Business Project Marking Scheme.
1. Initial Proposal worth 30 %
This requires you to develop your areas of interest, a well defined research question plus sub questions , possible methodology, expected outcomes and challenges that Research Question Area of Study Ideas and possible methodology
This is the initial ideas themes and questions helps clarify thinking see matrix
2. Research Proposal and literature Review 70%
This is the formal proposal to include proposed methodology, detailed research questions that have arisen from the research topic and a full comprehensive literature review.
This ideally should include a robust synthesis of the literature review and defence of your methodology adopted plus a clear idea of how the literature review supports your research questions. Again see matrix. Note you will be evaluated on the robustness of the research question the sub research questions and its triangulation with the literature review
BABS Year 3 Research Project 2020
Name:
Email:
Research Project Proposal Key Completion Dates
Chapter 1: Project Proposal
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Strategy – Methodology & Methods
Chapter 4: Data Collection and Analysis
Chapter 5: Conclusions, Recommendations, Limitations
References
Reflective Diary.
Business Project 2020. Dr. Daniel O’Sullivan
( here is a template to use no exceptions it is essential since in my view helps to generate a logical progression) You can do a business plan but remember you must have some primary research and the business plan must have research questions that are answered :
ABSTRACT.
3- 4 paragraphs on the study as to the research question, how it was carried out, the results and conclusions
List of Acronyms used.
Table of Contents.
Chapter 1: Introduction
• Background of research. ( why the subject/industry interests you)
• Rationale for the study.Justification and Purpose of the study and Research question
• Statement of the research objectives ( sub research questions etc)
This is the research question complemented by a number of sub research questions that are basically the themes that you have uncovered in the literature review. These themes again are the foundations for the questionnaire design and the coding that you will do at the presentation and analysis section
• Information gathering & data collection technique used
• Expected Outcomes of the study.
• Chapter Overview.
2. Chapter 2: Literature review
• Introduction.( how you went about the lit review. For example Was it comparing international research then looking at domestic research and comparing and contrasting between them to consider the most important reseach that underpins your research question.
• Key concepts of research topic.
• How it relates to the research question (conceptual framework)
• Variables
3. Chapter 3: Methodology
• justification for the adoption of method and why not other methods
• Theorethical Paradigm employed.
• An outline of sampling technique and sample size
• Data collection
• Explanation of what analysis method employed
• Validity Reliability.Reflexivity
• Ethical Section
4. Chapter 4: Empirical findings
• Empirical findings (Results of Research) I would include here any problems you encountered in the process.
•
5. Chapter 5: Analysis and discussion of findings
(In a business plan this would be the optimum business model, the keys to success, what critical success factors risks based on the empirical primary research. Note we still need to triangulate the data with the other sources of data)
• Discussion of findings and how it relates agrees or is different from the literature review. What are the most important aspects of the research when you combine the primary and secondary data , does it build and validate previous knowledge or are you findings different. Your voice needs to be heard here.
6 Chapter 6 : Conclusions Limitations Recommendations
• Conclusion
• Limitations
• Recommendation for further research. There will usually be some recommendations based on the current findings.
Appendices
Appendix I: Letter of Consent
Appendix II: Sample Questionnaire (again if used)
Appendix 3 : Interview Transcript in total )
Appendix 4. Reflective Diary.
Appendix 5 Other supporting material ( to support business project understanding)
Part 1 Initial Themes and area of study
Note this is worth 30% of your overall mark .
Fill in the Required sections below and upload to Moodle for me to review and give you feedback.
If you can give me 10 sources then please do!
The key challenge here is to convince me that you have thought deeply and in a detailed way regarding your research project, the overarching question , the sub research questions and the other challenges identified in complketing the project.
Name:
Student Number:
What is your Research area . What are you Doing? A short narrative
about the area that you wish to focus on and why it is of interest to you
How are you going to do it? How are you going to go about it? What is involved. What methodology ( your view of the world at this point interpretive and deductive proving previous knowledge in the lit review in a quant study and partly in a qualitative research and inductive by gaining new information from the qualitative interviews) and what method ( tool of data collection for primary research quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods
Who are you going to talk to? Who is the sample who are you going to talk to . What contributions they will make Why are you taking to these particular people. Again the method as to the tools that you use is important
Why are you doing it? What is the aim
What is the expected outcome at this stage. This should be as comprehensive as you can make it. It will help you in ascertaining whether you have a valid research question or not.
What are you hoping to , discover, add value to, look at from a different perspective etc
Research question ( This is Key since everything hinges on this research question. It should want to do something , as in make something better, explain, explore etc. for a reason) . Can you define a question Try and spend a bit of time on this. It may change over the course of your project but the overall aims and areas of interest should not change.
Research objectives / Sub research questions.
Themes
( again this is key to demonstrate that you understand the scope of the report and what can be answered by a combination of primary and secondary research Identify the 5 research objectives which you will have answered by the time you complete your project. These are an answer to the 5 sub research questions that you have uncovered as a result of scanning the literature .
State the themes, these are 5 distinct areas of investigation that require a minimum of 5 pieces of distinct literature reviews on the subject ( Note you have more than 5 themes, and that is ok I need at least 5 )
( see definitions on moodle to explain what is the difference between these terms) .
Note the importance here since these 5 distinct areas of investigation will provide the basis of the detailed literature review and also be the starting point for developing the research instrument ( survey or interview schedule) It informs the questions and topic that you will further explore in your primary research.
When are you doing it
What is the timeline, see the gannt chart below . Adapt and fill in as you see fit.
5 – 10 sources consulted When List 5 – 10 sources of literature just to highlight some main authors. If you have more then fine , you will not be marked on the lit review , however it may help me to understand the context and scope of your business project.
Gannt chart to use October November December January February March April
TASKS 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Initial ideas
Formulating the research topic
Submission Initial Project Ideas
First Feedback
Finalize aim and objectives
Literature Search
Literature Read
Submit proposal and synopsis
Feedback Synopsis
Literature Review
Reflective Diary Report progress
Feedback Progress Report
Prepare PowerPoint Note
PowerPoint Presentation
Research Methodology approach
Designing a data instrument
Secondary/Primary data collected
Secondary data sources evaluation
Secondary/Primary Data analysis
Data conclusions and outcome
Report writing
Conclusion and recommendations
Finish writing Project Report
Draft completed with references
Draft revised by several people
Final Project Report Submission
2021
BABS Year 3 Research Project – Project Proposal and Synopsis of Literature Review.
NOTE : YOU MUST USE these heading in the order provided. Remember this is worth 70 % of the final mark for Applied Project 1
Name:
Student Number:
What is your Research area . What are you Doing? A short narrative
about the area that you wish to focus on and why it is of interest to you
How are you going to do it? How are you going to go about it? What is involved. What methodology ( your view of the world at this point interpretive and deductive proving previous knowledge in the lit review in a quant study and partly in a qualitative research and inductive by gaining new information from the qualitative interviews) and what method ( tool of data collection for primary research quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods
Who are you going to talk to? Who is the sample who are you going to talk to . What contributions they will make Why are you taking to these particular people. Again the method as to the tools that you use is important
Why are you doing it? What is the aim
What is the expected outcome at this stage. This should be as comprehensive as you can make it. It will help you in ascertaining whether you have a valid research question or not.
What are you hoping to prove, discover, add value to, look at from a different perspective etc
Research question Can you define a question Try and spend a bit of time on this. It may change over the course of your project but the overall aims and areas of interest should not change.
Research objectives 3 – 5 research objectives which you will have answered by the time you complete your project.
These are the sub themes, these are 5 distinct areas of investigation that require a minimum of 5 pieces of distinct literature reviews on the subject
Thi s forms the basis of your questions and topic =s that you will further explore in your primary research.
When are you doing it
What is the timeline, see the gannt chart.
Literature Search A comprehensive review of the literature related to your project area which places your work in the broader body of knowledge (the more detail the better)
This is a deliberate explanation or critical analysis as to what the literature review has meant for your project. You can analyse it under each separate theme.
What are the main issues/themes arising from your search of the literature as it relates to the key areas of interest posed by the research question/aims/objectives
This is an extension of the last point . The aim here is to identify questions that maybe used in the research instrument. Tease out maybe 2 to 3 qs under each theme. Do not need a full example of a research instrument
What have you learned from the search of the literature that is relevant to your research question? These lead to the questions or interview schedule.
Your Methodology
Whether mixed or quant or qual and what philosophy etc used ( see the research onion here to clarify) Explain which one you are using
Explain the research methodology best fits your research and which methods you will use
Here explain why you are using one and not the other and defend it
Key Tasks and Challenges/Risks
What are the key tasks in completing your dissertation?
What potential challenges and risks do you foresee?
Do you have a contingency plan for the risks?
Tasks
Challenges, Risks and Contingency Plans
END