Technology used in Finance: It?s Effect to Business Operation

BUS 3903 – Contemporary Issues in Business

This Assessment and the related Marking Scheme have been pre-moderated and approved by the Course Team Leader/Academic Coordinator of the Business Department according to the following criteria
•    The learning outcomes are covered as indicated in the assessment strategy.
•    The questions are clearly constructed and at an appropriate academic level.
•    The possible marks for each question are clearly stated.
•    The amount of time for the exam is properly allocated.
•    The level of English language is clear and suitable for the course.
•    The marking scheme is clear and detailed
Student’s Score (%):
Academic Format
Reports/Essays submitted must follow the APA (American Psychological Association) the http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ . Formatting and language contribute exactly ten percentage points to the overall grade.
Warning to Students!
Students must submit their own works as assignments, and they cannot copy anybody’s ideas into their work as their own. Direct reference must be made for every paragraph, even if it is only a summary of ideas from somewhere else. By not directly referencing (or providing only non-specific references) a Student commits plagiarism, i.e. submitting somebody else’s work as his own, and faces the possibility of immediate dismissal from ADMC and from all other Colleges of HCT according to the Academic Honesty Policy of HCT. All assignments must be submitted via LMS, where they are tested by anti-plagiarism software, Safe Assign.
Declaration of the Student
At the moment of submission you confirm that this assignment is your original work, and you have referenced all sources of information according to APA Format. You also confirm that you had fully understood the tasks and assessment criteria before submitting this assignment.

BUS 3903 – Guidelines for Completing the Research Proposal

The Research Proposal should have the following sections, and be of a total length of 1000 words, +/- 10%:
Cover Page
I.    Title
II.    Introduction
III.    Rationale
IV.    Research Problem or Question
V.    Research Objectives
VI.    The Research Design (methodology) you are proposing to use:
a.    Geographic area of study
b.    Sample size and Sampling method
c.    Methods of data collection
d.    Methods of data analysis
e.    Timeline of the study

The guidelines for completing each section, are given in the following pages.  Please read them carefully.  The rubric is also included.

Sections of the Proposal
Guidelines and Brief Explanation.
Cover Page    Cover page should clearly show:
?    assignment title
?    name and ID of the student
?    course code and course title
I    Title    ?    Indicate the concept or problem being studied
?    Be clear and make it appealing
?    Be as specific as possible
?    Be short, sharp, and describe what your research is about
II    Introduction     1. The main purpose of the introduction is to provide necessary background or content for your research problem.
Start writing using
?    Quotation
?    Question
?    Interesting facts
The introduction should engage the readers and generate interest in the topic

2. Explain the main concept in your topic briefly. Explain the Business Issues you want to research. Explain why this business issue is important for study.

3. Give brief information about the organization that you selected for your study or you may refer to the group of people (youth, females, professionals etc.) you have chosen to focus the study on.

4. Briefly give the structure of the proposed report (What sections/ content will be included in the final report)

III    Rationale
1.  It often answers the question ‘why’.  It justifies the research in terms of the broader benefit gained from it.
2. The rationale section is an important element in the research proposal.
It should give:
•    The reason why the study should be implemented
•    The relevance for your research effort.
•    It certainly should have the potential to solve the problem
•    Improve a situation or provide new insights.
•     It will determine how well the students are convinced of the importance of the study and how confident the student is of pursuing the study.
3. Sections I to III should be around 300-350 words

IV    Research Problem/ Question    1. It is a statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or in practice that points to the need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation.

2.  The title and the problem statement question are often nearly identical.

The Research Problem/Question must be explained.

V    Research Objectives    1. Objectives inform a reader of what the researcher wants to achieve through the study. So it is extremely important to word it clearly.  Research Objectives include a statement of your study’s main and sub objectives.
•    Objectives identify the specific issues you want to examine.
•    Objectives should be numerically listed
•    Each objective must contain only one aspect of your study
•    Objective should be worded clearly
•    Use action oriented words or verbs when writing your objective
2.  You can start like
•    To determine…
•    To find out….
•    To study….
•    To estimate…..
•    To ascertain ….
•    To evaluate…
•    To describe…
•    To develop….
•    To establish…..
•    To draw…..
3. List at least 2 Research Objectives.  You can go up to 4 or 5 objectives
Sections IV-V should be around 150 – 200 words

VI    Research Design    1. A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.”

2. In this section, you should write down your plan on how you will tackle this project, the methodology that you will use.

Research Design in the Research Proposal should include the following information:
a.  Geographic Area
b.  Sample Size and  Sampling Method
c. Data Collection Method
d.  Data Analysis methods
e.  Detailed timeline
Section VI should be around 500-550 words
a    Geographic Area    1. Briefly explain the geographic area/s covered in this research.
2. The geographic area referred to may refer to a particular Emirate or city only. It may refer to one particular organization only
3. It gives the readers the idea as to the extent of the place covered in this study.
b    Sample Size and Sampling Method    1.    It explains   how many respondents will answer the research instrument.
2.    It also tells the composition of representatives of the population (i.e. how many males or females, etc.)
3.    It tells what sampling method is to be used in the study (i.e. probability/non-probability and within this, which technique). It explains what this sampling method is all about and why it is chosen
c    Data collection Method    1.    It explains how data are to be collected from primary sources (i.e. interview, survey, observation, etc.) It will explain how secondary sources are to be used.
d    Data Analysis    1.    It explains how the analyses are to be done.  In the case of quantitative survey, should it use “mean, median, or mode”? Should it use Rank analysis (by percentage or real number?)
2.    It includes graphs or charts.
e    Timeline    1.    It gives a CLEAR Timeline of all activities involved in the preparation and accomplishment of the Research Project.
2.    Each activity is briefly but clearly explained.
References and Formatting    1.    Referencing should conform to APA standards.
2.    Formatting: Times New Roman, 12 pt, double spacing