1. Assignment Topic

Assignment 2 requires students to APPLY their knowledge of business research in developing a research proposal. To complete this assignment, students should choose any business that has not performed well (a business that experienced a low level of sales or profitability) in the last three years. There is no restriction on the size and nature of the business that students may choose. Students should develop a research proposal (based on assignment outline) to investigate the factors leading to low or poor performance of the chosen enterprise.

2. Assignment Outline

Assignment tasks

	Tasks	Guidelines (Arial 12; 1.5 line spacing)	Marks allocated
1	Formulate an appropriate research topic for the study to be conducted. This should be concise and convey the essence of the study	Maximum of 20 words.	2
2	Provide a brief introduction and background to the study to be conducted.	Maximum of one and half pages.	8
3	Discuss the marketing research problem. The statement of research problem should at least include a short discussion of exactly what is to be researched. The statement of the research problem must cumulate into a clear statement of the research question or questions that need to be addressed in the research.	Maximum of half a page.	6
4	Formulate specific and relevant research objectives based on the marketing research problem	Maximum of three objectives.	6
5	The next section of the research proposal deals with the statement of research hypotheses. The research hypotheses need to flow logically from the problem statement and objectives.	Maximum of three hypotheses.	6
6	Conduct a brief literature review on the topic. The brief literature review should include the conceptual literature, empirical literature and theoretical literature.	Maximum of 3 pages.	15
7	Discuss the research methodology relevant for the study (research paradigm, research approach, research design, data collection method, data collection instrument, population, sampling method, sampling technique and sample size).	Maximum of 3 pages.	25
8	Discuss the data analysis and how you will assess the hypotheses identified above (in particular discuss the relevant statistical tests that you will use in analysing data for this study, where possible).	Maximum of 1 and half pages.	12
9	Discuss the ethical issues that need to be addressed in the study.	Maximum of half page.	12
10	References and academic writing.	All literature sources used in the proposal should be indicated in-text as well as on the list of references.	8
Total marks (but mark will be given out of 100)			100

3. References

Students are advised to use academic references and to apply the APA referencing style correctly.

4. Structure and Format:

• The proposal should be properly structured, with relevant headings.