The Research

Proposal
Dr. Codruta Gosa
codrutagosa@yahoo.co.uk
codruta.gosa@e-uvt.ro

The format
Abstract

(optional)
1. Topic (the What factor)
2. Rationale (the Why factor)
3. Methodology (the How
factor)
4. Working Plan (the When
factor)
5. Ethical Issues

The abstract
A very short summary (usually no more
than 50 words) describing what you
intend to do (pay particular attention to
including the key concepts defining your
research).
Example:
The proposed case study aims to
investigate the washback effects of the
English component of the Romanian
Baccalaureate, as put forward by
students in their diaries. The analysis will
draw on the Washback Hypotheses and
on Grounded Theory.

1. The topic
An

expansion of the abstract,

elaborating briefly on the key
words referring to the
topic/overarching research
questions of your research

2. Rationale
Why

you consider your

research is worth doing and
its place in the currently
existing international and
local context(s).

3. Metodology
What

approach(es), paradigm(s),
methodology(ies) you are going
to employ
e.g. the birds eye view or/and
the worms eye view (i.e.
qualitative or/and quantitative
paradigms).

What methods of data collection and data

analysis will you use.
e.g.
questionnaires, structured interviews,
experiments, structured observations,
text/document analyses
Unstructured interviews, focus-groups,
diary studies, ethnographic observations,
text/document analyses

4. Working Plan
The

stages of your research (i.e.

the reading around the topic
process, your data collection
process, the analysis process,
the writing up process).
The timeline (the periods of time
when you will deal with the
stages mentioned above).

5. Ethical issues
The

ethical issues you expect

to have to deal with and what
you intend to do about it.

Topic
The research I propose to do for my
paper is a case study which will be
conducted in an upper secondary
school. The focus will be on the writing
skills in English that secondary school
students are expected to have at a
lower to intermediate level. The study
will deal with the students
performances in, as well as their
attitudes to writing skills tests. The
study will consist in an experiment on a
9th grade class. The experiment will
rely on various instruments and
analytical tools drawing on both
qualitative and quantitative research
paradigms.

Rationale

Testing has major impact on the students and their

teachers lives. Judgments on the students future
studies as well as their careers are made by almost
exclusively taking into account the students scores in
various tests. Foreign languages (particularly the
English language) competencies and testing them
have an increasing role in a students life in the
context of Romanias integration into the European
Union and the increased study and job mobility it
entails. Unfortunately, in Romania there has been
little interest in the theory and practice of language
testing. More often than not, for a long time,
subjectivity has been the only approach in the design
and marking of classroom tests (and not only). Only
recently there seems to be a growing interest (though
timidly manifested) in this very important area. This
study, modest as it may be, seeks to join this trend.
The ultimate purpose of this study is to make the
students understand in depth what writing skills
involve at this level and hopefully to lead to an

Rationale (cont.)
Thus, from my own observation and talks
with fellow English and language
teachers, I noticed that the Romanian
students in general are very reticent
when asked to study for and produce
written work. They seem to find writing
skills difficult to achieve and manifest a
negative attitude towards them.
Consequently, with my experiment, not
only do I set out to improve and reliably
assess my student-respondents writing
skills but also to promote a positive
attitude towards writing skills and
encourage further development.

Methodology
Due to its nature, my case study will be
mainly of a qualitative nature, seeking to
explore and define problems connected to
student perceptions of writing skills and
eventually try to find solutions to remedy
these problems. However quantitative
data analyses will also be employed when
dealing with test results and error analysis

Methodology (cont.)
The case study will be based on the following
instruments of data collection:
An initial focus group (for eliciting students
opinions and attitudes toward the testing of
writing skills) which will be recorded,
transcribed and analysed qualitatively
Design, administration, marking and analysis
of various tests of writing skills, plus extensive
feedback given to the students, for one
semester (taking into account good practice in
language testing according to the theory)
Monitoring progress through error analysis
Correlation of students marks
A final focus group with the same students (to
check changing of opinions and attitudes
towards writing skills and tests of writing
skills at the end of the experiment)

Working Plan

The following stages and timelines will be

observed in my study:
Searching for and reading the relevant
literature on my topic: March July 2010
Planning and organizing my research stages:
- August 2010
Data collection and on-going analysis of the
data:- September 2010 February 2011
Final analysis, organization of findings,
producing first draft: March April 2011
Writing up and revising the paper: April
June 2011
Submitting the final version of the paper:

Ethical issues
One of the major ethical issue this research
might pose is related to consent. The
respondents population might become
afflicted with the captive audience
syndrome. As McDonough and McDonough
(1997: 127) observe, if respondents are
somehow forced into accepting to take part in
a research process (due to the unequal power
relations within the classroom environment,
for example), the data is likely to become
'unhelpful because it will probably be skewed
merely towards expressing their
unwillingness to keep a diary at all'
Consequently, the voluntary-based full and
informed consent will be vital for my
investigation. Additionally, I will do the best
that I can to preserve the school's and the
teachers' anonymity as some aspects of this
study could prove damaging both to the

Your task:
Think

of your own MA
dissertation project and design a
proposal according to the format
discussed so far.