Final Revision accepted for presentation at faculty seminar -- attached below 20 January 2012
2nd revision submitted on 7 December 2011 -- attached below. sent to Mubashir Mukhtar for comments
AZ: 30/12/11
See Version attached below for comments.
ltaf AKbar 7 Dec 2011 proposal -- comments included.docx - on Dec 29, 2011 7:47 PM by Asad Zaman (version 1)
This proposal is now in relatively good shape. Just a little bit more work is needed to make it suitable for presentation before the faculty seminar.
21/11/11: Comments on REVISED PROPOSAL submitted 16/9/11
You have still committed the basic mistake of confusing a ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY with a literature review. Please check my newly created website:
https://sites.google.com/site/iiiestudentguide/
You have also reviewed a lot of un-necessary and irrelevant literature.
Your lit review should concentrate on studies SIMILAR to what you plan to do in methodology. Your intro should emphasize how your research will contribute to literature, and also any practical or policy relevant useful aspects of your study.
This contains DETAILED explanations of how to write an introduction and a lit review for the proposal. Slowly, I will add instructions about how to write the other parts.
Asad Zaman
COMMENTS on Original Proposal submitted Sept. 16th: REVISION submitted on Nov 4th -- awaiting checking and comments currently
THESIS: Do Microfinance Programs Really Help the Poor?
Dear Altaf Akbar Assalamo Alaikum
Your proposal is about 30% plagiarized. Please make sure to put quotes around copied passages (which you have modified a bit, changing a word or two) and then attribute them to the source..
see guide to plagiarism on website: https://sites.google.com/site/iiieproposals/iiie-research-proposal
In addition, it also suffers from most of the common mistakes which I have highlighted in the attached document (Common Mistakes).
The following issues occur in the literature on the topic you have chosen (according to your own bibliography)
1: Is microfinance a profit making business, or is it a charitable institution to help the poor, or is it some combination. HOW will your research help to decide this question?
2: Do the poor sell their assets to repay loans? Does this cause hardship? HOW will your research shed light on this issue.
3: What are the actual repayment rates? How many % repay loans and at what interest? and how does this compare with the private sector?
4: The literature shows that one must distinguish between the POOR and the EXTREMELY POOR. This last group does not get microfinance. How will your research investigate this topic
5: Is their pollitical favoritism in award of Microfinance Loans?
My Student Mubashir Mukhtar has developed a website which contains a lot of reading on Microfinance. It also contains his M.Sc. Thesis on this topic, which as called: Islamic Microfinance: Welfare in the Name of Business.
Another IIIE Student has also done a thesis on microfinance. This is available from the links below:
IIIE Research Methods (/site/iiieresearchmethods/)
RESEARCH TITLE: SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS: A NEW EVIDENCE: (CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON) SUPERVISOR NAME: Dr. Ahmad Nawaz nawaz_ahmad@hotmail.com SIGNIFICANCE: Microfinance institutions do have a ...
Do Microfinance Programs really help the poor?
(Evidence from PPAF)
For the Degree of
M.S. Economics
Name of student:
Proposed Supervisor:
ALTAF AKBAR
226-SE/M.S Eco-I/F09
Dr. Hafiz M. Yasin