Research Proposal: The brief and the structure

You have been assigned to propose a descriptive research design for the below management problem. The assignment requires you to draft a research proposal for a business research project.

The brief

Frankston City Council aims to further develop Frankston City as a visitor destination and to improve its liveability for residents1. One of the current developments in Frankston's CBD is the redevelopment of the Bayside Shopping Centre (www.baysidesc.com.au), which is owned by Vicinity, a leading retail property group.2The centre consists of over 250 stores, including a Myer department store. In order to be better able to decide what changes to propose for the Bayside Shopping Centre, these three entities - Myer, Vicinity and the Frankston City Council - each seek to understand the contribution of the Myer store to the satisfaction of visitors and residents of Frankston.

Although they focus on different aspects of satisfaction with the Myer store, they are all interested to have information gathered regarding consumer visits to this store and the level of consumer satisfaction, and they each want to commission a research project. You have been approached by one of these three entities (details for you to choose and specify) as a consultant and have been asked to submit a research proposal that specifies how you will be conducting each of the stages of the research process.

*Note: If you are in an overseas country, you can complete the research proposal by referring to a local council or entity that manages city or suburban centres in your own country/city and you may refer to a local brand of department stores. The proposal however still needs be a study of the level of satisfaction with a local department store.

The structure

The research proposal is a formal written document which lays the foundation of the proposed method for conducting research. It states the researchers' understanding of the management problem, purpose of the study, the main research questions (RQ), the information needs, the research design for selecting the respondents, gathering required data through the administration of a survey questionnaire, analysing data, and the layout of the final report presentation.

As you work on this assignment, it is important to keep in mind your target audience, that is, the management of the entity that approached you (for you to choose and specify), and how the information can help them make a decision. Think about what information your client would like to know before agreeing to commission the research project and paying for its cost.

For your assignment you are required to write a research proposal. The structure that you will have to follow is outlined below. Please read all information carefully and make sure you

1https://www.frankston.vic.gov.au/files/assets/public/business/pdfs/2019- 2024_frankston_city_visitor_economy_strategy_august_2019.pdf 2https://www.vicinity.com.au/portfolio/our-properties/bayside#/

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follow all instructions closely. Additionally, you are advised to follow the approach and examples of the workshops and mini tasks in completing this assignment.

In sum, your research proposal needs to focus on one particular department store. Within this proposal you are allowed to focus only on a particular 'department' or product group (e.g., fashion, electronics, toys, books and magazines, cosmetics, etc.) or you can focus on the store as a whole.

The sections of a research proposal and their contribution to the overall mark are described in detail below. Note that the report must not exceed 1500 words in total.

The required format/structure for the proposal is:

Title page - include the title of the proposal, name of the student with student ID, workshop group and time, name of tutor and word count (5%)

Table of contents page

Problem definition and background (15%)

This section is designed to provide a short overview of what prompted the need to seek research. It will include a description of the management problem that your client faces. This section may explain recent changes in the local area, the wider (population, legal, economic, technical) environment and can also refer to previous research that has been conducted. The information presented in this section will also draw from secondary data sources that you found and will provide the context for your study and identify the relevance of the potential managerial implications of the research.

State the Management Decision Problem: Present your statement of the management decision problem on the basis of the given research brief.

Describe the research problem and its components and present what information is needed, which defines the research objectives. Clearly identify and justify the components that correspond to the management problem. The justification should include discussion of at least two different sources including one academic article from which you identified the key factors to further investigate with your primary data collection. If you propose to study how the attitudes/ behaviours/beliefs could potentially vary across different demographic or user groups, briefly explain why do you believe so (hints: Figure 2.6 of Malhotra - page 68).

Present a brief discussion of the managerial implications of your potential findings. For example, if you would find that satisfaction varies by demographic characteristics, how could your client use this information for their decision making? This discussion should be based on the specific questions you proposed. This serves as a justification for your proposed research activity.

Hint: when you do your reading and preliminary search, focus your attention on identification of key factors that may help to address the Management Decision Problem. Please note that the data/information must exist in the public domain.

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Objectives, research questions, analytical model and hypotheses (15%)

This section is designed to provide a description of the research objective, questions, the adopted research framework and the hypotheses.

State the research objectives. These are the detailed statements of what you need to know e.g. attitudes, behaviour, beliefs, usage, expectations, perceptions etc. Well-articulated research objectives are essential to a good research project. Why is it important to commission this research and why it is felt that research may be of use to decision-making? Include 3-4 achievable research objectives.

Develop 5 to 7 research questions (RQs). For each RQ, clearly identify the variables that need to be measured to answer the research question. For example, suppose a research question is "is this department store visited more often by women than by than by men?" Examples of variables in addition to frequency of visiting may be perceptions of convenience, product range, product quality, price level, quality of the in-store experience , etc. (You may like to refer to the week 2 to week 4 pre-class readings).

Briefly present the analytical model that encapsulates the components of the research problem you proposed. This should be in the form of a diagram and/or model (refer to slide no 13 of week 2 lecture notes).

State at least two hypotheses that you propose to test and that follow from your research objectives.

Research design (including questionnaire development) (30% + 10% = 40%)

In this section, you need to describe the research design(s) that you would follow to collect data on the research objectives. The choice of research design decides how the research study would be conducted. For this proposal, you can choose a single cross-sectional descriptive design. This includes a survey questionnaire (include the actual questionnaire in Appendix A) to collect the necessary data to address all your research questions. For each question in the questionnaire, specify the variable that will be measured and the scale(s) used or demographic information asked.

For the design of the questionnaire, please refer to the questionnaire design process as prescribed at page 242 of Malhotra's text. Start with some simple open ended questions and then use mostly structured questions by following the techniques of interval scales (preferably 5 point Likert scales) to collect information on attitudes, behaviour, and perceptions. The demographic questions should be placed at the end of the questionnaire. Make sure that you start with a paragraph briefly introducing who is the client and sponsor, the objectives of the study, management of privacy and how the information will be used.

Sampling plan (10%)

This section details the process of how the respondents for the study will be selected to ensure representativeness of the target population (i.e. who should be eligible to be a member to provide valid and correct information, also refer to page 272, Figure 9.2 of Malhotra's text on the steps of sampling design process). For this part, provide -

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A precise definition of your target population and your sampling frame

The selected sampling technique. For this proposal you need to propose, justify and explain the use of anon-probability sampling technique. (Note: in the later weeks of this unit, after you have submitted your assignment 2 proposal, you will also be developing a proposal for aprobabilitysampling technique as part of your final report). That is, you need to identify whichnon-probability sampling technique you will be using and you need to explain the procedure for respondent selection it involves. For example, if you propose to collect data from a few selected locations by using the intercept method, where, how and when do you plan to do this? Be as specific as you can. If you propose to collect data online, which website you are going to use to recruit respondents and how would you ensure representativeness of different types of consumers?

The proposed sample size: What is the sample size you propose and how have you determined it? Briefly explain to what extent the sampling procedure and sample size will ensure representativeness.

Provide a brief explanation on the execution of the sampling process.

Time schedule & Budget (including cost estimates) (5%)

Deadlines and budgets are important for all concerned. It determines whether the research is feasible. Similarly, the deadlines and budgets need to consider the audience for whom the research is intended. When can they expect the results?

The proposal should also explain the expected format of the research report.

Appendix A (a draft questionnaire and any other relevant documentation)

In this section, provide a copy of the survey questionnaire. Follow the questionnaire design process as prescribed at page 242 of Malhotra's text. Use mostly structured questions by following the techniques of interval scales (preferably 5 point Likert scales to collect information on attitudes, behaviour, perceptions etc). The demographic questions should be placed at the end of the questionnaire. There should be no more than 12 to 15 questions in total. Make sure that you start with a paragraph briefly introducing who is the client and sponsor, the objectives of the study, management of privacy and how the information will be used.

Appendix B: References (for any existing literature that you have consulted or cited in this report)

Note that the references (appendix B) are not included in the 1500 word limit.

Quality of writing and proof reading - 10% There will be a 10% penalty if you exceed the word count by more than 10% (i.e., if your word

count exceeds 1650 words)..