1. Choose an idea or innovation to develop. What you do not need to do it invent a whole new idea and take it to market. You might choose to take a new mobile phone (perhaps 4G) to market. You might choose to re-invent a current product or amend a service offer. Once you have chosen you can then move towards the planning.
2. First decide which bit of the development context are you going to tackle is it the whole of the diagram on slide five of week 1 or just the [product development pink blob? And then decide the level of detail within it. (Slide 8 week 3)
3. Now you will need to review the range of approaches that can be taken at each stage of the development process and if you are going to evolve your own process you will need to tackle that first.
4. Once you have a range of approaches you can start to make choices, you will need to justify your choice. So will you create a prototype and market test it, will you take the concept and survey people in the street.
5. You will need to justify your choices and ensure that you highlight the interactions that may affect your plan, so what are the logistics issues and what might the micro and macro factors influence in your plan.
6. Finalise your plan and write up your approach to aspects 1-5 above.
7. Prepare your presentation.
On this occasion I do not wish to see your notes or an evaluation of your process. The former should be evident from your outcome being well rounded and showing a strongly underpinned approach though sound use of academic and industrial source material etc. The latter should be evident from there being very few failings in the process through which you went and very tight binding of the outcome to the marking scheme.
Research Proposal:
Develop an original research study proposal and describe it in detail in a 10-12 page (APA style) paper. Include at least 10 scholarly references in your proposal. Use the following outline as a guide when writing your paper. Be sure to include detailed information on all of the topics listed below and use headings to organize your thoughts.
1. Statement of the problem: Introduce the reader to the problem to be studied. Provide sufficient background information such that the reader has a grasp of the situation and its importance.
2. Review of the literature: Provide the reader with a review of most relevant literature, beginning with general information, and narrowing the focus to the specific issues under consideration in the study.
3. Purpose of the study: Identify why the study that you are proposing is needed.
4. Hypotheses or research questions: List them as simple statements. Make sure they are measurable.
5. Definition of terms: Operationally define terms the average reader may not know, or that have a specific meaning in your study.
6. Assumptions: Identify issues you assume to be true in order for your study to be valid.
7. Research methods and procedures
a. Population: Describe the population sample to be studied
b. Procedure: Discuss how the study will be carried out.
c. Instruments: Describe the specific measurements (instruments) to be used to test each hypothesis (research question).
d. Data Analysis: Describe the procedures you intend to use to analyze the data produced from your instruments, and how that would answer the hypotheses (research questions).
e. Discussion: Since you are only proposing (not conducting) a research study, you will not have results; however, you can discuss potential outcomes. Review your hypothesis and discuss how this study will address it. For example, if the results allow you to reject the null hypothesis, what are the implications? What would happen if you fail to reject the null hypothesis? Discuss the implications of your proposed study, the limitations of your study, and future research ideas and directions.
8. Implications: Provide a brief summary of your proposal and a powerful statement as to how your study would advance the field.
9. References: Include at least 10 scholarly sources in your Reference section. Be sure to use APA style throughout your paper.