I'm onto version 6.X of my proposal. All the usual bunk in there. Nice snappy title, keywords, aims, motivation, basic lit review, significance, etc, etc. All this in 800 or so words. Where it falls down [badly] is in the proposed methodology. It is the grand total of 3 and a half lines.

I think the problem is that while I do have a Masters with some reseach training [anyone who has done a MSc at one of the old Poly's will probably appreciate that comment] my knowledge of research methodolgies is limited. Can anyone recommend a good site or indeed text that covers research methods for the Business field?

books such as 'how to get a PhD' and 'your PhD companion' may give you some good advice on this.

This might be helpful, free access to full papers.

http://www.ejbrm.com/index.htm

You could try having a look at the book 'Developing Effective Research Proposals' by Keith Punch (2000). This book is an excellent guide when writing research proposals for social sciences, and has a really good section on explaining methodology within a proposal.

Thank you for the replies.

I have just read 'Developing Effective Research Proposals' by Keith Punch (2000) as per XJR's advice. Very useful for proposee's. The Findaphd team may want to add this to its list of useful books as this question appears to come up with some frequency. Thank you again XJR.