RESEARCH OUTLINE

Supporting Notes The Project Title

Project titles should be clear and specific, without been too wordy. Derive your project title from the projects primary objective, and try to give a sense of the scope of the project.

The Introduction
Provide an introduction to your project. This should include some background context, i.e., what problems exist, why those problems are significant and who they affect. For example, it may be a problem which affects a particular industry, or a particular population, such as production workers or senior managers. It should also provide a justification for why it is important to research this topic. Indicate also, what impact resolving this problem, or some aspect of it, will have. This information is needed to assess the appropriateness of the proposed project for the MSc award. It is very important that you are interested in the subject of your project. This can greatly aid motivation throughout the process. If you are interested in pursuing a particular direction with your project, be sure to discuss your ideas with your project supervisor first. Do however, consider the likely scope of the proposed project, given the limited timescale within which the project must be completed.

The Research Objective/Question

Projects can have just one or a number of research objectives. In some cases, there may be one primary objective, relating to what the major output of the project will be, and a number of subsidiary objectives which indicate the purpose of specific phases of the work, ultimately culminating in the achievement of the primary objective. There is no right number of objectives, but if the number exceeds 4, consider whether your project is too ambitious or too broad. The objectives should NOT be a list of activities; they should reflect the purpose &/or expected outputs from the work. This is another reason why the number of objectives can sometimes become excessive & often when activities are removed from the list, the remaining real objectives are perfectly manageable. An alternative to the statement of research objectives is to pose a research question which your project will answer. Either approach is acceptable; which approach is taken is both a matter of personal choice and of appropriateness for a specific project. Some find it easier to use a combination of both, and this is also acceptable, as long as the result is clarity with respect to what the project is intended to achieve. Whether you use research objectives or research questions to define your project, do consider what work will be necessary in order to achieve the objectives, i.e., the methodology, in order to assess whether the scope and depth of the research

objectives is appropriate. Then, having made this assessment, describe and justify your approach in the Overall methodology/Research design box. Finally, before proceeding further check that your research objective/question: Is it clear, specific and focused, i.e., is it an objective rather than an aim? Does it clearly indicate what is to be studied? Are the boundaries of the study clear, i.e. what it will include and what it will not? Does it provide some indication as to how to collect your data and from what sources?

The Background Literature Review

In order to establish the scope of the project and determine what your contribution to the field could be, it will have been necessary for you to do some preliminary reading of the literature. This section therefore requires that you write a detailed background literature review, which will provide the basis for the full literature review required for your project. You should therefore ensure that you critically discuss current thinking regarding your chosen research topic, and any relevant, related research. In some cases, project topics will span more than one theme or topic in the literature, and you should therefore ensure that you address all relevant areas, and show how each contributes to the research problem that you are addressing. Remember that the most up-to-date literature will not be found in books you will need to include up-to-date journal papers in order for your literature review to be considered valid. Below is an example of how you might structure a background literature review from a given objective: Example objective: To develop a strategy for successful entry into emerging Asian markets for automotive manufacturers. A number of topics are relevant to this research question, for example: International business strategy Modes of market entry Specific issues relating to entering the Asian market Research specific to the automotive industry, especially manufacturing

In order to present an effective overall summary of current research across these topics, the background literature review for the REME assignment will need to be a number of pages long a few paragraphs will not be sufficient!

Overall Methodology/Research Design:

Consider carefully which research methods will be needed in order to achieve your project objectives. For example, case studies will give you in-depth, detailed insights

into a problem, by using a wide range of sources of evidence to build a detailed picture of a specific situation or problem. Be aware that to do case studies very well, takes considerable time and resource, and cases will generally yield results which are very specific, and therefore limited in scope. Also, the small number of cases possible within a limited timescale means that case studies cannot be regarded as representative of a wider population. Therefore, case selection should be very carefully thought through in order to make the best use of this method. For a survey however, much larger sample sizes are possible. This means that survey samples can generally be regarded as statistically representative of a larger population. The downside of this method is that in order to achieve a large enough sample size to be representative of a given population, a great deal of depth and detail must be sacrificed questions must be relatively simple, in order to ensure that the process of analysis remains manageable. For this reason, surveys will enable you to determine, for example, how frequently a problem occurs, or how many people hold a certain view, but it will not provide sufficient detail as to why or how a problem occurs. Now consider the scope of your study if, for example, you will be doing case studies, how many case studies will you do? What will be the unit of study in each case, e.g., will each case be based on a different company, project, individual? What will each case contribute toward solving your research problem and achieving you project objectives? If you are likely to be conducting a survey, how large a sample will you need? How will you select your sample? What population are you trying to represent? Who will you send the questionnaires to and why? you may decide that you need to target specific roles within an organisation; project managers, for example, or production managers, business unit managers, or manufacturing engineers. If you are going to conduct experiments, which major parameters will you need to test in order to answer your research question? Which type of experimental design will you use a classical design, Taguchi? How many experiments are likely to be necessary? Remember that the time you have available to complete your research is limited, so be realistic about the scope of your study will you be able to complete the work in time?

Example:
A brief outline and justification for your research methodology may follow the following format: Example Objective: To develop an effective means transferring learning between NPD projects Example Research Methodology Outline: Basic rationale & justification

Preliminary survey of NPD problems across project teams to confirm the extent of the problem that currently exists & to identify the key issues Questionnaire-based structured interviews with NPD project managers and project teams to gain an in-depth understanding of how the main problems arise and the impact that they have on the project Case studies two current NPD projects will be selected for study. Project A has been selected for study because it relies primarily on IT techniques to store and disseminate learning. Project B will be studied because (in contrast with project A) the team are applying knowledge management techniques. The results will be used to test the effectiveness of the 2 different approaches.

Data Collection & Analysis Strategy:

It is a good idea to think carefully about where you will collect your data from and your strategy for collecting it. If this is not thought through clearly at the outset, you may waste a lot of time collecting data that ultimately does not answer your questions, or resolve your research problem. Think carefully about where (or from whom) you can get the information that you need to resolve your chosen problem. For example, do you need to talk to a specific company? Which individuals within the department, business unit, etc., do you need to approach? Consider the scope of your project carefully in this it is very easy for the project to suffer mission creep as a result of collecting lots of information from a wide range of sources unnecessarily! However, it IS appropriate to collect data from a number of sources in an effort to triangulate your evidence, and therefore provide robust findings your findings will be considered to be more robust if you can show that a number of different sources of evidence support the same conclusion. Therefore, consider which data collection techniques are appropriate for your project interviews, questionnaires? Can you obtain additional documentary evidence, such as project documentation, company reports, minutes of meetings, in order to verify information provided through interviews? Can you interview more than one source in order to minimise bias? Remember that your time is limited, so be efficient in your data collection! And remember that if you are conducting a survey or using a questionnaire to structure interviews, you will need to allow time for questionnaire development and piloting. Another important consideration in deciding on your data collection strategy and research design, is how will I make sense of all the data once collected? Again, your research objectives should indicate the kind of answer that is needed, and therefore the type of analysis required. Consider your research objectives what questions need to be answered in order to achieve this objective(s), i.e., what are your research questions? If your research question is of the how much or how many type, for example, it is likely that you will be conducting some kind of survey and that some form of quantitative statistical analysis will be required. If your research

question is concerned with how or why a particular problem occurs, then your answer is likely to involve a certain amount of qualitative data analysis, designed to help you structure an interpret the results of interviews and text-based information contained in documents and reports.

Resource Requirements:
Delays in conducting a project can often be the result of under-estimating the need for resources, or unanticipated difficulty in gaining access to specialist resources. Do you need to access specialist equipment or equipment which requires a specialist operator or technician? If so, do you need to book time on the equipment in advance? Are there certain periods of time where you cannot gain access? Do you need specialist software, or access to server space? It could take time to obtain this, so it is best to start investigating this early. Do you need to secure a substantial amount of someones time in order for them to participate in a study you are carrying out? Does your project require that a production line is stopped temporarily? In this case, you may have to plan your project work around a shutdown, a weekend, or to coincide with a shift change.

Significant Risks:
In order to complete the project in such a limited timeframe, with lots of competing calls on your time, it is important to institute some risk management! The first & most important step is to identify as many likely risks as possible. Consider for example, the risk of: Lack of regular contact with your academic supervisor because of an assignment overseas, for example Likely difficulties gaining access to interview subjects, contact information for a survey or access to necessary resources.

Brainstorm the likely risks, and then consider the likelihood of these risks occurring. Then, for the most likely risks, consider what you can do to minimise the impact of them on your project.

Dissertation Structure:
It may seem a little early to be thinking about the actual structure of your dissertation, but the logical structure and flow that you will be expected to demonstrate in your dissertation will help you to plan your project in a logical and structured way. Having completed to previous parts of this exercise, it should be possible to identify the main chapter headings and sub-headings, and to summarise in few bullet points, what the contents of each major section will be.

Example:
1. Introduction 1.1 Background to the problem & the business value in resolving it

1.2 Project objectives/research question(s) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Common issues and problems in NPD processes 2.2 Applications of IT in management processes 2.3 Issues of information & learning transfer between projects 2.4 Developments in knowledge management for organisational learning 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Basic rationale & justification 3.2 Detailed research design 4. Results 4.1 Preliminary Survey Results 4.2 Case Study Use of IT Techniques for NPD Learning 4.3 Case Study Use of Knowledge Management techniques in NPD Learning 5. Discussion 5.1 Investigating the Links between Organisational Learning & Effective NPD projects 5.2 Comparison of the Effectiveness of IT versus Knowledge Management in Organisational Learning 5.3 Adapting Knowledge Management Techniques to the NPD process 6. A Framework for the Application of Knowledge Management to NPD Projects 7. Conclusions Note the dissertation structure at this stage will be a basic outline only. The actual dissertation structure will need to include an Abstract, Table of Contents, Recommendations for Further Work, etc. Also, note that the classic format above of Literature Review, Results, Discussion will not be appropriate for all projects, particularly for part-time students conducting projects with a strong industrial-orientation. If your project cannot easily be written under these headings, discuss alternative formats with your academic supervisor.

Project Plan:
1. Breakdown the work required to complete your project into a series of main activities 2. Estimate how much time will be required to complete each activity (be realistic) and then using the template attached, generate a project plan.

Remember to include non-project activities, e.g., modules, post-module assignment work and holidays, since these all reduce the amount of time available to work on your project. Also, ensure that you allow sufficient time for writing-up your work. Remember that your supervisor will have other commitments and therefore will not necessarily be able to read your work and return it as quickly as you might like. At this stage, the plan will not be detailed and should only be considered a rough approximation. However, it will immediately indicate to you whether or not your plans are too ambitious - discuss your plan with your supervisor, as he/she will have a good idea of how long certain activities will take. The plan will also provide you with a framework to work to and the means by which to assess your progress.

Dr. Tina Barnes, November 2009