what makes up a research plan or proposal?
And that is a great question.
included and I'll introduce and explain each one in turn.
This lesson is a big one.
So we have separated it into two parts.
proposal and be able to develop and compose one of your own.
Let's begin with the title page.
The title page is the first thing that a potential client sees.
It won't necessarily win the project but it's important.
It's the cover serving as a formal salutation or introduction to your proposal.
It's an opportunity to keep your brand up front.
tagline to summarize the business objective to something snappy and catchy.
Your title page can use graphics and color to add style.
All these combine to make the title page more compelling.
You cannot underestimate the potential or power of a well laid out title page.
it has the opportunity to be memorable.
many people do judge books by their covers.
Consider the same for your proposal.
This can be as short as a paragraph but probably no longer than a page.
It states the problem with bulleted objectives beneath.
This is where you demonstrate that you understand what the client needs.
You recount back to them what they want you to do for them.
Some research firms will restate the RFP requirements almost word for word.
and call that the overview of the problem statement.
I don't always think that is the best approach.
relationship that happens where there is conversation.
I heard you, and then summarize what's important.
a statement of my own understanding of the situation.
agrees or disagrees with your perception of their situation.
It's the first part of the story.
In this section, you're letting them know that you understand what they need.
But it's also a checkpoint to make sure that you do understand.
most people get this 95 percent of the time.
But the five percent might say, "No, Jim.
I don't think you've got it quite the way we want it.
It isn't about this. It's about that".
This section can present an opportunity for clarity as well.
them but that can be an essential point of entry into the business relationship.
or situation is where you ensure agreement.
typically, the next part of the proposal.
It's also where internal research plays into the story. You've heard the client.
Now you get to start hearing from the marketplace a little bit.
That's what the secondary research part of it is.
"Hey this is where it sits in our ecosystem or where it sits in the world".
You've understood the situation a little bit more broadly now.
You understand the market or the product of the environment a little better.
This section is where you say what's going on there.
want to develop a new product for the accounting field.
or you have 17 competitors in your region.
Y, and Z and have certain qualities.
Some people would just take the objective and direction from the client.
The client may say, "I want a customer satisfaction survey."
without much focus on secondary or desk research.
shape what the next step of research could be.
help shape interpretation of what the research will likely demonstrate later on.
This is typically big picture and situational.
It's also your opportunity to provide guidance.
yes you told me that all is not well or that there's an opportunity in front of you.
that there are going to be issues and challenges in the marketplace.
seeing and that you need to learn more from it.
frame the situation and fill in some of the details.
you also consider what you don't have.
That leads you down the path of needing more or the research plan.
The next section is the methodology or research plan itself.
All the set up and framing has happened.
recommend given the situation resources and constraints?
What methods would you recommend to fill in the gaps in information?
maybe even 10 pages long.
how they're going to analyze data, and so forth.
There is a lot that can be discussed in this section and it could be very long.
However, most of what I see here is typically no more than a few pages.
research and what tool are you going to use to research them on a primary basis.
You are delineating how are you going to do research.
analyze the data or prepare it for analysis.
The methodology section can be the make or break section of the proposal.
and also the rationale for a specific research approach.
is being recommended and what the steps are in the process.
context of constraints in the original business problem or objective.
as to what is going to be done next and why it is important.
good of an approach that is possible given the constraints and objectives.
There are a lot of ways to lay out the methodology section.
The lay out could be a series of bullets.
It could be a table with milestones in it.
or this is what happens that will be parallel to other research events.
it needs to illustrate your methodology clearly.
That completes the first part of this lesson on the component parts.
We'll cover the rest in the next lesson.