Research Proposal (3,000 words)

You are required to submit the proposal for your research investigation leading to the final Project. The main sections of the proposal should include the following:

(1) Introduction (300words)

Start your work from a provisional title explaining your research direction including the area/problem you intend to research, research variables, research question(s) and research objectives or hypotheses.

(2) Key literature and theoretical background of the topic of investigation (800words)

What is already known on your topic? What theories and concepts are relevant to the topic? Make sure you give adequate consideration to the classics in your topic area, the landmarks, and the most recent developments. What policy or business implications have been derived out of this? What gaps in knowledge remain to be addressed? What is your proposed research question? Present the key literature in a critical manner, either chronologically (tracing the development of the field over time) or comparing similarities and differences between authors and schools of thought.

(3) Methodological Choice Justifications (800 words)

In this part of the proposal, you are required to provide a critical reflection on the key methodological approaches to be used in your study and justify your own methodological choices. Your research design, including approach, strategy, sampling and data collection and analysis methods must be relevant to your research question and objectives/hypotheses. All methodology choices must be justified by citing relevant theoretical sources such as textbook authors and empirical sources such as researchers who have used those methods in practice. Specify sampling methods, type of questionnaire, interview etc. Include a brief discussion of how you intend to ensure credibility of your study.

(4) Expected Findings (200words)

What is it that you are wishing to find as a result of your research? What is the significance of your study? Evaluate strong and potentially weak points within the investigation. Is there a future direction to your investigation?

(5) Ethical issues, access to information and resources (300 words)

Briefly explain how you intend to address any ethical issues that arise, including access to company information. Provide an overview of resources available for your research, including time.

(6)Appendix of the Research Instrument (600 words)

In this part,you are required to design a draft of your proposed questionnaire or interview questions/ answer options based on research question of interest. This part should not be longer than 600words.If you intend to use a questionnaire, make sure you draft the key questions and option answers in a clear and readable style(at all times, think of your potential respondents).If you intend to use an interview, develop the questions and briefly explain what kind of answers you are hoping to receive from your potential respondents.If you propose to use secondary data, you need to be very specific which data sources or databases you are going to use, what kind of data you intend to find and how you are going to interrogate it.

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