Business Research Methods - Term Project Guidelines

Course Instructor: Prof. Pravesh Padamwar

This term project provides you with an opportunity to follow the research process and practice
various research methodologies discussed in the course.

The term project has 20 % weight in the course evaluation. Each group member of a group gets
equal marks.

Select a hypothetical business problem

Choose a product/service industry. Imagine a company that offers/is planning to offer

a product/service in the chosen industry. Give a name to the company. Select a
management problem in an area like launching a new offering (product/service),
revamping an existing offering, developing or revamping the brand positioning, and
advertising strategy for the new/existing product, etc. Imagine that your group is a team
responsible for conducting business research to make appropriate decisions to address
the selected management problem.

The above is to be submitted as a one-page proposal by 31-Jan-2024. I advise you (at least 2
group members) to discuss the topic with me (office #319) before you freeze it.

Business Research Phase – I

Follow various tasks (e.g., discussion with decision-makers, interview with experts,
secondary data, etc.) involved in the research process (as per class discussion) to define
management and research problems. Use Euromonitor to access secondary data.
Provide references (URL and accessed date) of the secondary data collected. The
collected data/information and analysis are to be part of your report.

Conduct qualitative studies (at least one of Focus groups, In-depth interviews, and
Netnography to be done) to address the research problem. Questionnaires, collected
data (in the case of Netnography, provide details of the data source: URL and accessed
date), and analysis (content analysis) to be part of your report.
 Based on insights gained from the above activities, make a further plan to conduct
quantitative research.

In this stage of the project, you should have identified the theoretical model or
conceptual framework (based on academic or basic research) to address the research
questions.

The phase I work (in the report format) is to be submitted by 29-Feb-2024. Also, you (at least
3 group members) need to present your work at my office (#319). The same will carry 5-8
marks for the project component.

Business Research Phase – II

In continuation of the research work in phase I of the project, plan a quantitative study
to address the research questions. The primary objective of this quantitative study will
be to validate (cross-check) the findings of the qualitative studies conducted in the first
phase. Make a questionnaire to conduct a survey. Conduct a pilot study to refine the
questionnaire. The final questionnaire is to be submitted as an annexure as a part of the
research project.

Collect survey data using the final questionnaire. The minimum sample size for the
survey is to be 50. Perform quantitative analyses, such as descriptive analysis, t-test,
and regression analysis, on this collected data. The collected data to be submitted as
part of the research project. The data analysis is to be reported in the project report.

Based on the above, develop and write the term project report.
Following is a tentative report format that you may follow:
Cover page
Acknowledgments
Executive Summary (300 words)
It should include learning objective and major findings/learning.
Table of content
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
.
.
<Add other chapters>
.
.
Chapter LastChapter#: Conclusion
References
Citation automation software like Mendeley must be used for citation and
bibliography.
Annexures/appendix

On the 19th and 20th sessions of the course, each group will present their project in the class.
Prepare a PPT based on your project report for this presentation. All the group members must
present some part of the PPT. Presentations would be evaluated based on content, structure,
and communication in delivering the subject matter.

PPT must be made professionally: Don’t use animation and sound effects, don’t use too much
text, keep the font size big enough to be readable, maintain consistency in font type across the
slides, and use images/graphics. You are not allowed to play videos during the presentation.
The presentation should be interesting and engaging.

Share your term project report and PPTs with me at least one day before your presentation.

The final project report and presentation will carry 10-15 marks for the project component.