Module 11Writing Quality Research Proposals

National FSA TrainingModule 11: Writing quality research proposals

Module 11Writing quality research proposals

Objectives

At the end of this module the participant will be able to:

Understand basic concepts in research proposal writing.
Write competitive research proposals
To design and use logical framework in planning research projects

Contents

11.1Why focus on proposal writing?

11.2How to prepare a research proposal

11.3Proposal format

11.4Proposal screening and approval

11.5Reasons why proposals are rejected

11.6Developing the logical framework

11.7Funding your proposal: where is the money?

11.1 Why focus on proposal writing?

Direct contributions to agricultural research from the Tanzanian government and the donor community, have decreased and are expected to decrease further in the near future (DRD, 2001). Funds available for research will more likely be allocated to local governments, NGO's, farmer organisations, international institutes and competitive funds. This trend is not only true for Tanzania. Internationally, trends of declining research funds have observed the following scenarios:

Declining research funds from governments or other traditional sources e.g. crop boards in Tanzania
Increased competition for all sorts funding in all priority sectors.
Funds have been devolved to be close to beneficiaries i.e. to the grass-root level
Emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and inter-institutional teams
Emphasis on equity including various producer groups at the grass-root level i.e. gender issues, children and households.
The importance of intellectual property rights for the various actors in technology development and transfer e.g. indigenous technical knowledge.
Proposals should be short, attractive, convincing and well focused.
Evaluating procedures have been improved to tackle emerging issues from financiers e.g. impact transparency, significance and equity.
Increased awareness on the need to emphasise institutional accountability and compliance and ethics.
What are the sustainability issues of the research work itself including funding.

Research institutes in Tanzania have to compete with other research organisations to acquire research funds. A scientist can only be successful if he or she is able to write good and innovative research proposals. Writing a project proposal is a demanding task and needs a lot of effort and patience. It is the most crucial and delicate stage of research/project planning. Unfortunately, experience tells that many researchers do not fully realise the importance of proposal writing. This module aims to give an introduction to proposal writing and screening. It also develops the subject and importance of logical frameworks.

What is a research proposal?

It is difficult to define a research proposal in a few sentences. The following qualities give a better description (Killen, 2002).

It is a marketing document:

A proposal must be able to convince and demonstrate to a potential donor that it is good enough to justify investment and achieve its mission.

It is an action plan with a budget:

The proposal discuses the objectives of the project: what are the outputs and the tasks or activities and the various ways and means (methods) you will use to accomplish your activities. The action plan also indicates the personalities who will carry out the project with their qualifications. A budget is also associated with the action plan. One hallmark of a good proposal is that the plan of action is written in enough detail so that your activities can be replicated or you could give the proposal to a project manager and he could start straight away.

It is a contract with a legal agreement between the financier and the research team.

Some of the aspects in the legal agreement which the research team has to adhere to include:

carry out the work as stipulated in the proposal
do the activities in times stipulated
keep within the agreed budget
account for funds that are disbursed
report on technical and programmatic progress on time and adhere to agreed formats.

It is competitive:

Funding organisations receive large number of proposals that compete for limited funds. You should be aware that you are one among many competitors for the same funds. Most calls for proposals can receive 50 or more responses. Of these about 20-30 are credible while 5-10 are outstanding. Sometimes only 1 can be recommended for funding. Therefore a good proposal has to be prepared so that the proposal:

wins the competition
is placed among the top good proposals and
gets attention of the reviewers and the funding organisation

If this happens you maintain your own and your organisation's credibility. If applications are not taken seriously the chances of winning are low or you will only be making a bad image of yourself and your organisation. While writing the proposal one has to adhere to the needs, mission, priorities and budget formats of the potential funding agency. A winning proposal meets the needs of the funding institutions, directed to reviewers, clear, concise, readable the first time, persuades, justifies, organised, follows application guidelines, just enough information, has no budget problems and is well presented.

Is a communication process:

As soon as the team starts writing the proposal a series of co-ordinated and inter-related communication issues begin. This can be between your institution and the project team/partners and the potential funding institution. Project team members continually communicate either orally or in written messages/documents. A series of meetings are also organised between the team members to make sure that the proposal becomes competitive enough. Fine tuning the proposal may take as much as three years if time is not a constraint.

Is an "answer book" to the request for proposals:

Generic proposals that can be send to a range of potential funders do not exist. Each proposal has to be tailored to the specific requirements and interests of specific donors.

Why is a research proposal important

The main purpose for preparing a research proposal is to provide a systematic guidance for undertaking a research activity/project. The importance of preparing research proposals is:

Proposals are used in planning research activities.
To allocate scarce resources (including human resource, and cash). Resources for research activities are limited it is therefore necessary to identify only a few research activities. Thus proposals can be used to select the few research projects among many potential projects.
To apply for research funds that is becoming more and more competitive. This calls for good quality research proposals to compete in getting funds or not.
Directs the implementation research activities
To allow for monitoring and evaluation of research activities
To design demand-driven and output-oriented research activities.

Different types of proposals

There are different types of proposals which are classified by the way funding institutions operate. The major categories are:

Solicited proposals

These are solicited or asked or requested for. Funding organisations routinely advertise putting out calls for interested parties to develop proposals. In most cases the advertisements indicate very clearly the kinds of areas or projects where the proposals should focus. In most cases these areas are very specific and the funding institution is only interested to invest in that particular area. In some cases the funder would go as far as specifying the goal and objectives. Guidelines are very specific as well as may include proposal format, page limits, deadline, type of organisation.

Unsolicited proposals

Some funding institutions use their publications to explain the general areas of interest or issues they would like to deal with. As such general types of projects are expected. In this case proposals are developed to fit in general objectives of that institution. There may not be a specific format but it is important to inquire.

Contract research proposals

Currently in Tanzania as in many other countries many development organisations seek for research institutions to develop proposals to solve specific problems. In this case the funding institutions have developed confidence with a particular or selected research institution. Recently we have seen district councils demanding particular research services from zonal research centres. In this case researchers develop demand driven proposals using agreed formats.

11.2How to prepare a research proposal

In writing research proposals the following steps can be followed:

Develop the idea for the proposal

In the actual context, demand-driven and output-oriented research activities are most likely to be funded by donors, clients and networks. It is of utmost importance that scientist pay attention to the concerns and requests of stakeholders and farmers in their mandate areas. Field visits, diagnostic activities, stakeholder meetings, training sessions, seminars and other occasions should be used as opportunities to define priorities for research work.

Scientists should be conversant with the major policy papers in the country. At this moment (2002), the following policies are of strategic importance for agricultural research: Poverty Reduction Paper, Rural Development Strategy, and the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy, to mention a few. Also, scientists should know the government reform programmes affecting the agricultural development sector: decentralisation, privatisation, market liberalisation, and information and communication technologies.

Especially at the national and international level, funding agencies may be very interested in crosscutting subjects. Examples of these are: health and agriculture, rural roads and agricultural marketing, input supply and agricultural intensification and the like. A strong orientation on development issues and stakeholder needs, as well as a profound interdisciplinary perspective are important capacities of a scientist looking for a bright idea for a proposal.

Write a concept note

Concept notes are also called letter proposals, or short grant proposal, or a letter of inquiry or white paper. After developing a researchable idea the next step in writing a research proposal is to write a concept note (CN). The main purpose of a concept note is to help organisations and donors assess your basic idea before you invest more time and resources in developing full proposals, which may not be good enough to attract funding. In most cases CNs are presented as short (1-3 page) documents indicating title of the project, summary, problem statement, objectives, and expected research outputs, capabilities budget and closing. These are discussed below:

Summary: Be very brief with 2-3 sentences indicating the following parts: self identification, uniqueness of your institution, sponsor expectations, budget request and project benefit. For example: DRD as the largest NARS in Tanzania requests your investment in a £500,000 research project that builds Tanzanian farmers confidence in identifying their research needs.
Problem statement: Focus on the needs or gaps needed to be filled by the project.
Objectives: Show how your proposed project can fill gaps or provide needs identified so that the situation should be what is expected.
Capabilities: Demonstrate the abilities of your team and organisation in implementing the project. Describe the capabilities of the principal researcher or the team leader.
Budget: Ask for a specific amount that is reasonable. Relate the budget to output units e.g. the support will improve livelihoods of so many families.
Closing or conclusion: usually identifies the desired action you want the funder/donor to take. For example: Your support will assist one thousand disadvantaged families to improve their livelihoods. Finish by giving contact person of your organisation.

3. Write a full proposal

Writing a full proposal is tedious and laborious and needs patience. However, this job can be simple if all pre-requisites are in place and the researcher is committed. A scientist can only write a good proposal if he/she is very critical on his/her own proposal. Such a critical attitude will help to improve the quality and avoid unnecessary omissions. It may also make the difference between getting funds or not. Box 11.1 presents 20 general guiding questions a scientist can ask. Although some questions may be more crucial than others, a good proposal should score positively on all those questions.

Box 11.120 Questions for quick assessment of proposals

Source: ZTC Lake Zone and Northern Zone, 2001

Tips for writing proposals

For every specific component of the research proposal, a scientist should continuously asks him or herself questions, in order to check the quality of the proposal. It should be remembered that if the scientist does not ask those questions, the reviewer or the screening committee of the funding agency would ask them. It is therefore better to be ahead of them and to avoid too many critical questions. It could be too late by then. Credibility and opportunities for funding may have faded. In writing a proposal it is important to follow a format or guidelines provided by the organisation or donor. This is important, as the peer reviewers selected by the organisation or the donor will be using this format as basis for reviewing your proposal. The following tips can be of assistance:

Think first
Have the reader in mind
Use short words
Avoid loose usage of words
Prefer short sentences
One paragraph should contain one idea
Avoid writing journal articles
Sound positive, use “will”

11.3 Proposal format

The Division of Research and Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS) has adopted a general outline for elaborating research proposals (Box 11.2). Funding agencies do not necessarily accept this set-up and may have their own format. However, the exigencies related to the contents may not differ that much from the outline presented below.

Box 11.2DRD research proposal format

Basic components of a research proposal

a) Project title and project summary

The title should be brief, include the theme and geographical location. The summary is a one page summary of the main contents of the proposal which gives the reader a quick glance. It has to be as precise as possible.

b) Background and justification

This section includes a problem statement and summary of past research related to the proposal including on-going work, reasons for undertaking the research project, review of relevant literature and specific problem definition. This section answers why the problem is important, for whom it is important and what will be the significance of solving the problem. Secondary information supported by PRA reports provide a strong footing to help the writer develop a logical build up of the justification and stating the problem accurately.

c) Goals and objectives

Goals are broad based, conceptual and often not subject to measurement. Objectives must be clearly stated in a point form. Objective statements must be realistic, measurable, relevant and achievable. It may include sub-objectives and/or hypothesis. Objectives specify a result, not an activity. Each objective specifies only one result: what will be the result and when. It does not include why or how.

d) Beneficiaries

Who benefits from the project and how will they benefit.

e)Materials and methods

Precise methodology on how the research will be carried out and why you choose these methods to do an activity. You need to justify that this is the best way of doing it (most effective, cost efficient, most equitable). You also indicate materials to be used, research design and location, treatments, data to be collected and analysis to be used.

f) Personnel

Names of all researchers involved, their disciplines and qualification, and their specific responsibilities in the project.
Amount of time each devotes to the project (proportion of time in %)
Name of technicians and field officer (include their % time devoted to the project)
Name of collaborating institutions and their respective role, timing and their actual involvement in research activities

g) Work plan

This is a list of all activities by component, time frame, location and duration.

h) Expected outputs

These are clear statements in point form to indicate verifiable indicators from the proposed project, and how they will be addressing the existing problem and/or fit into on-going research activities/priority programmes.
Indicate the expected impact on the environment and steps to be taken to alleviate environmental pollution.
Indicate impact of the expected technology to be generated within producers groups.
Indicate the expected economic benefits of the technology to be generated and
Indicate how the results will be disseminated

i) Monitoring and evaluation methods

Include a well presented logical frame work showing a list of all activities to be carried out with their expected time
State how and when M & E will be done and by who
Indicate all verifiable indicators to be used in M & E e.g. quarterly reports
Indicate when field monitoring can be carried out

j) Budget

Include a realistic budget with quantified line items, rates and costs
Use updated unit costs
Expendable supplies (specific type, quantity and unit costs)
Local travel costs (specify person days per year and unit rate)
Include fuel costs and vehicle maintenance
Casual labour (specify person days per year and unit rate)
Publication costs (stationery and photocopying)
Communication (telephone, fax and e-mails)
Other costs (specify)
Include proposed quarterly financial disbursement

k) Other contributions

Contributions that will be made by other stakeholders involved in the proposed project (including staff time, and transport facilities) need to be identified and listed
Relevant literature to support main arguments and sometimes methodology need to be included in the proposal.

11.4Proposal screening and approval

There are different levels of proposal screening. These are:

Screening by the principal investigator

This will provide for a critical self-assessment before submitting the proposal.

The principal investigator, the associated research staff and collaborating organisations.