CW: Brief, guidance and rubric

CW: Brief, guidance and rubric

Last edited:Jun 01, 11:36

1. Assignment Brief

Please remember you have one final submission for this assignment. For the Course Work assessment, you are required to submit a Research Proposal of 2500 words. This needs to focus on a business research topic/problem of your own choosing. Ideally, this should be the topic that you would like to study for your final term project.

Your research proposal should demonstrate learning across the module, but specifically the five module learning objectives:

1. Examine the core concepts involved in developing a business and management research proposal and how they interrelate in a complementary way to construct a coherent research proposal from problem identification to research project design

2. Debate the major philosophical issues within business and management research and the associated characteristics of qualitative and quantitative research to defend their choice of theoretical perspective appropriate to a chosen research project

3. Construct a critical review of the literature in a chosen area of business and management research to justify the framing of research objectives

4. Critically evaluate the philosophical and methodological perspectives that shape business and management research to support the selection of an appropriate methodology to address a set of research objectives

5. Appraise the ethical considerations and possible risks associated with a selected research project in order to draw a set of supported conclusions that demonstrate a critical appraisal of the appropriateness of the proposed research design

2. Guidance - Suggested Structure - Research Proposal

Cover page Research Proposal Title (Reflect as accurately as possible the content of your chosen topic) Abstract (250 300 words not included in the word limit) This is a brief statement of what you are intending to research. This needs to describe the proposal content. It should include the following information Background and Purpose of the study Research approach Potential findings Research impact

1. Introduction (200 words) The Background and purpose of the study Relevance of the Proposed Research to Business Research Justification of the chosen topic Value of this research

2. Research Question(s) and Research Objectives (200 words) The research question must be clear and consistent with the Research Objectives Research objectives (2 or 3 different research objectives) must be clear statements that identify what the research process seeks to achieve. This must relate to the research question/topic Both research question and research objectives must relate to the literature review

3. Literature Review (900 1000 words) Clear and precise knowledge that relate to the research topic. Explain how your proposal relates to the academic debate which has been identified as part of the literature review. Demonstrate relevant theoretical models. Demonstrate a link between previous work and current work that has been done in your field of research interest. Highlight the gap in literature.

4. Method (600 - 700 words) Relates to your research questions and research objectives and shows how you will achieve them. Your method consists of two parts: (1) Research design relates to the research opinion (philosophies, approaches, strategies, choices, time horizon). You are expected to make strong justifications in support of your chosen research design. (2) Data collection relates to the last phase of the research onion (techniques and procedures). Identify how specifically the data will be collected (i.e. questionnaire, focus group, etc...). You are expected to provide the advantages and disadvantages of the various data collection methods and select the most appropriate data collection method(s). Your chosen method (1) Research design and (2) Data collection must relate to the purpose of your study. A copy a proposed questionnaire or semi/unstructured interview questions should be presented as part of the appendices. A covering letter to explain the purpose of the questionnaire should be presented.

5. Research Ethics (100 words) Ethical issues and approaches to be undertaken

6. Timescale (100 words) Break down the research process into a series of steps Highlight how much time is needed to be made available for data collection and analysis

7. Resources (100 words) Think about the resources needed for the completion of the project that you are proposing. This could include direct costs (travel, accommodation) or indirect costs (time).

8. Expected Findings (100 words) Highlight the potential findings from your initial research

9. Conclusion (100 words) Conclude your research

10. References

11. Appendix A covering letter to explain the purpose of the questionnaire/interview should be presented. A copy a proposed questionnaire or semi/unstructured interview questions should be presented as part of the appendices.

3. Rubric