The aim of the proposal
The research proposal requires you to demonstrate your ability to identify,
analyse a research problem related to business and management, and to
set out a plan for a research project to investigate that problem. The aim
of this assessment is to enable you to develop and demonstrate your
ability to: (a) diagnose a problem in business and management, (b) arrive
at the consequent research questions, (c) determine how to answer these
questions by drawing on the academic literature, (d) assess the potential
of different research methods and (e) plan a small-scale research project.
Your report is intended to form the plan for how you might use the
literature (by drawing on the ideas and findings of others), design a
research project and analyse the findings.
This report is among the most challenging assignments set during the
M.Sc. programmes. You are being asked to anticipate the issues that will
confront you in conducting a small research project. Thus it is quite
different from, and more difficult than, writing a conventional coursework
paper. The best reports are usually those produced by those students who
have devoted considerable thought to the assignment before even
beginning to write the report.
Your choice of problem for the project proposal report does not commit
you to that topic for your dissertation. You can just complete the report as
a free-standing exercise in which you are assessed on your ability to
analyse a problem, grasp the arguments and the evidence contained in
the literature and devise a suitable research design. You are free to select
a different topic for your dissertation if you so wish, although there are
obvious advantages in sticking to a topic to which you have already given
thought and invested some work (although you must avoid cutting-andpasting parts of the proposal into the dissertation).
The Research Proposal requirements
The report must include the following main elements:
1. Title. This can include a subtitle and should indicate what the
research is essentially about.
2. Abstract. The abstract sums up the research problem/questions,
research design and methods, and relation to the literature and/or
practice.

3. Introduction in the form of a statement of the problem to be
addressed. This introductory material will include a clear statement
of the problem, the question(s) to be researched, the importance of
those questions and an indication of the potential role of business
and management theories in answering the questions.
4. A summary critical review of the relevant literature, both
theoretical and applied. This section will indicate what can be learnt
from the current literature and will seek to identify some of the
strengths and weaknesses of that literature. You are not expected to
provide a comprehensive guide to the literature but you are
expected to communicate an understanding of some of the main
ideas, theories and evidence relating to your topic. You must refer to
the academic literature and not just to the professional literature
(note that the former usually involves seeking an in-depth and
critical understanding of problems while the latter is usually
restricted to matters of ‘how-to-do-it’).
5. An outline of the proposed research design and methods.
You should outline the research design and the likely methods,
taking care to point to the strengths and weaknesses of your
proposed research methods. You must demonstrate that the
research can be done within the constraints of the M.Sc. dissertation
process, that you have good reason to believe that the necessary
data is available and can be collected, that your choice of method(s)
is reasonable and likely to produce reliable and valid results, and
that you have considered any ethical questions raised by the
research.
6. Conclusion. The conclusion summarizes the problem, the purposes
of the study, the research question/s, and the methodology. It
should also acknowledge any ethical issues and the possible
limitations of the approach (e.g. generalizability from limited
number of cases).
To pass the assignment you must include all these key elements.
However, you do not have to devote an equal number of words to each of
them. In particular, the statement of the problem is very likely to be
shorter than the other elements.
What you should NOT do (these reflect the failings of past
research proposals)
 Do not write an essay about a general topic.
 Do not just describe the application of a particular management
technique or method (e.g. TQM, a project management technique),
you must analyse the underlying problem and critically evaluate the
alternative ‘solutions’.
 Do not write a literature review that is solely or largely dependent
on pop management books or the professional rather than the
academic literature.
 Do not write a literature review in the form of an annotated
bibliography

What makes for a good topic for the report?
(Further guidance will be given in class)
1. Are you interested in the topic? You are going to spend a lot of
time studying it, and if you are not interested your motivation will be
low.
2. Is the topic relevant and timely? A good way of finding a topic
is to ask yourself what issues are of current concern in the academic
and professional literature. Another way is to consult your former or
present employers.
3. Is the topic specific enough? Most students start with too broad
a topic. Usually the more successful project report/dissertations
have a specific and clearly defined problem and set of research
questions. A dissertation that goes deeply into a narrow topic is
much better than one that touches the surface of a broad topic.
4. Can the topic be completed in the time available? Most
students begin with an overly ambitious topic. Remember that you
have only a short period of time in which to plan and research the
topic. Can you obtain the necessary data? It is important to be
sure that you can gather the necessary data or information.
5. Have you the skills to use the necessary research methods?
You should avoid committing yourself to use a research method
which involves skills which you do not have, for instance avoid
highly quantitative methods if you are uncertain of your numeracy
skills.
6. Are there any ethical issues involved, such as problems of
confidentiality?
What makes for a good research proposal
There are many ways to write a project proposal report and we have no
particular model answer in mind. The following are some of the points we
are looking for:
 You must have a problem which you can analyse, define and for which
you can devise feasible research questions.
 You should explain the main issues in your chosen topic and their wider
academic and practical relevance.
 When reviewing the literature, you should communicate an awareness
of the quality of the evidence on which an author draws and of the
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methodological issues posed by the way in which that evidence has
been gathered.
 You should give a sense of how the literature has developed and
identify the main themes of schools of thought in the literature. How do
later articles and contributions in books build on the earlier results
findings and ideas in the literature?
 Most importantly, you should be critical and evaluative. Do not just
describe the literature you survey, explain why the authors have
arrived at the conclusions they have. State whether you consider the
authors have achieved their aims. Explain any weaknesses you feel
there are in specific articles or books and, if possible, how those
weaknesses could have been overcome. It is better to evaluate
critically fewer references rather than cite many references with little
critical appraisal.
 You should indicate the wider significance of your study – what are the
wider implications of what you have found both for the academic
literature (whose approaches/viewpoints/hypotheses do your findings
support?) and for practice (e.g. should people in organizations do
things differently as a result?).
 Observe the usual requirements for good presentation – be
grammatical, use punctuation marks correctly, try to avoid jargon etc.
You should use headings and sub-headings to organise your material.
Formal Requirements
The report should be no more than 3000 words in length (excluding the
bibliography), with a 10% upper limit and should be organised as
indicated above.
The report should be double-spaced, well presented and structured.
Appendices should only be used when judged to be strictly necessary to
the understanding of the project. The work should use the Harvard system
of references and all references should be included in a properly
presented bibliography.