How do I write the Dissertation Proposal?

As you know, the dissertation proposal has several components.  The dissertation proposal includes, at a minimum, the participants, instruments, procedure, data analysis plan and sample size justification.

The participants section is typically the first part of the dissertation proposal methodology.  It describes who the participants are and lends itself to generalizing the findings to those type of participants (e.g., grade school children, individuals in southeast of the country, etc.).

The dissertation proposal has an instrument or materials section.  Describing the instrument and the subscales are critical in the dissertation proposal.  You should list the subscales, the items that comprise the subscales, and the reliability and validity of the scales.

The procedure section of the dissertation proposal describes the way you administer the instrument to the participants.  It should be a step-by-step “how-to” in such detail that the reader could replicate the study.

The dissertation proposal should be clear and organized. At Statistics Solutions, we have assisted thousands of students with their dissertation proposal.  If you have any questions about writing your dissertation proposal, feel free to contact us for a free 30-min consultation.

Free Resources

We offer a free dissertation template download.  This is a 24-page outline that lays out the critical components of a dissertation with detailed descriptions of these parts (including the methodology, which is one of the components of the proposal) to help the doctoral student understand how to complete each chapter.  The template is written to comply with university compliance requirements.  This template includes:

• Table of Contents;
• Page Numbering;
• Average Word Count per Section;
• Chapter Guides;
• APA 7th Edition Formatting;
• Automatic Bookmarks (clickable to section); and
• Definition of Terms.