Compulsory attendance
The preparatory Master's Thesis seminars take place in autumn, in the third semester of the master's programme. The seminars run over four times. Attendance at the seminars is compulsory and will be registered each time. If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from a seminar you may apply to get your absence approved.
Completion of the research proposal requires that you participate in the seminars.
Guidelines for the research proposal
Through the work on the research proposal you are to plan and prepare for the completion of your thesis.
You may find guidelines for different types of research projects here.
The research proposal shall contribute to ensuring the academic quality and efficiency of your research project.
If you are to co-author the thesis with another student, you also write the research proposal together.
Tentative title of the Master's Thesis
Formulate a tentative title which is clear and informative.
Background, topic, aims and objectives
Describe what you would like to investigate. What is the background for the research topic you have chosen, and what would you like to achieve with your dissertation? Describe one or more aspects which forms the theoretical and empirical framework of the project:
- problems related to the field of practice, or to own experiences
- relevant research
- theoretical point of departure/framework
This should be elaborated on with one or more research questions.
Research questions
Formulate a research question which is focused and feasible to answer within the given timeframe. The research question can be defined as one overall question with several sub-question which are clearly connected to the overall question. The research question may also be formulated as a specific thematic aim or as one or several hypotheses.
Research design and methods
- Outline a possible research design and the methodological approach you think would be effective to answering your research questions
- Outline how you will select participants/sources and how you plan to gain access to them
- Outline how you will collect data
- Outline how you will analyse the data
Ethical aspects
Describe the ethical aspects that must be considered in your project. Are there any specific ethical issues or challenges related to your project? How should these be dealt with?
Note that if you are to carry out interviews with participants, your project must most probably be notified to Data Protection Services at Sikt (formerly NSD) for an assessment of privacy. Your may find more information on data handling in for master's students here.
Timeline
The research proposal must include a time schedule for how you plan to proceed with the project month by month until the submission deadline. Activities that you should include in the time schedule are i.e. notifying your project to Data Protection Services at Sikt, data collection, literature reading, analysis, writing etc. Bear in mind that the writing should start early.
Reference list
The research proposal must include a literature list of the references you have used.
The reference list must be written according to the APA guidelines.
Cover page
The research proposal must have a cover page which contains:
- Name of author(s). If you are writing you Master's Thesis with another student, both of your names should be on the cover page
- The proposed title of the Master's Thesis
- Research proposal for Master's Thesis
- Name/number of your seminar group
- Year and semester (e.g. Autumn 2022)
- Name of seminar teacher
Formatting requirements
- Text size must be 12 Times New Roman, or 11 Calibri
- Line spacing must be one and a half (1,5)
- Page number must be placed at the bottom of the page
- Margins must be standard
- Maximum number of words: 2500 (excluding references)
Submission
To submit your research proposal you have to meet the attendance requirement.
You submit the research proposal in Canvas.
If you have written your research proposal with another student, you must both submit the proposal in Canvas separately.
You submit your research proposal in November after the last seminar session. The submission deadline is available on the semester page.
Research proposals submitted after the deadline will not be assessed.
Assessment
The research proposals will be assessed as passed/not passed.
If you do not pass, you will be given a second attempt to pass within a one-week deadline.
An approved research proposal is valid for three years. If you are delayed, and your research proposal is older than three years when you are to initiate your work on your Master's Thesis, you must deliver an updated research proposal for the Department's approval. The updated research proposal must be approved before you are assigned a supervisor and can start working on your thesis. Contact master@isp.uio.no if this applies to you.