ASSESSMENT: Research Plan
This assessment is designed to allow students to develop the expertise necessary to formulate practical and usable research questions to resolve business problems and add to business knowledge, taking into consideration existing literature and any ethical considerations. It is the essential start to constructing and justifying a proposal for conducting independent research question. This assessment relates to Learning Outcomes a, c and d
This research plan will set as a basis for Research Proposal in Assessment 4.
Following consultation with the lecturer or tutor, you should identify a problem which may be answered by research - you will be guided towards a suitable research problem in tutorials during weeks 2 - 5 (inclusive).
Based on the problem identified, you should identify relevant sub-problems, research questions, and provide a brief background to the research question, why it is an issue, and what outcomes the research may produce. Literature review plan & data collection plan. A brief discussion of any ethical considerations should be included.
Given the importance of relevance to Accounting in BUS707, please note that the research topics must be accounting-based topics. Some of the initial suggestions for the topics are:
• Analysis of significant project in the students' work experiences, such as:
- Accounting standards
- Accounting regulation in Australia
- Accounting and/or Auditing ethics
- Use of financial rations in corporate accounting
- Multidimensional performance assessment, for example, using the balanced scorecard to evaluate performance on financial and non-financial bases
• The effect of accounting information and auditing on the design of organisation, and on the ensuing behaviour of individuals and groups.
• Accountants and/or auditors' responsibilities and contributions toward corporate governance
• Application of accounting and economic research to a specific business problem i.e sustainability initiative
• Forensic Accounting
• Technology implementation in accounting and finance
• Innovation in accounting and its impact to business
• Impact of organisational culture on the procedure and technique of accounting
• Research based on cases reported by the courts, ASIC, APRA, ASC
Note:
- Topics may also be identified from the suggestion for further research from articles published in relevant journal articles
- The list of topics above are only initial suggestions and will be refined and expanded in discussion with tutors/research supervisors.
The research plan shouldaddresses the following information:
1. Suggested research title
2. Partner organisation (if applicable)
3. Underlying research problem
4. Research Objectives
5. Research Questions
6. Literature (source and keywords)
7. Data collection plan
8. Ethical Consideration
Structured Literature Review
This assessment is designed to allow students to identify relevant sources for their research and undertake review on a theoretical concepts/constructs that has real world business implications. This assessment relates to Learning Outcomes a, b and d
This article collections and structured review set a basis for literature review section of Research Proposal in Assessment 4.
The structured literature review should addresses the following information:
1. Brief summary of the theory and progression in the field (i.e how has the theory developed)
2. Common themes/findings across the four articles
3. Different themes/findings across the four articles
4. Managerial implication of the four articles
5. Study limitations and future research direction proposed in the four articles.
Submission Details
- Individual Assessment
- Word limit: 1500 words
- The review should be professionally presented using proper headings and sub-headings, in Arial 10pt or Times New Roman 12pt, single space. Harvard (Anglia) style referencing.
Criteria
Present brief summary of the theory and discussion of progression in the field
Identify and discuss common and different themes across the four articles
Identify and discuss managerial implication of the four articles
Discuss the limitation of each of articles and how the limitation differ across the four articles, as well as identify future research direction suggested by the articles.
Apply relevant skills and knowledge of research, the wider context of the problem and the inter-relationships between them;
Present the information in a professional manner with correct referencing
1. Title Page
Choose an interesting title for the report, the title should indicate the nature of problem/research being investigated. If client organisation is used, the name of the organization should be part of the title.
2. Abstract/Executive Summary
Executive summary should provide key information of your research, 1 page is preferably. Provide summary of :
- The introduction of the research
- The matter being investigated
- The research design and methodology
3. Introduction to the research
This section should give convincing background about the research and why the topic is worth to research, by providing evidences to support your arguments. Key points to be included in this section are:
- Introduce the topic of the research
- Overview of client organization (if any)
- What real problem does the research seek to resolve and why is it important to research this topic
- Outline the structure of this proposal.
4. Research problem and research objectives
This section should be straightforward, state the overall research problem and research objectives based on your brief research plan (A1), revised A1 if necessary.
5. Theoretical Background/Literature review
This section is expected to be the extended version of your A3 (structure literature review), therefore, you should not copy paste your A3 into this section, instead you need to use your A3 is a basis to do a comprehensive literature review. Around 6 extra literatures are required (on top of the four articles you used in your A3). Link your literature review back to your research problem.
6. Research Design and Methodology
This section should provide detail plan of research design and research methodology. It should consist information on:
- Inform and justify the type of research (exploratory, descriptive or causal)
- Inform and justify the research approach (quantitative, qualitative or mixed approach)
- Describe the type of data will be used (primary or secondary data)
- Describe how data will be collected: interview, focus group or observation for qualitative research, and/or survey and experiment for quantitative research
- Describe and justify the sample: sampling frame, sampling methods and technique, sampling characteristics and size.
- Inform how the data will be analysed : theme-based analysis for qualitative research and statistical analysis for quantitative research, or a combination of both for mixed approach)
- Explain how the methodology plan address all ethical concern.
Please note: only provide an overview of YOUR research design and methodology, do not discuss theory on research methodology.
7. Reference List :Formatted using Harvard (Anglia)style.
Attachment:- Assessment.zip