Research Proposal Design for Personal or Professional Area of Interest

Task Components

To be submitted by Monday 23 September 2019 by 1pm (1300 hours) GMT time.This coursework assignment contributes a maximum of 30% of the total marks available for this module.

Required
There is one requirement in this section, as specified in the Task further below. The focus is the proposal and design of a potential research study.

Context
This coursework assignment focuses on your own personal or professional area of interest. The area of interest is likely to be work-related but the choice of another area of focus, perhaps of a more personal nature, is not excluded. Whichever area of focus you choose it should be justified in your coursework assignment. If you decide to select an area not work-related ensure that the area is of substance and is not ‘light-weight’. As reflected in the Task detailed below, you are required to select, justify and formulate a research proposal for your selected area of focus.

Thus far in this module’s materials you have been introduced to and considered the methodological underpinning of a number of aspects of the nature and logistics of, amongst others:
? The nature of research: ‘what research is’.
? Research objectives, hypotheses, and questions.
? Research paradigms.
? Literature reviews.
? Research designs.
? The nature of and approaches to qualitative research.
? The nature of and approaches to quantitative research
? The nature of and approaches to mixed methods research.

In developing your research proposal, you will draw upon, as appropriate, all or some, of the aspects introduced and considered in this module’s materials. You will also undertake your own further consideration of other supporting literature appropriate to your task, showing wider independent research and learning. This is a fundamental expectation at Masters Level studies.

Task
There is one task. This is for you to construct a research proposal which captures and articulates a research design for your chosen area of interest/focus. This task comprises a number of components.It would be worth noting that there is a possibility for you to link your coursework assignment to your final project’s business plan/consultancy report relating to this module. However, do note that the assessment brief for this particular coursework is specific and may not necessarily suit your ultimate business plan/report. This coursework is more academic and assesses the theoretical frameworks of research methods whereas the business plan/consultancy report within the final project is more practical in nature. As a consequence, this coursework assignment may not naturally lend itself as a pre-cursor to the project.

Your proposal will be assessed by the Strategic Financial Project (SFP) module team against each of the points detailed below. You are advised to ensure that it addresses each of those points further below. Please be reminded that the nature of this coursework assignment is academic and may not lend itself to linking easily to the final project which is focused more on a strategic business plan/consultancy report. You may, for example, explore a specific organizational phenomenon as the basis of your research proposal. This may be built upon within your final project’s business plan/consultancy report, especially where you may wish to cite some of the benefits within the literature of that phenomenon as part of a suggested strategy to implement in your workplace context.