Research Project Unit 5

Research Project – Diploma in Management

Research Project

Unit 5.4

Simon Caruana


Research Specification

Section 1 of Unit 5.4

� Your Learning Outcome:

Understand how to formulate a research

specification

2


Agenda for Section 1 of Unit 5.4

� Identify the purpose of the research

� Explore potential topics

� Evaluate each potential topic

3


Define the Purpose of the

Research


The first thing you must do, is to think about the

purpose of the project you are to complete.

What is the overall purpose of the project?


One of the overall objectives of a research

project is to demonstrate your ability to apply

theory to practical business problems. theory to practical business problems.


Types of purposes

� Exploration

� Description� Description

� Explanation

7


Explore Potential Topics

You should write down some subjects or ideas that

interest you and explore the feasibility of studying

these issues as a project.


� Choose a topic that you can successfullycomplete

� Choose a topic that is of interest to you

There may be an endless number of

topics that could be suitable

� Choose a topic that is of interest to you

� Look at interesting current events or "hotissues" that might be the subject for a goodtopic


Do not jump in and start your research,

because this topic has to be your focus for the

rest of your research project.

Remember


You should also go to your library and look for

information on your related field of your study

to get a feel of the type of topic that would be

worthwhile for your project.

Look deeply into issues of :

� Newspapers

� Industry magazines

� Academic journals


Newspapers report current developments, and

magazines may give more detailed analysis of

issues from an industry point of view.

Academic journals may look at research of

issues and provide a background to the issue or

summarize and/or discuss past research.


There may also be reference to relevant works

(i.e. Citations) in academic journals or

textbooks, which can identify other sources or

references for

� Your literature review� Your literature review

� Give valuable background for your analysis

� Indicate whether this topic is an area of interest that

is worth further analysis


Electronic information sources can also be animportant source of information and inspirationfor potential topics.

Examples are:

� Library online catalogue� Library online catalogue

� Online indexes

� Web search engines

� Subject-based web directories

� Electronic databases (such as Google Scholar, ABI/Inform, EBSCO, and Factiva)


� Are you interested in the topic?

� What do you already know about the topic?

� Are the other group members (if any) also interested

in the topic?

Questions to ask

in the topic?

� Will the topic fulfil the purpose of the project?

� Is there enough information about the topic?

� Will you be able to collect primary data on the issue,

if this is required?


� Do you have the skills or knowledge of the

methodology to complete the topic?

� Will your supervisor, or the audience, be

interested in your topic?

Questions to ask

interested in your topic?

� Could the topic offend some members of your

audience?

� Will this topic keep your interest for the time

it will take to complete the project?


Evaluate Each Potential Topic

If you have more than one topic in mind, you

need to start evaluating them.

Think about how you feel about each topic and

whether you could work on it as a project to

pitch rough to the project's completion.


Evaluate the Topics on:

� Interest of Researcher/Audience

� Appropriate for the Purpose

� Feasibility

� Questionable Topics


Interest of Researcher/Audience

The topic you choose will have to keep your

interest until the completion of the project . It

must also keep the interest of the examiner, must also keep the interest of the examiner,

supervisor and tutors.


Appropriate for the Purpose

You should be clear on the purpose of your project and

make sure that your topic fulfils its purpose.

While you are evaluating the potential topics, you

should continually confirm that the topic is appropriate

for its purpose.


Feasibility

It is important that the topic you choose is

feasible; that is, you are able to complete all

phases to answer the question being asked. phases to answer the question being asked.


Questionable Topics

In some cases topics may simply be too controversial.

Certain topics could result in interesting research, but unless you can bring something

new to the discussion and collect data that will not offend your audience, these types of topics

should generally not be considered.


� Racism

� Sexism in business

Example of controversial topics are:

� The gay market

� Nudity in advertising


Thank You

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Research Project Unit 5

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