How to Write a Dissertation Proposal, With a Full Worked Example

This page does two things. First it sets out how to write a dissertation proposal, section by section. Then it gives a complete worked example: a masters-level proposal on the role of innovation in the UK fintech sector, with its introduction, research problem, aims and objectives, research questions, rationale, literature review and methodology. The example was written for a UK business school and uses Harvard referencing.

If you want a second worked proposal to compare against, our example of a research proposal is the fullest one on the site and covers the same sections in a different subject.

How Do You Write a Dissertation Proposal?

Fix the research question first, then work outward from it. Read enough to name a gap in the existing literature, write aims and objectives that answer that gap, choose a method that can realistically collect the data in the time you have, and set a timeline you can keep. Write the introduction last, once you know what you are introducing.

A proposal is a planning document, not a piece of persuasion. It has to convince a supervisor of three things: that the question is answerable, that you have read enough to know it has not already been answered, and that the method you name can be carried out by one student in one academic year.

Start by defining the research question or problem statement, and check that it sits inside your field of study and is narrow enough to answer. Then read: enough of the recent literature to see where the gap is, and enough of the older work to know why the gap is there. Your supervisor can point you at the two or three papers that matter most, which is faster than reading a hundred abstracts. After that, work out a methodology that states your approach, your data collection methods and your analysis techniques, and check each one against the objective it is supposed to serve.

Then set the proposal out in the order your own department expects. There is no universal template, and it is worth being clear about that before you copy a structure from the internet. The University of Westminster Library guide says the structure of a proposal "varies considerably", and lists fourteen elements that "might" be required: title, introduction or background, rationale, purpose, research question, hypothesis, aim, objectives, literature review, methods, significance or expected outcomes, plan of work, outline and reference list. Your handbook picks the subset you need, and it is the handbook that gets marked against.

The worked example below uses the six-part structure set out in the next section but stops after part five: it ends at the methodology, its references sit in the Sources list at the foot of the page, and it has no timeline. Build yours from the dates in your own handbook, because a supervisor reads the timeline to decide whether the method fits the weeks you have.

What Sections Does a Dissertation Proposal Contain?

It depends on the department, and the guide quoted above is right that the variation is wide. Most UK business proposals use six sections: a title and introduction, the research problem and rationale, aims and objectives with matching research questions, a short literature review that ends in the gap, a methodology covering philosophy, approach, sampling, data collection and ethics, and a timeline.

• Introduction and background. What the topic is, why it matters now, and what the proposal will do. Two or three paragraphs, written last.
• Research problem. The specific thing that is not known or not working. This is the hardest paragraph to write and the one a supervisor reads most carefully.
• Aim, objectives and research questions. One aim, three or four objectives, and research questions that mirror the objectives word for word. If an objective has no matching question, one of the two is wrong.
• Literature review. Enough recent, peer-reviewed work to show the gap is real, ending with a paragraph that names the gap explicitly.
• Methodology. Philosophy, approach, strategy, sampling, data collection, analysis, ethics and limitations. Say what you will do, not what could be done.
• Timeline and references. A Gantt chart or table covering the weeks you actually have, and a reference list in your department's style.

Our tips for dissertation writing cover what happens after the proposal is approved, and the dissertation and research proposal samples archive holds the rest of our worked examples.

Is a Dissertation Proposal the Same as a Research Proposal?

They share a structure, but the audience differs. A research proposal is often written to win funding or gain ethical approval and can stand on its own. A dissertation proposal is written for a supervisor and a marking rubric, and it commits you to a piece of work you then have to deliver in the same academic year. Scope it accordingly.

The practical consequence is scope. A research proposal can promise a two-year study; a dissertation proposal has to promise something you can finish alongside taught modules. If your method needs interviews with senior managers at ten firms, say how you will reach them, because a supervisor who does not believe the sampling plan will send the proposal back. The sample research proposal on social media marketing and the business research methods assignment sample show two different scopes handled well.

Dissertation Proposal Example

Topic: Role of innovations in the contemporary fintech industry

Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Background

Introduction

The UK finance market is being reshaped by digital transformation, and FinTech is where most of that change is visible. Hodson (2021) finds that online-only banks such as Starling, Monzo and N26 challenged incumbents in the UK and Germany without breaking or remaking regulation, and explains this partly by policymakers using the new technology to reassess their relationship with the incumbent banks. Innovation in this sector creates both a competitive edge and a claim to long-term sustainability. This research evaluates the strategic approaches taken in the UK FinTech sector, with the emphasis on innovation in service development. It uses primary research, combining qualitative and quantitative data from interviews and surveys, so that what participants say about their own organizations can be read alongside what they report doing.

Research Problem

Innovation in service development has become a condition of competing in retail finance rather than a differentiator, which is why competition in the market is intense. UK firms such as Revolut and Starling Bank invest heavily in customer-centric service development, which moves the sector quickly. Two problems follow from that speed. The first is data security and regulatory compliance. FinTech launches into territory regulators have already mapped: Giglio (2021), reviewing fourteen studies, finds it defined by international bodies including the IMF, the Financial Stability Board and the Bank for International Settlements, and analyzed at national level in the UK among other countries. Security requirements such as authorization, biometric authentication and encryption then shape which services a firm can launch. The second is capability. Where mobile and technical expertise is thin, the service a FinTech company can actually operate falls short of the one it designed. The customer evidence is also less settled than the investment suggests. Mbama and Ezepue (2018), surveying UK bank customers, found that digital banking innovation was not a significant predictor of customer experience, because customers cared more about the benefits than about the innovation itself. Technologies such as big data analysis and AI integration are still maturing in this sector, so the evidence on customer acceptance of them is thinner still, which is what this study sets out to address.

Aim and Objectives

This study aims to critically evaluate the role of innovation in the UK FinTech sector by investigating the opportunities and challenges of digital transformation in that sector.

Its objectives are:

• To evaluate the impact of innovation through the digital transformation of financial services in the FinTech sector.
• To investigate the current challenges and opportunities of digital transformation in the financial and banking sector in the UK market.
• To develop strategic approaches in the FinTech sector focusing on the incorporation of innovation for growth and sustainability.

Research Questions

• What is the impact of innovation through the digital transformation of financial services in the FinTech sector?
• What are the current challenges and opportunities of digital transformation in the financial and banking sector in the UK market?
• What strategic approaches in the FinTech sector incorporate innovation for growth and sustainability?

Rationale

Digitalization is changing financial and banking services quickly enough that the role of innovation needs to be measured rather than assumed. Changes in consumer behavior are part of that, and they have to be analyzed before a firm can claim its services are customer-centric. The last crisis is a warning against assuming a quick return to trend. Roper and Turner (2020) report that the proportion of UK firms innovating fell by around a third during the 2008 to 2010 financial crisis and took around four to six years to recover, unevenly across sectors and regions, while firms that kept investing in R&D had better survival chances, stronger growth and higher profitability. That is a reason to study the current period on its own terms rather than by analogy with the last one.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

The UK is one of the largest FinTech markets outside the United States. The government's Invest in the UK service states that "UK financial technology accounts for 11% of the global industry and it is home to an estimated 2,500 firms", and that "around 76,500 people across the UK work in the industry with this set to grow to 105,500 by 2030" (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, 2026). Consumer take-up is high by international standards: EY reports "a consumer adoption rate of 71%, notably above the global average of 64%" (EY, 2022). Investment in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain sits behind those numbers, although Moosa (2022) notes that accounts of how fintech evolved differ on dates, milestones and driving forces, and that whether it is an evolution of financial services or a revolution in them is still disputed.

IoT-based innovation in payment and account management platforms is one strand of that investment, and it carries security implications as well as service ones. Software-as-a-Service and Payments-as-a-Service models, built on cloud computing and open-source components, now let a firm buy in e-wallets, payouts and remittances, virtual card issuing and identity verification rather than build them. Artificial intelligence is the second strand, from financial forecasting to robo-advisers. Golubev and Ryabov (2020) argue that traditional financial companies, chiefly banks and insurers, have to transform their business into fintech to stay competitive, which makes the technology a question of the business model rather than of tooling. The direction of travel in both cases is toward integration with government and public services, because that is what makes an identity or a payment claim verifiable.

The constraints on the sector are documented as clearly as the opportunities, and regulation comes first among them. Mention (2019) describes fintech as fast becoming a global phenomenon, led by innovators, followed closely by academics and now drawing the attention of regulators. The Kalifa Review of UK FinTech, commissioned by the Treasury and published in February 2021, set out a five-point plan covering policy and regulation, skills and talent, investment, international competitiveness and national connectivity (Kalifa, 2021). Two of those five are the constraints this study is concerned with: the regulatory framework a firm has to launch inside, and the supply of technical skill it has to hire from. Data security sits underneath both, because a vulnerability in a payment or identity service is a regulatory event as well as a technical one. A strategic model of a FinTech firm therefore has to cover its customer segments and services, its technology, and its capacity to keep developing ICT skills. Sibanda et al. (2020), surveying all 68 member banks of the UAE Banks Federation, find digital technology moving banks from competitive models toward collaboration with FinTechs, which makes partnership one of the strategic approaches this study has to ask about.

Chapter 3: Methodology

This research analyzes the contemporary FinTech sector and its technological innovations, so primary research carries the study: quantitative and qualitative data will be collected through a survey and interviews with employees at different FinTech companies in the UK. Both will use a structured questionnaire, put to a range of respondents, so that answers on the role of innovation can be compared across firms. Sampling will be purposive, so that the participants selected can speak to the questions being asked. The philosophy is interpretivism with an inductive approach, which builds reasoning from the participants' own accounts while acknowledging the risk of bias in primary data. Ethical considerations are treated as part of the design rather than an appendix to it (Johnson et al., 2020). The researcher will treat participants fairly, take written consent through a verified consent form, and hold and store the data to the same standard, because the credibility of the findings depends on how the raw data was handled.

Six methodology choices in the fintech dissertation proposal

1. 1 Philosophy: interpretivism Findings are built from what participants say about their own organizations.
2. 2 Approach: inductive Reasoning starts from the participants' accounts, with the risk of bias in primary data acknowledged.
3. 3 Strategy: primary research A survey and interviews with employees at UK FinTech companies, collecting quantitative and qualitative data.
4. 4 Sampling: purposive Participants are chosen because they can speak to the research questions.
5. 5 Instrument: structured questionnaire Used for both the survey and the interviews, put to a range of respondents.
6. 6 Ethics: consent and data handling Written consent through a consent form; data held and stored to the same standard.

Need a dissertation proposal written or checked before you submit it to your supervisor? Send us the brief, the word count and the deadline on WhatsApp, and read how we work on dissertation and thesis help first.

Sources

• Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, 2026. Fintech. Invest in the UK. https://www.business.gov.uk/invest-in-uk/sectors/fintech/ [Accessed 24 September 2026]
• EY, 2022. How investors and financial institutions can connect with FinTechs. 29 November. https://www.ey.com/en_uk/insights/banking-capital-markets/how-investors-and-financial-institutions-can-connect-with-fintechs [Accessed 24 September 2026]
• Giglio, F., 2021. Fintech: A literature review. European Research Studies Journal, 24(2B), pp.600-627.
• Golubev, A. and Ryabov, O., 2020, November. Transformation of traditional financial companies into FinTech. In Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference-Digital Transformation on Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Service (pp. 1-7).
• Hodson, D., 2021. The politics of FinTech: Technology, regulation, and disruption in UK and German retail banking. Public Administration, 99(4), pp.859-872.
• Johnson, J.L., Adkins, D. and Chauvin, S., 2020. A review of the quality indicators of rigor in qualitative research. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 84(1), 7120. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7055404/
• Kalifa, R., 2021. The Kalifa Review of UK FinTech. HM Treasury, 26 February 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-kalifa-review-of-uk-fintech
• Mbama, C.I. and Ezepue, P.O., 2018. Digital banking, customer experience and bank financial performance: UK customers' perceptions. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 36(2), pp.230-255. https://shura.shu.ac.uk/15903/
• Mention, A.L., 2019. The future of fintech. Research-Technology Management, 62(4), pp.59-63.
• Moosa, I., 2022. The evolution and revolution of fintech. In Fintech (pp. 18-32). Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Roper, S. and Turner, J., 2020. R&D and innovation after COVID-19: What can we expect? A review of prior research and data trends after the great financial crisis. International Small Business Journal, 38(6), pp.504-514.
• Sibanda, W., Ndiweni, E., Boulkeroua, M., Echchabi, A. and Ndlovu, T., 2020. Digital technology disruption on bank business models. International Journal of Business Performance Management, 21(1-2), pp.184-213.
• University of Westminster Library, 2026. Dissertations 1: Getting started: writing a proposal. https://libguides.westminster.ac.uk/starting-your-dissertation/writing-a-proposal [Accessed 24 September 2026]
• Assignment Helper, 2026. Example of a research proposal. The primary worked proposal on this site, covering the same sections in a different subject.
• Assignment Helper, 2026. Business research methods assignment sample. A shorter proposal written for an MBA research methods module.