How to Write a Research

Proposal
What is a research proposal?
 A research proposal is your plan
 It describes in detail your study
 Decisions about your study are based on
the quality of the proposal
 Research funding
 Approvals to proceed by the adviser
Research Proposal Elements
 Background/engineering significance
 Research Question/Aim/Purpose
 Methods
 Design
 Sample/Sample Size
 Setting
 Protocol
 Analysis plan
 Timeline
Writing the Proposal
Background/Engineering Significance

 Why is your study important?

 Describe the engineering significance
of the research question or problem
 Answer the “so what?” question
Literature review
 What is the state of the science on
this problem? Are there gaps in the
literature? How will your study fill
those gaps?
 Synthesize recent literature (within the
past 5 years)
Purpose
 Identify simply what you plan to do in your
study
 The purpose can be framed as a research
question or an aim
 Examples:
 What is the impact of your study towards the
construction industry in your locality and as a
whole to the country.
 The purpose of this study is to show the impact
of meditative music on agitated elders.
Methods
 This section of your proposal has
multiple parts
 Design
 Sample/Sample size
 Setting
 Protocol
 Analysis Plan
 Detailed enough so that the reviewers
could conduct the study
Methods - Design
 Describe your study design
 Design examples
 Prospective vs. Retrospective
 Descriptive
 Observation
 Intervention in construction project
 Surveys, interviews, questionnaires
 Focus groups, field studies
 Others
 Example
 We plan a prospective randomized controlled
trial of meditative music vs. no music
Methods – Sample/Sample Size
 Who are the study participants?
 Describe inclusion criteria
 Example:
 Who is excluded?
 Example: Respondents who do not speak
English, carpenters, mason, laborers and
others.
Methods – Sample cont’d
 How will participants be recruited?
 Convenience sample of engineers or contractor
 Flyers in for engineering purpose
 Advertisements
 Electronic Records search
 How many participants are needed?
 How will you justify the sample size?
 Has there been a power analysis?
 Do you have a comparison or control group?
Setting
 Describe the area of the sites where
you plan to conduct the study. Ex.
Construction companies.
 Do you have support from the
university to conduct the study?
 Letters of support from site or unit
Protocol
 What are you going to do to study
participants?
 Detailed, step by step explanation
 Include how you will identify participants, obtain
consent, and collect data
 If there is an intervention, describe it in detail
 Will you use measurement tools? Describe the
tools, including reliability and validity and
include a copy of the tools with your proposal
 Include the time frame for implementing the
study
Data Analysis
 Describe your analysis plan
 What statistical tests will you use?
 Be sure your statistics are appropriate
for your study design
Timeline
 Describe how long it will take to do
your study
 Provide timeline benchmarks
 Example:
 Months 1 – 3 Prepare study tools
 Months 4-10 Collect data
 Months 11-12 Analyze data
Common pitfalls to avoid
 Missing aims or purpose
 Not enough detail about protocol
 Write your proposal so anyone reading it can understand
your plan
 Is your study significant?
 Does it answer the larger “So what” question? Why should
engineers care about this work?
 Underpowered sample size
 Describe why you are using the sample size and justify it
 Invalid or unreliable instrumentation
 Has your instrument been tested with the population you
are studying? If not, will you test it within your study?
 Improper statistics
 Are you using the appropriate statistical analysis?
How will the Engineering Research
Evaluate my proposal?
The adviser will evaluate your proposal
based on specific criteria defined by the
University
 The research design must be sound enough to
yield the expected knowledge
 The aims/objectives are likely to be achievable
in the given time period
 The rationale for the proposed number of
participants is reasonable
 The scientific design is described and adequately
justified
Resources

Each University has a Research Council

representative. Contact them before you
submit your proposal if you have
questions.
“ASSESSMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF
THE WOMEN WORKERS IN CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS IN DEBRE BERHAN AND ADDIS ABABA
CITY, ETHIOPIA”

Introduction/Significance of the Study

Nowadays, Ethiopian economy is one of the fastest

growing economies in African region. Construction
projects such as, private and government buildings
roads railways manufacturing plants and power
stations are prevalent all over the country. It is
evident that most of these construction projects
employ women most of them in the labor-intensive
position which is predominantly a men’s job in
most countries in the world. However, here in
Ethiopia, women are most common scenario that
you can see in construction projects.
This project is conducted to assess
the effectiveness of the role of women
in construction projects at Debre
Berhan and Addis Ababa City, Ethiopia
and analyzing its impact towards
personal safety and construction
accidents, quality of construction,
gender sensitivity and equality,
project completion or lead time, and
effectiveness in project management
as a whole.
Furthermore, the project will conduct
survey for some specific construction
projects at Debre Berhan and Addis
Ababa City by local and international
contractors. The survey will include
safety practices, minor and major
accidents headcount, position, matters
regarding absences or lateness,
effectivity, quickness or speed in
completing a job, etc. of women in
specific projects. Interview will be
conducted also with sets of simple and
credible questionnaires.

The result of the study will help local
Ethiopian, contractors’ to determine
whether it is appropriate to employ
women considering safety, quality,
cost and effective project
management as a whole.
Statement of the Problem

What is the impact of women

workers in Construction at Debre
Berhan and Addis Ababa City,
Ethiopia towards safety, quality,
cost and project management
effectiveness?
Objectives

This study is conducted to assess or

investigate the uniqueness role of
women in construction at Debre
Berhan and Addis Ababa city,
Ethiopia. The study also aims to
achieve the following specific
objectives;
 To track the frequency of safety of
incidents concerning women in
various construction projects.
 To assess the quality of work of
women in heavy or laborious job in
construction.
 To investigate on the cost
effectiveness in employing women.
 To assess gender sensitivity issues in
construction projects.
 To assess the effectiveness of project
management by employing women
instead of men.
 Scope and Limitation

The study will be conducted in Debre Berhan

and Addis Ababa city, Ethiopia. All the
respondents of interviews and question and
answer surveys will be from various building
construction projects within the city and
from different contractors. The number of
respondents will be determined from a
representative sample from a population.
Interview and survey will be conducted by
the project team in the construction sites and
contractors’ offices.
Review of Related Literature

 The construction sector is an important

vehicle for employment generation and
economic development through building
environment assets such as houses,
roads, utility networks, schools and clinic
(Kenny, 2007).
 Women are deprived renumerated
participation in the labor force
relative to their male counterparts
and they tend to be self-employed in
the informal sector on primary
productive sectors like construction
sector areas, generating the highest
incidence of women impoverishing
Africa, women work for low pay, in
unskilled and informal jobs, under
unhealthy and substandard
condition (Nonlnhla 2005).
 Methodology

 Location: The research will be

conducted at Debre Berhan and Addis
Ababa City, Ethiopia.

 1.Design Phase
 - Design survey forms and
questionnaires for women workers,
foreman, project managers and
contractor firm owner.
 2.Implementation Phase

 - Surveys and interviews will be

conducted
 - Questionnaire will be given to
qualified respondents
 - Interviews will be conducted to
women, safety officers, foremen,
engineer, project managers and
owners.
 3. Analysis Phase

 - Various statistical tools i e. Pare to

Analysis Fishbone diagram 5Ws
Analysis, Impact Analysis, ANOVA,
analyze or respondents Analysis,
and Matrices and Spider web chart
will be used to the data collected
towards safety, cost, quality etc.
 - We can use Minitab and Excel
software to aid analysis.
4. Presentation of Results

 - The result of the study will be

presented to various government
and non-government agencies to
aid legislation and policy
formulation for women workers
in construction industries.
 Expected Output

 The study will provide a quantitative

assessment as reference to the local
contractors and concerned government
and non-government agencies or
organizations. About the “ASSESSMENT
AND EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF THE
WOMEN WORKERS IN CONSTRUCTION
PROJECTS IN DEBRE BERHAN AND
ADDIS ABABA CITY, ETHIOPIA” towards
safety, quality, cost and project
management effectiveness?
 References

 Gender data and documents

 MoHUD related to the productivity
 Possible spastatistically existing
data
 Appendices
 Estimated budget
THANK
YOU