Assignment brief (PART 1)

The assignment has been split into 2 parts with Part 1 focusing on assessing learner’s knowledge and ability towards producing a research project proposal and Part 2 focusing on research implementation and presentation.

The purpose of the assignment is to assess learners’ skills of independent enquiry and critical analysis by undertaking a sustained research investigation of direct relevance to student’s higher education programme and professional development.

This part of the assignment will be focusing on assessing your knowledge and ability towards producing a research project proposal.

Research theme – Consumer behaviour

You will need to select one topic from the list below for your research topic, you will review key literatures and sources about your research topic and produce a research project proposal.

Research Topics
1. Does consumer loyalty and rewards schemes actually works?
2. Consumer loneliness: How does it affect choice and loyalty
3. Does social media affect consumer choices

LO1 (AC1.1, AC1.2, AC1.3, AC1.4 and AC1.5)

Task 1

You are to;

1.1. Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications. In this question, you need just write an ‘Outline’ (list of main topics that you are going to discuss).

1.2. Identify the factors that contribute to the process of research project selection. In other word, you need to discuss the influential factors that determine which ‘research project’ should be selected.

1.3. Undertake/write a critical review of key references about ‘your research topic’ and ‘influential factors for choosing the topic. In addition, you should write positive and negative aspects of your chosen books, journals, or the Internet sources; and support your argument by citing from valid academic sources.

1.4. Produce/write a research project specification. Write a brief entitled ‘Research Project Proposal: An investigation into ‘YOUR TOPIC’. You need to write approximately 3 lines for each section of this Research Project Proposal (the length of this proposal should be approximately two pages).

1.5. Provide an appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification. Your plan can be presented in tabular or graphic form (Gantt chart) to show what the main activities/ stages of your research are, and how long each activity would take to complete

Submitting your assignment

You will submit Assignment Part 1 as a patch work (to be combined at the end) for formative feedback on the Formative Submission link. Your class tutor will grade and approve your proposal for you to carry out the research. Unless your proposal is approved YOU CANNOT carry out the research in Part 2.

Assignment brief (PART 2)

Assignment title – Research Implementation

This section would assess your knowledge and capabilities to conduct a supervised research project in the field of business. While some of the tasks would evaluate your understanding of research process and practice, the other tasks are designed to assess your ability to present research findings.

LO2 (AC2.1, AC2.2 and AC2.3)

Information for task 2

This task focus is on ‘Research Implementation’. Research Planning (Part 1) should be followed by the intention to implement the research project within agreed procedures as they are planned in the Research Proposal

Task 2

You are to;

2.1. Match resources efficiently to the research question or hypothesis. You should explain (A) what are the resources required to carry out your research? (B) What is the relationship between ‘research resources’ and the ‘research question or hypothesis’?

2.2. Undertake the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification and procedures. In this question, you need to design and distribute a ‘Questionnaire’ among at least 20 respondents to collect data on your research topic (put your questionnaire at the end of your assignment as an appendix).

2.3. Record and collate required data. Record the collected data from participants in the form of a frequency table that shows the aggregation for each question. You can use graphs or a frequency table.

LO3 (AC3.1, AC3.2 and AC3.3)

Information for Task 3

After conducting research and collecting data (from Task 1) you need to analyse and evaluate these data to make sense of them that is the central point to this task.

Task 3

You are required to;

3.1. Use appropriate ‘research evaluation techniques’. Which types of evaluation (formative or summative) is more appropriate for your research? Why?

3.2. Interpret and analyse the results in terms of the original research specification by using ‘Frequency’ and/or ‘Percentage’ calculations.

3.3. Make recommendations and justify areas for further research. You can determine at least three new topics/areas for further research.

LO4 (AC4.1)

Information for task 4

The last task is about the importance of presenting findings of your research in a format and through proper media that can be understood by others.

Task 4

You are required to;

4.1. You are present the results and recommendations of your research in a report format suitable for presentation to an organisation.

Submitting your assignment

You will combine PART 1 and PART 2 of the assignment and submit a full assignment for summative assessment. The assignment should be in a word document and preferably using Arial font size 12 and 1.5 spacing. Your  assignment should be uploaded on the Turnitin Assignment submission section. It is advisable to use the Turnitin Plagiarism checker before uploading the final piece of work.