research report

RESEARCH PROJECT-MGNT922 -T3 2019

CLIENT RESEARCH BRIEF and ASSESSMENT TASKS

Using the client brief below develop a research project covering three key assessment areas:

Assessment 1 - Research Proposal – (Use template in Appendix A)

Assessment 2 - Research Presentation (Use outline in Appendix B)`

Assessment 3- Final Report (Use Template in Appendix C)

“BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT”

WHO: Brain Injury Australia is the nation’s peak advocacy organisation representing the 700,000 Australians with a brain injury, their families and carers. It was formed at the first national community- based conference on brain injury, held on the Gold Coast in 1986.

Alongside providing policy advice to Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, Brain Injury Australia also drives multi-year public education campaigns on: the leading cause of death and disability in children who have been abused – inflicted traumatic brain injury (a subgroup of which is sometimes referred to as “Shaken Baby Syndrome”); the leading cause of traumatic brain injury – or “TBI” – falls, due to the ageing of our population; people with a brain injury in the criminal justice system (as many as 80 per cent of adult prisoners report 1 or more brain injuries); women, family violence and TBI; TBI in the military (1 in every 10 Australian Defence Force personnel who served in the Middle East reported a post-deployment TBI); and concussion in sport.

Brain Injury Australia facilitates a national “community of practice” in brain injury for the National Disability Insurance Agency, being piloted here in Sydney - regular meetings of Local Area Coordinators and Agency planners with senior Agency staff, a Clinical Lead and allied health representation. The community's primary purpose is to optimise both needs ascertainment and plan fidelity for National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants with a brain injury.

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Brain Injury Australia also programs an annual conference. The 7th National Brain Injury Conference will be held, in partnership with the Melbourne Disability Institute, at the Melbourne School of Design on The University of Melbourne's campus in Parkville on Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th October, 2019.

The Conference has become one of the premier learning and development events on the disability calendar – driving improvements in services and supports for people living with a brain injury. (It is also the key income-generator for the organisation.) Due to attendance at the 6th National Brain Injury Conference - held at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital - reaching that venue's capacity, this year's Conference moves to the larger 500-seat B117 Lecture Theatre in the Melbourne School of Design.

The Transport Accident Commission International Keynote Address to the Conference will be delivered by Emeritus Professor John Corrigan from the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Ohio State University in the United States. He is Director of the Ohio Valley Center for Brain Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation and, since 1997, has led the Ohio Regional Traumatic Brain Injury Model System - the longest, continuously-funded of 16 centres throughout the United States, aimed at improving the lives of 1,150 Ohioans who have sustained a traumatic brain injury, their families and communities by creating and disseminating new knowledge about the course, treatment and outcomes relating to their disability. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the most prestigious international journal in traumatic brain injury, the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.

The Conference includes oral presentations and Panel Discussions devoted to: breakthroughs in neurotrauma research; concussion/ “mild” TBI; brain injury in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; TBI and "challenging behaviour"; people with a brain injury and the criminal justice system; domestic and family violence and brain injury; inflicted traumatic brain injury in children (sometimes referred to as “shaken baby syndrome”); helmet use, efficacy, and innovations in design, materials; and employment for people with a brain injury.

WHAT: With the advent of the NDIS, funding for the provision of disability services now lies with the person with the disability rather than with block-funded disability service providers. Service providers now compete with each other for the funding contained in the person with a disability's plan in the NDIS.

Brain Injury Australia currently receives $30K per annum in public funding. Brain Injury Australia has identified advertising as a potential income stream connecting, for example, disability service providers with the 5,200 subscribers to its quarterly newsletter. Brain Injury Australia needs to source external expertise in both the estimation of the fair market value of such advertising (including via its website, Facebook page and Twitter following) for the purposes of preparing a "prospectus", or similar, that will attract potential advertisers. The findings from this research will form the bedrock of Brain Injury Australia’s pitch to potential advertisers.

Students are to develop their research project around the following key areas:

1 Building knowledge of the market operated by the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) introduced by the federal government in

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Australia on the 1 July 2016. In addition, understanding of the NDIS participant with a brain injury as a potential client to key service providers would be desirable. ( All Research Problem should include understanding and discussing the NDIS program)

OPTION 1 – RSEARCH PROBLEM

Using the presentation given by BIA (Brain Injury Australia) determine the potential market opportunity, by deploying corporate social responsibility strategies, to build a broader support network for funding and social enterprise partnerships to increase revenue for the organisation.

a. What is the key Corporate Social Responsibility strategies the organisation can utilize to grow its donor base.

b. What are the key insights and motivators that would attract business to partner with BIA? What are the key benefits that would attract organisations to partner as part of their CSR strategies,

OPTION 2 – RESEARCH PROBLEM

Estimate the fair market value of, any and all potential advertising via Brain Injury Australia's external communications - including its quarterly newsletter, its website, Facebook and Twitter presences. The objective is to attract institutions, care providers and private organisations to advertise their services to the database of constituents registered with Brain Injury Australia.

Areas to consider:

c. What is the potential market size and opportunity for the advertising revenue.

d. Who is the target market advertisers, including the market segments that present the greatest market opportunity? Considering the target would be the main providers for people with a brain injury.

e. What is a fair price for the potential advertising using the social media and EDM networks currently used by BIA. What is the potential estimated revenue from this advertising.

f. What are the key insights and motivators that would attract business to advertise their services with BIA. What are the key benefits that would attract key service providers to advertise with BIA

Appendix A

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Assessment 1 – Research Proposal Template

1. BACKGROUND

a. Description of the Business under Study.

b. Location.

Where the study to be is conducted e.g. Australia, Sydney

2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Write a paragraph on the events leading up to the research and what research has been previously conducted on the market, category, product and any market learning that will aid the researcher. Also identify what the research is trying to solve and the background to the organisation. (Refer to the research brief)

3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK/ LITRATURE REVIEW

Theories are formulated to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and, in many cases, to challenge and extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding assumptions. The theoretical framework is the structure that can hold or support a theory of a research study. The theoretical framework introduces and describes the theory that explains why the research problem under study exists. A theoretical framework consists of concepts and, together with their definitions and reference to relevant scholarly literature, existing theory that is used for your particular study. The theoretical framework must demonstrate an understanding of theories and concepts that are relevant to the topic of your research paper and that relate to the broader areas of knowledge being considered.

The theoretical framework is most often not something readily found within the literature. You must review course readings and pertinent research studies for theories and analytic models that are relevant to the research problem you are investigating. The selection of a theory should depend on its appropriateness, ease of application, and explanatory power.

The theoretical framework strengthens the study in the following ways:

An explicit statement of theoretical assumptions permits the reader to evaluate them critically. The theoretical framework connects the researcher to existing knowledge. Guided by a relevant theory, you are given a basis for your hypotheses and choice of research methods. Articulating the theoretical assumptions of a research study forces you to address questions of why and how. It permits you to intellectually transition from simply describing a phenomenon you have observed to generalizing about various aspects of that phenomenon. Having a theory helps you identify the limits to those generalizations. A theoretical

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framework specifies which key variables influence a phenomenon of interest and highlights the need to examine how those key variables might differ and under what circumstances.

4. RESEARCH PROBLEM AND QUESTIONS

When determining the research or business problem, ensure that it is the causes of

the business problem and not the symptoms that are addressed. When defining the

problem, be specific and identify the problem and then develop five key research

questions related to the problem you are investigating (see lecture notes for

definitions.)

5. DATA COLLECTION

Identify and list the general questions that can be explored or answered to solve the

research problem.

The following question should be addressed here:

“What information is needed in order to solve the research problem?”

a. Measurement.

Primary Data: The measurement process will depend on the data needed (interviews,

questionnaires, observation, eye tracking are some examples of methods). Usually in market

research qualitative methods (e.g. focus groups) are used as an initial investigation process

to highlight the key variables. For in-depth analysis of key variables quantitative methods

using questionnaires are common.

Ultimately, you are asking questions, regardless if you are observing or using a

questionnaire. The questions are structured or unstructured. Structured questions have pre-

specified answer choices, for example “strongly agree” or “strongly disagree”. Unstructured

questions have open-ended answers, for example, the respondent simply writes what s/he

observes or thinks.

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Secondary Data: This is syndicated data you can use in your research, Secondary data comes from other sources and does not require a specific questionnaire method

6. RESEARCH DESIGN

There are three types of research design: Secondary and Primary data collection

a. Exploratory research: collect data in an unstructured and intuitive process (usually

qualitative or observational research). Secondary data is also used in observational

research

b. Descriptive research: describes the consumers’ attitudes, intentions, and behaviours

(usually quantitative with qualitative and observational research as the base).

c. Causal research: this is a scientific method and used primarily in regression analysis.

It requires that you explore whether one particular independent variable has an

effect on the dependent variable while all else is constant.

7. THE SAMPLING PLAN

There are three main issues regarding the sampling plan:

Determine who or what is to be sampled. This comes from defining the research problem.

Determine the unit of the entity to be sampled, called the sample element.

Determine sample size. Not true that the larger the population, the larger the sample must

be.

8. ANALYSIS AND STISTICAL METHODS TO BE USED TO ANALYSE THE DATA

Describe the type of quantitative or qualitative methods you will be utilizing to analyse the

data you have collected and why you have selected these types of methods.

9. TIMING

Outline the milestones and time frame for each component of the project. Develop a

detailed timetable outlining key activities you are going to conduct during the research

process.

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Specify when you are going to collect your data.

Appendix B

Assessment 2 - Presentation Format:

Utilising the findings from your report prepare a 10-minute presentation

covering the following areas.

Please use the following format for your research presentation:

1. Brief Industry Background and Objectives of the Research - (1 Slide)

2. Research Problem Statement and Research Questions - (1 Slide)

3. Methodology/Literature -(Very brief description) - (2 Slide)

4. Key Findings - Interpretation of the data both secondary and Primary - (4 Slides)

5. Conclusions and Recommendations - (2 slides) 

Tips for the presentation;

 Please make sure the presentation is no more than 10 minutes. We will not have time for Q and A.

 The areas to consider when presenting;

 Be concise and present information that best describes your analysis and builds a strong persuasive idea.

 2. Don't read from a script. Make sure what's on the chart is want you cover in your discussion

 Reference data sources and make sure it is on the presentation chart. Always specify the size of the sample when presenting data.

 Try to stay focused on the discussion you are presenting, don't give too many unnecessary examples.

 Make sure your conclusions and recommendation are evidence- based - that is from the data you have collected.

 Come to the presentation on time - Week 10 - lecture room.

Assessment 3 - Appendix C

Final Report Format

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When writing your report make sure it is written in persuasive language

using the following format and structure;

TOTAL WORD LIMIT: 3500-4000 words

Part Description Page Limits Prefatory Part  Acknowledgement

 Table of Contents  Executive Summary

(~ 1 Pages)

Chapter I: Introduction

 A brief introduction of the study.  Organization Overview  Research objectives  Research Problem Statement

(~ 1 pages)

Chapter II:  Extensive Literature Review: Covering key concepts and issues relevant to the research topic. Including relevant studies that support the research questions and hypothesis.

 Theoretical Frameworks in the literature that apply to the research framework and key variables.

 Explain relationship among components/variables and the theoretical framework to articulate theorized relationships.

(~ 6 pages)

Chapter III: Research Methodology

 Statement of Problem, Research Questions and Hypothesis.

 Research Methodology; Research Design & Data collection methods; Limitations

(~ 4 pages)

Chapter IV: Analysis and Interpretation

 Data Analysis & interpretations  Application of suitable frameworks to

support data and interpretations.

(~ 8 pages)

Chapter V: Conclusion

 Key Conclusions  Outcome /Managerial Recommendations  Future scope

(~ 3 pages)

Appendix To support the findings and research investigations as above. References, Code of Ethics,

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