MAIM/IHRM Research Proposal Presentation

Assessment Form

Student: Dinesh Sharma

Assessor: Dieu Hack-Polay and Mike Borgeaud

Specific Assessment Features: Assessors will comment on the categories below and use
these to form a grade for the research proposal.

Comments – Please identify the main strengths and the main limitations of the
work

Focus of the Research

Issue: Does the study have research questions/ propositions/ hypotheses? Are these
researchable?
Objective: To establish that a topic has been defined

Comment: Topic interesting and title ok though you need to clarify key concepts.

You define ethics using some useful references. You also attempt to define
business ethics. You discuss three levels of business ethics – macro level, CSR
and individual. How did you develop these three levels? Who puts this forward?
How is the CSR level different from the macro level? You make an attempt at
this however this needs further development. These are abstract definitions.
What does ethics look like they need to be observable. Attracting and
motivating – they do not mean the same thing and they are quite nebulous.

You have too many questions. How these can be described is part of your
research questions. What do you mean by this? How can it be investigated? You
can describe something in text without any primary research at all. Y=This is
loose. You mean what you are going to be observing or measured?

You need to convert these into things that you can search for and pinpoint in
your investigation. What will you do in practice – there were a few leaps.
Issue: Does the study have a clear aim?
Objective: To establish the objectives of the research project
Comment: Looking at your first objective is not an objective for master’s dissertation.
Remove this.

Issue: Does the study have a clear and appropriate value?

Objective: To explain why fulfilling the objectives are so important
Comment: Has salience.

Literature Review

Issue: Does the study cover the relevant major theories?

Objective: To demonstrate that the researcher has read around the topic(s) and has included
the key themes
Comment: Scant literature reviewed. Virtually absent as no real literature present. No
critique given of any authors.

Issue: Does the thesis present clear and appropriate definitions of the key
concepts/variables?
Objective: To establish meaning to concepts/critical variables in order to avoid confusion
and to define what is being measured
Comment: This is needed with CSR explained.

Research Method

Issue: Does the study have a clear methodological strategy including appropriate
research methods?
Objective: To demonstrate an understanding of the research methods to be employed and
the reasons for using them
Comment: You do not need to give a mini lecture on research methods. Do not give
 generalities.

What is your method and how this method matches up to your research
question.

You are drawing on a mixed methods approach or appear to do so with your

discussion on this. Not unusual to want to combine each of these traditions.
However there is no quantitative elements to how you are going to collect data?
This is the sort of things that are very loose and that you do not understand the
various approaches to data collection.

Case study on Indian MNC’s. How many do you thin you are going to
investigate? 2-3 cases study. You should think about including this in your
discussion.

You are going to interview managers. Close the loop back to the research
question, can interviews answer your question of the role of ethics in motivating
employees. You are not answering your question you need to talk to the people
that have to be motivated. The perception of the manager is biased because it is
a political position.

Feasibility/Milestone Plan

Issue: Has the proposal considered feasibility and milestones?

Objective: To demonstrate that the researcher has a plan of action and has considered
possible issues such as access to data.
Comment: Not provided. You need to show how step by step how you are getting there.
Standard of Proposal Presentation and Overall Comments on the Quality of the Work

Fruitful topic however there is the sense in which this looks like a PhD in terms the amount of
time that you have set for this agenda – very ambitious. You need to narrow it. Your title is
fine and this is informative.

Who is ‘they’ in your discussion of research methods?

A short presentation that could be improved.

There are many holes in the presentation. This was disappointing. No literature review. You
do not talk about the literature on business ethics or CSR. In your analysis you focus on
business ethics. Be consistent.

This needs firming up.

OVERALL MARK AWARDED (%)

43
This all they given in my unit guid book.......

The Dissertation Proposal

Your proposal should be presented as a critical argument that clearly presents your
reasoning in a step-wise, consistent and integrated manner. It should include:

1. A clear title

2. An Introduction that includes:

• An explanation of the purpose of the study

• Justification for the study including policy relevance if appropriate.

Summarise how your research topic relates to existing knowledge and
practice and how it contributes to what is already known about the topic.
(NB. The purpose of the introduction is not to review the literature but to
 show in brief and general terms how your research fits with the current
state of knowledge and practice).

3. Clear statements of the central research question and aims and objectives

4. Clear definitions of all key concepts that will feature in your research

5. Literature Review that clearly puts the study into context

6. Research Design: Methodology, Procedures and Methods including:

• Discussion of your research methodology that explains how it is

appropriate for your research problem.

• Discussion of data collection methods to be used. (Do not engage in

abstract explanations and general justifications for, say, using a
questionnaire. Ensure your explanation is about how yourdesign applies
to your proposed study).

• Sampling and Selection strategies

• Access and Ethics

• Piloting and preliminary work

7. Data Analysis. Your plans for the type of analysis you will do and how you intend
to do it.

8. A timescale for the project