CAPSTONE Proposal Outline and Guide

II. Company Background and Status

Project Design
Overall strategy that you choose to assimilate the different components of the study in a
coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring you will effectively address the research
problem; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of
data.

Review of Related Literature

1. Related literature includes research findings, published or unpublished theories and
principles formulated by experts or authorities in some field or discipline; and ideas
or opinions of experts contained in books, pamphlets magazines and periodicals.
2. It should be written 'in terms of the purpose of the study.
3. It should give more weight to studies considered more authoritative as evaluated
and should give reference to primary rather than secondary sources.
4. It should be organized thematically to conform with the specific problems.
5. It should be synthesized such that evidence from all the studies reviewed would get
an overall understanding of the state of knowledge in the problem area.
6. As a general rule, only literature published during the past five (5) years are reviewed
by the proponents.

Theoretical Framework
1. The theoretical framework consists of theories, principles, generalizations, and
research findings which are closely related to the present study under investigation.
It is in this framework where the present research problem under study evolved.
2. Authors of these theories and principles must be cited properly by the proponents.
As much as possible, research findings and theories should be correct in APA format.

Conceptual Framework
1. The conceptual framework is the schematic diagram which shows the variables
included in the study.
2. Arrows and/or lines should be properly placed and connected between boxes to show
the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
3. The manner by which the independent and dependent (including the moderating
variable/s if any) variables will influence the results of the study must be clearly
discussed by the proponents.

Operational Framework
1. An operational framework only becomes necessary if some variables from the
conceptual framework will be omitted by the proponents to fit the study being
undertaken.
2. Like a conceptual framework, the operational framework must also show arrows
and/or lines which clearly depict the relationship between the specific variables
included in the study.
Hypothesis/Proposition of the Study
1. In this section, the researchers offer a hypothesis or an educated guess as to what
the possible answer is to the research problem identified. It is important to note that
this hypothesis has to be empirically proven or statistically tested for veracity.
2. For certain studies which do not require a hypothesis to be made, a proposition may
instead be made by the researchers. In broad terms, a proposition is also a possible
answer to a research problem or scientific question but it requires no statistical
testing.
3. Both a hypothesis and a proposition are based on prior research, reasonable
assumptions, and documented correlative evidence of the variables under
investigation.

Assumptions of the Study

1. Assumptions refer to a proposition of some occurrences that may be considered in
eliminating the area of the study.
2. It is a proposition which a researcher asserts based on his own intuition, experience,
and observations but which may not yet be scientifically proven. It is adopted as a
premise to the solution of the problem envisioned for the study.

Analysis of Existing Business Process / Operations

1. The efficiency and effectiveness of a process.
2. How well the process achieves its end goal.
3. It identifies and examines every part of the structure, including the process itself, the
participating parties, the information exchange, and others.
4. Potential improvements within the process, making it easier to carry out a re-
engineering initiative sometime down the line.
5. What are the most important components of the process? What is their impact?
Would improving just these components alone be enough?
6. Are there any systematic delays or issues in the process? Can you see the reason
why it happens? Is there a way to fix them? How big is their influence on the output?
7. Does a particular component of the process require too many resources? Is there a
way to change it?

Potential applications
1. Finding the reasons behind systematic delays
2. Clearing out the “right” way of doing the process
3. Determining whether or not the process is operating at maximum potential capacity
4. Finding out whether the process should be improved or re-engineered

End result examples:

1. Clear up the documentation for the process. At some point, every business amasses
a lot more paperwork about the process than it needs. Doing a thorough business
process analysis helps sort out which parts of the documentation are still relevant
and which can be disregarded & thrown away.
2. See if the process is expensive or wasteful. Nobody wants to have a process that
eats up more resources than it should.
3. Find causes for inefficiencies and delays within the process. Some businesses may
not even realize that a process is not working as it potentially could. Business process
analysis helps to dissect the process into smaller chunks, making it easier to
understand & analyze. This, in turn, makes it easier to understand if a process is
underperforming & if it’s possible to be improved.
4. Uncover unnecessary risks within the process.