Problem

Projects are usually conducted to solve practical problems. The context, relevant background information and the problem itself should be written down. Obtaining general agreement that this statement really does describe the problem is imperative.

A clear statement of the problem may lead to improvements without any data being collected, simply through creating a greater understanding of the process.

Aim

Any research project should begin with well-defined objectives. If the researcher has no clear idea of the objectives of the study, it is unlikely that the data collected will contain suitable information.

It is essential that the researcher has a clear idea of what an experiment is being conducted to achieve. In defining the goals of the experiment, it is important that people with intimate knowledge of the process or subject area are included in the team which is charged with designing and running the experiment.

Specific objectives

The objectives of a research project should be:

This cannot be stressed enough. Objectives drive the rest of the study: your hypothesis, the kind of study that needs to be done (experiment, survey, ....), the treatments that have to be compared, the population to be sampled, the data to be collected, the formal statistical analysis needed, ....

Making a vague statement such as "The objective is to compare treatments" is the same as setting no objectives at all. Information about "what?", "who?", "when?", "where?", "how many?", "how much?", .... should be incorporated in the study objectives.

Following objective is a real life example from a first draft of a research proposal:

Objective: To evaluate 4 improved mango varieties.

In the final research proposal, this had been improved to following clear statement from which the next steps to be taken flow automatically:

Objective: To determine whether the survival and growth rates, during the first two years, of improved mango varieties (Kent, Van Dyke, Tommy Atkins and Sensation) can be brought up to the level of the local variety by using a higher level of management (manure and water), when these trees are grown in crop fields of the coffee zone of Embu, Kenya.

Actions?

Before data are collected, it is also important to consider how the results from the project will be used. The goal may be simply to publish a paper in a specific journal, but there should be a plan for how the results can be used improve some aspect of the real world.

If the conclusions from the project will not have any effect on the outside world, why bother?