BUSM4448 Assessment 2: Business Research Problem Report

Overview

The purpose of this assessment is for you to showcase and apply your knowledge on the crucial first step of any business research, i.e. Business Research Problem identification and definition to a real company/industry. 

Assessment criteria

This assessment will measure your ability to:

• Insightfully introduce and analyse an industry and company that they have chosen to investigate (8%)
• Elaborate the concept of Research Problem supported by academic literature; Introduce the general problem that the company is facing linking to the identification and formulation of Research Problem, which is relevant to the chosen company's board or other members of the organisation (17%)
• Insightfully state the Research Objectives in formal research statements and justify the Research Questions (8%)
• Present a comprehensive and relevant research plan for the chosen research questions (3%)
• Model clear, logical academic writing and referencing skills (4%)

Course learning outcomes

This assessment is relevant to the following course learning outcomes:

CLO 1 Critically evaluate the broad range of research designs applicable to exploration of complex and ambiguous business problems

CLO 2 Identify and synthesise research designs to explore relevant aspects of a complex and ambiguous business problem

CLO 3 Critically evaluate and synthesise options for innovative business research design

Assessment Details

In this assessment, you are required to first choose an industry/company that you are currently in or aspiring to be part of as to apply the main tasks in this assessment. You will need to use the same company for your final assessment in the course (Assessment Task 3). 

There are several main tasks in this assessment:

• Specify the industry and company that you are going to focus on and justify why 
• Go through the scientific process of Research Problem identification
• To turn the research problem into problem statement/objectives 
• To showcase the draft of your Business Research Plan (bullet points are acceptable for this specific task)

Remember that you will need to propose a research plan (Assessment Task 3) based on the research objectives that you specify in this assessment. You will also take into account the feedback from your tutors and lecturers in the course. 

A report writing style is to be used to complete the assignment.

!!! A minimum of eight (8) references is required in this assessment, consisting:

• 4 peer-reviewed articles
• 4 Articles from other reliable sources (newspaper articles, magazine articles, professional development videos, corporate documents etc.).

Please check out below some resources to help you to navigate the RMIT library database:

• Videos
  • Academic/Peer-reviewed articles
• Links
  • Business College Liaison Librarians: If you’re having trouble acquiring an article/paper, please seek the assistance of one of the Business Liaison Librarians.