Complete a quantitative research proposal, including the research problem, objectives, and

research method. Submit your proposal as a group on Blackboard by Feb $6$

th at $4$ pm$.$

Research proposal

It is essential that the research proposal clearly defines the research problem, research design,

and deliverables.

The research proposal outlines your plan of research for this project. It answers the questions:

$1.$ What is the problem being investigated?

$2.$ How will this problem be studied?

Research problem

All other things being equal, a project concerned with a realistic problem will be looked upon

more favorably than one that deals with a trivial or contrived problem. The project should:

$($a$)$ be relevant to a business$/$firm$$s market phenomena;

$($b$)$ be designed to gather descriptive and primary data through a survey.

If you are unsure about your research question, please confirm with me so that we have equal

expectations from the project.

Format

Submit the research proposal in a word document format with not more than double spaced $10$

pages using Arial $12$ font size.

Content

Title Page: Include title of the project, date, and full names and student id of all group members.

$1.$ The Problem

Describe the business$/$company context under study. Describe the problem, the suspected

cause of the problem, and the company$$s present situation. This should not be hypothetical and

be based on some real business problem, either observed or a literature survey.

Briefly explain why the research is needed.

$2.$ Objectives of the Research

$2$

State your research questions and objectives. These should be listed and worded as precisely as

possible at this stage.

$3.$ Research Method

Based on your understanding of the identified business problem, briefly describe your proposed

research method that includes:

$$ What type of research design?

$$ You should conduct exploratory research first to fine$-$tune your research questions and

then conduct conclusive research.

$$ What exploratory research method will you choose? What about conclusive research

$($Descriptive$,$ Causal$)?$

$$ What types of secondary data will you use in order to clarify the research questions

and$/$or determine your research design?

$$ What primary data collection procedures will you probably use $($i$.$e$.,$ survey$)?$

o Specify the method of data collection. Telephone? Personal? Mail? Online

survey?

$$ Define the population from which you will be sampling.

$$ Limitations of the research design.

$4.$ Project Schedule

Provide a schedule for the project. A Gantt chart or other visual diagram of your timeline is very

useful. Schedule the following key tasks or stages in your project:

$$ Secondary data collection.

$$ Design, pre$-$test, and revise the questionnaire.

$$ Drawing of sample frame and identification of respondents.

$($Steps below will not be implemented in the group project but should be planned and

scheduled as if you are going to conduct the whole research and go through all the phases.$)$

$$ Survey data collection.

$$ Retrieval, coding, and editing of data.

$$ Analysis of the survey data

$$ Interpretation of data for research report and identification of key findings.