7CO04 Business Research in People Practice Research Questions – Project Proposal

7CO04 Business Research in People Practice 

Ensure that you add a fully completed cover sheet before you submit your Project Proposal.

Use the Unit guide and Walkthrough to help you.

Please note that you will not be able to commence your research project until you have received an “Approved” grade. Please take the time to complete this fully.

Introduction

The purpose of this project is to research and make recommendations that will contribute towards resolving a problem that your organisation currently has.

Provide an introduction to your research project, outlining why it is a significant topic to address.

• Describe your organisation (Name, business type/sector, location, number of employees).
• What is your role in the organisation?
• What is the problem that you will be researching? (Provide evidence of why this is a problem, e.g. turnover data).
• How does this impact strategically on your organisation? 

Terms of Reference

This sets the parameters of your research.

• One short Aim that clearly sets out the purpose (I.e. what you want to achieve) by the end of the research project, e.g. reduce x, increase y.
• Is your research covering all of your organisation or just a department, location, job role, etc?
• Include a Gantt chart in your appendix that covers the stages of your research project. Include a mention of the timeline in your narrative.
• Briefly highlight the resources that you will need to carry out your research project. 

Overview of Sources Identified for Your Literature Review

Provide an overview of the sources you are going to explore and review while researching your chosen research project.

We do not expect to see a Literature review here, but expect to see a list of different sources with a line or two of narrative explaining why these might be useful to your research.

• Include a range of sources from your initial research.
• The secondary research should be aligned with the research Aim.
• These should focus on your organisational problem, especially sources relating to your sector, type of organisation, purpose of your business, etc.
• Ensure that these are of good quality, i.e. academic journals, professional sources, etc.
• You should demonstrate an understanding of how these sources might be useful by providing a comment on each source in your list.

Research Question

One or two research questions should be provided. This should be related to your aim and direction of your project.

• One or two clear questions related to your Aim.
• A question that can be answered yes or no does not suggest that there will be depth to your research. Questions starting with how, why etc., work much better.

Research Methodology

Explain and justify your research strategy and design for your primary research.

• One or two primary research methods are required (ensure that you are collecting quantitative and qualitative data). Better research projects often include two methods – one used with the employees and one with managers.
• Justify why these are appropriate.
• How will you manage the processes of gathering information?
• Explain the research populations and how you will select the sample from this.
• How will the data be analysed?
• Include an academic reference to support your narrative and justify your decisions.

Limitations

Outline the potential limitations of your primary research methods.

• What are the potential limitations of the data collection methods

Ethical Considerations

Explain how you will address the ethical issues connected with your research project (data storage, anonymity etc.).

• Explain what ethical considerations are (use research).
• Consider the ethics of conducting your project and how this project will adhere to the main principles of research.
• Think about the distribution, collection, analysis, storage and destruction of the information.
• Include an academic reference to support your narrative and justify your decisions