2. Project proposals are documents designed to
present a plan of action, outline the reasons why
the action is necessary, and convince the reader
to agree with and approve the implementation of
the actions recommended in the body of the
document.
3.
4. Pre-Proposal, Preliminary Proposal
This type of proposal is requested when a sponsor wishes to
minimize an applicant’s effort in preparing a full proposal.
Formal Proposal
Although the prescribed format of any of these proposals
will vary, all should be prepared in the same general
manner.
5. Unsolicited Proposal
This type of proposal is submitted to a
sponsor that generally has not issued a
specific solicitation but is believed by the
investigator to have an interest in the
subject.
Solicited Proposal
A proposal submitted to a specific program
should conform to the solicitation guidelines
issued by the agency.
6. Continuation or Non-Competing
Proposals
This is a request for financial assistance for a
second or subsequent budget period within a
previously approved project period.
Renewal or Competing Proposals
These types of proposals are requests for
continued support for an existing project that
is about to terminate, and from the sponsor’s
viewpoint, generally have the same status as
an unsolicited proposal.
7. Supplemental Proposal
A supplemental proposal is a request for an
increase in support during a current budget
period for expansion of the project's scope or
research protocol or to meet increased
administrative costs unforeseen at the time of
the new, non-competing continuation, or
competing continuation application.
8.
9. Statement of the Problem
This section should include a clear and concise
statement of the purpose or goal of the project.
Literature Review
A proposal should reflect the offerer's
understanding of relevant bodies of literature
and where his/her study fits in that context.
10. Conceptual Framework
In this section, the offerer provides his/her
own perspective.
Hypotheses or Research Questions
Following the description of the conceptual
framework, there should be a clear, crisp
statement of the research hypotheses, or, in
the case of some qualitative studies, a
concise description of the phenomena to be
examined.
11. Methodology
10. This section consists of a description
of plans for collecting and analyzing the
data.
Task Structure (Scope of Work)
9. This section indicates exactly what will
be done, the sequence of the various
activities, and the products of
deliverables that will be prepared.
12. Management Plan
12. A crucial part of the plan is a creative and
effective approach to project management.
The approach should indicate who will be responsible
for each part of the work, and who will be responsible
for overall coordination.
Staff and Institutional Qualifications
13. This section includes a full discussion of the
qualifications and experience of the proposed staff.
Sometimes it is useful to include brief summaries of
the staff experience in the management plan and to
attach complete resumes for each member of the
team as appendices to the proposal.
13. Budget
The project budget should include clear and
reasonable estimates of the costs of each element of
the project, and there should be enough supporting
information to indicate how the estimates were
developed.
A final note about good proposals
Quality writing is critical in all good proposals.
It should be clear, concise, and free of jargon.
There should be no spelling or grammatical errors,
and the proposal should be easy to read.
A project proposal will be clearly arranged so that readers can follow a logical progression of thought to the conclusion.
Preliminary Proposal-They are usually in the form of a letter of intent or a brief abstract of what the PI plans to do, how the PI will conduct the project and why this project has merit.Formal Proposal-A formal proposal normally fits into one of the following categories.
Unsolicited Proposal-The unsolicited proposal is developed around general agency guidelines, within a specific subject field, where the scope of the project is not limited by specific solicitation guidelines.
Continuation Proposals- This type of proposal confirms the original proposal and funding requirements of the multi-year project.
Statement of the Problem-In a grant proposal, it consists of the specific question to be answered, a brief explanation of the need for or significance of the study, and an explanation of how the results will contribute to the existing body of knowledge.
Conceptual Framework-What theories or concepts will guide the study? How or why do they suggest the specific hypotheses or research questions? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed framework?
Methodology-The description of the proposed methodology should contain enough detail to indicate that the offerer knows what he/she is doing.