Signature Assignment: Developing a Research Design Plan

Signature Assignment: Developing a Research Design Plan The class has been focused on business needs, research questions, and hypotheses. In the business world, these components are cumulated in a proposal or research design plan for review and documentation. The components of a research design plan can vary by organization, but all have similar components and are analogous to an academic research proposal. 1. Title 2. Business Need This section begins the discourse on the issue or topic; the business need incorporates the project aim, rationale, and objectives. This is similar to the Introduction section of an academic research paper. 3. Research Area This section of the research plan is analogous to the literature review and states the importance of the problem. In addition, it talks about previous research or cases related to the issue. This section provides context to the business need. 4. Research Question The research question narrows the focus on the business need into a specific, researchable question that can be answered by collecting data. 5. Hypothesis Your hypothesis provides an educated guess on the outcome of the analysis performed to answer the research question. 6. Methods and Procedures This section can focus on extant or primary collection of data. The research will document sources of data, procedures involved in data collection, tools utilized for analysis, and analyses to be performed. The aim is to provide enough information to allow another reader to follow the procedures and derive similar outcomes. This concludes the research plan outline. However, once the plan is approved, data collection begins. The data collection, analysis, and reporting complete the research process and data life cycle. In addition to the above components, the following would be added to complete the full research paper: 1. The Findings section is a culmination of the research and the most important part of the paper. This is the place to present a business proposition and to discuss its practical value. This section is the reason for doing the research; its value for the reader is the acquisition of new knowledge.