Business Research Lavanya.

E (10036022)

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF MBA-IB
[2010]

MASTERS IN BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION-
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
[2010]

AUSM70 Business Research Proposal

<<< UNEMPLOYMENT IN
SINGAPORE- RECESSION
NEEDS INNOVATION>>>

STUDENT NAME : Lavanya D/O Elavarasan

STUDENT ID NUMBER : 10036022
LECTURER : Lakshmi Thambiayya

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Declaration of originality

This is to certify that the work is entirely my own and not of any other person, unless
explicitly acknowledged (including citation of published and unpublished sources).
The work has not previously been submitted in any form to the Coventry University
or to any other institution for assessment for any other purpose.

Signed _________________________________________________

Date ___________________________________________________

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Abstract

Recession and Innovation are something that is interdependent on each other.

Recession is the key for innovation in certain fields of business environment. As and
when the global business or global market develops or changes we need to update
our business by using our innovative ideas with the previous down turns in the field.
Each and every failure or downfall makes us to remodel the existing proposal or
develop a new idea in the field of business. In this research it is more about the
Singapore economy and the challenges faced during recession. The focus is on the
employment issues and the difficulties undergone during recession. Unemployment
is the major concern for any economy since it affects the GDP of the entire country
which indirectly affects the countries development and growth. In the research we
will provide the innovative ideas to increase the employment rate in Singapore
economy.

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Word Count

Number of Pages: 24
Number of Words: 4777

- Exclude cover page

- Exclude Reference list
- Exclude abstraction

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1.................................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................8
1.1: Study Background.............................................................................................8
1.2: Study Area.........................................................................................................8
1.3: Research Structure.............................................................................................9
1.4: Aim and Objectives...........................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2...............................................................................................................11
LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................11
2.1: Introduction......................................................................................................11
2.2: Recession and Unemployment ........................................................................11
2.3. Need for Innovation ........................................................................................12
2.4. Singapore Economy at Recession....................................................................12
2.5 Innovative ideas to rise the employment rate..................................................14
CHAPTER 3...............................................................................................................15
RESEARCH METHODS AND METHODOLOGY.................................................15
3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................15
3.2 Research Design................................................................................................15
3.3 Data Used..........................................................................................................17
3.4 Data Collection Methodology...........................................................................18
3.5 Sampling Techniques........................................................................................21
3.6 Research Ethics.................................................................................................21
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................23
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................24
Kyodo 2001, ‘Singapore economy in technical recession’, Asian Economic News,
16th July .....................................................................................................................24
viewed 11th August 2010,..........................................................................................24
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDP/is_2001_July_16/ai_77057811/........24

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1: Study Background

The Singapore economy is under a serious problem due to recession in the recent years.
The GDP growth of the country is falling down sharply because of depression in the
global market. Now it is slowly recovering from this crisis but gradual increase in
unemployment rate is the major issue caused due to this recession till date. According to
the Ministry of Manpower the overall percentage of the unemployment rate in the year
2007 was 2.1% and for the residents it was 3.0% which was increased 3.3% for the
overall and 4.8% in 2009. Now currently it is reducing at a slow rate and it is 2.2%
overall and 3.2% for residents. But still for a developed and small nation like Singapore
the employment rate is still less compared to other countries in the world. Innovative
ideas are required for the development of job opportunities in the economy for the
welfare of the individuals. In this research the innovative ideas to improve the
employment rate is explained in detail. The purpose of the research is to maintain the
standard of living and develop the employment standards during recession by innovative
thoughts.

1.2: Study Area

Singapore is a beautiful, pleasant and a safe place for any race or any people to live.
Under the British trading colony Singapore was found in 1918, which joined the
Malaysian Federation in the year 1963 and it achieved independence in 1965(Central
Intelligent Agency(CIA) 2010). The land area of this nation is 710.2 km2 with varied
kinds of folks from different parts of Asia. Economy of Singapore is one of the most
open and friendly market. It is the corruption-free economy in the world. Export and
import of goods and services is very “Business friendly”. Singapore is well known as the
world’s top “logistics hub” by the World Bank (Strait Times, 2007). It has a common
GST system of about 7% for all the goods and services (Channel News Asia, 2007). The

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government has a system known as GST refund where the foreigners can refund the GST
paid during their purchase of goods and services. This provides a globalised market
economy which indirectly increases the income of the country which is used for the
development and welfare. It maintains a friendly relationship with 175 countries in the
world (Ministry of foreign affairs 2007). Population of Singapore is around 4.99 million
in the year 2009 out of which 3.2 million are only the Singaporeans and the permanent
residents of Singapore the rest are the foreigners from different parts of the world
(Singapore Statistic 2009). Tourism is one of the most contributing sectors in Singapore.
Most of the tourist are attracted to the integrated resorts which has gambling and
recreation centres( Ministry of Trade and Industry 2005).One of the most famous tourist
attractions is the food festival which occurs in the month of July every year.

1.3: Research Structure

The main idea for the research is that is the economic condition of Singapore should not
be affected due to the reason of down turn and the problem of unemployment. So the
study concentrates on the enhancement of the nation welfare during the depression. The
development of the unemployment issue has to be seriously considered because it will
affect the standard of living and demoralise the life of the citizens. This also affects the
GDP growth of Singapore. So innovation plays a vital role in the progress and
standardisation of economic conditions.

1.4: Aim and Objectives

Recession is one of major issues all over the world and its causes are very prominent in
each and every part of the nation. It affects the nation’s welfare and economic structure.
It is a day-to-day happening issue which needs prior importance for the development of
any nation. So in this research we are going to concentrate more on the innovative ideas
to increases the employment opportunities in the Singapore economy during the period of
recession. The hypothesis of our research is an explanatory hypothesis
We are going to research about this scenario with a few objectives like: to brief about the
effects of recession, to brief about the effects of innovation before and after recession, to
know about how the Singapore economy got/getting affected during recession, to discuss

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the unemployment issues occurring during recession in Singapore, to provide the details
on how the standard of living is affected during recession in Singapore, to brief about the
demoralisation of social affairs during recession in Singapore, to identify and recommend
innovative ideas to Singapore government with regards to recession and unemployment,
to identify and advice the individuals on the steps needed to fight against the recession
and unemployment in Singapore. We will be discussing on these objectives and provide
with few recommendations that can be considered for the enrichment of the economy
during and after recession.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1: Introduction
The literature mainly focuses on the problems of recession and unemployment, secondly
the need for innovation during and after recession in the nation, thirdly the Singapore
economy getting affected in this situation and finally the innovative ideas that can be
proven to minimize the unemployment during and after recession in this nation.

2.2: Recession and Unemployment

Recession means an economic down fall in the nation’s market environment. Recession
has both positive and negative impact on a firm this depends on the firm’s angle of
looking at it (Srinivasan, Rangaswamy & Lilien 2010). The global recession has occurred
during 4 duration period from 1985 till date. Recession is considered as a problem is the
first view of any firm or business organisation. Economic down turn is the most
unbearable situation for any homeland in this world. The decline in the economy can be
identified by the countries expenditure, savings of the government, the export and the
reserves in the country. The depreciation not only affects the country that faces the
economic decline but also the countries that are in relation with it in export and import.
Once recession is being faced the first issue that happens is losing of jobs.
Unemployment is the ratio of people who are not employed to the total number of people
who are the working eligibility (International Labour Organisation 1982). Unemployment
has an adverse effect on the standard of living of the citizens and it affects the life style of
the people. This issue is very closely examined during this period because when the fall is
very high the effects of the down fall will be massive. Overcoming such a situation takes
much of time, which can be used for the welfare and development of the nation.
Unemployment affects the GDP growth the nation. Since every country is evaluated by
their GDP standard it plays a vital role for the developed countries especially. Recession
and unemployment is one for the main and current issues all over the world. In the

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following sections of the research we will discuss in depth about these issues related to
Singapore economy.

2.3. Need for Innovation

Innovation has the term means it is new, creative and different. Any field need innovation
in development and improvement of the firm since the technology and the world is
changing day by day. Innovativeness is more on how the new thought is put into action
within the budget of the firm or the economy. Creativeness is essential in this competitive
world in that case the need for innovative ideas goes to heights during recession period of
an economy. Innovation during recession is just an opportunity to improve the crisis in
favour of us (Sami Mahroum 2008). These ideas need to be considered and implemented
to maintain their economic position in the global market. Mainly the need is to develop
the economic growth, to provide the competitive challenge to the co-companies in our
area of business or trade. According to Ronald Jonash every company focuses on
conserving their reserves and investments but the challenging innovators try new and
they capture the current market which indirectly helps them to shine in the future (2008).
So the innovation should be improvement in the technology and not in the savings.
During the period of recession we should be able to focus on the new aspects and make
ourselves challenging for the future or the period after recession. If we focus on savings
then the period after recession will be tough to manage so it’s better to sit back and think
during the recession period for the improvement in technology and development of the
firm in the global market.

2.4. Singapore Economy at Recession

Recession is like an epidemic for the entire world of industries and government. Till the
year 1985 from independence Singapore had a drastic growth in the economic GDP rate,
of up to 10.1% every year suddenly it stuck with recession and the GDP rate fell down to
-1.7%(Rigg 1988). The recession was recovered by considering 3 main strategies; to
encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, liberalisation of economy for enterprises and
finally support self improvement without government interference (Loong 2003). The

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standard of living, GDP level and the economic conditions was growing high and stable
but this situation lasted only till 2001, where the 2nd recession banged the Singapore
economy. 2001 was the period Singapore experienced a technical recession and the
export sector has fallen down due to the slow-down in the US economy (Kyodo 2001).
The economy faced enormous number of problems during this recession like trade and
commerce issues, demoralisation of life, unemployment, drop in standard of living and
break down in economic structure which all in turn affected the GDP growth of the
country. Export is the main source of economic growth but it was affected since the
recession was stuck globally which indirectly forced the other countries to reduce their
import of goods. But Singapore imports huge amount of goods and services which
affected the country’s GDP growth. Since the recession was technically based, the
workers with inefficient technical knowledge lost their jobs which increased
unemployment rate. The number of abortions has increased because of the unemployment
rate. According to the Ministry of Health (2010) the fertility rate of the country is
decreasing from 1.24% in 2003 to 1.09% in 2009. This statistics provides us a brief idea
about the unemployment rate in Singapore:

Table 1: Unemployment rate, from 2003 to 2010 (CIA 2010).

The unemployment was very high during 2001 to 2004 period but it slightly decreased by
few percentage but there is not drastic change in this situation. This unemployment issue
has to be minimised, to increase the standard of living and to stabilise the economic
conditions.

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2.5 Innovative ideas to rise the employment rate

The growth in employment rate will be the best and first solution necessary for the
Singapore economy during and after recession. So far Singapore government has
provided with so many schemes to improve the employment opportunities like the
‘BOOST’, ‘BUILD’, ‘PREP-UP’, ‘SPUR’ and ‘YES!’. These schemes provided a huge
amount of money for the small and medium sized enterprises, Tourism sector, On-job
training for the fresher’s and re-training for the employees with the new advancements in
technology and finally provided funds for the younger generation for innovative
business(Murdoch 2009). The government should try to improvise in the industrial
structure and manufacturing sector it should encourage in development of companies like
making small machine parts which are imported for the machinery and exported all over
the world which in turn reduces the import of goods and services expenses. Government
should try to encourage new innovative ideas like signing treaties with the certain world
group to reduce taxes during import of goods in the trade and commerce. As individuals
we should be technologically very sound and active in the latest trends in the world.
During recession we should take that as an opportunity to upgrade our technological skill
and use the period thinking the innovative ideas with the trend. We as individuals should
make the best use of the government incentives for the development of the economic
conditions instead of saving it in Banks.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODS AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction
The research is done to know the issues of unemployment during recession and the
innovation to be done during this period in Singapore. In this section we are going to
discuss on the research methodology, research design, data going to be used, the ethical
issues and the trustworthiness of this research proposal. The research topic is the current
and the day to day occurring issue in the world so it is comes under the Realism research
strategy. Realism means the reality that is different from our descriptions or perspectives.
But the research is both social constructive and positivistic since it has the attributes of
both the research philosophy. The research hypothesis of our proposal is Explanatory
Hypothesis. We use deductive approach to proceed with our research. For collection of
data we use Surveys and ethnography techniques. Let’s see in detail about each and every
sub sections in this section of research methodology.

3.2 Research Design

Our research proposal hypothesis is an explanatory hypothesis since it explains in detail
about the causes of recession, the unemployment issues during recession in Singapore and
the need for innovation in regards to these issues. As we said before we are using both
constructive and positivistic research philosophy. It is because the research topic is
objective, humanistic and interpretative. So we can also say that we use both Quantitative
and Qualitative research paradigm. Quantitative in sense our topic is objective i.e., we
focus on the research objectives to develop our proposal. Qualitative in sense we interpret
certain ideas or method to make the employment standards during recession to improve
and also it is humanistic since it pertains to ideas and views of the public, entrepreneurs,
social workers and the government. The research approach used for the research proposal
is deductive approach. This means a specific data obtained from a general theory and this
leads to the predictions on the research. Deductive is also known as “theory-testing” or
“top-down” approach.

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Deductive approach undergoes the below shown series of steps to complete the research.

Figure1: Inductive and Deductive Thinking 2006

We have chosen deductive approach because:

• The research topic is narrowed down to more specific from a general concept.
• We have got a clear understanding of the problem.
• We are focussing on the particular issues of recession i.e., the unemployment and
the focus are narrowed to a specific region.
• This approach is time-saving since it uses a little time in solving the problem.

Research Philosophies used in our proposal are:

• Ontology: Objective and Plural.
• Epistemology: As a researcher I am independent.
• Methodology: Deductive, Understanding and Reliable.

Research Strategies used in the development of the research proposal are Surveys and
Ethnography techniques. Survey is research method which involves questionnaires, and
statistical surveys to get to know the details about the behaviour, views and thoughts
about the people (Wikipedia, 2010). We use this strategy since our research needs
statistical data’s about the employment rate, recession downfall data’s and the
unemployment statistics. These surveys are conducted to know the effect of recession in
Singapore from the citizens and the business entrepreneurs. We also have to the
employment rate from the government perspectives and the steps taken to improve it. We
also use ethnography strategy in our research which means that “a descriptive account of
social life and culture in a particular social system based on detailed observations of what
people actually do" (Johnson, 2000). This strategy uses participant observation,

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interviews, questionnaires and online studies on internet. We are planned to use this
strategy since we have to know the participant’s reaction on recession, unemployment
issue and the innovative ideas provided by us in this research. We have to know about the
public, government and the entrepreneur’s views about the need for innovation during the
recession. We have to conduct face-to-face or telephony interviews to know about the
innovative ideas and the steps taken to improve unemployment rate during recession in
Singapore. We have to know the government reaction for our innovative ideas also so we
have to have personal interviews with the government officials. Since our research is
based on the statistics and studies so there is a need for us to use internet information for
those details.
In our research proposal we are focussing on a particular section of the world to justify
our research. So our research is cross-sectional time horizon which means that it is a
study of an individual or a group of the world (notes). The time zone or the group which
we are focussing is Singapore. Our research is based on Singapore’s position during the
recession and the unemployment issues in this time horizon.

3.3 Data Used

Data’s are essential requirements for all the researches that are done related to any stream
or discussion. Data is referred as a cluster of information that characterizes the qualitative
and quantitative features of a set of variables (Wikipedia, 2010). In research we usually
use two types of data’s they are primary and secondary data.
• Primary Data: These are information’s collected from the source directly by
interviews, surveys and observations (America’s Byways Resource Center, 2010).
• Secondary Data: These are information’s collected from the government agencies,
reports, organizational records and data and published materials like magazines, journals,
newspaper’s, etc., (America’s Byways Resource Center, 2010).
In our research proposal we are using both primary and secondary data’s for justification
of our research hypothesis. We use primary data’s since:
• We need to know the issues of recession from the public’s side.
• We have to understand the entrepreneur’s problems and the employee’s issues in
Singapore during recession.

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• We have to understand the standard of living issues during recession in Singapore.

• We need to know the public’s reaction, government views and the entrepreneur’s
ideas on the innovative thoughts provided in this research by us.
• We should have a complete knowledge about the economic conditions from the
government officials.
To collect all these necessary information’s we conduct surveys, face-to-face interviews
and telephony interviews.
The secondary data’s also play a vital role in the research since:
• We need government statistical data’s, reports and information’s about the
employment and unemployment rate in Singapore.
• We need have complete study of the recession occurred in Singapore and about
the issues faced during it.
• We should know the innovative ideas already implemented to improve the
recession so that it will be helpful for us to give new and better ideas.
• We should have brief idea on the impact of unemployment issues on the public in
Singapore.
To collect the above mentioned details we need to read government reports, surveys
conducted by other organisations, internet data’s, journals, magazines and other
government publications.

3.4 Data Collection Methodology

In the previous subsection we discussed about the various data’s to be used and a short
note on how it has to be collected. Let us elaborate on the data collection techniques in
this subsection. The method of collecting various interests and views according to the test
hypothesis and the research questions systematically is known as data collection. As
already discussed for collecting the data’s we require surveys and ethnography
methodologies.
The first and efficient method of collecting data is collection of existing information’s.
There are enormous amount data’s available that are analysed or published by scholars,
journalists, the other researchers or the government organisations. In our research we
require Singapore’s employment rate, unemployment rate and the various issues faced by

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the people in the period of recession these information’s are generally available by the
government reports, articles in journals and magazines, in day to day newspaper, etc.,.
Hence here we use the method of existing data collection i.e., the secondary data’s. Such
method of data collection has both benefits and drawbacks. Some of the benefits are it is
quick, easy to collect, cost effective, since they lots of data’s available we can find the
collect reliable data’s and it will be useful to cross check with the primary data’s
collected. Some of the challenges are it might not be accurate, available and suitable for
our research.
Once we have collected the secondary data’s that are useful and helpful for our research
we move into the collection of primary data’s which is more sound then the secondary
data. Collection of secondary data is the most important and more relevant method for
any research. In our research we reply people’s views and issue faced by them during the
recession and the unemployment issues. We have to also know about the government’s
measures and issues during this period in Singapore. Finally we have to know the
business firms and entrepreneur’s thoughts and their position during the recession period.
To collect all the above information’s we use surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephony
interviews and questionnaires.
Conducting surveys and questionnaires cannot be done in any haphazard manner. The
surveys must be conducted in the right with the right group of people necessary for the
research. The questions prepared for the surveys must not be too long, time consuming,
offensive, etc. The queries must be clear and straight forward i.e. the participant’s
interpretations and as researchers our interpretations must be same or at least similar.
Misinterpretations might lead to wrong data’s which indeed leads to time consuming for
us as researchers. The questions formed for the collecting the data’s in this research
considers the following features:
• Whether the questions asked can be answered without a second thought in the
answer?
• Whether it is easy for all the participants?
• Whether the questions are insensitive and within the bond of ethics?

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The surveys conducted must be on the right group of people those who have knowledge
on the topic of research, those who can respond to the questions in the right way i.e. in the
right perspective.
Same as surveys interviews are also very important and we should be very careful in
speaking to people in person or through telephone. The interviews can be used to both the
literates and the illiterates; it also permits the clearing up questions if the participant is not
clear with questions; the number response to these questionnaires are more compared to
that of the written surveys. We can adverse idea about the data’s required for the research.
In our research we are planning to collect facts from the government employees who
work in the employment sector of Singapore i.e. the Ministry of Manpower. They may
provide us with the right statics about the employment and unemployment rates and the
issues faced during recession. Before interviewing we are supposed to get the concerned
permission from the employees by getting letter from our university to approve for our
research. We should also interview the public who are affected directly by these recession
problem and the companies and firm’s higher official’s so that we will get a clear idea
about the details of the recession problems and issues in Singapore. For the interview as a
researcher we should be clear on the questions and the explanations which we are
focussing upon. Since our interviews are going to be personal we have to be well
prepared to ask the queries and collect data’s. We have set the interview such that the
participants are convenient and free from the official and personal work. We should never
miss the appointment even to us for interviewing the people. Our questions should never
be too personal, too offensive or irrelevant to the research. When having a telephone
interview even though we fix a prior appointment before starting we should make clear
that they can participant in the interview, they are in a place where there is proper signal
and even we should be in a location with minimum noise and good network. We should
be pleasant, soft, calm and kind hearted when taking an interview since they utilise their
precious time for the purpose of our research.
These are methodologies we have planned to collect the data’s necessary for our research.
As the norms and ethics of research these methods will be enforced to make the research
effective.

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3.5 Sampling Techniques

Sampling is the technique for selecting several study components from a defined group of
population and achieving more accuracy. Practically collecting data from everyone in
Singapore is not possible due to the time constraint and other factors so we select a
specific group of study unit and draw an overall report from the selected group. This
cannot be done has we wish the selected people should be in such a way they have
knowledge about our research topic in general. From a specific group of people we select
two or three people and depending on their data’s provided we need to conclude with a
proper statistics and evidences to support our research. The sampling technique adopted
for our research is random sampling and snowball sampling.
Random sampling is nothing but selecting a specific people in random and with their
views providing an accurate data. It is a probability based sampling techniques which
provides statistics and accurate information’s. Since we planned to conduct interviews the
selecting a people randomly can be very useful for completely our research within the
given time period.
Snowball sampling is selecting evident data’s from existing information to provide an
overview of the future happenings. This is mainly done when we research about the
employment, industrial research, etc. It is non-probability based sampling. In our research
based on the available solutions for recession and unemployment we can provide a better
solution for the future. Since we have planned to conduct interviews with the government
officials and higher officials in firms we require this kind of sampling technique to
support our research.

3.6 Research Ethics

Ethics is defined as “A framework applying broad ethical principles to the responsible
conduct of research and to the use of any outcomes resulting from research” (University
of Reading, n.d). There are several reasons for the need of research ethics by Resnik
(2010) like:
• Promoting the aim of research.
• To promote the values that are required to do a collective work.
• To see whether the researches are liable to the public.

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• To ensures public support for the researchers.

• To promote ethical and social standards.
There are certain ethical principles that have to be followed by each and every researcher
like Honesty, Objectivity, Integrity, Carefulness, Openness, Respect for Intellectual
Property, Confidentiality, Responsible Publication, Responsible Mentoring, Social
Responsibility, Non- Discrimination, Competence, Legality and Human Subject
Protection (Shamoo and Resnik, 2009).
Ethical issues:
A few ethical issues that are considered and adopted in our research are:
• Principle of Voluntary participation: The participants must be fully aware of the
procedure and the norms in our research. After knowing all the things if the participants
accept to take part in the research then such a participation is known as voluntary
participation (William, 2006). The participants are not forced in our research.
• Principles on Confidentiality: The data’s collected from the participants should be
highly confidential. This states that the information collected are not known directly or
indirectly to anyone who is not involved in the research. Since in this research has a
single researcher the data’s are maintained confidentially.
• Principle of Anonymity: This stated that the participants are not named or known
to anyone expect the researcher. Since establishing this principle is very difficult
generally but still in the research we try providing full guarantee to the participants since
the research is done by single person.
• We should not change or vary the people’s views for our convenience.
In our research the ethical issues are reviewed and monitored by the supervisors for
the research proposal.

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CONCLUSION
In our research we have discussed in detail about a current and ever occurring issue in
any economy in this world, the employment issues and the problems faced during
recession in Singapore. We have examined about employment issues and the problems
caused due to this issue. We have also put forward few suggestions to the government
and the individuals. We have discussed the plans that we have decided to implement our
research to existence. We have spoken about the data’s to be collected and the
methodology. The ethical factors of research are also important and essential factor which
is discussed in our research. Unemployment is one of the major issues all over the world
especially during recession. This issue has to be considered as a global issue and the
needed decisions have to be taken by the government and the public to fight against these
issues.

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http://www.indexmundi.com/singapore/total_fertility_rate.html
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