The Importance of Planning and Design of a Research Project

A successful research project significantly enhances the justification and goals

when defined as an exact statement. Once this is completed several steps are crucial

for writing the research plan and executing the project successfully. A research plan

generally consists of two areas: research logistics and research context and concepts.

The achievement of the plan and integration of the steps can determine if the project

will be successful or fail. Writing the research strategy should begin immediately when

ideas are brought forth (Congdon & Dunham, 1999).

The importance of a research project is not only noted by the data obtained but

how the research balances out previous contributions and investigations to one’s

understanding of a wide range of topics or to test a wide range of concepts, ecological

theories or problems in management of biodiversity and conservation (Congdon

& Dunham, 1999). Research plan and design are the foundational building blocks of a researcher’s proposed research. The plan should incorporate the

focus of the research as well as why it is important and how the research will be conducted. A simple outline to follow would include the

following questions for the researcher to base his/her plan upon:
• What is the specific intent of the research? What are you trying to accomplish?
• Why should this research be deemed important?
• What prior studies and research have been done to support this work?
• By what means or processes will the research be accomplished?
There are four major parts of a research plan and design: the specific aims, background and significance, preliminary studies, and

research design and methods. The specific aims of any research project should be hypothesis