Chapter Three.pptx

Advanced Business Research Methods
Asamenew E. (Assit. Prof.)
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Master of Business Administration

Chapter Three
Business Research
Proposal

What Is A Research
Proposal?

What is Research proposal?
 A research proposal is a written statement of the
research plan that includes a statement explaining the
purpose of the study and a detailed and systematic
outline of a particular research methodology.
 Research proposal is a brief overview of your research
research paper, giving the reader sufficient information
information about the work you will do, about the way
you will did and the value of this work.
 Research proposal is a blueprint of a study which
outlines all the steps a researcher should follow to
undertake a given research project.
 The objective in writing a proposal is to describe: What
What you will do, why it should be done, how you will
do it and what result will you expect?

What is the purpose of a research
proposal?
General Purpose of a Research
Proposal:
 To present the problem to be researched
and its importance
 To discuss the research efforts of others
who have worked on related problems. (If
Any)
 To set forth the data necessary for solving
the problem
 To suggest how the data will be gathered,

Business Research Proposal and
Its Purpose
Benefits of writing a research proposal to
researcher
◦ Helps researcher clarify purpose and design
of research
◦ Reveals strengths and weaknesses of
planned approach
◦ Used to secure funding or approval to
conduct research
◦ Serves as a logical plan and guide when
carrying out research
In summary, Written research proposal have the
following purpose to the researcher :
 Used as the plan
 Used as communication

Proposal Guidelines
General Proposal Guidelines
◦ Should be well-written
◦ Clearly communicate essential material
◦ Present convincing, well-supported
argument for proposed research
◦ Logical, well-formatted organization
◦ Headings and subheadings
◦ Appropriate and consistent margins, fonts,
pagination, spacing

Components/Structure of a
research proposal
The basic components of a research proposal are
very much similar in many fields. However, how
they are phrased and presented may vary among
disciplines.
Any research proposal has three main components.
They are:
 Preliminary Parts
 Main Parts
 Supplementary Parts
 NB: Both preliminary and supplementary parts
should be numbered in Roman(I, II, III, …etc,)
whereas the main parts of the proposal should be
numbered in Arabic numbers(1,2,3…..etc)

Structure Of A Research Proposal
In summary, The following components may be taken as the
usual ones.
A. Preliminary Parts
1. Cover Page
2. Acknowledgment
3. Table of Content, List of Tables and List of Figures
4. Abbreviations and Acronyms
5. Abstract or Executive Summary
B. Main Part
1. Background of the Study
2. Statement of the Problem
3. Research questions
4. Objectives of the Study
3. Research Hypotheses/Significance of the
4. Scope of the Study
5. Limitation of the Study
6. Operational definition
7. Literature Review
8. Research methodology
.C. Supplementary part

Structuring Research Proposal
A. Preliminary Parts
1. Cover Page: it contains
 Title and Rationale
 Researcher /Author or Investigator/ and Supervisor
Name
 The Name of the Department/ Institution;
 Presentation Date or submission
NB. No page numbers appear on the title page

Sample Cover Page Format
 Title: A Senior Paper (Proposal) on “_______________________”
Submitted to the Department of Management for the Partial Fulfillment for
the Award of Masters Degree in Master of business administration(MBA)
LOGO
 Advisor:
 Submitted BY: __________
 _______________ University
 College of Business and Economics
 Department of Management
 Date,xxxxxx

1. Title - the research topic
The topic is the subject matter of a proposed study that
shows the central idea to learn about or to explore.
 A title shall be describe in a few words or in a short
phrase which will be between 12- 20 words
Titles should almost never contain abbreviations and
page number
 Title: should be:
 Brief, precise, clear not too lengthy, avoid jargon
words
 Contemporary: reflect the essence of the study
 In line with the researcher‘s interest

Criteria
for
selecting
research
topics
Important
&
applicable Original
Feasible
Availability
of subjects
Researcher’s
competence
Ethical
conside
rations
Solvable/
researchable
clarity
Current
Interesting
2
2

2. Table of contents: The table of contents
usually headed simply CONTENTS (in full
capital). List all the parts except the title page
which precedes it since No page numbers
appear on the title page.
3. Abstract of a proposal which is the summary of
your research proposal should contain the following
points:
Title or topic of the research
Statement of the problem and objective
Methodology of Investigation
Expected result (tentative only if a researcher starts
with a formulated hypothesis)

Abstract
it is summary of research work /proposal in very praises
manner
 It should include gap of the study, purpose and
methods for the research and expected outcome for
the proposal section
 Where us, for final paper, it should include
gap, purpose of the research method and
material used, key finding and
recommendation or conclusion.
 For proposal it should not be greater than 250 words
 For thesis it should not be greater than 500
word including key words
 The key word shall not be grater than 5 in a given
research
Note :- Abstract is written in one paragraph
Note:- key words are words that reputedly used in
research.

B. Main Part
1. Background of the Study
 The main purpose of the introduction is to
provide the necessary background or context for
your research problem informed reviewers will
already be familiar with much of the background
information.
Provides some general theoretical basis or justifications
 It provides the background information for the readers.
 Its purpose is to establish a framework for the research,
so that readers can understand how it is related to other
research.
 Bearing in your mind that the first impression is
the last impression, you need to present your
introduction as clearer as possible—leaving no
ambiguities.
 If your introduction is attractive, your reader will delve

B. Main Part
2. Statement of the Problem: the Statement of the
Problem must clearly flow from the background.
The Statement of the Problem should be seen as the
the nucleus around which the entire study
revolves.
It must therefore be clearly substantiated and
elaborated on the proposal.
It must be evident from the Statement of the
Problem that the problem is real and important and
and it requires urgent attention.

Problem Statement : usually in a few paragraphs. It should indicate:
◦ The focus area of the research (the issue raised)
◦ Indicates researches done by other researchers in the area including
their findings
◦ Indicate issues that are not yet assessed by other researcher in the area
area (the knowledge gap or unsolved questions which appears to justify
justify another research.
How ?????
By Review Studies
Justifying the importance of the research problem by reviewing studies that
have examined the problem and create distinctions between past studies and a
studies and a proposed study.
To review the literature related to the research problem for an introduction to
to a proposal, consider these ideas:
 Refer to the literature by summarizing groups of studies, not individual
individual studies. The intent should be to establish broad areas of
research at this juncture in the study and shall de-emphasize single
studies and used a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods approach.
approach.
 Find recent literature to summarize (such as the published in the last 10
last 10 years) unless an older study exists that has been widely cited by
others.

Cont’d
Show Deficiencies in Past Literature
After advancing the problem and reviewing the literature about
the problem, the researcher expected to identify deficiencies
found in the literature and need to tell how their planned study
will remedy or address these deficiencies.
When identifying deficiencies in the past literature, proposal
developers might cite several deficiencies to make the case even
stronger for a study.
Identify specifically the deficiencies of other studies (e.g.,
methodological flaws, variables overlooked).
Write about areas overlooked by past studies,
topics, special statistical treatments, significant
implications, and so forth.
Discus how a proposed study will remedy these
deficiencies and provide a unique contribution to
scholarly literature.
These deficiencies might be written using series of short

Problem Statement
◦ Show difference in the findings of
various researchers in the area in terms
of Methodological, conceptual, time and
study area gap (if any)
◦ Indicate the study area and the issues or
subjects of research
◦ Indicate the purpose of the study
◦ Indicate what is meant to be shown or
done by the research
◦ Depending on the identified gap the
has to state/formulate a clear research

3. Objectives of the Study
Objectives of the Study: research objectives refers what
is to be achieved by the study.
Or refer to the areas of knowledge the research is aiming
to build on or advance.
Objectives should be closely related to the statement
of the problem.
They inform a reader what you want to attain through
through the study
Objectives can be stated as:
◦ General objective/s/: These are understood as the overall
objectives of the research project;
◦ Specific objectives: These are understood as the elements of
research which are directly addressable by the methodology and
and which are followed in order to achieve the general objectives
objectives
Note: It is not advisable to list out objectives in bulletins form rather
be presented in numerical form and specific objectives would not be
feasible if it exceeds more than 5 on average.

Formulation of Objectives
Paraphrasing Research Questions As Research Objectives
Research Question Research Objective
Why have organizations
introduced early
retirement?
To identify organization’s
objectives for introducing
retirement schemes.
What are the consequences
of early retirement
schemes?
To describe the consequences of
early retirement for employees.
To explore the effects of early
retirement for the organization.

B. Main Part
3. Research Hypotheses/Research
questions
4. Significance of the Study: shows the
explicit benefits and the beneficiaries of
the results of the research being
conducted.
5. Scope of the Study: should be stated in
relation to the area coverage as well as to
the treatment of the variables in the study
study

B. Main Part
7. Limitation of the Study: This is a part that you
will include some constraints or difficulties you
think that they have influence on the results of
your study.
When considering what limitations there might be in your
investigation, be thorough. Consider all of the following:
 your analysis.
 the nature of self-reporting.
 the instruments you utilized.
 the sample.
 time constraints.
8. Definition of used Terms:
9. Literature Review: A section in our research that
explains, interprets and discusses what has been
researched and documented previously in both
theoretically and empirically .

B. Main Part
10. Research Methodology: brief statement
describing the general research methods to be
followed in relation to the research problems and
and hypothesis
 Research Design and Strategies
 Methods of Data Collection
 Sampling Procedures
 Methods of Data Processing, Presentation,
Analysis and Interpretation

Statistical Analysis of Data
 Data Analysis
If your data is quantitative:
◦ Descriptive Analysis and Inferential
Analysis

 Descriptive Techniques
◦ Frequency Distribution
◦ Measures of Central Tendency: Mean ,
Mode, and Median
◦ Measures of Dispersion: Range, Standard
Deviation and Variance
◦ Measures of Shape: Kurtosis and Skewness
Skewness

 Inferential Analysis
◦ Measures of Correlation: Simple and
Ranking correlation coefficients
◦ Regression: Simple and Multiple (OLS and
and Logit)
◦ Measures of Significance: Z-score, t-test
and F-distribution
◦ Measures of Associations

C. Supplementary Parts
1. Budget breakdown: The budget should be
presented in the form the sponsor request. It
should be no more than one to two pages. But it
should contain all costs needed.
2. Time Schedule: Your schedule should also include
the major phases of the project their timetables and
and millstone that signify completion of a phase.
For example major phases may be (1) exploratory
interviews. (2) Final research proposal, (3)
questionnaire revision, (4) field interviews, (5)
editing and coding, (6) data analysis, and (7) report
report generation. Each of this should have an
estimated time schedule.
3. Bibliography (Reference): - The concluding
section of a research paper thesis or dissertation is
usually an alphabetical listing of source materials.

Research ethics Citation,
Referencing and
bibliography

Academic Honesty Policy
An authentic piece of work is one that is based on the
candidate’s individual and original ideas with the ideas and
work of others fully acknowledged’.
‘In understanding the concept of intellectual property
candidates must at least be aware that forms of intellectual
and creative expression (for example, works of literature, art
or music) must be respected and are normally protected by
law.’
Malpractice includes:
 Plagiarism: this is defined as the representation of the
ideas or work of another person as the candidate’s own
 Collusion: this is defined as supporting malpractice by
another candidate, as in allowing one’s work to be copied
or submitted for assessment by another.
 Duplication of work: this is defined as the presentation
of the same work for different assessment components
and/or diploma requirements

Plagiarism
According to the definition given in the 1997 New Webster's
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the English Language,
plagiarism is "the unauthorized use of the language
and thoughts of another author and the
of them as one's own" (508).

Forms of Plagiarism
Downloading a free
research paper
Translating a foreign
article into English
Copying an article from
the web or e-database
Buying a paper from a
free research mill
Cutting and pasting
from various sources
Changing some words but
copying whole phrases
Paraphrasing/Summarizin
g without attribution
Quoting less than the
words copied
Faking a citation

Reference , citation
and bibliography

Citation And Reference
BASIS FOR
COMPARISON
CITATION REFERENCE
Meaning
Citation is a way of disclosing within
the main body, that the quote, image,
chart, statistics, etc. are taken from an
outside source.
Reference is a list which
contains all the sources which
have been sought or cited
while writing the article or
assignment.
Use
It informs the readers, the basic source
of information.
It informs the reader, the
complete source of
information.
Purpose
To indicate the source of the material
taken.
To support or criticize an
argument or point.
Placement Presented in the bracket.
Presented as endnote or end
of the document.
Information
It contains information like publication
year and last name of the author.
It contains information like
publication date, title of
book/journal, author’s name,
page number.

What are references and
citations?
Citation
Reference
Reference list
Bibliography
Appears in the text of your essay, wherever you use a
quote or incorporate an idea you have picked up from
another source
Appears at the end of your essay or chapter, or sometimes
at the bottom of each page, and gives full details of the
source of your information
A list at the end of a chapter or essay giving full details of
sources cited within the essay
A list at the end of your essay which gives the full details of
all sources which you have read even if they are not
referred to within the text.
It includes all the material consulted in writing your
assignment even if you have not cited them within it

References
 Includes list of books, journals, and other documents that we
have used in selecting the problem, reviewing literature and
which we may use while we conduct the study.
 Ideas, information, results, opinions from any source that you
have summarised, paraphrased or directly quoted should be
referenced.
 Respect the: - Creation of ideas by others
- Concept of intellectual property
 Acknowledge the ideas of others But, Don’t reference “common
knowledge”

A. Name & year system (Harvard system)
 putting the surname of the author, year of publication and
number of pages referred to between brackets, e.g., (Shiva
1998:15-17).
 The references will be listed in alphabetical order.
 you can change the order of paragraphs without consequences
for your referral system. journals avoid the use of “et al”
Asfaw, Z., 1999. Title …
Giday,M., Ameni, G., 2003. Title …
Tadesse, M., Hunde, D., Getachew, Y., 2005. Title …
Tanto, T., Giday, M., Aklilu, N., Hunduma, T., 2003. Title
…

B. Citation order system (Vancouver system)
 Is citation by number in the order that they appear in the paper.
Example how to cite references:
 Studies conducted in Ethiopia [1], Kenya [2] and Sudan [3]
revealed similar results.
 References are then listed in the reference list in order of their
citation in the body text.
1. Sintayehu, R., 2003 …
2. Alice, K., 2001 …
3. Kent, S., 2007 …

C. APA (American psychological association)
 Author's Last name, F. M. (Year published). Article title.
Journal /Periodical Title, Volume(Issue), pages (pp-pp).
 Nevin, A. (1990). The changing of teacher education special education.
Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher
Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children,13(3-4),
147-148.
Look out for differences
 APA uses brackets around year of publication
 APA uses place of publication before publisher
 Full stops after initials in APA, but not Harvard

Appendices/Annexes
 This includes materials which are huge and difficult put in
the main body of the proposal. These include
Questionnaires,
Mathematical formulas used to determine the sample size
and so on.
Soft ware Codes

Why Research Proposals Fail?
 Aims and objectives are unclear or vague
 There is a mismatch between the approach being adopted and the
issues to be addressed.
 The overall plan is too ambitious and difficult to achieve in the
timescale
 The researcher does not seem to have conducted enough in depth
background research
 Problem is of insufficient importance
 Information about the data collection method is insufficiently
detailed

Con’t…
 Timescale is inappropriate or unrealistic.
 Resources and budget have not been carefully thought out
 If topic has been done too many times before indicates a
lack in background research.
 Plagiarism

Chapter Four
Literature Review

Literature Review
 A literature review is a self-contained piece of
written work that gives a concise summary of
previous findings in an area of the research
topic
 It is a classification and evaluation of what
accredited scholars and researchers have
written on a topic

Why we need to do a Literature Review
◦ How would you define the set (or sub-set) of knowledge to which
you research relates to most directly?
◦ What are the major 'trends' or issues in that body of knowledge
that have been most significant in shaping your project?
◦ To which point in the theoretical agenda of that body of
knowledge does your project relate to most directly?
◦ What are the major controversies that are important for your
project?
 To effectively answer these questions, your need
to do a comprehensive and focused literature
review on your particular topic.

Why a Literature Review
 Literature reviews inform you:
 the historical development of an
issue,
the current thinking and latest
research,
provide direction for program
development.

Purposes of Literature Review
 Helps further understanding of the problem
you plan to research, and may lead to
refining of the “Statement of the problem”.
 It paves for hypothesis building
 It provides a framework for establishing the
importance of the study
 Gives you a familiarity with the various types
of methodology that might be used in your
study.

Purpose …
 Helps to know the results of other studies
that are closely related to the one being
undertaken
◦ serves as a benchmark for comparing the results
with other findings
 Prevents you from “reinventing the wheel”.

Purpose …
Other specific purposes of the literature review have been
said to include (Neuman, 2000: 446):
 To show the path of previous studies and
how the planned or current project is linked
to it.
◦ The review also shows the development of knowledge
on a specific subject and places the planned/current
research in a context and demonstrates its relevance by
making connections to a body of knowledge.

Purpose …
 To integrate and summarize what is
known in the specific topic being studied.
◦ Reviewing existing studies enable the
researcher to pull together and
synthesize the results of said studies.
◦ Points of agreement and disagreement in
these studies are cited, including what is
known up to a point in time.

Purpose …
 To learn from others and stimulate new ideas.
◦ Going through existing literature identifies
gaps in knowledge and reveals procedures,
techniques, and research designs worth
replicating;
 so that the researcher can better focus her/his
problem statement and gain new insights.

Purpose …
 In short, a good literature review can help you to:
 focus your project,
 identify a conceptual framework,
 identify trends,
 prevent you from repeating flawed
programs or methods.
 identify bias and explore arguments,
if any, within the field.

Steps in Conducting Literature Review
 Most literature reviews take the following
steps
1. Determining the scope of your literature
review
2. Identifying sources
3. Reading the literatures
4. Evaluating the information
5. Organizing and writing the literature review

Steps in Conducting Literature Review
 Literature review main actions
–Searching  (step 1 & 2)
–Appraisal  (step 3 & 4)
–Write up  (step 5)

1. Searching
A. Identifying key words related with the
topic of the research
 General term  narrow terms  related terms
 Narrowing your focus to a:
 specific population,
 geographic location,
 theory, or ethnic group
will greatly improve your chances of
finding useful information.

Searching …
B. Searching for literatures and books
◦ Focus on recently published journals and
books related to the topic
 i.e. about five years
◦ Initially, try to locate as many articles as
possible related to research on your topic

Discussion
 What are the sources of literature ?

 The sources of documentary information are:
◦ which aid the process of locating literatures
relating to the selected research topics,
1. Subject catalogue of libraries
 list of books available on various subjects.
2. Documentation services
 Documentation centers
3. Bibliographies
4. List of books and publishers’ bulletins
5. Journals
6. Government reports
7. Research abstracts
8. Information on researches done
Sources of Literature

 In short, literature can be found or
consists of
1. Books
 Text books, references, yearbooks, encyclopedia
2. Journals
 published monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or
annually.
3. Reports
 Government, etc
4. Research dissertations and theses
5. Newspapers
6. Micro forms
 Audio and videotapes; micro card; micro film

2. Literature Appraisal
 Main points to be considered during literature review:
 Evaluate Internal and external validity of the
study
◦ It involves asking the question “Am I persuaded by this
study’s results?”
◦ Is the purpose of the study clear and well defined?
◦ How was the study done? Are the methods clearly
described and appropriate?
◦ Are the results presented in a clear and understandable
format?
◦ Does the interpretation of the results seem consistent
with the results presented?
◦ Are there other explanations that could account for the

A. Reading the Literature/ Articles
 Reading articles
◦ Scanning the abstract, the introduction,
headings and subheadings, tables and
figures, discussion and conclusions, and
the reference list
◦ This will provide you with an initial
impression of the article

B. Evaluating Sources/ Information
Considering the Facts: Everything you
research needs to be factual—based on
published facts that support your topic and help
you prove what you are exploring without the
shadow of a doubt.
Purpose
 Does the purpose of the material you have
uncovered fit the purpose of your topic? Also,
 what is the purpose of the document?
◦ Is it to inform? To persuade? To present opinions? To
report research? To demonstrate any bias?

Evaluating Sources ….
Accuracy
 When analyzing the materials you have found, you
want to scrutinize every document to see that the
author supports his or her statements with facts,
data, and references to research.
 Are the facts verifiable? Is there a bibliography?
Authority
 When reviewing a book, article, Internet site, or any published
reference, you should question the authority of the
material as part of your critical analysis.
 Who published the document? Does the author have
the expertise on the subject? What makes him or her
qualified?

Relevancy
 Besides the authority of your literature, you want to
examine its relevance.
 How relevant is your literature? Is it appropriate to
your topic?
 Does it address your objective?
Timeliness
 The timeliness of your literature is also important.
◦ How current is your material?
 The more current your source material is, the
more relevant it can be to your topic.

Coverage
 How well does the document cover your
subject?
 Is the material too general or not specific
enough?
◦ Research that offers more in-depth
coverage is generally more useful than
articles that skimp on details and simply
provide a basic overview or condensed
view of your topic.

Guideline for appraisal of articles
 Check the journal has peer review or not
◦ Has the author formulated a problem/issue?
◦ Is the problem/issue ambiguous or clearly
articulated? Is its significance (scope, severity,
relevance) discussed?
◦ What are the strengths and limitations of the way
the author has formulated the problem or issue?
◦ Could the problem have been approached more
effectively from another perspective?
◦ What is the author’s research orientation (e.g.,
interpretive, critical science, combination)?

Guideline for appraisal of articles …
 What is the relationship between the theoretical
and research perspectives?
 Has the author evaluated the literature relevant
to the problem/issue? Does the author include
literature taking positions s/he does not agree
with?
 How good are the three basic components of the
study design (i.e., population, intervention,
outcome)?
 How accurate and valid are the measurements?
 Is the analysis of the data accurate and relevant
to the research question?

Guideline for appraisal of articles …
 Are the conclusions valid based upon the
data and analysis?
 How does the author structure his or her
argument?
 Is this article contributes to our understanding
of the problem under study, and in what ways
is it useful for theory or practice? What are its
strengths and limitations?
 How does this article fit into the thesis or
question I am developing?

3. Write up
 Sheds light on the central issue being
investigated and its relevance to the
discipline/profession/policy
 Avoid plagiarism
 Use mapping for organizing the
literature

Writing up(2)
 Once you have identified articles, read and analyze
them.
 You need to start organizing the articles for your
literature review.
◦ For example, an article about
breastfeeding:
 you could start with overview articles that
discuss breastfeeding prevalence and
trends,
 then discuss articles that address the
benefits and drawbacks to
breastfeeding, and

Literature Mapping
 literature map is a visual picture (or
figure) of groupings of the literature on
the topic
◦ i.e., Organizing Literature
◦ Organization of the literature enables a
person to understand how the proposed
study adds to, extends, or replicates
research already completed

Literature mapping…
 As you identify useful literature, begin
designing a literature map
◦ It illustrates how your particular study will
contribute to the literature, positioning your own
study within the larger body of research

 As you put together the literature map,
also begin to draft summaries of the most
relevant articles
◦ These summaries are combined into the final
literature review that you write for your proposal
◦ Include precise references to the literature using an
appropriate style so that you have a complete
reference to use at the end of the proposal or study
Steps

 After summarizing the literature, assemble
the literature review, structuring it
thematically or organizing it by important
concepts
◦ End the literature review with a summary of the
major themes and suggest how your particular
study further adds to the literature

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