Word Count : 5000
Follow the Structure for the proposal:
1. Introduction
2. Research Aims and Objectives
3. Background
4. Research Significance and Innovation
5. Research Methods
6. Conclusion
- Introduction – The Introduction should introduce your research problem clearly and provide the necessary context; state the aim of the research; establish your point of view or position on the research problem; clearly communicate the importance of the research study for the industry generally and/or for a particular organization; concisely state your main findings; and briefly give the reader an overview of how the report is organized.
- Research Aims and Objectives – Describe clear and simple research aims and objectives in language appropriate to the industry stating what you intend to achieve through your proposed research project. Remember to focus on your research aims and try to narrow your topic into something that will be achievable.
- Background – Write a Background to the research problem, summarizing and if necessary, adding to the Literature-Based Report (Assessment 2) prepared earlier. The purpose of the Background is to provide a rationale/justification for the research proposed. You will critically synthesize and evaluate existing knowledge and relevant facts with reference to sources of high-quality information, such as reports from government, NGOs, industry or market research companies; ICT industry or business magazines and journals; white papers; books and book chapters. You may also include academic journal articles and conference papers.
- Research Significance and Innovation – Firstly, explain the significance of the research and the importance of the problem, with justification from the Background. Identify how the research will improve ICT knowledge, technical capability and/or practice. o Secondly, highlight the benefits to society or industry from your proposal research. From a social or business perspective, why is it important to solve the problem you have identified? o Thirdly, describe the innovation of your proposed research project. How is it new? How will it contribute in some novel way to the operations of a company or to ICT knowledge generally? Will it improve existing technologies or approaches? Justify your claims with reference to the Background.
- Research Methods – Describe the research method(s) appropriate to investigate your topic and throw light on the research problem. Justify your choices in relation to your research problem: o Define the activities you will undertake. o Is your research design fixed or flexible? o Are your research techniques going to yield qualitative or quantitative data? o What overall approach would you use to carry out your project (e.g., case study, field study, design research, field experiment, laboratory experiment, action research)? o What specific techniques would you use (e.g., survey, interviews, focus groups, measurements of performance, website hits, log file analysis). o How will you measure progress and what constitutes success, i.e., how will you know when you have succeeded in achieving the research objectives?
- Conclusion – Write a logical conclusion to what has previously been presented in the Proposal. It must pull together and discuss all parts of your argument and refer the reader back to the research problem you have outlined in your Introduction and to the research problem.
Reference List – APA referencing style.