In this final project, you will use the results of action research to create a research report. In designing the report, you will follow the best practices for ethical research. The final project will be a comprehensive research report using the six-step research process: identify the problem; understand the theoretical framework of the problem; design the research study; collect, explain, and analyze the data; report the results; and make conclusions and recommendations. This project is an authentic application of the same research process skills that you will use as a framework for approaching research projects in other courses in your program, as well as to inform decisions in your professional life.
Directions
For Milestone One, submit a draft of your business problem and literature review. Using the problem you identified in your Module One journal and the feedback you received, describe the research problem and its context. Using the problem statement, describe the stakeholders and research objective. Based on the research objective, develop a research question that clearly and concisely articulates in one sentence the purpose of the study. Consider the real or potential ethical issues or challenges of the study.
After describing your business problem and research question, prepare a comprehensive literature review that carefully and thoughtfully examines the research problem from a scholarly perspective using at least seven quality sources. At least three of the sources must be selected from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. Other quality sources can be professional publications or magazines, internal corporate publications such as annual reports or white papers, or established news sources.
Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:
- Business Problem: Using the problem you identified in your Module One journal and the feedback you received, describe the research problem.
- Describe the research problem, including the context in which it exists. In other words, what caused or precipitated this problem? What has already been done to address it?
- Describe the key stakeholders or potential stakeholders of your business problem. In other words, who are the people who have the most to gain or lose from a decision?
- Explain the research objective. How would it benefit the stakeholder to know the results?
- Develop a research question based on the research objective that clearly and concisely articulates in one sentence the purpose of the study.
- Discuss the key real or potential ethical issues or challenges of the study. Consider the following questions: How will data be collected and protected? How will human subjects be used, treated, and protected?
- Literature Review:
- Explain the theories that best ground your organizational problem. Support your explanation with specific examples. These theories might be management, behavioral, social, or business related.
- Discuss the bias and limitations present in the relevant literature and the potential impact these may have on your research.
- Summarize at least one other research study that has faced this challenge that could potentially be replicated and applied to your research study.
- From the literature, analyze at least one other organization that has faced similar problems, explaining what they have done to address the problem.
What to Submit
Your milestone must be submitted as a 5- to 6-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least seven sources cited in APA format.
Supporting Materials
The following resources support your work on the project:
Reading: Tesla, Inc. Case-Study.
Webpage: Tesla, Inc. This Gale Business Insights resource provides the company profile of Tesla, Inc.