I am new to this site. I have looked through this forum but I don't think this has been asked.

I am currently completing my Masters which has no elements of research to it. Within the University I have been in touch with the Head of School and informally proposed a research idea which he liked and told me to formally apply to the school.

As part of the application process I need to fill in a 250-500 word proposal and this is my uncertainty. Do I need to outline within those few words the exact research and methods I plan to undertake (I am really unfamiliar with the correct terminoligies to use and am afraid I will look rather stupid!). The research itself (as approved and encouraged by the Head of School) involves interviewing a wide range of people (up to 80 people) and conducting group and personal interviews, so I believe this is qualitative research but once again, I'm not sure what I'd be expected to present in that word count.

In a nutshell I suppose I'm asking what level of professionalism do you think is expected in this proposal? (this is for a part time PhD)

You should briefly say what the key aims of your PhD are (what questions are you trying to tackle), how it relates to prior research (if you know already), what methods/sources you'll use (just say interviews and qualitative techniques if that's what you're doing), and possibly how you plan to present the results. Don't stress about it anyway. The proposal is just a brief outline/summary to tell them what you're planning to do and to get you in the door. It's possible to change your whole topic/approach afterwards if need be, with supervisor approval!

Bilbo - Thanks so much for such a quick reply! What has happened is that when I emailed the Prof my proposal, in fact he had constructed a very similar one himself which he emailed me and said I could use, if I want, in my own proposal. So, do you think in this brief proposal I am incorporating his and my ideas and I don't need to stress about including things like references and precise details (and a roadmap) for the research?

If you're applying for funding then references to other prior research and a roadmap would help to convince the funding council that you know what you're doing, why it's important, and how you'll get there. But if you're part-time and self-funded and just have to apply to the university to get in then I wouldn't worry about that level of detail. I didn't have anything like that detail when I applied to start my part-time PhD. I applied for funding a year later (after self-funding for a year) and had to be much more precise in my revised proposal then.

Wow, that's exactly my plans, part time PhD, to self fund the first year (where I'll spend time on courses etc and shaping the idea) and then apply for funding for the next year (by which time hopefully I will have a far better idea of how to produce the formal type of proposal you refer to)