The objective of the research project is to provide students with experiment in applying the concepts and methods learned in class to a real world problem. Students may choose any problem of their own. For example, students may conduct a marketing research study to test a new product/service concept, or they may conduct a research study to offer recommendations to existing product and services. Either way, the problem should be relevant to a business or governmental organization. The project can be done individually or in groups of up to 5 people.

Guidelines for the course project and project report

1. When selecting a project, make sure you have a clear understanding of the research problem(s) at hand, a realization of the organizational constraints for dealing with such a problem (including time and budgetary restrictions), and an understanding of how the information provided by your research will facilitate decision making.
2. Identify the information needed to address the research problem.
3. Choose a research design and justify its choice (e.g., survey, experiment, focus group, or combination of methods)
4. Develop the data collection method(s). This should include a sampling plan and instrument design (e.g., questionnaire).
5. Collect data. For the purpose of this course, you are required to collect at least 10 completed responses (See the instructor if your research design does not permit this).
6. Analyze your data using appropriate statistical techniques.
7. Present your recommendations based on your findings and discuss the limitations of your research.

The entire final project report (excluding questionnaire, tables, figures, etc.) should not exceed 5 double-spaced pages. In addition, you will be required to submit a copy of your data file in either EXCEL format.