22 August 2019 MBA
FINAL PROJECT
BRIEFING
What is Research?
➢ Research is a way of thinking:➢ Critically examine the various aspects of your day to
day professional work;
➢ Understanding and formulating guiding principles that
govern a particular procedure;
➢ Developing and testing new theories that contribute to
the advancement of your practice and profession.
➢ Are there things you need to know or do in your organisation?
If yes, ask the right questions.
What is ‘not’ Research?
➢ Just collecting facts or information with no clearpurpose.
➢ Reassembling and reordering facts or informationwithout interpretation.
What is Research then?
➢ Something that people (Researchers/scientists)
undertake in order to find things out in a systematicway, there by increasing their knowledge’ (Saunders
et al. (2009).
What does ‘systemically’ and ‘to find out ’ suggest?
➢ Systematic suggests that research is based on
logical relationships and not just beliefs. Rainfall
and election win !!
➢ To find out things suggests multiplicity of possible
purposes of research e.g.➢ describing,
➢ explaining,
➢ understanding,
➢ criticizing, and
➢ analyzing
Blacklisted Journals
● Academic Journals
● Eurojournal
● CG Publishing
● African World Press
Project Registration
● Final Project registration with condition that the candidate has passed 12 CH
including BRM7174 (VBRM7814, VBRM7824, VBRM7834)
● Identify supervisor, https://mmuexpert.mmu.edu.my/fom
● Project registration documents
○ MBA Final Project Registration Form
○ A copy of the online result
○ Proposal (1 Page Abstract – 300 words)
Project Report Preparation
● Give sufficient time for supervisor to check your final report.
● Refer to Guidelines for MBA Final Project (Available in Google Classroom)
● Word limit: The recommended minimum word limit for project is 15,000.
Final Title of the Project▪ To be decided at the time of registration.
▪ When necessary, submit the finalised title for approval by the Board of
Postgraduate Studies (BOP) at least 2 months before the final project submission.
▪ Things to take note on deciding title:
➢ Avoid abbreviations, e.g. SMEs → Small Medium Enterprises
➢ Should not start with ‘A’ or ‘The’.
➢ Titles containing ‘… in Malaysia/China/<country name>’ are usually not
recommended.
➢ Avoid including independent variable in title in case if IV changed at the end, should
emphasize on dependent variable
➢ Maximum 80 characters including spaces.
➢ Provide short title if the main title exceeds the 80 characters limit.
Project Report Evaluation
1. Research problem 10 %
2. Research objectives 15 %
3. Literature review 15 %
4. Methodology 15 %
5. Analysis & Finding 15 %
6. Conclusion & Recommendation 10 %
7. Originality 10 %
8. Presentation of the report 10 %
Total 100 %
Important Dates for Project
Registration Appeal for Title
Change
Submission of
Final Report
30 Jan 2023 – 5 Feb 2023 June 2023 1 – 15 Aug 2023
● If you need to apply for a Change of Project Title, you must submit the
following:
○ Change of Project Title Form
○ Copy of Project Approval Letter
○ Copy of Latest Abstract
● The project need to go for the proofread before submission. If you have no
one in mind for that service, you may contact faculty through Madam
Rahayu.
● If you are unable to submit your project report on time, you may apply for
extension of project submission by emailing to Ms. Rahayu (rahayu-
[email protected]) and c.c to Ms. Shehah ([email protected])
before your candidature expired.
➢ Extension requires first 3 chapters to be ready. Extension is only allowed
to complete the chapter 4 and 5.
● If your candidature expired and yet to submit your Project report, then you
may need to apply for candidature extension only proceed to extension of
project submission.
Project Submission Checklist:
Submission via Email
● Softcopy of BOP Approval of Title Letter
● Softcopy of Completed MBA Project submission form
• English checking to be digitally signed and verified by Proofreader
(Grammarly not accepted)
• Supervisor to digitally signed and verify in the submission form
• Softcopy of Turnitin Similiarity Index Report for each chapter
● Softcopy of Online results
● Softcopy of Thesis in PDF format and MS Word File
Hardcopy Submission
● 3 hard cover (Bachrom type) bound copies of thesis
Important Considerations
1. Discuss your proposal with supervisor. Give utmost importance to the research objectives, issues related to data collection/availability and the methodology to be adopted.
● Try to make use of the research proposal you develop during the subject of Research Methods & Data Analysis, then refine from there with supervisor
● Say want to compare vaccination status in Malaysia and Singapore → will you be able to collect survey data among Singapore people or Singapore government? If No, don’t proceed. If data is collected from database like IMF, World bank for FDI, then can proceed.
2. Maintain frequent contact with your supervisor and update your progress.
3. Do not be over ambitious about your project.
● Remember that Final Project is a mini research project
● The project is not limited to a research project, provided it demonstrates knowledge and understanding of the relevant subject area.
● Try to use simple methodology learned like, hypothesis testing comparing two groups (like female vs male; Singapore vs Malaysia if can get data from secondary sources) OR multiple linear regression
4. Avoid plagiarism. It is a crime!
Example Gantt Chart
● If you are adopting the research proposal developed in Research Methodology
Class (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)
Stage Timeline
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology (including Designing
questionnaire)
First 2 months to
finalize
Data Collection 3rd month
Data Analysis 4th month
Discussion of findings & completion of thesis
write-up & Proofread
5th & 6th month
Example Gantt Chart
● If you are starting from scratch for your proposal
Stage Timeline
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology (including Designing
questionnaire)
First 3 months to
finalize
Data Collection 4th month
Data Analysis 5th month
Discussion of findings & completion of thesis
write-up & Proofread
6th month
