Assignment Questions: You are required to submit a research proposal. The content of the document produced by each student is required to cover specific areas and to be within specific maximum word lengths (marks allocation and lengths in brackets) as follows:- 1. Title and Introduction: form a clear title for the proposed research. Outline the background to the industry and/or company to be researched as well as the problem or issue identified for research. [10 marks 600 words] · No need to collet data – just explain the data collection methods. Intro – local companies better – Evolution – business models or concepts – opportunity – how they want to expand the business For existing business: · Business already in the market – digi, nestle – to improve the business performances. · Research questions, framework and research objective must be interconnected. Factors to be considered :Research objectives. Research framework is inter-related to the research objectives and research questions. Framework adopted from journals or textbooks are allowed – quote the authors from the journals for the factors – can choose from more than 1. Depends on the number of factors in the framework. 2. Explain the Significance of and rationale for the proposed research. [5 marks 100 words] -Why the research is made and what are the contributions to the company in doing the research. 3. Research Questions: Construct the research questions to be addressed in the proposed research. [5 marks 100 words] - 4. Research Objectives and Framework: State SMART research objectives to achieve your proposed research questions. Construct a proposed research model or conceptual framework to achieve the research objectives. [10 marks 100 words] - 5. Literature Review: Using cited literature and other evidence sources, write your own critical review to complete a discussion of the contribution and discoveries made to extend your understanding of the research problem/issue. Make conclusions about the value of the literature review to your research topic and associated research questions. [35 marks 2000 words] · Critical review- time changes principles – allowed to quote those theories that challenges the past research- involves lots of reading – look into the current studies – to support or discredit the earlier theory. Dr Wee’s example 6. Research Methodology and Design: Propose a relevant research design with a detailed explanation of research methods, sampling and sample size, data types and sources of information and data collection methods. [15 marks 700 words] · Data collection methods – Sample by Dr Vincent Research Instrument: · These questions must be related to the factors in the re ...

1. Assignment Questions:
You are required to submit a research proposal. The content of
the document produced by each student is required to cover
specific areas and to be within specific maximum word lengths
(marks allocation and lengths in brackets) as follows:-
1. Title and Introduction: form a clear title for the proposed
research. Outline the background to the industry and/or
company to be researched as well as the problem or issue
identified for research.
[10 marks 600 words]
· No need to collet data – just explain the data collection
methods.
Intro – local companies better – Evolution – business models or
concepts – opportunity – how they want to expand the business
For existing business:
· Business already in the market – digi, nestle – to improve the
business performances.
· Research questions, framework and research objective must be
interconnected.
Factors to be considered :Research objectives.
Research framework is inter-related to the research objectives
and research questions. Framework adopted from journals or
textbooks are allowed – quote the authors from the journals for
the factors – can choose from more than 1. Depends on the
number of factors in the framework.

2. 2. Explain the Significance of and rationale for the proposed
research.
[5 marks 100 words]
-Why the research is made and what are the contributions to the
company in doing the research.
3. Research Questions: Construct the research questions to be
addressed in the proposed research.
[5 marks 100 words]
-
4. Research Objectives and Framework: State SMART research
objectives to achieve your proposed research questions.
Construct a proposed research model or conceptual framework
to achieve the research objectives.
[10 marks 100 words]
-
5. Literature Review: Using cited literature and other evidence
sources, write your own critical review to complete a discussion
of the contribution and discoveries made to extend your
understanding of the research problem/issue. Make conclusions
about the value of the literature review to your research topic
and associated research questions.
[35 marks 2000 words]
· Critical review- time changes principles – allowed to quote
those theories that challenges the past research- involves lots of
reading – look into the current studies – to support or discredit
the earlier theory.
Dr Wee’s example

3. 6. Research Methodology and Design: Propose a relevant
research design with a detailed explanation of research methods,
sampling and sample size, data types and sources of information
and data collection methods.
[15 marks 700 words]
· Data collection methods –
Sample by Dr Vincent
Research Instrument:
· These questions must be related to the factors in the research
framework – 4 questions for each 4 factors ie 16 questions all
together.
· No and / or in the questionnaire.
Research strategy options –
Survey research is highly recommended.
· Sampling methods
Ethical considerations – Make mention of these aspects
Time schedule – Gantt Chart – 12 weeks
7. Ethical Considerations: identify potential ethical challenges
involved and initiatives proposed to prevent breach of research
ethics.
[5 marks 100 words]
· What are the ethical issues to be considered in conducting the
current research.
8. Outcomes: State the expected outcomes from the research
proposal.

4. [5 marks 100 words]
-
9. Timeline and Gantt chart: Construct a Gantt chart in weeks
which includes the stages and mile stones of the research tasks
and their respective time allocations.
-
[5 marks 100 words]
10. References (protocols & formatting): Using the Harvard
referencing system throughout, provide references and evidence
sources and use appropriate academic protocol for the proposal
[5 marks 100 words]
Assessment Requirements:
·
The submission of your work assessment should be organized
and clearly structured in a report format.
·
Maximum word length allowed is 4000 words, excluding words
in charts & tables and in the appendixes section of your
assignment.
·
This assignment is worth 100% of the final assessment of the
module.

5. ·
Student is required to submit a type-written document in
Microsoft Word format with Times New Roman font type, size
12 and line spacing 1.5.
·
Indicate the sources of information and literature review by
including all the necessary citations and references adopting the
Harvard Referencing System.
·
Students who have been found to have committed acts of
Plagiarism are automatically considered to have failed the entire
module. If found to have breached the regulation for the second
time, you will be asked to leave the course.
·
Plagiarism involves taking someone else’s words, thoughts,
ideas or essays from online essay banks and trying to pass them
off as your own. It is a form of cheating which is taken very
seriously.
Report Structure
Executive summary
Table of Contents
Title and Introduction
Explain the Significance
Research Questions
Research Objectives and Framework
Literature Review

6. Research Methodology and Design
Ethical Considerations
Outcomes
Timescale and Gantt chart
References (Protocol & Formatting)
Appendix
Notes on Plagiarism & Harvard Referencing
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is passing off the work of others as your own. This
constitutes academic theft and is a serious matter which is
penalized in assignment marking.
Plagiarism is the submission of an item of assessment
containing elements of work produced by another person(s) in
such a way that it could be assumed to be the student’s own
work. Examples of plagiarism are:
·
The verbatim copying of another person’s work without
acknowledgement
·
The close paraphrasing of another person’s work by simply
changing a few words or altering the order of presentation
without acknowledgement
·
The unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another
person’s work and/or the presentation of another person’s
idea(s) as one’s own.
Copying or close paraphrasing with occasional
acknowledgement of the source may also be deemed to be
plagiarism is the absence of quotation marks implies that the
phraseology is the student’s own.
Plagiarised work may belong to another student or be from a

7. published source such as a book, report, journal or material
available on the internet.
Harvard Referencing
The structure of a citation under the Harvard referencing system
is the author’s surname, year of publication, and page number
or range, in parentheses, as illustrated in the Smith example
near the top of this article.
·
The page number or page range is omitted if the entire work is
cited. The author’s surname is omitted if it appears in the text.
Thus we may say: “Jones (2001) revolutionized the field of
trauma surgery.”
·
Two or three authors are cited using “and” or “&”: (Deane,
Smith, and Jones, 1991) or (Deane, Smith & Jones, 1991). More
than three authors are cited using et al. (Deane et al. 1992).
·
An unknown date is cited as no date (Deane n.d.). A reference
to a reprint is cited with the original publication date in square
brackets (Marx [1867] 1967, p. 90).
·
If an author published two books in 2005, the year of the first
(in the alphabetic order of the references) is cited and
referenced as 2005a, the second as 2005b.
·

8. A citation is placed wherever appropriate in or after the
sentence. If it is at the end of a sentence, it is placed before the
period, but a citation for an entire block quote immediately
follows the period at the end of the block since the citation is
not an actual part of the quotation itself.
·
Complete citations are provided in alphabetical order in a
section following the text, usually designated as “Works cited”
or “References”. The difference between a “works cited” or
“references” list and a bibliography is that a bibliography may
include works not directly cited in the text.
·
All citations are in the same font as the main text.
Examples
Examples of book references are:
·
Smith, J. (2005a). Dutch Citing Practices. The Hague: Holland
Research Foundation.
·
Smith, J. (2005b). Harvard Referencing. London: Jolly Good
Publishing.
In giving the city of publication, an internationally well-known
city (such as London, The Hague, or New York) is referenced as
the city alone. If the city is not internationally well known, the
country (or state and country if in the U.S.) are given.

9. Examples of journal references are:
·
Smith, John Maynard. “The origin of altruism,” Nature 393,
1998, pp. 639-40.
·
Bowcott, Owen. “Street Protest”, The Guardian,October 18,
2005, accessed February 7, 2006.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module students will be able
to:
· Formulate research questions and describe and critically
evaluate differing research methods, including the formation of
hypotheses, or other research models, or paradigms and justify
the selection and use of specific research methodologies;
· Integrate and plan key research activities and schedules
including the setting of timetables and research objectives, and
the acceptance of accountability for all aspects of the conduct
of a research project
· Understand the importance of, and be able to effectively
demonstrate skills in, the conventions which are required for the
carrying out of a major research project including the design of
experimental and non-experimental research projects; the
preparation of an integrated research proposal and effectively
manage the design and delivery of this.
· Comprehend and critically evaluate the differentiation
between qualitative and quantitative methods as they are used in
research design and evaluate the appropriateness of their
application, use, and value in differing aspects of business
functions and requirements.
· Critically appraise the importance of, and the definitions and
nature of, primary and secondary data, and be able to plan for
(a) the selection, collection, or creation of data for
interpretation and data analysis; and (b) critically analyse,

10. interpret and manipulate data, and (c) synthesis results and
interpretation of data and form conclusions.
· Assimilate and review an appropriate range of literature
sources and other appropriate sources/evidential materials.
· Identify the underlying principles of various analytical
methods commonly applied in business and management
research;
· Select appropriate analytical techniques according to the
nature of the research;
· Compute descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS;
· Be able to communicate effectively in, numeric, verbal and
literary form to a variety of audiences using appropriate
business language, terminology, and concepts including
Construct questionnaires, evaluate their reliability, and analyse
and evaluate the data produced (quantitative/qualitative or
other)
2 | Page
Effects of DRG on hospital admissions and length of stay
The main purpose of DRG was to enable the uses of the system
to compare performance across their different hospitals.
However they can now be used to reimburse providers for
caring for patients.
Recently, more low and middle income economies have opted
for this option.
Drg encourage physicians to keep their patients for longer. To
get better understanding of their conditions and to develop
better records. Thus patients tend to stay longer in such
institutions.
As such, physicians take better care of their patients thereby not

11. only building a better reputation for themselves but for the
institutions they work for. This goes towards increasing a
particular hospital’s admissions compared to one that does not
employ a DRG.
Advantages and Disadvantages of DRG
A DRG system provides an avenue for hospitals to benefit
financially from maintaining accurate and detailed medical
documentation.
Since a hospital keeps detailed information on a patient, the
system allows for better pay from the provider. If there are less
documents, the assumption is that a patient has less morbidities
and the hospital gets paid less. Physicians who keep accurate
medical records will get better financial rewards compared to
those who provide similar care but do not keep detailed
documentation.
Institutions are however motivated by financial reasons. The
longer and better knowledgeable a doctor is regarding a
patient’s condition, the better he is paid.
It leads to standardization of procedures thereby affecting the
quality of the services being offered.