Task 2 Research Focused Project - 25%

This project is intended to introduce you to the research process that underlies much of the work and
theoretical discussions you have undertaken this semester. You will need to draw on skills learnt and on
your thinking about the information provided in lectures and in the textbook, in the tutorials and
through the academic journal articles you have read this semester.


This task will be completed in a number of parts identified below:

1. Identify an area of research that you believe is both important and of interest to you, and write a
short paragraph indicating why you believe this area of research is important, and why it is interest
to you. (350 words)

2. Briefly describe the research problem you would like to explore. Identify a research question that
would lead your exploration of the problem. (250 words)

3. Find TEN (10) academic journal articles that relate to your area of research interest write a
maximum of ten lines for each article indicating why that article is relevant to your research, and
why the information will contribute to being able to support the research investigation proposed.
(1400 words max)

4. Normally when undertaking research we would have expectations about what the findings might be.
In responding to your research question what result(s) would you expect to find? (200 words)

5. In 500 words indicate which of the accounting theories you have studied this year would help to you
explain the expectations you have for your research question. What role would this theory play in
your research? Why this theory more appropriate than other choices?

6. How would you collect the data to respond to your research question? Why do you think
this approach is appropriate? For example, searching a data base, content analysis of annual
reports, a mail, internet or telephone survey, conduct of interviews. (200 words).

7. Do you think that ethical considerations are important to your research? In undertaking research at
UTAS ethical approval is required. What do you need to do at UTAS to obtain ethical approval? (200
words)

8. In seeking to respond to your Research Question(s) what questions would you need to ask
respondents, or what questions would you need to ask to interrogate data collected from a data
base or an annual report? Identify TEN (10) questions that you believe would need to be asked, and
indicate why these questions would need to be asked to gather the information you require to
respond to your research question. (400 words)


Task length
A maximum of 3500 words
The word limit specified for your assignment is a maximum. If you submit over-length work there is an
automatic 10% penalty of available marks. It is at the discretion of the Unit Coordinator whether the
words beyond the limit will be assessed. Title pages, reference lists and appendices are not included in
word counts.