Final Research Project

Research Methods (STA630)

Fall Semester, 2008
Instructions:

1. This project is semester long project the objective of which is to apply all the concepts
you are studying in your course.
2. This part carries 70 marks.
3. Last date for submission of project is 5 January, 2009.
4. Upload your project within due date and time.
5. No project will be accepted after the due date and time.
6. No credit will be given to copied projects.
7. Be specific & precise, avoid irrelevant and extra details.
8. You may also visit some organization for the purpose of your research.

Follow these guidelines in your report

You will follow these guidelines for report writing.

i. Insert page numbers in your report on all pages except title page.
ii. Insert page border.
iii. Font size should be 12.
iv. Font style should be either Times New Roman or Ariel.
v. Font Color: Blue or Black only
vi. Page size A4. (You are not required to provide hard copy)
vii. Heading bold or underlined.
viii. Margins Left….. 1.25
Right…. 1.00
Bottom… 1.00
Top…. 1.00

1
 Project STA630

You are required to submit a research report based on your project. Read the suggestions to
improve your report. For your guidance, different documents have been uploaded in the announcement,
i.e. a sample research report, guidelines for developing a questionnaire, data analysis etc. Read these
documents before making your final report.

Strictly follow the format described as under because formatting and each part contains separate marks.

1. The Title Page

The title page of the report will include:
The title of the research
The name of the researchers
The date of the final report
The name of the university

2. Introduction of the Student

3. Acknowledgement
To acknowledge and appreciate the cooperation of the people who have helped
you in completion of your research an acknowledgement is made.

3. Table of Contents
Table of contents with page numbers lists the important headings and sub
headings in the report. A separate list of tables and figures should also be listed in
the table of contents.

4. Introduction
Background of the study
Under this heading you have to describe the background of the topic under
study in detail. Give complete description of the topic. Describe the current
situation by giving all the facts and figures.
Objectives
Describe the objectives of your research. Objectives should describe the
purpose of your research work. What goals your research work will achieve?
Significance
What is the importance of your research work? How your research work is
important in the field or for the organization? How will your research work
help in solving the problem under study?

2
5. Literature review
Literature review is basically your own assessment of the available literature on
the topic. Consult books, web sites, published reports and articles etc. related to
your topic. Carefully read the related prior studies and then write your own
assessment and analysis on it. Do not simply write the information given in the
articles you read but also comment on them by critically analyzing them. Do not
assume that the topic you chose has never been researched on by anyone else.
You might not find exact studies in some cases but related studies are always
there. Find out those prior studies and compile your review.

6. Problem statement
You are required to provide standard and precise problem statement.

7. Theoretical Framework
Inventory of Variables
Direction of Relation
Explanation of established relationship among variables
Inventory of Propositions in a sequential order.

8. Hypothesis
You can write many different hypotheses e.g. If-Then statements, Directional and
Non-directional hypotheses, Null and Alternative Hypotheses. These are the
statements which you will test through your research to see if they are correct or
incorrect them. Provide only those hypotheses which you will actually test
through your research process.

9. Research Design
Classification of Research
Here you have to classify your research on the basis of its purpose. A research
can only be classified in following types on the basis of purpose;
(1) Exploratory Research (2) Descriptive Research (3) Explanatory Research.
You have to describe what is the type of your research and why do you think
so?
Data collection techniques
Which data collection technique you are using in your research? You can use
(1) Quantitative technique, (2) Qualitative technique (3) Mixed technique
(both quantitative and qualitative).
But you must justify for selecting any or more of the above given techniques
used for research data collection.

Population
You have to describe the population of your research. Population refers to the
entire group of people; events or things of interest that the researcher wishes
to investigate.

3
 Sample
Describe the actual sample size that you drawn to conduct the research. Draw
sample from the population according to some method. There are two major
sampling plans i.e. probability sampling and non-probability sampling.
The Probability Sampling Technique includes:
(1) Simple Random Sampling (2) Systematic Random Sampling
(3) Stratified Random Sampling (4) Cluster Sampling
(5) Double Sampling.
The Non- Probability Sampling Technique includes:
(1) Convenience Sampling (2) Purposive Sampling
(3) Quota Sampling (4) Snowball Sampling
(5) Sequential Sampling (6) Theoretical Sampling.
You can choose any technique from the above mentioned methods.
Tools of Data Collection
Tools of data collection refer to the method you used to collect data. If you are
using Quantitative Research Technique, the data collection tools include:
(1) Experiment (2) Surveys
(3) Content Analysis (4) Using Existing Statistics
And if you are using Qualitative Research Technique, the tools of data
collection include:
(1) Field Research (2) Case study (3) Focus Group Discussion.

10. Data Collection, Data Processing and Analysis

Under this heading you will describe that how you have collected the data? Where
did you visit to reach your respondents? How did you arrange the data after it is
collected? How did you remove discrepancies from the data? What statistical
tools you used to process the data?

11. Findings/ Results

This includes the testing of your hypothesis to provide answer to the research
question. Provided in this section would be the results of the data analyses and
explanation of all the findings. You will apply any appropriate tool and explain
the answers and outcomes.

12. Recommendations
Describe your suggestions on how to tackle the problem under study. What are
your suggestions and recommendations to resolve the problem you are studying?

13. References (Consult lesson# 45 for reference writing)

14. Appendices
i. Questionnaires
ii. Tables and charts that you used in your research
iii Any other material you used