Lecturer Name: |
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Subject: |
Research Methods |
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Study Mode: |
Full time |
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Part-time
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Assignment Title |
RM
Dissertation Proposal |
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Learning outcomes addressed and assessed in this
assignment: 1.
Have
identified a dissertation topic with workable research
questions/objective/hypotheses; 2.
Have
identified some of the relevant literature and critically reviewed the most
pertinent for their proposal; 3.
Have
generated and evaluated an appropriate research design and method which is
consistent with their research philosophy/paradigm; 4.
Have
a proposal capable of operationalising for the MSc/MBA dissertation; 5.
Be
able to present work in a professional manner, communicating results clearly
and confidently |
The following provides the
structure for the research proposal. It is important that you relate each
section back to the logical flow of the dissertation process/structure and that
each component is connected (this is reflected in the marking scheme).
It is important to remember that the quality of the proposal rests to a very
considerable extent on the intrinsic logic of the proposed research. The word count for each section is indicative
only and will differ between proposals but proportions between sections should
be relatively similar to the word counts indicated.
Proposal Section |
Word Count |
Developed, detailed description of the researchable topic ensuring
that it is connected to what you are going to address through the collection
and analysis of data rather than just the literature review. |
500-1,500 |
Aims and objectives of the research Clear and coherent outline of the aims and objectives of the research
that are going to be addressed through the collection and analysis of data.
You are required to specify what it is you want to find out and why. You will need to consider the question;
what will we know once you have completed the research that we do not know
now? You need to explicitly address
the following items: ·
Provide a comprehensive background
to the research objectives, identifying the relevant issues underlying the
research you intend to undertake; ·
A developed justification for the
doing the research that needs to be embedded in the literature and not just
based on personal motivation; ·
Place the research focus in the
relevant business discipline(s) and academic area(s) that relate to the
research to indicate where you will access relevant theories and frameworks
that you can use to operationalize the research. |
1,000-1,500 |
Literature Review This literature review should be an improvement on what you did
in Topic and Literature Review paper for research methods. The
literature review needs to illustrate clear and significant progress
on the literature reviewed for the RM1 submission. Thus, along with completing the following: Provide a critical, rather than just descriptive, review of the peer
reviewed literature rather than just a summary that is pertinent to the focus
of the research. This should focus primarily on the Ø A review of
the relevant contextual literature for your topic (covering the
development of ideas central to your research focus, recent developments,
etc.); Ø Identification,
description and review of the relevant conceptual
(theory/models/frameworks related to the research objectives; Ø Relevant empirical
literature (data based) completed on the research focus; Ø Identification
and review of the debates within the literature; Ø A commentary
on the nature of the literature; theory, research, policy, prescriptive; Ø An indication
of the implications of the literature you have reviewed for your research
objectives. The literature review should be written in a narrative style,
organized under themes rather than an article by article summary of the
literature. This will have a
significant impact on the grading of the proposal. You should finish your
literature review with a draft structure or outline of the full
dissertation literature chapter with a detailed breakdown of headings and
associated bullet points with citations of the relevant literature
that you intend to read to complete the literature review at dissertation
stage. These should be ADDITIONAL to the ones you used in the proposal
thus far. |
1,500 – 2,000 |
Conceptual Framework In additional to the review of literature, you MUST ensure that
you include a Conceptual Framework - the literature review in your
proposal should include some sense of how the literature will influence data
collection and / or analysis. This
should be indicated through the use of a conceptual framework. The proposal should have at least an early
draft of a conceptual framework based on the literature reviewed thus far. |
500-750 |
Research Paradigm and Overall
Approach You need to outline the philosophical influences on the approach to
the research and provide a justification for the choices being made based on
your own understanding of your research preferences AND the nature of
the research purpose and objective. It
is important that you identify the influences on your research, that you
provide a justification for the choice of influences and that you explain the
implications of those choices on your research design. |
500-1,000 |
Research Design ·
Research strategy – the overall
logic that links the various ·
Methods for collecting data and the
sources of DATA you intend
to access (NOT LITERATURE) including the criteria for selection
of respondents, sector, companies, people, etc. ·
Nature of data you intend to
collect; the kind of questions you are going to ask, the kind of observations
you are going to make, the kind of documentary sources (NOT LITERATURE)
you intend to use and the justification for each of the choices you make ·
Access and research ethics issues
to collecting your data ·
A detailed description of the
techniques you intend to apply for analyzing/interpreting data – this should
be clearly linked to your conceptual framework identified at the end of the
literature review. This should provide details of the type of statistics
(descriptive, inferential, etc.) you intend to use if doing quantitative data
or the themes and coding from your conceptual framework, etc. you intend to
use if collecting qualitative data. It is vitally important that for each component of your research
design, that you provide justifications for your choices at
every stage and, where relevant, the implications of those choices. |
1,500 – 2,000 |
Potential Outcome of your research This is an idea of what you imagine the nature of the outcome of the
research will be focused on the research objectives. |
200-400 |
Timetable for research over the 14-15 weeks (or 30-32 weeks for
part-time students) covering the following with a DETAILED BREAKDOWN
and justification of the timetable: ·
Refining research objectives ·
Literature ·
Methodology ·
Research design ·
Collecting primary data ·
Data analysis / interpretation ·
Discussion ·
Final write up |
Gantt chart 300 |
References An absolute minimum of 20 peer review references from
journals (e.g. Sage and EBSCO) and scholarly research handbooks (e.g. Oxford
Handbook Series, etc) are to be included.
You may have other references from web sources, trade publications,
etc. but you must ensure that at least 20 are peer reviewed or from scholarly
research handbooks (e.g Oxford Handbook series). |
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