successful dissertation proposal, you must also clearly define the research questions you hope to answer. These questions should be specific, achievable, and relevant to your investigating problem. Without well-defined research questions, developing a clear and focused research plan will be difficult.

How do you then defend your research?

You must show originality and significance for a study topic to be adequately justified.

Being original suggests that your suggested research is fresh, or at the very least, that it is fresh in relation to its surroundings, such as a certain region or sector. Therefore, your research will always need to be original to some extent, even though the degree of this novelty will vary based on your institution, programme, and level of study, such as master’s vs doctorate. In other words, you can’t conduct a study on a topic that has already been extensively studied.

Simply put, a gap in the body of current knowledge must exist for your research to make sense. To accomplish this, you must review the literature to determine what is lacking from the body of existing knowledge and then design your dissertation to fill that gap. Here, we go into greater depth about this procedure.

The second element is significance. A topic is not always significant because it is unique. You must be able to articulate the advantages of conducting the research you have suggested. Who would gain? How would they gain from this? How could the recently acquired knowledge be applied in the real world, whether in the workplace or academia?

Therefore, to avoid submitting a weak proposal, when drafting your dissertation proposal, clearly state both the uniqueness and significance of your proposed research.

4. The research design is not articulated well enough

Your dissertation proposal should include a detailed and well-developed research plan. This plan should outline the steps you will take to answer your research questions and should be designed to help you complete your research within the specified time frame. A lack of a clear research plan will make it difficult to assess the feasibility of your proposed dissertation and could lead to your dissertation proposal being rejected. In addition, without a well-defined research objective, your proposal will lack focus and direction. The second issue your dissertation proposal needs to address is the how, which is your proposed dissertation design and technique. Once you’ve established a compelling case for the importance of your research or justified it, this is the point at which your research proposal should end.

Students frequently lack the necessary level of detail in this part, which is a problem. They frequently plan to work it out later, which is unacceptable because they don’t know what they’re going to do. But often, the problem is inadequate articulation; in other words, they have a clear concept in their heads but haven’t put it in writing. Whatever the cause, there is a high likelihood that a dissertation or thesis proposal that lacks specifics about the study design will be disregarded. This is so that colleges can see that you have a well-articulated, doable plan to accomplish your research’s goals and objectives and respond to its questions. You ought to be specific about the following, at the very least:

• Research philosophy: the collection of assumptions upon which your research is predicated, such as positivism, interpretivism, and pragmatism
• Research strategy – the more comprehensive approach you’ll utilise, including inductive, deductive, qualitative, and quantitative
• Research strategy – the approach you’ll take to conducting the study, such as an action, case study, or experimental design
• Time horizon, or the number of points over time at which you’ll gather your data (such as cross-sectional or longitudinal data)
• Methods and procedures include your planned approaches to data collecting and analysis and sample plans

Of course, as you go along, your research design may change, but you still need a foundation. Additionally, given your limitations, your suggested research design must be feasible. A brilliant plan is useless if you lack the means to execute it, such as the funds, tools, knowledge, etc. For the best likelihood of approval, be specific and realistic in this portion of your proposal.

5. The research aims, objectives and questions don’t align

We frequently observe misalignment between the research aims and objectives and the research questions in poorer research proposals, which is another prevalent problem. Sometimes there are three misfits, and other times there is just one. In any case, it’s a concern because these three components need to integrate closely, which can result in the application being rejected.

Let’s examine a case of a trio that is not in alignment.

The study aims to pinpoint the elements that foster organisational trust in Scottish Luxury Hotels.

Research Objectives:

To assess the level of organisational trust among Scotland’s various demographic groups.

To look at why different groups have different levels of organisational trust.

Research Problem:

What elements affect the level of organisational trust between Scottish Luxury Hotels and their clients?

As you can see, the study objective and research question are closely related because they both concentrate on the elements that foster trust. The dissertation goals, however, are not in line with each other since they place more emphasis on comparing the levels of trust across various groups than on determining what variables promote trust. This will lead to a study tugging in several directions, which is undesirable.

Another problem we encounter is that students don’t truly comprehend the distinction between research aims, research objectives, and research questions, which are the precise questions you’ll address in your study. Therefore, when creating your proposal, be sure that you are aware of the differences between these and that they are all closely related to one another.

Your proposal must also include a justification for your chosen methodology to answer your research questions. You will need to explain why you selected this particular methodology and how it will help you answer your research questions. Failure to properly justify your methodology could lead to your proposal being rejected. Finally, your dissertation proposal should have a clear and concise hypothesis. Without a well-defined hypothesis, your proposal will lack direction and focus. This is yet another common mistake students make when writing a dissertation proposal.

6. Not Considering the Ethical Implications of Your Research

Before you submit your dissertation proposal, you will need to consider the ethical implications of your dissertation. This includes ensuring that your research will not cause harm to any individuals or groups involved and that your research will be conducted responsibly and ethically. Failing to consider the ethical implications of your research could lead to your proposal being rejected. In addition, your dissertation proposal should have a clear and concise methodology. Without a well-defined methodology, your proposal will lack direction and focus. Unfortunately, this is another common mistake students make when writing a dissertation proposal. Finally, when conducting research, it is important to consider the ethical implications of your work. This includes thinking about how your research might impact the participants, what data you will collect, and how you will use that data.

If your research has the potential to impact the participants negatively, you need to consider whether or not the benefits of the research outweigh the risks. For example, if you are studying a sensitive topic, you need to be sure that the participants can handle the required level of disclosure. It would be best if you also thought about how, you will protect the participants’ anonymity and confidentiality. It is also important to consider what data you will collect and how you will use it. You must be sure that the data you collect is necessary for the research and will be used ethically. For example, you should not collect sensitive data unless necessary, and you should not use data in a way that could harm the participants.

Finally, you need to consider your research’s implications for the wider world. Your research could have policy implications for practice or society as a whole. You need to be sure that you are comfortable with those implications and that you are prepared to deal with

7. Poor writing and sloppy presentation

You must specify the funding sources you are investigating if you intend to seek outside support for your dissertation’s research. This entails outlining how much money you’ll need and offering a thorough budget for your project. Your project can be turned down if you don’t specify your financing sources. An organised work plan should be included in your dissertation proposal. Your proposal won’t have direction or concentration if it doesn’t have a clear work schedule. Another typical error that students make while preparing a dissertation proposal is this one. Even if your dissertation proposal checks off all the other standards, poor writing and shoddy presentation might seriously hurt it. While bad writing and presentation on their own are unlikely to lead to the rejection of your proposal, they will undoubtedly place you at a disadvantage because they cast doubt on the calibre of your work as a whole.

The main problems we observe are:

• Writing that is aimless or haphazard, for instance, writing that jumps from one point to another with poor flow and coherence, fragmented points, etc.
• Poorly constructed arguments, such as those that lack premises and conclusions, have conclusions that aren’t connected or have faulty logic. The development of arguments is covered in more detail here
• Use foul language, such as slang or a tone that is excessively informal or casual
• Inconsistent use of UK/US English and grammatical and spelling errors
• Problems with citing sources, such as a dearth of sources or references that are formatted improperly
• Table and figure captions, such as when there are none or when there aren’t any citations, figures, or table numbers
• Diagrams and illustrations of poor quality

The good news is that many of these issues can be avoided by revising and proofreading your proposal in advance, so it is always wise to take the time to do so. As you will inevitably have blind spots when editing your work, it is also a good idea to ask a buddy to evaluate your manuscript. If your budget permits, having an academic editor examine your work will guarantee you cover all the necessary bases and produce a high-quality dissertation.

8. Not Specifying the Time Frame for Your Research

Your dissertation proposal should include a specific time frame for the completion of your entire dissertation. This time frame should be realistic and achievable, given the scope of your project. Failing to specify a time frame for your research could lead to your proposal being rejected. Furthermore, your proposal will lack direction and focus without a well-defined timeline. This is yet another common mistake students make when writing a dissertation proposal.

9. Not Formatting Your Proposal Correctly (as per institutions specifications)

Your dissertation proposal must be formatted according to the guidelines specified by your institution. This includes specifying your proposal’s required length, font size, and margins. Failing to format your proposal correctly could lead to your dissertation proposal being rejected. In addition, each university has its preferences for what they want to see in the dissertation or thesis proposal, even though research proposals are generally pretty generic in content and language and tend to follow a fairly uniform framework.

A very specific structure and format, down to the font type and size, are required by some universities, along with more or less or no content in some areas. The institution-specific standards that your university has established must therefore be closely followed. Be sure to carefully read this paper and get clarification from the faculty if you have any questions. Typically, your university will provide some form of brief or guidance document to guide your proposal efforts. Some universities may also offer a dissertation proposal template. Please pay close attention to any particular structure they suggest and any formatting guidelines they may have, such as those regarding font, line spacing, margin sizes, referencing style, etc.

If your university offers an assessment criteria matrix, you’ve struck gold because that document will specify precisely what you must accomplish in each proposal component. Make sure your research proposal closely corresponds with the evaluation criteria by studying that matrix from top to bottom.

10. Poor project planning and risk management

Although the prerequisites for each university will change, a project plan of some form is typically required or at the very least expected. As I stated previously, a successful study proposal must be manageable and practical given your restrictions. As a result, an essential component of a compelling research proposal is a clearly stated project plan that considers all the practical considerations and dangers.

 Additionally, we advise adding a risk management strategy. For example, you may utilise a simple risk register that lists all the potential dangers you can perceive and your response and mitigation plan in case they materialise. For instance, there is a chance that data gathering will take longer than expected, or there won’t be enough survey responses.

The most crucial thing is to show that you have carefully considered your research and have an organised course of action. Plans may naturally alter, just as they probably will with your research design, and that’s alright. However, you must still have a preliminary strategy, and that strategy must be practical and achievable, or you run the danger of having your idea rejected.