THESIS PROPOSAL

Getting Started

 Grade temptation
 Previous Research Oriented Courses
 Work Experiences
 Marketable
 Promotion/ Growth at jobs
 Feedback from Corporate world
 Google Scholar Research
Contextualization
 Projects from Corporate World
Thesis Requirements

Total word count: 7,500 words

Plagiarism limit: 15 %
Students have to be constantly showing their research work.
Attendance is a must.
Hardcopy and softcopy of first three chapters of the thesis are
to be submitted a week before the midterm examinations.
Thesis Overview

Total 5 Chapters
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Methodology
4. Results And Estimations
5. Conclusion And Recommendations
THESIS PROPOSAL

Primarily Covers 3 Chapters

1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Methodology
Research Topic

Area of Interest: There are a number of students who

had already identified their area of interest by the
time they come to Thesis Class. But for those who
don’t, it was agreed that the first task for Thesis is
identification of student’s area of interest. Any one or
combination of some of the following uniform
structured steps would be taken to help students
identify their interest area.
Research Topic (Cont.)

In developing your topic, you should ask yourself the following

questions:
 What is my general area of research?
 What have scholars and practitioners written about this
topic?
 Where will I find the evidence?
 Do I have confidence in the validity of my sources?
 Can I complete the research and writing by the established
deadlines
 Qualitative
What is my general area of
research? Quantitative
Prim
Sec

ERP integration or Supply chain Procurement,

technological performance / Sourcing, Supplier
based research benchmarking relationship, 3PL

Inventory Technology based like

Management, Reverse logistics E- Procurement, VMI
Just in time
Green, Distribution channel
Supply chain Environmental Retailing,
visibility/ CRM friendly SCM Warehousing etc.
Lean & Agile SCM Logistics and Network
Any new theory/ Cold Chain / Food related i.e transportation,
methodology/ Chain/ Perishable warehousing etc.
techniques
Business Process
Halal supply chain Warehousing and
Reengineering, Six
sigma, Lean
Humanitarian material handling
Etc. Supply Chain
What have scholars and
practitioners written about this
topic?
 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/
 http://www.jstor.org/
 http://www.wiley.com/
 http://www.sagepub.com/
 http://www.elsevier.com/
 http://www.springerlink.com/
 https://scholar.google.com.pk/

Etc.
Sources of Empirical Studies/Journals

 JSTOR
 Routledge
 Wiley
 ScienceDirect
 Elsevier
 Springer
 Emerald
 Google Scholar
Do I have confidence in the
validity of my sources?

 Understanding of the area of interest

 Selection of base paper
 Data gathering (respondents and sample size)
 Methodology used
 Variables clarity
 Questionnaire availability with the paper

Tips:-
1. Make a folder of downloaded literature (research papers)
2. Categorize (subject) if read
3. Prepare literature review in the first go to save your time
4. Make maximum use of class hours in research completion
5. Take maximum time (2-3 classes) to select a base paper
6. Changing topics at later stages waste lot of time to recover
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction
Background of the topic
1.2 Problem Statement
 Previous studies results
 Research gap
 Fulfilling this gap
1.3 Research Objective
1.4 Research Question
1.4.1 Primary RQ
1.4.2 Secondary RQ
1.5 Scope of the Study
1.5.1 Significance of the Study
1.5.2 Beneficial of the Study
1.6 Limitations of the Study
1. Introduction

The researcher should try to address the following

aspects in the chapter of introduction

 Why is this particular topic being researched?

 What is the significance of the topic?
 Explaining the context of the research problem
 Where is the research conducted and why?
 Aims and objectives of research study
 Research question and hypotheses
1.1 Background of the Study

 How did you choose the topic?

 What kind of greater historical context does
the research that you are engaged in exist
within?
 You may want to talk about any related
experiments or research that specific people
have done in the past, including landmark
research cases which are related to the topic
at hand.
1.2 Problem Statement

The problem statement should be consists of three min

points:
 Results of past studies
 Research gap
 Fulfilling research gap
1.3 Research Objective

The objective is a single statement or paragraph that explains

what the study intends to accomplish. A few typical
statements are:
 The objective of this study is to...
... overcome the difficulty with ...
... discover what ...
... understand the causes or effects of ...
... refine our current understanding of ...
... provide a new interpretation of ...
... understand what makes-successful or unsuccessful
1.5 Scope of the Study

The scope of the study answers the questions:

 Why is your study important?
 To whom is it important?
 What benefit(s) will occur if your study is done?
1.6 Limitations of the Study

Limitation identifies potential weaknesses of the study.

 Time Constraint
 Budget Constraint
 Demographic Constraint
 Communication Understanding Constraint
 Sample Size
Sources of Empirical Studies/Journals

 JSTOR
 Routledge
 Wiley
 ScienceDirect
 Elsevier
 Springer
 Emerald
 Google Scholar
2. Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Background

2.2 Empirical Studies
The empirical studies should be
include at least 25 most relevant
research papers/studies.
These should be Chronological order
2. Literature Review

The literature broadly refers to information relevant to

your topic of interest. Such works may deal specifically
or more generally with your topic of interest. While
such information may be obtained from a variety of
sources, including books, journal articles, reports, etc.,
the focus is on scholarly published materials.
Why we do Literature Review?

There are several reasons why you may conduct a literature

review:
 to ensure you have a thorough understanding of the topic
 to identify potential areas for research
 to identify similar work done within the area
 identifying knowledge gaps that demand further investigation
 to compare previous findings
 to critique existing findings and suggest further studies.
Sources for Literature Review

 Primary source: Original research from journals,

articles or conferences, original materials such as
historical documents, or creative works such as art or
literature.
 Secondary source: Evaluations, reviews or syntheses of
original work
Format of Literature Review

Raza et al. (2011) examine …………….by using

data……….. . They use the
………………………………. Variables used
for the study ……………………………...
Results indicate that
………………………………… Hence it is
suggested that
………………………………………………….
 Format of Literature Review

Raza et al. (2011) examine the impact of job characteristics on employee

motivation in health sector of Pakistan through sample size of 400
participants. They use factor analysis and multiple regression
techniques. They use five variables; skills variety, task identity,
feedback, working environment and task significance. Results indicate
the positive and significant relationship of working environment, task
identity and skill variety with employee motivation, while task
significance and feedback show insignificant relationship. They
suggest that employer should focus on working environment, task
identity and skill variety to enhance the motivation level of their
employees.
3. Methodology

3.1 Research Approach

3.2 Research Purpose
3.3 Research Design
3.4 Data Source
3.5 Target Population
3.6 Sample Size
3.7 Data Collection Technique/Tools
3.8 Data Collection Instrument
3.9 Sampling Technique
3.10 Statistical Technique/ Tools
3.11 Model Hypothesis
3.12 Ethical Consideration
 Steps – Quantitative Research

 Choose your supply chain domain

 Start searching, downloading & reading recent researches in that domain(LR)
 Search for the paper which you are more attracted to work on (Base paper)
 Discuss & get it approved by your facilitator for topic selection. (Base paper)
 Start searching, downloading & reading more research papers relevant to your
selected variables. (LR)
 Come up with some new idea. (Research contribution)
 Write Chapter 1, 2 & 3.
 Develop a questionnaire and get it validated.
 Start data gathering after validation.
 Submit your report (Proposal) in the last class of academic calendar.
 Steps – Quanlitative Research

 Choose your supply chain domain

 Start searching, downloading & reading recent researches in that
domain(LR)
 Think of or extract some supply chain phenomenon which is never/ seldom
studied and needed to be further explore
 Develop a proper problem statement.
 Discuss & get it approved by your facilitator for topic selection
 Start searching, downloading & reading more research papers relevant to
your problem statement. (LR)
 Write Chapter 1, 2 & 3.
 Develop a questionnaire and get it validated.
 Start data gathering after validation.
 Submit your report (Proposal) in the last class of academic calendar.
Tips

 Do things right first time

 Archive downloaded literatures properly
 with topic name
 Questionnaire / without
 Literature review
 Similar variables
 Better to write LR at the first read
 Keep searching for better base paper
Properties of base paper –
(Waqar Ahmed)

 Possible properties of base paper would be

 Clear understanding of the topic
 Check questionnaire
 Clear theoretical understanding of research model and variables
 Check respondents (approachable and collectable)
 Familiar methodology adopted
 Check other research paper availability on similar topics
 Find the area of contribution
 Best Of Luck
for your thesis