Foundation Degree in Business and Professional Administration
Work based Project
In-course assessment 

1. Required

The Work Based Project assignment requires each student to identify a range of possible research topics relevant to his/her workplace, and then to determine which topic will form the subject of the research proposal. You could build on the work you have already done for the research methods module (BS2404) and make use of the background and literature review sections. The submitted research proposal should have a length of 3500 words.

2. Guidance

The assignment requires:

A) Background
The research proposal should:
Clearly explain the context and rationale for the research.
Have clear aims and objectives.
Explain some of the practical issues which have engendered interest in the student for this research.

B) Literature review
The research proposal should:
Provide evidence of adequate theoretical literature review drawn from academic journals and sources
Identify a relevant theoretical basis for undertaking the intended research and present a clear justification for its applicability to the research topic
Present a conceptual framework or relevant hypothesis that synthesise your approach (these do not necessarily have to be original).

C) Methodology
The research proposal should:
Identify an appropriate research methodology that is relevant for the topic and provide a rationale for the selection of this approach over others.
Explain how the chosen methodology is relevant to the aims and objectives of the intended research.
Explain how you intend to collect in your data (via primary and secondary data)
Demonstrate an understanding of the limitations of the chosen methodology.

D) Research Design
The research proposal should:
Present an outline of how data is to be collected, verified and recorded
Explain the sources of data, possible interviewees or targeted subpopulations
The processes through which the data would be examined and analysed
An outline of questionnaires or interview guides that are likely to be used for collecting primary data.
A timescale in the form of a Gantt chart for how the research is to be conducted over a period of time
A list of resources needed to conduct the research

D) Structure
The research proposal should:
Be fully and consistently referenced using the Harvard referencing system (see details on Blackboard ‘web links’ for guidance).
Have correct language, grammar and spelling.
Have an appropriate layout.
Have adhered to word count by +/- 10%

The research proposal should have the following parts:
Introduction
Background
Literature review
Methodology
Research design
Conclusions
References