Qualitative and Case Study Research:
Assignment Question
This assignment is counted as 30% of your final weighted mark for the class. The
assignment task is to produce a research project proposal using qualitative research
methods. Your proposal must cover the following areas (the weightings indicated are
to give you some idea of how much we expect you to cover against these different
criteria):
Qualitative and Case Study Research
1) A context or background to the topic and selected issues. This should explain
what the project is about and provide a justification for your choice. Why do
you want to carry out research in this topic area and why is it an important
topic to look at? (10%).
2) Objectives or key research questions within the topic. These should set some
parameters or boundary to your research. What are you trying to achieve or
find out through your investigation? It is important to set boundaries so that
your proposal has an appropriate level of focus and is viable. (15%)
3) Relevant literatures and sources of information. This should not simply be a
list of sources or readings but an indication of key authors and studies in the
area: you should evaluate the sources and give some justification for your
topic selection. This should include critical appraisal of at least 4 relevant
academic journal articles that you have read (20%)
4) Correct Referencing: Both Citation and References should be in Harvard
Format. (10%)
5) Research philosophy, Research Design and Methods you intend to use in order
to gather the information and/or generate data or results for investigating the
topic and answer your research objectives. You must outline and justify your
choice of methods. For instance, if you plan to survey some subjects as part of
your research explain how you will select these and how your sampling and
methods help meet your research objectives. If you plan to model secondary
data, explain the selection of data and plans for modelling (40%)
6) Timetable and plan of the main phases of the project over the allocated period
of time, which you should assume will be up to 6 months, and an indication of
the resource requirements. Remember you are the principal resource! Identify
the critical stages of your plan taking into account the time it might take to
complete different phases. (5%)
Further points:
• The proposal should cover the research which is related to China, Japan,
Korea or MENA region
• The proposal should be relevant to the courses related to the international
management degree. You can also address economics, organisational, or
development studies.
• Use the output from each session to build up your proposal.
• You should not only explain why you have chosen your method (for example,
merely choosing Qualitative isn’t sufficient) but also how you select what and
who to research.
• The proposal should be around up to 3,000 words long.
• Normal warnings on Plagiarism apply!
Qualitative and Case Study Research