research proposal

Student Guide for Research Proposal You are working as a senior researcher for a company (of your own choice, private or public, domestic or international) 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 research proposal 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 research, budget and timeline. In a research proposal--a plan to do research--you do everything except for collect and analyze the data. Keep in mind that you are hired by the company to conduct the proposed research in order to help the management make informed decisions Steps

1. Select a company and a research problem that you want to study. The research problem could either be an opportunity that the company intends to explore or an issue the company is facing.

2. Write an abbreviated research proposal indicating the background of the

problem, literature review, the purpose of the study, the research and sample design, and the budget and times schedule. You can use page 124 in the textbook (page 124) as an example. Note that not all required sections are included in the textbook example. You need to follow the layout include in this guideline.

3. The file should be named as lastname1_lastname2_lastname3. You can replace

"_" with other symbols as you like. Failure to do so will result in penalty in grading.

Formatting The proposal should be double-spaced using Times New Roman 12 font and should not exceed 1000 words, including references and appendix, if any. You are required to follow APA style when writing the proposal.

Here is a tutorial on APA style: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting _and_style_guide/general_format.html 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. Failure to follow this requirement will result in 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 proposal 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. Use simple, descriptive adjectives and plain language that does not risk confusing your meaning. Avoid using poetic expressions or figurative language such as metaphors and analogies unless they are helpful in conveying a complex idea. Such linguistic devices can detract from conveying your information clearly and may come across to readers as forced when it is inappropriately used to explain an issue. Note 5: There is no need to provide textbook type of information. You can assume that I have sufficient knowledge of SWOT, 4P, etc. The management won’t be impressed with your knowledge in describing the theoretical models or explaining how well the model works. They are more interested in how you can apply your knowledge in theoretical model to their specific issue. Your discussion should be relevant to their specific issue. Your job is not to teach the management to learn such theories. Your job is to provide a research plan. Note 6: There is no need to provide detailed company information or the history of the company.

Note 7: You are proposing to conduct business research to help a company to solve an issue. So there will be no conclusion or any conclusive suggestions, such as “The company should….” Note 8: No pictures, graphs, cartoons, or figures should be included. Grading 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. 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. Required layout You need to follow the layout listed below, not the one in your textbook!

Cover Page Include a title of the research proposal, course number, course name, and the author’s name

Background/current situation

What led you to address this problem? What are the symptoms that led you to believe this problem needs to be addressed by business research? Be specific and support your discussion with numbers/statistics. You should not discuss the history of the company or state how great the business was/is. In general, if you are investigating a current issue, anything happened years ago is irrelevant.

Make sure you include problem statement—What is the problem of your proposed study? By very specific in stating the problem. When you address a “problem” in research, it does not necessarily mean that you are addressing something that is “wrong.” For example, your “problem” might be that you do not know the attitudes of your consumers about a specific product.

Special notes for business opportunity: you background discussion should include both the benefit and cost/difficulties of the opportunity. If you only discuss the benefit, then 1. your discussion is biased; 2. You imply that the opportunity should be adopted without question.

Literature Review

Include a synthesis of scholarly and peer-reviewed literature on your topic. It should provide evidence as to what types of studies have been conducted in relation to your research problem and further confirm the need for you to conduct your proposed study – meaning, this is not a problem that has already been solved, but one needing more research and/or ideas for research.

A review of the literature should incorporate several studies summarized in your own words. For example--A study conducted by Woodstock and Brown (2006) determined that dog owners are extremely appreciative of the loyalty displayed by canines. Other studies, (Scooby, 2005; Yogi, 2006) concluded similar findings.

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.

Purpose of the Research What is the purpose of your research? Be very specific in stating the purpose. For example, your “purpose” might be that you want to investigate the attitudes of consumers about a specific product and their decisions to purchase that product.

Research design and sample design You should discuss how the study will be conducted, including the source of data, how they are going to be collected, and the type of research, exploratory, descriptive, or causal research. If data are collected through surveys, you need to discuss what the target population is and how the sample will be determined. Also, you should provide general research questions to indicate what results the management can expect after you conduct the proposed research. Do not provide survey questions. They do not count.

Budget and time schedule

Any complete research proposal should include a schedule of how long it will take to conduct each stage of the research and a statement of itemized costs. Although you may not have a very good idea about the budget and time schedule, you are supposed to provide such information to your best knowledge. Note that the budget and time schedule is not for carrying out whatever solution or business plan you are suggesting. The example in the textbook does not provide any specific budget or timeline. However, you are required to provide itemized costs and detailed timeline for each step of the

research process. When discussion the budget and timeline, avoid using uncertain terms like “up to,” “no more than,” “less than” or similar descriptions.

References References cited should come from reliable business sources. Website like Wikipedia or other non-business sources are considered unreliable and invalid source, and thus will affect the credibility of your proposal. If you cite any sources in your short paper, you need to put them in the references. Failure to cite the sources appropriately may result in plagiarism and is subject to consequences listed in the Academic Honesty Policy.