Aims

The course “Research proposal” helps students to acquire academic skill (more specifically, how to set up and implement research). Within the course “Research proposal” it is expected from students that they write and finalize a research proposal based on their master thesis guided by the lecturer. A research proposal includes the description of the research setting, the formulation of the research problem, a suggestion of an appropriate research question, a description of the methodology and approach of the study, and the formulation of a list of key references. The main purpose of the course “Research proposal” is to help and guide students with this process.

Previous knowledge

This course prepares students in the first year of the master ‘business engineer’ (‘handelsingenieur’) to write a master thesis in the second year of the master. Therefore it is advisable that students have the knowledge, skills and attitudes acquired in the bachelor years of the degree ‘business engineer’.

Order of Enrolment

This course unit is a prerequisite for taking the following course units:
HMN37B. Master Thesis (BE)

Is included in these courses of study

Content

What is research?
What implies research in a business setting?
What implies research in a master thesis?
Formulation of a research topic
Formulation of research questions
Formulation of research objectives
How to provide a critical overview of the literature?
Selection of research method and research strategy
Description of the type of research
Data and information sources
Writing a research proposal
Literature and data availability at the FEB@campus Brusseel

Course material

Format: more information

Research Proposal includes the following parts:

– During the semester students work individually on their research proposal .
– At the start of the semester, an interactive lecture is given to provide the basic knowledge of how to write a research proposal.

At the beginning of December the students need to hand in a preliminary version of the research proposal. They receive feedback on this proposal by the lecturer (based on 18 criteria related to format, structure and language) and the promoter of the master thesis (based on two content related criteria). Near the end of the semester the students have to submit the final version of the research proposal. During the whole semester students independently work on their research proposal.
We refer to the planning (see Toledo) for the specific schedule of lectures and tasks.

Type. Continuous assessment without exam during the examination period

Description of evaluation. Paper/Project

Learning material. Course material

Explanation

The grades are determined by the lecturer, as communicated via Toledo and stated in the examination schedule. The result will be communicated in the form of a pass/ fail decision.

In order to pass for this course students need to:
1) Submit a preliminary research proposal and a final research proposal in a timely fashion
2) Obtain a ‘pass’ for each of the evaluation criteria of Research Proposal (for a list of these criteria: see Toledo)

The deadlines of the interim tasks, preliminary research proposal and final research proposal will be determined by the lecturer and communicated via Toledo.

If the set deadline was not respected, the final grade of the course will be NA (not taken), unless the student asked the lecturer to arrange a new deadline. This request needs to be motivated by grave circumstances.

Master students who are graduating and only have to obtain a result for first semester courses and/or the master thesis and/or the courses preparing for the master thesis ( HI: Research proposal and Scientific Communication) can pass at the end of the first exam period. For these students a diverging trajectory is possible: these students do not have to submit the two interim tasks, they have to submit (via email) a preliminary research proposal by 1 December 2015 and a final research proposal by 1 January 2016.

2nd exam opportunity: more information

The features of the evaluation and/or the determination of grades differ between the first and second examination opportunity

The grades are determined by the lecturer, as communicated via Toledo and stated in the examination schedule. The result will be communicated in the form of a pass/ fail decision.

In order to pass for this course students need to:
1) Submit a preliminary research proposal and a final research proposal in a timely fashion
2) Obtain a ‘pass’ for each of the evaluation criteria of Research Proposal (for a list of these criteria: see Toledo)

The deadlines of the interim tasks, preliminary research proposal and final research proposal will be determined by the lecturer and communicated via Toledo. The deadline for submitting the preliminary research proposal is 16/08/2017 and that for the final research proposal is 30/08/2017.

If the set deadline was not respected, the final grade of the course will be NA (not taken), unless the student asked the lecturer to arrange a new deadline. This request needs to be motivated by grave circumstances.