Leadership and Business Management

RESEARCH PROPOSAL ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS

Research Proposal (3 Parts, Completed Proposal, Presentation)

Students will be putting together a research proposal that utilizes a qualitative, flexible design using the case study method only about a business management or leadership problem they would like to explore. Students are encouraged to choose a topic related to their doctoral program project so that the research completed will contribute to their overall applied project in the program. Applied Research projects often are designed to answer practical questions and involve applying specific theories (Fixed Designs /Quantitative Studies) and findings to a specific real-world problem that a specific organization is experiencing. This course focuses on the use of flexible designs utilizing Qualitative methods of Phenomenology, Narrative, Grounded Theory, Case Study and Ethnography. While fixed designs and Quantitative methods will be reviewed, your proposal should be a flexible design using the Qualitative case study method.

The degree culminates in a Case Study that is comprised of three parts to include:

1. Foundation of the Study
2. The Project
3. Application to Professional Practice

To be clear, again, for the purpose of the degree, you will be writing a single Case Study for the Doctoral Research Project (DRP). As such, your proposal for this class should use the case study method.

As a side note, PhD dissertations in some schools traditionally have five parts to include: 1. Introduction 2. Background (Literature Review) 3. Methods 4. Results 5. Conclusion. Textbook readings for this class generally will follow the traditional concept of the five-part dissertation. In this class, students are going to complete parts 1 through 3 (Introduction, Background/Literature Review and Methods). Specific to this class, part 1 deals with the Introduction, part 2 deals with the Background (Literature Review) and part 3 covers Methods.

The students will complete a proposal only and will not actually complete the research project in this course. Students will not be collecting any primary data. Students should incorporate the Merida: Christ-centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings text in parts 1 and 2 of this paper as it relates to the chosen applied research topic. Each area of the project proposal will be discussed in further detail in class and will relate to the textbook chapters.

Regarding the textbooks chosen, Robson & McCartan: Real World Research and Creswell & Poth: Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, each will use slightly different terminology in their writings. Robson writes of flexible and fixed designs whereas Creswell references Qualitative and Quantitative methods. Generally speaking, flexible designs are aligned with Qualitative methods and fixed designs are aligned with Quantitative methods.

Part 1 – Project Justification (Introduction) Due in Week 2: This first part of the proposal is extremely important as it will guide the rest of the proposal. Part 1 sections should include in the following order of subject headers: Introduction to the research topic, problem statement, purpose statement, the importance of the study, the central question for conducting the research, research questions, nature of the study and definition of the key terms (listed in alphabetical order, each having a reference). The body of Part 1 will be between five to eight pages in length, this excludes the title page and reference page. Reference to the Read: Simple but Effective Problem Statements and Research Questions White Paper will be of great assistance when creating the problem statement.

Each of the above subject headers should be a well-developed paragraph at a minimum. The purpose statement should follow the exact model as supplied by Creswell and Poth on page 161. Definition of Key Terms should be listed in alphabetical order. Each term should have a scholarly reference with it.

Part 2 – Background (Literature Review) Due in Week 4: Students will discuss the search strategy within two pages and then conduct a review of the existing literature about the topic and write the literature review in APA format. The background will consist of a minimum of 10 pages in length using a minimum of 10 academic references. 10 page minimum excludes the title page and reference page. Students should start researching and collecting scholarly references as soon as possible as this can be a very time-consuming process.

Part 3 – Project Approach (Methods) Due in Week 7: Students will identify the research process, how they will collect data, how they will analyze data, and the instrumentation used. This will include explaining the Qualitative case study method, the research target (population and sample) and why. Through a flexible design, using qualitative methods, a concept will be discussed. The methods sections will consist of five to eight pages and will include two additional academic references on the methods chosen in addition to the textbooks. The minimum of five to eight pages excludes the title page and reference page.

Completed Final Project Due in Week 8 – Students should update the previously submitted sections based on the feedback from their instructor and combine the previous three parts of the paper into a final research proposal. The originality score for this submission will be high yet that is understood because of the nature of the assignment.

Final Project Presentation Due in Week 8– Students will put together at least ten slides that discusses the major components of their presentation. A title slide and references slide are required, which is in addition to the ten slides, utilizing APA format. Considerations to be included in the Power Point presentation include: Slide backgrounds should be consistent, Use pictures or illustrations in the presentation, header and fonts should be consistent throughout, bullets should be no more than 6-8 words, there should be no more than 6 bullets on each slide, avoid using sentences in PowerPoint slides and use PowerPoint notes for presentation notes.

PLEASE NOTE I WANT THE RESEARCH TOPIC TO BE SOMETHING LIKE: THE CASE FOR AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT – WILL NEED TO FLESH THIS OUT A BIT BETTER.

Reading

Merida: Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings – pgs 35-70
Robson: (2024) Real World Research, 5th edition Chapters 3-4
Creswell, John W., and Poth, Cheryl N. (2025). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (5th ed.). Chapters 3 and 6