The assessment requires you to design a dissertation proposal that draws on the methods that you have learned about during the program (i.e. literature review, case-study, policy analysis), and should be on a topic that is relevant to global health. You will have a chance to discuss your ideas with your dissertation supervisor and also in plenary with staff from the Unit.
The total word limit for this assignment is 1000 words (not including title and abstract). There is some flexibility around how you use the word count, but we have given suggested word counts in brackets next to each section to help you structure the assignment and weight each section appropriately.
You should approach this assignment in the following stages:
- Consider a broad area in which you are interested in undertaking your dissertation, either from the list of topics circulated during seminar 2, or from your own background.
- Generate some specific research questions in this area.
- Decide on one of these research questions for your study.
- Decide on a research design
- Plan the study.
- Write a brief outline of the study proposal, including any foreseeable problems you may encounter, and how you plan to overcome these.
You will need to restrict your research questions to those that are suited to the methods and approaches that you have learnt about during the Program.
For example typical qualitative research questions may be those that begin: “What is the nature of…..”, “What is the experience of….”, “What are the views of…”, and so on. Questions that could be expressed “How many of….”, “What is the chance that….”, or “What proportion of….” would need to be answered via quantitative research
Writing your study proposal
Your proposal should be structured as follows:
- Title: try to include the subject of the study and the study design within the title. For example: ‘Qualitative interview study of communication between parents and children about maternal breast cancer’.
- Structured abstract (100 words – not included in your 1000 word count but this is a guide) to include objectives, methods/methodology, and possible data sources.
- Introduction and background/rationale. You are not expected to undertake a time-consuming literature review for this section, but we would like you to briefly summarise why you chose this area of study, and what, from your initial reading around the topic, seem to be the key issues for research in this area. In this section please include references to the papers/bibliography that have helped to inform your thinking. We would also like to see some evidence that you have taken a critical, reflective approach to the literature that you have reviewed and the method/methodology you have chosen. (approx. 300 words)
- Research question(s) and aims of the study (approx. 150 words)
- Methods (approx. 250 words) In this section please include a short description of your proposed methods and methodology, and an indication of possible data sources.
- Approach to analysis In this section describe how you will go about analysing your results (approx. 150 words).
- Expected contribution of your proposed research. In this concluding section you should consider what you think the main contribution(s) of your proposed research will be. This is likely to include new knowledge and may also include some other proposed impacts – for example to patients, the public, policy makers, educators etc. When you are designing a research grant for a funder it is important to convince them of the expected value of your research and its limitations. (approx. 150 words)
- Timelines for your dissertation. Use a simple table to identify the key milestones for your dissertation, meetings with your supervisor, and deadlines (not included in word count).
- Reference list (not included in word count)
Try to use a references management software. Please use the recommended referencing styles (Harvard or Vancouver).
