Steve Tippins warns dissertation candidates against vague research proposals. Many promise surveys without showing actual questions or data collection methods, and qualitative researchers confuse research questions with interview questions. Proposals need specific procedural details so committees can understand your methodology.
After years of serving on committees, some of the things I have seen people do is say, "I'm gonna do a survey," and talk about the survey nicely, but never explain how they're actually gonna gather the data, what the questions are that are going to be asked. Another thing that can happen in qualitative studies is, "Yep, I've got these research questions," and they think they're all set because they've got research questions. But in a qualitative study, you also need interview questions, and that's —those are the things you're going to ask people to get data to come up with themes so that you can then get to and answer your research questions. So where people fall down in this process, quite frankly, becomes specificity. Are they explaining every step so that their committee or your mother can understand what was done? Drop the word "help" in the comment below, and I'll send you the link to our free dissertation help community.
