Reference no: EM133697782

Professional Research and Communication

Topic - "Machine learning techniques for sales forecast"

Research Proposal

Overview
The purpose of this assessment is to enable students to demonstrate a critical awareness of previous research in an IT context within a chosen topic area through a basic understanding of research theory and techniques. It requires clear communication of ideas in a professional manner so that the reader can easily understand the purpose and results of your research. Overall goals of this assignment are to help you to:

Become more knowledgeable about finding and using varied research sources in your chosen area in IT.
Further develop your critical thinking skills and back up your points with evidence.
Become more adept at synthesizing information and developing informed views.
Discipline yourself to follow a scholarly research format to document in-text sources and a references page (bibliography).
Compose a well-organized, clear, concise, research paper to expand your knowledge on a research question in your chosen area.

You will work on this report individually or within the team that you submitted the literature synthesis matrix and completed the presentation with.

Learning Outcomes Assessed
The following course learning outcomes are assessed by completing this assessment:
Knowledge:
K1. Determine the role IT research plays in contributing to organisational innovation, and success.
K2. Critique advanced communication theory for organisations.
K3. Identify appropriate research philosophies for IT projects, which match organisational approaches.

K4. Identify appropriate methodologies and methods, for an organisational IT research project.

Skills:

S1. Utilise effective communication practice in organisations.
S2. Demonstrate expert English language skills in academic and professional contexts. S3. Evaluate the quality and utility of literature sourced.
S4. Undertake a literature review for an organisational IT research project.

Application of knowledge and skills:

A1. Compose a research proposal and report on a topic related to an organisational IT research project.
A2. Present written and oral reports to academic and organisational audiences.

Assessment Details
Background
The mini research report provides a detailed description of a proposed research idea. It is similar to an essay and needs to be in a formal style with introduction, body and conclusion. In addition, it requires a critical analysis and a coherent presentation.

Requirements
Each individual student or group is required to submit a mini research proposal (around 3000 - 4000 words excluding the title, abstract, table of contents and references/bibliography). The purpose of this task is to assist students to prepare and write a scholarly paper at an appropriate standard for this level of study.

You have already done quite a bit of work for this research in tutorials: you should have a tentative research issue, strategies and evidence to persuade your readers about the significance of the problem you're researching, as well as the validity of your research issues. You also should consider opposing views or good counter-arguments that you can address in order to help establish your credibility and enhance the relevance of your paper.

If done as a group, detail each individual methodology. The discussion should be worked on together as a team and include commentary on how the individual approaches have an impact on the topic area as a whole. The team report must be a document that reads like a coherent report and not a mere combination of sections from multiple authors.

Report Layout
The research proposal must contain the following sections, submitted in the order as listed below-

Title - selection of an informative title
Abstract - summarization of the significant concepts in the study focusing on key aspects (major results and conclusions)
Table of Contents.
Introduction - outline of the thesis, problem, question, etc. (stating the thesis/theory in terms of relationship among variables and examining the problem or investigating the question, or the like) and preview of the structure of the paper.
Literature Review- demonstration of the ability to find significant sources, familiarity with the existing body of knowledge, analysis of existing research, and learning through a careful reading of existing scholarship.
Methodology - procedures and processes planned for your study including the research design - study type, variables, and data collection and analysis methods (as applicable).
Discussion and implications of research - Discuss with reasons whether your study needs Ethics clearance. Discuss findings that might occur and their potential impact on the field.
Conclusion - briefly restate the research highlighting the implications of your research.
References - include relevant literature sources (in-text citation and a list of full-text references)
Appendices (if applicable) - tables, graphs, charts or any other material related to the study not included in the main paper but referred to.

Your proposal must actually propose a research project. It is not sufficient to propose research consisting only of a review of the literature - if you do this you will receive zero marks for the Methodology section. You must describe a method for data-gathering - either a quantitative experiment, or surveys, interviews etc. If you propose surveys or interviews you must detail and justify the questions which will be asked, describe the population to which the conclusions will apply, and explain your sampling approach.
Clearly state what the contributions of your proposed work are.