Assignment: Approaches to Business Research
Research Proposal
Assignment Brief
As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit an Approaches to Business Research assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
Learning Outcomes:
After completing the module you should be able to:
1. Understand and explain the requirements for planning, conducting and evaluating a research project in business management that will stand up to critical scrutiny.
2. Critically appraise research undertaken by others.
3. Critically appraise the contribution primary and secondary data sources can make to research studies, particularly with respect to sampling, statistical analysis and data presentation techniques.
4. Produce a proposal for a research study that can be undertaken in a business management organisational context.
This task covers Learning Outcomes
Your assignment should include: a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and a word count; the appendices if relevant; and a reference list in Arden University (AU) Harvard format You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below. Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work.
Maximum word count: 3000 words
Note that exceeding the word count by over 10% will result in a reduction in grade by the same percentage that the word count is exceeded.
You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number.
Re-sits:
If you are re-sitting this assessment for the first time, you may re-work your original submission if you wish. However, if this is your third attempt at this assessment, you must submit a piece of work which is substantially different from your first two attempts.
Assignment Task
The assessment for the Approaches to Business Research module requires you to prepare a Research Proposal. This proposal will normally form the basis of the research which you undertake for the dissertation module of the BA (Hons) Business at level 6. This means that your Research Proposal should focus on the application of business and management principles in an organisational context. In other words, the proposal must focus on an important business and management issue in your organisation, or another organisation. You will probably find it easiest to base your research in your own organisation but sometimes this is not possible, perhaps because you are currently not employed or your organisation will not let you conduct research in the organisation. In these sort of circumstances you need to find an organisation that will allow you to carry out research in it.
The business and management topic which you choose must be realistic and capable of being undertaken within a reasonable timeframe.
Lesson 2 in Unit 4 of the online materials provides further guidance on how to write a Research Proposal.
The structure of a typical research proposal will look something like:
• Title page
• Contents page
• List of Tables and Figures
• Introduction (500 words)
• Literature Review (1000 words)
• Methodology (1000 words)
• Reflections and Resources (500 words)
• Bibliography
• Appendices
Those sections in bold contribute to your word count for the assignment, and suggested guidelines for each section. Please note these word counts are merely suggestions of the type of balance to achieve, they are not maxima, merely a rough guide which will help you to achieve the appropriate focus and balance in your proposal.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.