Professional Documents
Culture Documents
You are working as a senior researcher for a company (of your own choice) to conduct
business research in order to solve an issue/situation. The issue/situation the company
is facing could be a problem, such as declined revenue, or a potential opportunity, such
as the introduction of a new product or the exploration of new market. The issue that the
company is facing requires rigorous business research. It is not a problem that can be
resolved through simple thinking or discussion. The rigorous business research requires
the researcher set up a research plan, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions.
The research proposal/prospectus is the research plan that you, as the senior
researcher, submit to the management for approval before conducting the research. It is
a contract between you and management in terms of the steps of the business, budget
and timeline.
You first need to select a company and a research problem that you want to study.
Then you need to write a research proposal indicating the background of the problem,
the problem statement, the purpose of the study, the studys hypothesis (es), the
methodology to be employed in the study and a review of the literature pertaining to the
problem. In a Prospectus--a plan to do research--you do everything except collect and
analyze the data.
Formatting
The paper should be 5-10 pages long and double-spaced using Times New Roman 12
font. The maximum is 10 pages including references and appendix, if any. If you are not
familiar with the formatting of research paper, it is highly recommended that you follow
APA style. You can also select other styles of your own choice.
Here is a tutorial on APA style:
http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~instruct/articulate/apa_mod/APA_Intro/player.html
Your paper will be graded based on the formatting with a small weight. However, keep
in mind that the senior VP of the company is NOT impressed by APA style as the major
outcome of your work.
Specific Information
Note 1: Even though you will NOT be implementing the research plan you design
in the proposal prior to writing your paper, your plan must be a realistic plan that
you personally have the knowledge and resources to implement upon request.
Note 2: Your paper must be your own original work! Be sure to give proper
credit when you borrow or use someone else's words and ideas, including your
own previously written works. See the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association pages 15-16 for specific information on
Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism. If proper credit is not given in your paper to the
work of others, the paper will be assigned a grade of 0.
Note 3: Write your paper in third person. Scholarly works generally are written in
third person to avoid reader concern about bias in an empirical study. A research
prospectus should be concise. If you find yourself using phrases like As
mentioned previously then you are repeating yourself without providing new
information.
Note 4: You should use a neutral tone while stating the issues. Keep in mind that
your audience is the senior VPs of the company that hired your for this research
work.
Note 5: There is no need to provide detailed company information or the history
of the company. Since the audience of the research prospectus is the senior VPs,
they already know the companys history and past achievement.
Note 6: You are proposing to conduct business research to help a company to
solve an issue. So there will be no conclusion and thus you should not provide
any firm suggestions, such as the company should.
Grading
The grade for the paper will be based on content, organization, and format. Although
the entire paper will be graded, the major focus of grading will be on content, especially
problem statement and study hypothesis.
that dog owners are extremely appreciative of the loyalty displayed by canines. Other
studies, (Scooby, 2005; Yogi, 2006) concluded similar findings.
Remember that content within this section is not about your personal experiences or
opinions, but rather the conclusions from previous researchers. All studies that are cited
within the text of your literature review should be on your reference list at the end of the
document.
A minimum of two references are required.
Chapter 3 Methodology
Note: You will not collect the actual data for this paper.
The Methodology section describes in detail how the study will be conducted. This
allows the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed methods. It also
allows the reader to replicate the proposed study.
The Methodology section should discuss the source of data. What data will be used in
the study and how are they going to be collected. You should also specify the variables
to be used, including the dependent variable and the independent variable.
References
Each source cited in your paper must be listed in the reference section. Each entry in
the reference section must be cited in the body of your paper.
Remember to use a minimum of two current references from reliable sources such as
scholarly or peer-reviewed journals. No Wikipedia please.