STAFFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY

Business School

Module Code: BSB20133-M

Module Title: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

Site: Stoke

Module Leader Dr. David Douglas

Assessment Type: Assignment

Assignment Title: Research Proposal

Weighting: 100%

Written by: Dr. David Douglas

Moderated by: Internal Scrutiny Panel

External
Additional Attachment:

Date of Issue: 15 March, 2010

Submission Date: Before 12 noon, Tuesday 11 May, 2010

at the Business School Reception,
Second Floor, Brindley Building, Leek Road,
Stoke. A date stamped receipt of proof of
submission is required.

Assignment must be submitted by the due date. The only circumstance in which
the assignment can be submitted late is if an extenuating circumstances form is
submitted at the same time. In these circumstances work may be submitted up to
14 (fourteen) days late only. If extenuating circumstances are upheld, the
assignment will be graded, otherwise a ‘0’ score will be awarded.

Minimum-Maximum word 2000 (Minimum)-to-3000 (Maximum) wordage

length of assignment.

Ethics disclaimer:
I confirm that the University’s guidelines for ethical approval have been consulted
and that all ethical issues and implications with regard to this assignment have
been considered. I conform that ethical approval is ‘Disclaimed’.

Module leader’s Signature: Date:

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Business School

Semester 1-2, 2010/11

January 2010 Intake

BSB20133-M
BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

This is an ‘Individual Assignment’ requiring you to

produce one Written Research Proposal

Examiners: Dr. David Douglas

Hand out date: 15 March, 2010

Hand in date: by 12 noon, Tuesday 11 May 2010

All assignments should be handed in to the Business School
reception, 2nd Floor, Brindley Building. You will need to obtain a
date-stamped receipt of proof of submission.

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Individual Assessment

One Written Research Proposal (100%)

Outline Points to Consider:

1. The assessment for this module is a research proposal that could
realistically and feasibly be adopted as part of producing a
dissertation for your elected master’s award (e.g. MBA, MSc, MA). It
is your step-by-step plan for discovering new knowledge.
2. It is not essential that this completed assignment (research proposal)
eventually be used for your award’s dissertation.
3. It is not required that you engage in any ‘primary’ data collection for
the completion of this assignment (for example: interviewing,
questionnaire distribution, contacting businesses, etc.). If you feel you
must engage in gathering such data, then you must apply for and
gain ethical approval – not to do so would result in a ‘failed’ score
being awarded for the assignment.

Assessment Objectives:

The written proposal of this assignment is designed to assess your ability to:

 Demonstrate a competent understanding of research methods, and

methodological and philosophical underpinnings, applicable to researching
within the broad field of business and management.

 Undertake a critical review of recent and relevant research appropriate to

the development of the field of business and management
understanding.

 Plan and produce an organised and logically planned and executed

research approach to contributing to business and management theory
and, where appropriate, practice.

 Use the Harvard Referencing System to cite and reference academic

sources.

Assessment Requirements:
A written research proposal of not less than 2,000 words, and no more than
3,000 words, that synthesises and critically evaluates business and
management related research methods.

You are required to state the number of words used at the end of the
assignment. You may include diagrams, figures, appendices, etc. without
word penalty. A sliding scale of penalties for excess length will be imposed.

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The penalties will be as follows:

Up to 10% excess words: no penalty
11-20% excess words: - 5% penalty
21-30% excess words: -10% penalty
31% plus excess words: cannot achieve more than a pass grade (50%).

Assignment ‘Proposal’ Options:

You must choose only 1 (ONE) of the proposal options given

below:

a. Applied- Consultancy Research Proposal, or

b. Experimental-Scientific Research Proposal, or

c. Conceptual-Theoretical Research Proposal

You must clearly state at the beginning of your assignment

which of the above (‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’) you have chosen to write your
proposal on.

Further details are as follows:

A research proposal can be considered as a thoroughly planned

statement of intent. It will clearly demonstrate that your research
intentions, if carried out to your ‘proposed’ plan, would result in an
effective and complete project (e.g. Dissertation).

See, for example, your BRM textbook: Saunders, et al, Research

Methods for Business Students, pp. 38-45

a. Applied- Consultancy Research Proposal

Applied or Consultancy Research seeks to solve practical problem/s and offer
practicable solutions. In business or management contexts, it will be focused
on a problem or problems, or to address specific questions, that would benefit
from researching and offering solutions. Example problems could be: a
company may be finding that an unusually high percentage if its graduate
trainees leave within one year of joining the company, or, what would be the
effects of the introduction of a new incentive scheme? To actually carry out
this type of research, you would eventually (but not at this proposal stage)
have to be able to gain access to a business or organisation and access
relevant data.

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b. Experimental-Scientific Research Proposal

Experimental or Scientific research is a systematic gathering of information in
order to test a hypothesis. It is designed to test cause-and-effect relationships.
In its simplest form it is designed to compare two (or more) groups (an
‘experimental’ group and a ‘control’ group). Example experiments could be:
the use of ‘blogs’ by masters’ students as a way of improving strategic
management knowledge, or, e-mailing is better than cold-telephone-calling for
eliciting response rates to business research questionnaire requests.

c. Conceptual-Theoretical Research Proposal

Management and business scholars may be interested in analyzing subject
specific concepts, such as discussing alternative notions of ‘competitive
advantage’ and whilst conceptual analysis often falls within the realms of
philosophers, it is also necessary for business and management
researchers to give consideration to theoretical-conceptual issues within the
field. Example issues could be: the re-contextualisation of a theory, from, say,
profit led businesses to that of not-for-profit organisation, or, B2B through
WWW as an entrepreneurial mode of opportunity identification.

Assignment Guidelines:
A written proposal must be compiled in a suitable format that must
incorporate the following:

A Working Title - That clearly indicates the variables, their relationships

and the target population to which the results may be applied.

An example: ‘A Purposeful Sample Study of Masters Management Students

Ownership and Uses of Mobile Telephony’

Proposal Format – The unambiguous identification and justification of

relevant sections, their sub-sections and contents.

An example:
Section One – Introduction
 Statement of the Problem
 Need & Justification of the Study
 Research Aim/s & Objectives
 Research Questions, Propositions or Hypotheses
 Definition of Terms
 Limitations and any Basic Assumptions of the Study

Section Two – Literature Review

 What is Presently Known about the Problem?
 Relevant & Pertinent Literature to the Purpose of the Study
 Organisation of Review and its Justification

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 Discussion of the Review Findings and Implications

 What has been Learned?
 What are the Gaps in Knowledge?
 Lead-in to Proposed Study

The Above Section Should Include Comprehensive In-Text References

(including any secondary sources) and included in References Section

Section Three – Research Approach and Methodology

 How the study will be Conducted and its Justification
 Research Design
 Steps to be taken in the Investigation - Detailed
 Population, Subject and Sample Selection
 Test Conditions
 Methods to be Used – How and Why
 Ethical Issues and Procedures
 Measures of Outcome
 Procedure for Data Analysis
 Contingencies

The Above Section Should Include Comprehensive In-Text References

(including any secondary sources) and included in References Section

Section Four – Project Plan, Timetable Schedule (e.g. Project Management

& Gantt Chart) & Resources
 Subject Selection
 Approval of Subjects and other Issues
 Data Collection
 Data Analysis
 Final Draft of Project/Dissertation
 Target Completion Dates and Milestones

Resource Requirements
 Travel
 Supplies
 Copying
 Software
 Data Entry
 Other Costs

Section Five – References and Potential Bibliographic Field/s

Use of Harvard Referencing Convention Throughout the Document

Important - The above guides only contain examples - they are not
definitive. You must structure and justify Your proposal to meet Your
research needs.

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Assessment Guidelines:

Level ‘M’ modules require that work carried out will incorporate most of the
following features:

Fail:
 The assignment lacks the structure, content and use of appropriate
terminology that would be expected from a student able to conduct a
disciplined analysis of business and management issues; or make
appropriate conclusions following a critical evaluation of a range of
theoretical options.
 The assignment does not demonstrate ability of independent thought and
is unlikely to contain a recognisable critique of academic literature,
although it may “list” some theories/concepts that may, or may not, apply.
 The assignment does not balance academic theory and the practical
application of such theories to a well-described research proposal.
 The assignment provides little, if any, evidence of the student having "read
around" the subject matter. As such the assignment contains few, if any,
academic references or, if they do, sources are unlikely to be consistently
and/or accurately cited and referenced using Harvard referencing
conventions (However the assignment must not contain plagiarism, which
is a University Offence - see attached guidelines on ‘Plagiarism’)
 The assignment may be inconsistent in approach as well as content -
sometimes minor areas, or inappropriate theories, might be discussed at
length while relevant or seminal theories are omitted all together. Indeed it
may not be clear exactly which theoretical area or practical problem the
student is critically analysing in the assignment.
 Any conclusions to resolve the practical research problem discussed will
probably not result from a disciplined analysis of the proposal problem or a
critical evaluation of a range of theoretical options available.

Pass:
 Sufficient issues are addressed in order to distinguish between the rote
learning student and those students with the ability to generate a required
level of independent thought processes but which is inadequate to achieve
a distinction due to inconsistency or due to insufficient understanding.
 Use of structure and terminology that shows an ability to undertake
disciplined analysis of the issues presented.
 Content and structure that indicates an ability to analyse, evaluate and
make logical conclusions regarding research proposal issues that
encompasses both practical examples and theoretical elements.
 Evidence that the theory behind the practical application of the proposal’s
concepts are clearly understood but with certain aspects of the analysis
being covered more extensively than others that indicates a less insightful
critique of particular areas.
 Use of more dated, limited or unrelated academic referencing showing
literature review and research technique that is short of a distinction level.

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 A satisfactory grasp of the requirements necessary to conduct an analysis

of practical research proposal issues; an ability to critique concepts from
the literature reviewed; and to make clear and practical conclusions to
resolve the research proposal issues faced.

Merit:
Apart from the attributes of a ‘PASS’ paper, these papers will need to
encompass the following:
 Evidence of critical analysis and evaluation of a wide range of issues and
strategies to demonstrate extensive reading, and application of theoretical
concepts.
 Clear understanding of the theory related to the research proposal, with a
consistent level of analysis and critique applied throughout.
 A balanced overview of the chosen topic, incorporating practical
application of the proposal’s theory or theories, resulting in well thought out
and clearly articulated conclusions.
 Use of relevant and mostly up-to-date academic references, demonstrating
breadth in the selection of sources chosen for their appropriateness.

Distinction:
Apart from the attributes of a ‘MERIT’ paper, these papers will need to
encompass the following:

 Structure and content that distinguishes it as being well rounded in both

structure and content with practical and theoretical aspects of the paper
being more balanced and with conclusions put forward based on sound
theory that shows theoretical evidence.
 Strong evidence of having read extensively around the chosen topic or
topics, with extensive referencing of the key theories and arguments
proposed, and which encompasses the creative application of academic
knowledge in such a way that it may well lead to the extension of such
academic knowledge.
 Consistency in the arguments used to evaluate and critically analyse the
research proposal’s practical strategy and theories reviewed.
 Use of a wider range of theoretical concepts than that of a ‘PASS’ paper,
and which clearly and methodically remains focused on the issues.

(Assessment Guidelines - Adapted from: Toni Hilton, External Examiner, 2001)

Plagiarism:

It is strongly recommended that you read the full document on plagiarism

rules at:

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/images/academic_dishonesty_tcm68-12681.pdf

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Summarised below are some of the key points. You will have committed
plagiarism and may be caught, reported and punished (as described below)
if you:

 Copy extensively from the work of others (from sources such as books,
magazines, journals, web sites for example) and submit the work as your
own. NB It is acceptable to refer to the work of others as long as you do
not use too much, and reference your sources properly. If you do not
know how to do this, please follow the guidelines given in the document
entitled ‘Adding quotations and references to your written work’ on the
website:
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/business/bsadmin/staff/s3/jamr.htm

 Copy another student’s work and submit it for assessment under your
own name

 Allow another student to copy your work and they then submit it for
assessment under their name

The last item is of particular importance; few students seem to understand

what it means. You should be aware that if, for example, you allow another
student to borrow your work and they subsequently copy some of that work
and present it as their own, you and they will both be punished, even though
they copied your work.

What happens if you get caught?

Examination Boards may punish offending students in a number of ways.
Typically, penalties range from reducing grades, making students re-sit
modules, through to failing students on a module or an entire award.

The University regards this form of cheating as a serious offence.

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