Develop a comprehensive and practicable research proposal which includes a viable research question and supporting aim and objectives

ASSIGNMENT FRONT SHEET

Assignment 1 Research Proposal

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	Mark %

Masters Level Marking Criteria

Description: Fail: Marks below 30%	No work has been submitted in the time allowed, or the work submitted demonstrates little or no understanding of the task or the subject matter.  This may be evident where the work is substantially incoherent, irrelevant or lacking in factual content, or where these shortcomings are present in combination such that the work as a whole is unsound.  Major errors of fact, or evidence of substantially poor cognitive or other relevant skills will also lead to a fail.
Description: Fail:  Marks in the range 30% – 39%	The work shows some knowledge and required skills are present to a degree.  There may be appreciable error or omission of facts, poor structure, misdirection to the task, or poor conceptualisation or illustration of the work.  Evidence of analysis and evaluation is weak.  There will be indications in the work that the candidate is capable of improving it by further application to the task
Description: Pass: Marks in the range of  40% – 49%	The work contains sufficient descriptive information.  There is some analysis and explanation with appropriate illustration and example, and some attempt to evaluate.  The work will generally be coherent and relevant, it will contain some useful proposals or solutions related to familiar solutions and there will be some attempt at originality.  It will be communicated clearly.
Description: Pass: Marks in the range of  50% – 59%	The work contains all the necessary contextual information.  There will be adequate analysis, explanation and conceptualisation, with appropriate illustration and example, and sound attempts to evaluate and judge.  The work will be substantially coherent and will contain relevant and feasible proposals or solutions related to familiar situations, some responses to uncertainty or ambiguity and some acknowledgements of the implications of change.
Description: Pass: Marks in the range of  60% - 69%	The work will contain complete explanations using most available information.  There will be substantial analysis; the ability to recognise evidence, use ideas, conceptualise, evaluate and judge in familiar situations will be clearly demonstrated.  Proposals or solutions will be contextually relevant and useful, with substantial evidence of the skill necessary to operationalize them in a variety of situations, including those in which uncertainty, ambiguity or change are present.  The work will provide evidence of originality and of useful knowledge transfer to novel situations.  It will be coherent and convincing.
Description: Pass: Marks in the range of 70% and above	The work will clearly demonstrate the ability to analyse accurately, reliably and fully, all relevant information; to use evidence; to conceptualise, evaluate and judge; to propose and operationalise effective solutions, and to show substantial originality and creativity in a variety of familiar situations or in the face of ambiguity, uncertainty or change.  It will demonstrate valuable knowledge transfer and propose feasible solutions for a wide range of situations.  Evidence of the ability to innovate will be present.

Assignment One (30%) – Research Proposal

For Assignment One, you are required to design a research proposal in your cognate area of specialisation. The deadline is 12 pm on the Monday of week four.

For example, if you are studying toward an MBA in finance, you may write about a finance or accounting theme as follows:

• The Application Machine Learning in Finance: A Case of Stock Consultant Ltd
• Working Capital Analysis: Interviews with HSBC Banking Staff
• The Capital Asset Pricing Model Using London Stock Exchange Data and Others

Whereas, if you are studying toward an MBA in marketing, you may write about a marketing or consumer behaviour topic, such as follows:

• Consumer Satisfaction Analysis Using Tweets: A Sentiment Analysis
• Evaluating a Competitor’s Marketing Strategy Using Web Scraping
• Digital Social Media Communication in Tesco Liverpool

You may choose any topic according to your specialisation: MBA Human Resource Management, MBA Marketing, MBA Finance, MBA Project Management, MBA Health Management, MBA Entrepreneurship, MBA Cyber Security, MBA Big Data, MBA Psychology, MPA Finance, MPA Project Management.

Please watch the lectures for week zero and week one to help you decide which topic or theme to study and which topic to avoid. In addition, please ensure that you are writing a research proposal pertaining to your specialization. For example, if you are studying MBA Finance, then you should not write a research proposal on an area of HR, or vice versa. The research proposal (and dissertation) is a significant part of your study because your future clients, colleagues and potential employers, etc. will read your credible dissertation that relates to your strengths and aspirational career.

You may also adhere to ‘action research’ by writing a research proposal for your own business or the company you work for, which will be useful for your aspirational career. In addition, you should focus on a recent topic or ‘currency’. For example, some topics are outdated: ‘Analysing Customer Opinion through Fax Survey’ or similar should instead involve analysis via mobile or online survey, as no one sends surveys through fax anymore. Your research proposal and dissertation should reflect your sense of pride, achievement and future aspiration.

Relevant examples for Assignments One and Two will be provided in class to enable you to achieve the highest mark possible. For Assignment Two, you need to continue from Assignment One by collecting data and analysing it using the software packages provided: SPSS, NVivo or Mozdeh. For Assignment Two, you need to design an online survey or online interview and ask your classmates to answer the questions. We will ask no questions about your data; we are more interested in how you analyse data and interpret the computer outputs correctly. For the research methods, you will employ hypothetical data, but you will use real data when completing the dissertation.

As a postgraduate student, you are free to devise your own structure (headings, subheadings, etc.), using a format such as Sections 1, 2 and 3, etc. or Introduction, Methodology, Research Questions, Conclusion.

Assigment One is a 1,050 word assignment excluding tables, figures, references, appendices, calculations etc. However, the word count is a guide only; it will not be applied mechanically to determine your marking; please see the above masters level marking criteria.