Boon Yih Mah
Mar 4, 20229 min
Updated: Mar 26
A research proposal is a detailed written strategy for a study or research project. It explains a postgraduate student's aim and strategy for achieving his or her research objectives. The research proposal must include a detailed plan for carrying out the investigation. It defines the research, why it is worthwhile to do it, what knowledge or research gap the results will cover, how the investigation will be conducted, and why the strategy is appropriate for the inquiry.
To construct a good research proposal before your Defence of the Research Proposal (DRP), refer to The Successful Tips for Writing a Research Proposal. You are also recommended to refer to Tips for Working with Your Supervisors in order to work closely with your supervisors to develop a successful proposal. To prevent your study from being terminated, avoid the possible failure cases as follows:
Submit the research proposal and present it in DRP;
Defend research proposals; or
Maintain a satisfactory level of performance for two consecutive semesters stated in the research progress reports.
Based on Process and Procedures of Postgraduate Research Degree Programmes (Amendment 2021) published by the Institute of Postgraduate Studies (IPSis), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), all postgraduate students (by research) to defend their research proposals within a certain period from the date of their registration.
All research students are mandatory to attend IPSis Research Skills Seminar in Year 1 and complete all Post-graduate Training in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Exploration (TIE2) modules organised by the Malaysian Academy of SME & Entrepreneurship Development (MASMED) (only for Doctoral Degree) before defending their research proposal within the stipulated time.
All full-time PhD students must defend their research proposals within twelve months, while part-time students must defend within eighteen months. For full-time Master students, they have to do their DRP within six months, while twelve months are for part-time students. The faculty hosts a defence of a research proposal for Masters and PhD candidates.
The DRP process and protocols apply to both Master and Doctorate programmes. You need to defend your proposal to your faculty in front of the panel of assessors by presenting the following:
The full title of the research
Background of the study
Problem statement/identification
Research objective/Research questions
Scope and limitations of the study
Significance of study
Literature review
Conceptual framework (if applicable)
Research methodology/research design/sampling/data collection/plan for data analysis
Study plan/Gantt chart
As a postgraduate student (by research), you should consult regularly with your supervisor(s) to discuss the progress of your research and proposal writing prior to presenting their proposals. You must also attend IPSis Research Skills Seminars organised by the Institute of Graduate Studies and TIE2 organised by the MASMED in Semester 1. You will be provided modules and gain a certificate of attendance upon completion.
Next, you or your supervisor will submit your proposal for plagiarism checking using Ouriginal to check for the similarity index. Ensure the originality report's similarity index is less than 30%. Refine your proposal by revising, editing, and proofreading before submission or publication. Remember to fill up certain forms as requested by IPSis, UiTM, for example, prior to presenting the proposal to the faculties. The following documents must be sent to the faculty two weeks prior to the DRP date:
Research Proposal
Certificate of attendance for IPSIS Research Skills Seminars
Certificate of TIE2 seminar (PhD student only).
Originality Report (using the subscribed anti-plagiarism software) must be less than a 30% similarity index.
The Head of Postgraduate Studies of the faculty will appoint a chairperson as the chief and at least two examiners with doctoral qualifications in the related fields of expertise from the same faculty or university to evaluate the proposal. The Head of Postgraduate Studies will normally become the moderator of the entire session.
The respective panels will review the proposals with the support of the Original Report and the DRP Assessment Form before the DRP commencement. The moderator will share the meeting link in advance with the candidate, the panel of examiners, and the supervisors a few days earlier before conducting DRP.
Prior to DRP, you should understand the DRP assessment criteria as shown below to ensure the DRP needs as focussed by the panel of assessors.
Title of Research (5%)
No reflection
Minimal reflection
Moderate reflection
A clear reflection
A very clear reflection
Problem Statement (20%)
Analysis of the problem (10%)
No analysis
Minimal analysis
Moderate analysis
Clear analysis
Very clear analysis
Rationale and justification for the research gap (10%)
No rationale and justification
Little rationale and justification
Moderate rationale and justification
Clear rationale and justification
Very clear rationale and justification
Research Objectives/Research Questions (20%)
Not described
Described but not clear
Described but moderately clear
Described clearly
Described very clearly
Literature Review/Hypothesis Development/Conceptual Framework (20%)
Able to organise different bodies of knowledge logically (10%)
Unable to logically organise
Some evidence of well-organised/logical bodies of knowledge
Moderate evidence of well-organised/logical bodies of knowledge
Good evidence of well-organised/logical bodies of knowledge
Very good evidence of well-organised/logical bodies of knowledge
Proposed research framework/Academic construct (10%)
Absent
Vague/unclear
Moderately clear
Clear
Very clear
Research Methodology/Research Design (20%)
Method of data collection and analysis
Sampling design
Procedure (data collection method)/technique(sampling design)/experimental setup (procedures or techniques)
Absence/highly inaccurate/no
Unclear/Inaccurate/Unclear
Moderately/Moderately/Moderately
Clear/Accurate/Clear
Very clear/Highly accurate/Very clear
Significance/Applied Value of the Research (15%)
No
Vague
Moderately clear
Clear
Very clear
The defence of research proposals for Master and Doctoral degree students is defined by the faculty using the UPTrackS System. The process and procedure of the DRP apply to both Master and Doctoral degree programmes. Prior to the DRP session, students MUST submit the research proposal to the UPTrackS system.
A panel of assessors assessing the proposal will be appointed by the faculty, who consists of a Chairperson and at least two (2) panels of examiners. The DRP session can be performed either in person or online. Zoom is used if conducted online, and the entire meeting will be recorded as a reference. A DRP will be completed within two hours.
Below is the flow of conducting a DRP:
The moderator will invite and ensure the presence of the student, the panel of examiners, and the supervisors based on the predetermined time for the DRP session.
Once all are present and ready, the candidate will begin his or her oral presentation through screen sharing of the slides for not more than 30 minutes.
A question-and-answer (Q&A) session will be conducted between the candidate and the examiners within 30 minutes.
The candidate and supervisors will be requested to leave the meeting temporarily until they are contacted later.
The panel of examiners will deliberate on the candidate's results within 10 minutes.
The moderator will call the candidate and the supervisors to rejoin the meeting once they are ready.
The chief examiner will inform the DRP result of candidate based on the DRP Result.
The DRP results in terms of ranking, total marks, and interpretations are shown below:
90 - 100
Accepted without amendments.
The student can proceed.
80 - 89
Accepted with minimal amendments.
The amendment must be verified by the main supervisor and submitted within two (2) weeks from the date of DRP.
The student can proceed.
70 - 79
Accepted with minimal amendments.
The amendment must be verified by the DRP panels and submitted within one (1) month from the date of DRP.
The student can proceed.
65- 69
Major amendments.
The student has to re-submit the amended proposal and represent it to the DRP panels within two (2) months from the date of DRP.
Re-DRP
<65
Rejected.
The student is required to submit and present the new proposal.
Re-DRP
Here are the 15 most commonly asked questions from the assessors' perspective and the recommended answers.
Why do you want to do research on this topic?
You should explain the study's rationale.
Address the research problem you sought to solve, which prompted you to conduct the study.
What is the nature of your research?
You must completely understand your research or study.
Ideally, you should be able to emulate your abstract.
What is the scope of the research?
You quickly summarise all the key components of your research that have been covered.
What is the significance of your research?
You must explain how your research will impact other researchers, educators, organisations (such as the case study employed), practitioners, and policymakers.
Do you fill any gaps in your research?
You should discuss how your research offers the solution to address the existing problem that motivated you to conduct the research.
What are the variables in your research?
Explain your independent and dependent variable(s) to demonstrate that you thoroughly understand your research question.
Identify, define, and justify the variables in your research proposal.
What research methods do you employ?
You should briefly describe the research design procedure you used for the research.
Discuss the data collection methods and sampling techniques used for the research.
Why do you choose that research methodology?
You explain why you chose the research methodology you employed.
For example, if you employed the survey research method, you may give reasons such as no interviewer bias, cost-effectiveness, the ability for you (the researcher) to obtain information from the sample without altering the study's population, and so forth.
Why do you say your research is reliable?
Inform your panel of assessors that the research reliability concerns (respondent error, respondent bias, researcher error, and social desirability bias) did not occur throughout the research.
You may also state that you have verified that the risks were reduced to a minimal level.
Why do you believe your research is valid?
Inform your panel of assessors that the results of your research may well be applied to other relevant contexts, groups, or case studies.
In what way(s) does your research add to the current body of knowledge?
You should explain how your research aims to resolve a problem that has not been addressed by prior researchers in your field of study.
You should also explain briefly how your research will advance knowledge in your research field.
What are the limitations you have run into?
Discuss your limitations that were beyond your control.
You can discuss how limitations such as the short time frame for the research, a lack of research studies/materials on the topic, a lack of available data, the combined effect of lectures, assessments, and experiments, limited sample size and choice, and so on that have hindered the analysis of your research results.
What data sources will be used in the research?
You should specify if primary sources such as questionnaires, interviews, and observations will be used, or secondary sources such as books, journals, newspapers, etc.
Explain it briefly if you intend to integrate primary and secondary sources.
What queries do you have for us?
You can ask them if there are any changes they would like you to make to your report.
Please ask if they can highlight the significant adjustments so that you may take notes.
Do you want to say anything else?
Appreciate the panel of assessors.
Inform them that the revisions/corrections provided would be put in place and shown to your supervisor.
rewriting the problem statement
references that are not in the correct format
something you said during the defence that they want you to include in the proposal
other issues they noticed you did not discover)
The DRP result should be announced immediately after the DRP session. Students are given three (3) chances to defend their research proposal. Students who received Category 4 or 5 in the third DRP will be dismissed. The official result and all the comments from the panels must be given to the students within 3 working days after the session.
For the cases of amendments, the student needs to submit a Verification of Research Proposal Correction two copies to the faculty one month from the date of the result (letter) of the Defence of Research Proposal. The student must obtain correction verification from the main supervisor and the faculty's Head of Postgraduate Studies before submission. Two copies of the corrected research proposal, as recommended by the panel of assessors and a copy of the assessor's DRP Assessment Form, must be attached.
If the panel of assessors does not approve the revised plan during the second presentation, the student may be recommended to quit the programme. If the amended proposal is not approved by the panel of assessors at the second presentation, the student may be advised to change the programme.
Following proposal approval, the student is encouraged to indicate any Intellectual Property implications of the planned study on the form provided by the UiTM Research Management Institute. The Faculty Postgraduate Academic Sub-Committee or JKAPS (Jawatankuasa Kecil Akademik Pasca Siswazah) meeting will approve the outcome of the DRP before it is recorded into SIMS 6.5 by the faculty.
A thesis which was submitted to a degree-awarding body in another higher education institution/research institution/educational institution will not be accepted. The research proposal to be submitted for examination should demonstrate the following qualities of a student:
He/she has engaged in a programme of academic work resulting in either an original contribution to knowledge or an original application of existing knowledge.
He/she is familiar with the relevant literature and has reviewed it critically.
He/she possesses a mastery of the theoretical and conceptual framework(s) of study.
He/she thoroughly understands the research methodology, tools utilised, and the subsequent treatment of the data.
He/she possesses autonomous results from research work without infringing on other resources.
He/she possesses good writing skills and can present a substantial body of information clearly, concisely, and comprehensibly.
Students are advised to adhere to the latest Guidelines on Thesis Format edition obtained at the IPSis website.
Prepare for your presentation academically, psychologically, and physically before attending your DRP. Bring a copy of your proposal report for reference purposes. Understand the nature of your research problem thoroughly. Rehearse your presentation multiple times with the equipment you will be using. If you need personal coaching to conduct a mock DRP, you may contact me one month before attending your actual DRP.
Make eye contact with more than one member of the panel of assessors during your presentation. Don't speak too fast like reading; instead, speak slowly and confidently. Explain your work concisely and clearly. Use your creative slides (as shown above) to discuss with the panel of assessors. Depict yourself as a disciplinary scholar and authority on your subject and defend any notion that may be challenged.
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