IA+2.+The+Research+Proposal

= INTERNAL ASSESSMENT. =

=__** The Research Proposal **__. //(max. 500 words & worth 3% of the IB grade)//=



Having identified the Project Question you then start //planning// your Project, and //propose// (to yourself) what Research you will do. At this point there is no need to leave the classroom, you are just creating a planning document.



There are 5 parts to a Research Proposal.

[1] The __Introduction__
 * the **Research** **Question** itself : This you did previously so its just copy& paste
 * a **Rationale** for the question : ie clearly outline why this Project Question is relevant - what are the circumstances that have lead to this 'problem' occurring. 2 or 3 sentences should be sufficient.


 * Here is an example **



[2] __Methodology__ i.e. areas of the syllabus that will be covered - Remember the key idea with this Project from the IBs point of view is to provide the IB student with **context**. A real world example. Linking the //content// learnt in the classroom to a genuine issue. Most of the syllabus covered in the Project will be the decision making tools, as you are after all helping the firm //make a decision// on a problem they are facing. You can imagine that any tool that needs research to be complete cannot effectively be tested in an exam where are not allowed out of your seat. So the IA gives the student an opportunity to try something practical : plan, get out of your seat, and apply. It also gives us the teacher an opportunity to see if you have understood and can apply these tools.

On the right of the image below is a __ **list** __ of the most probable tools you would want to chose from. //If you have an idea to use a tool outside of this list, that might be OK, but check with the teach first.//


 * Given the word count restriction I would stick to 2 or 3 tools. **

Bearing in mind you will also be referring to the ** general syllabus content ** that these tools connect to.

Eg if you do a Lewins __Forcefield__ to decide which form of //Promotion// is best - you will be making some reference, using the appropriate terminology to the key ideas connected to //Promotion//.

So between the direct in-depth tools and the continuous referencing to syllabus, there will be plenty of evidence that your Project is in fact what it should be : a IB BM Project!

The way to do this for your Proposal is as follows.... //(the contents Page of your book will help you with this)// ensure there is a cohesiveness - a consistency in how you choose and use your tools.. (i) SWOT for example is very broad, but doesn't lead to a clear conclusion (ii) A Decision tree leads to a very clear recommendation but doesn't take into account qualitative data (iii) etc
 * **Step 1** : identify the tool & the syllabus reference number
 * **Step 2** : write short explanation of how you will use this tool to help you make a decision

Your recommended decision should ultimately be based on the evidence collected from a variety of ** connected ** tools.


 * Here is an example **



[3] Research Plan
 * Possible sources of information,
 * Organisations &/or individuals to be approached
 * Identifying and justifying methods used to collect data
 * Key data expected from each source (this is useful, but if word count gets an problem, ignore it)

The student should collect both **primary** __and__ **secondary** data. At an approximate ratio of 80:20.

Secondary data is unlikely to be precise, it should really just be supportive. ie if you interview a Manager and he says he predicts 500% sales growth next year, and then you find newspaper articles indicating the countries economy is in a slump, you might have good reason to suspect the accuracy of the Managers predictions. This kind of approach will help your analysis in the Report. At this stage you are still just planning though.

There are two questions for you to //think about// that underpin this data-gathering Plan:

1. How is the research data linked to business tools and techniques? ü If you are not using any tool based on quantitative data (e.g. Decision Tree) then collecting quantitative data becomes largely irrelevant

2. How // reliable // and // significant // is the research data? ü One of the worst mistakes made by students is to rely on only one source of data - usually produced by the firm they are investigating. If a single source is used there is likely to be bias - intentional or otherwise. Single sources are often in the form of a questionnaire, which may have a limited sample size (often extremely limited!). If the data is taken from an internal interview or from the firm's website, it is likely that this data will be little more than PR for the firm.


 * Here is an example **



[4] Problems likely to be encountered __//**and**//__ their solutions.


 * "Problems" here should not be confused with problems you might have, for example finding transport to get to the interview. This is not interesting to the Examiner.
 * "Problems" refers to your ability to recognize the inevitable difficulties you will have in obtaining data that is //fully accurate, reliable and has no bias//. The Examiner knows you won't be able to collect this fully. They don't expect you to. Not even the professional Research Organisations (MORI, Gallup etc) can. The Examiners expect you to be able to identify the issues you will face that may create inaccuracies and prepare a solution to minimize (not eliminate) the limitations of this less-than-fully-reliable data you have collected.

//**HARSH BUT TRUE**//: the IB does not accept //"the Manager promised to give me an interview but then kept delaying, so I couldn't get the data - its not my fault, there is nothing i could do about it"// as an excuse for limited research data. If you don't have the data, you don't have it and you can't earn the necessary marks for a good grade. Even when your excuse is completely true.

Understand what the Examiners think from the images below and do not be tempted to write a similar comment.


 * Here is an example **



[5] an Action Plan
 * The order of activities
 * Timescale of the project

If you are going to be RESPONSIBLE, CONFIDENT, ACHIEVERS and become KNOWLEDGEABLE on this topic, you must Plan. The Plan you have should be a Guide to you. Constantly referred-to and updated. So we need an Action Plan to take us through what we are doing and when we are doing it.

The Action Plan outlines how you are going to go about completing your Report.

This could be done in a table, with the column headings of your choice : as long as it makes sense to the Examiner, and is useful to you then that is acceptable - my preference is for you to use a GANNT CHART


 * Here is an example **

=** The word count must be stated at the end of the document **=

AN ACTIVITY (option 1)

“Should Experion PLC replace its annual salary increment with a performance related bonus, in order to increase staff productivity?”

3 previous attempts to create an appropriate RP&AP for this have been made by //teachers// from different schools as part of a training course. 1 of these were done by a teacher at this school. Read the 3 attempts below and grade them according to the Rubric…



The Course Examiner gave short feedback to each. On the ppt attached i have copied the feedback. Can you match up which feedback belongs to which Sample?



AN ACTIVITY (option 2)

Select a question based on the school – and then create a RP&AP for said question. None of these can be used for the real thing as the school is not an appropriate topic for a real IB coursework

Here is the **3 mark Rubric** for the Research Proposal



Here is a Check List you might want to ask a peer to use to run through your RP&AP for you