Competitive Intelligence Proposal

Task: Choose a topic / theme in the field of Management. Using the skills you developed during the teaching sessions, develop one major research investigation that reflects your interests in the theme / topic. Your task is to design a research proposal using contemporary research methods. Develop a 3000 word research proposal explaining and justifying the rationale of the decisions you made when designing your research proposal. You have to demonstrate a critical approach to the literature review, well formulated research questions, informed decisions about the general research approach (deductive /inductive view), a good understanding of the variety, the advantage and the challenges of different research methods (surveys, questionnaires, interviews) and techniques (Qualitative / Quantitative), a research plan of physically gathering data, any time considerations, possible and alternative ways to analyse the data (Excel, SPSS etc.,) , any relevant ethical / Access implications and a short discussion about the usefulness of the research. Note: 1. You are not expected to conduct any fieldwork (gathering real data). The summative assignment is the research proposal of an actual research project that you may / may not conduct in Semester 3 Report key points: • An introduction that briefly outlines the research project. • A significant part of your proposal will be a literature review that synthesises key academic and practitioner literature on your chosen emerging theme in Management. This will be in the region of 1500 to 1750 words. • Your proposal must include research objectives, questions or hypotheses for your project. From your literature review you should develop an overall aim for your project and specific research objectives or hypotheses. Your choice will be influenced by the research design and approach you are taking. • You must state your proposed research design and approach. In this section you should discuss: the paradigm you have adopted; if the research is exploratory or explanatory; the research design (e.g. case study, action research or phenomenology); the time frame (cross-sectional or longitudinal); and whether you are adopting Inductive / Deductive - qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods approaches. You should also briefly explain the method(s) you are going to use to collect your data e.g. face to face interviews, focus groups, online survey and justify your choice drawing on best practice. You need to justify these decisions by referring back to the literature on the subject • Sampling strategy – you need to explain if you are using probability or non-probability sampling, the specific method you are going to use e.g. purposeful or stratified; if you are going to use more than one method of data collection or have a multi-stage design then you may be using more than one sampling method. You also need to explain how you are going to recruit participants or distribute your questionnaire and your anticipated sample size. You need to justify these decisions by referring back to the literature on the subject • Any access or ethical issues that you have identified. You should consider ethics throughout your whole project and special situations such as young people being part of your sample. You need to discuss any procedures that you must follow to conform to industry guidelines. You need to justify these decisions by referring back to the literature on the subject • Draft schedule of research – an outline timetable for conducting the research. This should map the various activities you have described in your proposal as well as the analysis stage. We recommend you present this as a matrix or GANNT Chart and plan your work over a 12 week timescale (10 teaching weeks / reading week and consolidation week) FIND ATTACHED FILE