Topic - An analysis of e-marketing effectiveness of hospitality and tourism industry to society
Restaurant in Australia
Assessment Part A
Research Proposal
Assessment Specification
You are required to submit a research proposal. This should cover the following areas and be 1,500 words in length:
Research Title - make this brief but ensure it gives an indication of the main topic of your research.
Rationale - to explain why you selected the research topic and how it will benefit both you and/or your organisation. This section should contain a brief explanation of context. The proposed project is justified in relation to professional, organisational, political and academic drivers here.
Objectives of the project - may be expressed in terms of specific questions you want to answer or hypothesis you wish to test. Identification of your research objectives are fundamental to managing the focus of your project. It is important that you maintain a tight focus.
Initial Literature Review - you should present an initial review of some of the literature relating to a part of your project, for example if you project is about Workforce Motivation you may wish to discuss what is meant by Motivation. This section should demonstrate your initial academic reading from a range of academic book and journal sources.
Methods of Investigation - you should explain how you will investigate your chosen topic. Outline your proposed research philosophy, methods and sampling approach. You should also justify your reasons for these approaches and include some evidence of reading and reference around research methods.
Timetable for the project - you will need to carefully plan your timetable for the project to ensure that you are able to write the final 1,000-word Executive Summary and 10,000-word dissertation by the hand-in date. Producing a timetable in the form of a project plan should help you with time management; remember you are carrying out this project along with your other programme modules and your work commitments with all the pressures and realities that this brings.
Structure:
The following structure is provided as an example. You may wish to develop your own structure.
Part A - Research Proposal
Cover Page
The cover page should include student name, student ID, programme title, module title, module code, UK tutor, research title, submission date, word count for the research proposal.
Contents Page
The table of contents/index should provide details of all the contents in your research proposal (including Appendices)
Introduction - 500 Words
- Reason for choice of topic
- Outline of what you hope to achieve
- Overview of the literature you will draw upon
- Academic objectives of the Project
Literature Review - 500 Words
- Critical review of one element of the literature relating to your academic objectives
- You must demonstrate wide reading from a range of academic sources though use of reference.
Methodology - 500 Words
- Provide a definition and discussion of what is research and a research methodology.
- Briefly discuss the three types of research approach available (qualitative, quantitative and mixed) and identify which approach you are planning to use and why. Use of reference to demonstrate wide reading in this section.
- Provide a brief theoretical discussion of the chosen research method(s) you are planning to use (eg questionnaire, interview, focus group, biography, self-analysis etc) and justification for your choice. Again, use of references to demonstrate wide reading.
- Outline your planned sampling approach and justify why you are adopting this method.
- Briefly provide a theoretical discussion of the importance of ethical research and explain how you plan your research to be carried out in an ethical manner.
Assessment Part B
Research Dissertation, including Executive Summary
The research dissertation will critically evaluate the activities undertaken and outcomes achieved in planning, implementing and evaluating the research proposal.
Structure:
The following structure is provided as an example. You may wish to develop your own structure.
Cover Page
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents or Index
The cover page should include student name, student ID, programme title, module title, module code, UK tutor, research title, submission date, word count word count for executive summary and word count for the research dissertation.
The table of contents/index should provide details of all the contents in your report (including Appendices)
Templates for these introductory pages can be found on the e-learning portal.
Executive Summary
This section should provide a summary of the overall research project: its rationale, aims and intended outcomes; a review of relevant underpinning theories, frameworks and principles; the methodology planned and undertaken; project outcomes; reflections; conclusions and recommendations for personal and organizational practice.
Introduction, Aims and Objectives
This section should provide a brief background to give the reader enough information to understand the context in which the research project has been carried out. A rationale should also be included here. Explain why you selected this topic for your project.
Details of your aims and outcomes should be listed and discussed in this section to enable the reader to make links between context, rationale and intentions of the project.
Literature Review
In this section, you should make a critical evaluation of, and demonstrate application to your research project of, theories, frameworks and principles, drawn from a range of relevant and appropriately referenced academic and practitioner literature. You must demonstrate wide reading from a range of sources.
Research Methods
In this section, you should supply information about how you planned and carried out your research project.
Demonstrating your understanding of research methods you must discuss your chosen research philosophy, methodology and methods.
Discuss how you gathered information, what hurdles you overcame, why you approached the project in the way you did e.g. questionnaire rather that interview. You should provide enough information to tell the story of how you planned and carried out your project.
Research Ethics
It is important you discuss how you ensured your project was aligned to the ethical requirements of NBS and University guidelines. Remember to include signed documents relating to informed consent from an organizational and individual perspective.
You should discuss the importance of research ethics, approaches to ensure research was carried out in an ethical manner and detailed discussion of how you have ensured ethical research.
Findings, Analysis and Discussion
In this chapter, you should present research findings.
You should identify the purpose of each question and how questions asked have been shaped by literature in your literature review, summarise key trends or messages from each questions findings and analyse the findings presented making appropriate reference to how they support or contradicts specific theories or models in the literature review.
Conclusions and Future Research
In this chapter, you should reflect upon how the project objectives have been achieved.
You should also provide a detailed reflection on literature discussed in the literature review, discussing how findings have supported or contradicted this literature. Try to reflect on as much literature as possible without re-writing it. Do not include any new models or theories. Integrate your discussion.
From this synthesis, you should then identify overall conclusions drawn from the study. You should also discuss the limitations of this project and discuss how you could build on this research.
Recommendations
Clearly, concisely yet comprehensively detail appropriate recommendations - these could identify areas for consolidation, development and future planning.
APA style