Research Proposal Assignment

The aim of the proposal

You are required to complete a 3,000 word research proposal to demonstrate your ability to identify, analyse a research problem related to business and management, and to set out a plan for a research project to investigate that problem. The aim of this assessment is to enable you to develop and demonstrate your ability to: (a) diagnose a problem in business and management, (b) formulate research questions,
(c) determine how to answer these questions by drawing on the academic literature,
(d) identify and assess the potential of appropriate research methods and (e) plan a small-scale research project.

This report is among the most challenging assignments set during your M.Sc. programme. You should note that it is quite different from, and more challenging than, writing a conventional coursework essay-style paper. You are being asked to anticipate the issues that you will have to overcome in planning, conducting and reporting a small research project. The best research proposals are usually those produced by those students who have devoted considerable thought to the assignment before even beginning to write the proposal. It is not an assignment that can be left to the last minute.

Your choice of problem for the project proposal report does not commit you to that topic for your dissertation. You can just complete the report as a free-standing exercise in which you are assessed on your competences as indicated in your ability to analyse a problem, grasp the arguments and the evidence contained in the literature, devise a suitable research design and present it effectively. You are free to select a different topic for your dissertation if you so wish, although there are obvious advantages in sticking to a topic to which you have already given thought and invested some work (although you must avoid cutting-and-pasting parts of the proposal into the dissertation).

The Research Proposal requirements
The report must include the following main elements:

1. Title. This can include a subtitle and should indicate what the research is essentially about.

2. Abstract. The abstract sums up the research problem and questions and/or objectives, research design and methods, and relation to the literature and/or practice (about 150 words).

3. Introduction in the form of a statement of the problem to be addressed. This introductory material will include a clear statement of the problem, the significance and objective(s) of the research, the research questions to be researched and the significance of those questions.

4. A summary critical review of the relevant literature will indicate what you have learnt from the academic literature about the problem and will critically identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of that literature. You are not expected to provide a comprehensive guide to the literature relevant to your problem, but you are expected to demonstrate an understanding of some of the key ideas, theories and evidence relating to your topic. You must refer to the academic literature (which we will have discussed in class) and not just to the professional literature. Note that the former usually involves seeking an in-depth and critical understanding of problems, while the latter is usually restricted to matters of 'how-to-do-it'. You should also avoid using unattributable sources pulled off the internet.

5. An outline of the proposed research design and methods which discusses and critically assesses the strengths and weaknesses of your proposed research method(s). Try not to be too ambitious in your research plan. The guide is that you should outline a project which could be feasibly done roughly within the constraints of the M.Sc. dissertation process. So you need to think in terms of quite specific research questions. You should have good reason to believe that the necessary data is available and can be collected (but we are not looking for evidence of that at this stage), that your choice of method(s) is broadly feasible and why you consider that the method(s) are/is likely to produce reliable and valid results, and that you have considered any ethical questions raised by the research.

6. Conclusion. The conclusion summarizes the problem, the purposes of the study, the research question/s, and the methodology. It should also acknowledge any limitations of the approach (e.g. generalizability from one or a limited number of cases).

What makes for a good topic for the report?
(Further guidance will be given in the lecture and seminar classes)

1. Are you interested in the topic? You are going to spend a lot of time researching the topic, and if you are not interested it will become a struggle to motivate yourself.

2. Is the topic relevant and timely? A good way of finding a topic is to find out what issues are of current concern in the academic and professional literature and look at recent issues particularly in the professional press (Management Today, People Management, Harvard Business Review). Another way is to consult your former or present employers.

3. Is the topic specific enough? Most students start with too broad a topic. Usually the more successful project proposals (and dissertations) have very specific, clearly defined problems and research questions. A dissertation that goes deeply into a narrow topic is usually much better than one that touches the surface of a broad topic.

4. Can the topic be completed in the time available? Most students begin with an overly ambitious topic. More focussed topics make the research proposal, and then the dissertation, more manageable. Remember that you have only a short period of time in which to plan and research the topic.

5. Have you the skills to use the necessary research methods? You should avoid committing yourself to use a research method which involves skills which you do not have, for instance avoid highly quantitative methods if you are uncertain of your numeracy skills.

6. Are there any ethical issues involved, such as problems of confidentiality? You need to mention any difficulties of this type which might make it difficult to collect your data or require some form of permission.

Some hints on what makes for a good research proposal
There are many ways to write a project proposal report and we have no particular model answer in mind. The following are some general points of guidance but also see the marking descriptors in the last section.

• You must have a problem which you can analyse, define and for which you can devise feasible research questions.
• You should explain the main issues in your chosen topic and their wider academic and practical relevance.
• When reviewing the literature, you should communicate an awareness of the quality of the evidence on which an author draws and of the methodological issues posed by the way in which that evidence has been gathered.
• You should give a sense of how the literature has developed and identify some different themes or schools of thought in the literature (but do not try to give an exhaustive review but contrasting at least two different approaches will help you to demonstrate your critical thinking skills.
• Most importantly, you should be critical and evaluative. Do not just describe the literature you survey but explain why the authors have arrived at the conclusions they have. State whether you consider the authors have achieved their aims. Explain any weaknesses you feel there are in specific articles or books. It is better to evaluate critically fewer references rather than cite many references with little critical appraisal.
• You should give some indication of the wider significance of your proposed research - what are the wider implications of what you have found both for the academic literature (whose approaches/viewpoints/hypotheses do your findings support?) and for practice (e.g. should people in organizations do things differently as a result?).
• Observe the usual requirements for good presentation - be grammatical, use punctuation marks correctly, try to avoid jargon etc. You should use headings and sub-headings to organise your material and guide the reader through the text.