Proposal for Dissertation Project

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Task

The task for this part of the assignment is to write a proposal for the dissertation project you will undertake in the final year of your degree programme. The report will introduce your chosen area of research, present evidence for your research aims/questions and will propose a research methodology. In writing this proposal, you may draw as appropriate on content from both this module and the module undertaken in the previous year: BUSI1191 Introduction to Business Research.

In writing this specific document you should ensure you include the following:

A Titlepage and anonymous student code*
An Introductionto your chosen area of research- including clear statements about: the research problem that you are trying to solve and why this is worth doing. This should lead to a brief summary of the research aims/ objectives.
Literature review– a short review of relevant literature consulted, identifying key theoretical concepts you will use in your dissertation. For quantitative studies, you should attempt to use the literature to create around 2-4 theoretically grounded hypothesesthat may form the basis for all or part of your dissertation. For qualitative studies, you could choose to form 1-2 broader research questions or propositions.
Methodology – the anticipated research methods you will use to collect data, why this approach is appropriate.sampling procedures (if relevant), data collection instrument development (including relevant scales for quantitative research to be employed or questions for the interview protocol), fieldwork elements that should be taken under consideration (if applicable). Additionally, provide a brief overview of your anticipated data analysis strategy.
Ethical Issues– a short statement demonstrating that you have reflected on any potential issues surrounding your proposed research. Guidance on how to take account of ethical issues in research can be found at: https://www.dur.ac.uk/research.innovation/governance/ethics/ with the forms necessary for ethics approval for the dissertation available at: https://www.dur.ac.uk/research.innovation/governance/ethics/process/online/
Timeline– a summary timetable showing your ‘action plan’ for the dissertation itself. You can choose to use something like a Gantt chart, critical path method (CPM) or a simple table.

an Optional Appendices section may also be included (Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an Appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Appendices will have no role in the assessment; examiners are under no obligation to read Appendices and they do not form part of the word count.)

This will be used as your working title for your intended dissertation and will be provisionally used to aid allocation of dissertation supervisors unless you inform the office otherwise at a later date. Please name your file with your anonymous code, title and description of your main method as QUANT, QUAL or MIXED. For example ‘Z0123456 RMS3 What are the main forces driving consumer intention to use mobile wallets QUANT’

While you are free to apportion the words as you wish for the proposal, the two key areas that should be given the greatest weighting are the Literature Review and Methodology.

Your proposed topic should be substantially different from the one in Part One of this assignment although you may consider how aspects of the theory from Part One could be used in a different application.

Overall word limit: 2000 words

Submission Instruction

Your completed assignment must be uploaded to DUO no later than 12:00 midday on 4 May 2020.A penalty will be applied for work uploaded after 12:00 midday as detailed in the Programme Handbook. You must leave sufficient time to fully complete the upload process before the deadline and check that you have received a receipt. At peak periods, it can take up to 30 minutes for a receipt to be generated.

Assignments should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font. Assignments and dissertations/business projects must not exceed the word count indicated in the module handbook/assessment brief.

Includeall the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other items not specifically excluded below.
Excludediagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations, executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.

Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the School may treat this as an offence under Section IV of the General Regulations of the University. Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.

Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment - examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text.

Guidance on referencing can be found in the programme handbook and on DUO.

Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following criteria: