Short paper  Research Proposal:
 
(need 3 different  proposals  with presentations and Voice over)

You are working as a senior researcher for a company (of your own choice) to conduct business research in order to solve an issue/situation. The issue/situation the company is facing could be a problem, such as declined revenue, or a potential opportunity, such as the introduction of a new product or the exploration of new market. The issue that the company is facing requires rigorous business research. It is not a problem that can be resolved through sim
ple thinking or discussion. The research proposal is the research plan that you, as the senior researcher, submit to the management for approval before conducting the research. It is a contract between you and management in terms of the steps of the business, budget and timeline.
In a Prospectus–a plan to do research–you do everything except for collect and analyze the data. Keep in mind that you are hired by the company to conduct the proposed research in order to help the management make informed decisions
Steps
1.You first need to select a company and a research problem that you want to
study. This is the Short paper  topic submission.
2.After your topic is selected, you write an abbreviated research proposal
indicating the background of the problem, the purpose of the study, the research
and sample design, and the budget and times schedule.
Use page 124 in the textbook (page 124) as an example.
3.You also need to present your research proposal in a voice-over presentation.
Requirements for the presentation part
Prepare no more than 5 slides (excluding the cover slide) to present your research proposal. The voice -over presentation should be no more than 5 minutes.
Here is a youtube video to help you with recording the voice-over presentation:
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uk4CU7uobM
Note that if you are preparing the voice-over using a Mac, you need to make sure the save file can be open by a PC and the voice can be heard.Here is a list of things you need to pay attention when preparing the presentation
1.Make sure you to record over every ppt slide. That is, do not give your whole
presentation over the first slide. You need to turn the pages as you go over them
one by one.
 
2.
Given an overview of the presentation before formally presenting the detailed
contents.
3.
Rehearse before recording the presentation.
4.
You should include a cover page/slide with you name and the title of the
presentation.
5.
The font should be large enough for audio in a distance to see (size>18 as a
minimum)
6.
You may use one or two pictures/graphs to make the slides interesting. However, too many graphics can be distracting.Requirements for the written part Formatting The proposal should be double-spaced using Times New Roman 12 font and should not exceed 1000 words, including references and appendix, if any.You are required to follow APA style when writing the short paper.
Here is a tutorial on APA style:
http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~instruct/articulate/apa_mod/APA_Intro/player.html
Specific Information
Note 1:  Even though you will
NOT
be implementing the research plan you design in the
proposal prior to writing your paper, your plan must be a realistic plan that you
personally have the knowledge and resources to implement upon request.
Note 2:  
Your paper must be your own
original
wor
k!
Be sure to give proper credit when
you borrow or use
someone else’s words and ideas, including your own previously
written works. See the 6th edition of the
Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association
pages 15
–
16 for specific informati
on on Plagiarism and Self
–
Plagiarism.  
Failure to follow this requirement will result in
a grade of 0.
Note 3:  
Write your paper in third person.  Scholarly works generally are written in third
person to avoid reader concern about bias in an empirical st
udy.
A research prospectus
should be concise. If you find yourself using phrases like “As mentioned previously…”
then you are repeating yourself without providing new information.
Note 4: You should use a neutral tone while stating the issues.
No emotionally charged wordings should be used such as “unfortunately,” “drastically,” etc.
Note 5: There is no need to provide detailed company information or the history of the company.
Note 6: You are proposing to conduct business research to help a company to solve an issue. So there will be no conclusion or any conclusive suggestions, such as “The company should….”
Note 7: No pictures, graphs, cartoons,or figures should be included .Grading
Your paper will be graded based on the formatting with a small weight. However, keep in mind that the senior VP of the company is NOT impressed by APA style as the major outcome of your work.
The grade for the paper will be based on content, organization,and format. Although the entire paper will be graded, the major focus of grading will be
on content.
Required layout You need to follow the layout listed below, not the one in your textbook!
Cover Page:Include a title of the research proposal,course number, course name, and the author’s name Background /current situation
What led you to address this problem?  
What are the
symptoms that led you to believe this problem needs to be addressed by business
research?
You should not discuss the histo
ry of the company
or
stat
e
how great
the business was/is.
In general, if you are investigating a current issue, anything
happened a few years ago is irrelevant.
Purpose of the Research:
What is the purpose of your research? Be very specific in
stating the
purpose. For example, your “purpose” might be that you want to investigate
the attitudes of consumers about a specific product and their decisions to purchase that product.
Research design and sample design:
You should discuss how the study will be conducted, including the source of data, how they are going to be collected,and the
type of research, exploratory, descriptive, or casual research.
If data are collected through surveys, you need to discuss what the target population is and how the sample will be determined. Also, instead of providing sample survey questions, you should provide general research questions to indicate what results the management can expect after you conduct the proposed research .
Budget and time schedule:
any complete research proposal should include a schedule of how long it will take to conduct each stage of the research and a statement of itemized costs. Although you may not have a very good idea about the budget and time schedule, you are supposed to provide such information to your best knowledge.
Note that the budget and time schedule is not for carrying out whatever solution or business plan you are suggesting.The example in the textbook does not provide any specific budget or timeline. However, you are required to provide itemized costs and detailed timeline for each step of the research process.
References:
If you cite any sources in your short paper, you need to put them in the
references.