BUS707 – Applied Business Research

T2 2018 ASSESSMENT 2: Research Plan, short response – 15% This assessment is designed to allow students to develop the expertise necessary to formulate practical and usable research questions to resolve business problems and add to business knowledge, taking into consideration existing literature and any ethical considerations. It is the essential start to constructing and justifying a proposal for conducting independent research question. This assessment relates to Learning Outcomes a, c and d This research plan will set as a basis for Research Proposal in Assessment 4. Following consultation with the lecturer or tutor, you should identify a problem which may be answered by research – you will be guided towards a suitable research problem in tutorials during weeks 2 – 5 (inclusive). Based on the problem identified, you should identify relevant sub-problems, research questions, and provide a brief background to the research question, why it is an issue, and what outcomes the research may produce. Literature review plan & data collection plan. A brief discussion of any ethical considerations should be included. Given the importance of relevance to Accounting in BUS707, please note that the research topics must be accounting-based topics. Some of the initial suggestions for the topics are: • Analysis of significant project in the students’ work experiences, such as:  Accounting standards  Accounting regulation in Australia  Accounting and/or Auditing ethics  Use of financial rations in corporate accounting  Multidimensional performance assessment, for example, using the balanced scorecard to evaluate performance on financial and non-financial bases • The effect of accounting information and auditing on the design of organisation, and on the ensuing behaviour of individuals and groups. • Accountants and/or auditors’ responsibilities and contributions toward corporate governance • Application of accounting and economic research to a specific business problem i.e sustainability initiative • Forensic Accounting • Technology implementation in accounting and finance • Innovation in accounting and its impact to business 2 | P a g e • Impact of organisational culture on the procedure and technique of accounting • Research based on cases reported by the courts, ASIC, APRA, ASC Note:  Topics may also be identified from the suggestion for further research from articles published in relevant journal articles  The list of topics above are only initial suggestions and will be refined and expanded in discussion with tutors/research supervisors. The research plan should addresses the following information: 1. Suggested research title 2. Partner organisation (if applicable) 3. Underlying research problem 4. Research Objectives 5. Research Questions 6. Literature (source and keywords) 7. Data collection plan 8. Ethical Consideration Note: Other than in exceptional circumstances, Assessment 2 will form the first part of Assessment 4 for this subject. PRIOR to its inclusion in Assessment 4 Research Proposal, students will be expected to make appropriate adjustments if recommended in feedba 3 | P a g e Guide to complete the Research Plan Template (template is available on Moodle) Propose reserch ttile: What is the title of your report’ Client Organisation (if applicable) Who is your industry partner. Note : you don’t need to mention the organisastion’s name if you want to keep it confidential just provide an overview of the organisatioal background (the industry, number of employees, your connection to the organisation, if any) Research Background  What specific problem does your industry partner face ?  OR if you don’t use industry partner : what specific problem will your research project resolve and try to resolve Why is it important to solve this problem Research Problem / Research Question  Based on the underlying problem addressed above, what research questions will guide your reseach ?  Formulate more specific research questions Research Aim and Objective What does your research aim to explore/investigate/do ? Keywords for Literature Review  Keywords : what keywords will you use in your search for relevant literature, which will then be the foundation of your literature review. Publication details of relevant articles for literature review  Relevant articles : list down publication details of four relevant articles you will use as the main references in your literature review (assessment 3) Please note, for the main articles you must only use academic (peer-reviewed) journal articles. Data Collection Plan • Type of data needed (primary or secondary data), how will you collect your data ? Note : no need for details, just provide general overview of what kind of data you want to collect/analyse i.e surveys, indepth interview, focus groups, document analysis Ethical Consideration List down the principal ethical consideration of your research in relation to participants (confidentiality, communiation, integrity) 4 | P a g e Marks out of 20 will be awarded based on how well the following criteria is addressed: Criteria % Marks Identify research problem, providing an understanding of the background to the problem in respect to significance & clarity 20% Identify a suitable research objective and research questions relevance to research problem 20% Present a foundation for the literature review by demonstrating adequate keywords and identifying 4 (four) highly relevant sources. 20% Clearly identify ethical considerations; 20% Apply relevant skills and knowledge of research, the wider context of the problem and the inter-relationships between them; 10 % Present the information in a professional manner with correct referencing 10 % A full Marking Rubric will be provided in Moodle.