Reference no: EM133203553 , Length: Word Count: 1900 Words

Assignment - Board Topics in Business Management Paper

Description - Your research proposal needs to be structured in 5 different sections: 1) introduction and context, 2) short literature review 3) research approach, 4) data collection and analysis, and 5) ethical considerations. For each of these sections you will find below a variety of questions you need to answer.

To be able to answer these questions, you need to contextualise your assignment - you need to choose a research project. This can be the research you plan to undertake for your dissertation or another realistic research project of equal scope. It is expected that this assignment will serve as an extremely useful basis for planning the data collection, analysis and writing your ethics proposal for your actual dissertation research, but it does not need to be the actual focus of your dissertation.

In developing your research proposal, please consider the following three key points:

1. You must choose a realistic research project, which is related to your discipline.

2. This empirical project serves as the context for this assignment and for answering all the questions outlined below.

3. You can choose to do either a quantitative study, or a qualitative study or a secondary data analysis for this assignment (qualitative or quantitative). Sometimes, a study contains more than just one type of data collection (a 'mixed methods' study); however, for this assignment please choose only one type and do NOT choose a mixed-methods approach.

Structure your assignment according to the following five sections and make sure you address all the questions/issues detailed below.

1. Introduction and context (approximately 200 words)

This section provides an overview and rationale for your research, including a clear research question, aim and objectives. The purpose is to clarify the general problem/gap in knowledge that you are trying to address, and to explain the contribution and significance of your research.

a) Briefly describe your research topic.

b) State your research question.

c) State your research aim and objectives.

d) Provide an argument as to why it is important to investigate this question.

2. Short literature review (approximately 550 words)

This section involves searching for, summarising and evaluating literature relevant to your chosen research topic and question. The purpose is to identify gaps in the existing literature and think about the ways in which your research could help fill those gaps. This, in turn, will provide a clear justification for your research question.

a) Search for academic literature related to your research topic and question (e.g., journal articles, books). Identify three sources (three pieces of academic literature) that are most relevant and state what these are (i.e., cite your sources).

b) Describe specifically the search strategies you used to find your three key sources (e.g., databases used, search terms, etc).

c) For each of your three sources, summarise the information that is most important for your research question. Make it clear how each of your sources relates to your research question.

d) Evaluate each of your three sources to identify gaps in the existing research literature and/or limitations to be addressed.

e) Clarify how your research will contribute to the existing body of knowledge in your chosen research topic

3. Research approach (approximately 550 words)

This section provides an overview of the research approach you could use to investigate your research question. The purpose is to distinguish between inductive and deductive approaches to research, recognise how these approaches are underpinned by different philosophies, and identify which approach is more appropriate to answer your research question.

a) Explain which research philosophy is most appropriate to underpin your chosen research approach.

b) State the appropriate ontology and epistemology for your chosen research philosophy.

c) State which research approach (either inductive or deductive) you would choose to investigate your research question. Make clear the reasons for your choice.

d) Describe in detail how you would investigate your research question using your chosen research approach (either inductive or deductive).

e) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using your chosen research approach (either inductive or deductive) to investigate your research question.

4. Data collection and analysis (approximately 500 words)

Note: You only need to answer 4a (for a quantitative study) OR 4b (for a qualitative study). You should NOT attempt to answer both.

4a. If you plan a quantitative study (or quantitative secondary data analysis), please explain the data collection method(s), state a hypothesis of your study and name its variables.

a. How will you measure these variables? [Which information in the secondary data relates to these variables?] Be as specific as you can!

b. Which type of scale level do these data/measures possess?

c. Which statistical test do you choose to test this hypothesis and why?

d. How will you gain access to collect your data?

e. Please discuss how can you ensure reliability and validity of your measurements

4b. If you plan a qualitative study (or qualitative secondary data analysis), please describe in detail:

a. How is the data in your study collected? How will you gain access to collect data, who would your participants be, what kind of sampling strategy would you use and what are the strengths/weaknesses of this?

b. Describe step-by-step: how will you analyse the data you will collect?

c. Which information will you report in your results section?

d. How will you ensure credibility, transferability, dependability and reflexivity in your study?

5. Ethical issues (approximately 200 words)

Please discuss in detail:

a. What is the potential harm for the participants? How will this be managed to ensure appropriate protection and well-being of the participants?

b. How is data confidentiality handled and how is the data of this research stored?

c. Which ethical issues will not be /hardly be affected by this research and why?

d. Is consent needed from the participants?

A very good research proposal reflects your understanding of research methods, your awareness of the wider impact and risks of your research, your ability to make informed decisions, and your skill to express this in a coherent, reflective proposal. In a very good research proposal, the data collection and analysis follow logically from the hypotheses/research questions and the research approaches. For more information, please refer to the marking grid below.

Students are expected to make full use of the textbook, module readings, lecture slides and tutorial exercises in their answers and cite these sources appropriately in the assignment.