Assessment Details

There is one element of assessment for this module:

As a means of achieving the aims and objectives of this module, and also to enable us to make an informed choice about appropriate supervisor, it is important that you develop a well thought out research proposal.

You are required to produce a proposal which you will use as the basis for undertaking your MSc dissertation. At this stage it is only what you intendto do as you will not have carried out the actual research yet.

The chosen research topic must be related to one or more of the academic areas covered by your Masters programme.

The maximum word count for the research proposal is 4000 words.

Detailed guidance on the Structure of your Research Proposal can be found on Moodle but the format should be as follows:

1) Title: Use a provisional title for the dissertation.

2) Introduction

In this section, you should contextualise the rationale for your proposed research. For example:

What functional areas of business you are drawing upon?

Seminal literature (a couple or so references) you are using to illustrate the academic underpinning of the research.

The practitioner or work-based context that leads you to examine this topic.

What you have studied in programme that will help you in this research topic.

Your particular background and motivation for the proposed research.

Why this research project is potentially important, perhaps by reference to how it might assist industry, organisations or practitioners?

3) Aim and Objectives

Here there should be a very clear statement of the overall aim of the research, leading on from the introduction.

Typically, there will be three or four specific objectives to enable you to achieve your main aim and it is likely that these will incorporate an academic element (perhaps ‘testing' a hypothesis or basing your research/analysis on an existing framework or theory), and practical perspective relating to the workplace/sector/industry. The balance between the two is dependent on the research topic selected, but the academic focus must be visible at this stage.

A brief justification of why these aims and objectives are appropriate is also useful to clarify the focus of the proposal.

4) Identification and initial review of key literature

In the course of your reading, you are required to identify a minimum of ten key literature sources which you believe inform your proposed research.

These sources should incorporate journal articles, textbooks, practitioner-based articles/trade press, industry/organisation reports, (quality) news media articles and/or relevant and credible websites. The use of Edinburgh Napier's online library resource NUINlink to access journal articles from Emerald, Ingenta, ABI Inform databases etc. is expected and you should normally cite such articles as the core material in this section.

When writing this section, compare and contrast the literature (as you will eventually do in the main project) using the APA 6th citation style and ensure there is continuity and a logical link between the references and themes introduced.(Detailed references of your cited authors would then appear in the ‘References' section at the end of your proposal)

5) Research Approach

Here you should allude to the methodology and methods to be used in your research. These should be supported by references to the business research texts relating to methods, a selection of which has been given in the lectures and on the Moodle e.g. Bryman and Bell (2015), Fisher (2010), Saunders et al. (2016), Yin (2009) etc.More specifically, a clear indication of the methods of data collection and analysis that you plan to use should be evident in this section.

You might consider the following in writing this section of your proposal:

are you going to use a casestudy of a particular organisation or a smaller number of organisations?

will you carry out a survey of a large number of organisations in an industry to explore the objectives and aims of your research?

are you using mixed methods?

why have you chosen the selected research method(s)?

what are the strengths and weaknesses of your research method(s)?

how are you going to analyse the data you have assembled/collected?

This section should also identify any ethical issues which need addressing in your primary data collection e.g. anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent etc. You should adhere to the guidelines of the University, as well general good practice principles and those unique to certain organisations e.g. the UK's NHS, if appropriate.

You are also required to complete a Research Integrity Approval form (see Appendix 1) and hand this in with your research proposal. Please note you are not graded on this.

6) Research Plan

You should identify the key events in your research plan and then provide a concise and realistic timetable which shows how they are linked, when they will take place and how long they will last.You can do this as a Microsoft Word table or a Gantt Chart (e.g. Fisher, 2010; Bryman and Bell, 2015), accounting for each week and month between now and until submission of the project.

This section may also contain additional commentary pertaining to any particular characteristics or nuances of the research and its schedule that may need highlighting.

7) Reference List (10% weighting, not counted as part of your word count)

You should provide an alphabetical list of all references used in your research proposal, based on the Business School referencing system.

Take care when listing web references (which should be kept a minimum) to include the author's name, article title and date accessed.