Section 1. Introduction (c2000 words)
The Introduction should set out the background to the study and the nature of the problem/issue/opportunity beingexamined. This means setting the study in context, explaining why the Consultancy Project Report is needed. The focusof the justification should be on why the report will be useful to the specific organisation or to the wider sector. Theoverall aim and related specific objectives should be stated clearly towards the end of this section, so the reader cansee what you were trying to achieve. The Introduction should therefore include the following:
· Brief introduction to the research topic: Say in one or two sentences what the research is about – this is not a mystery story – and briefly define any key terms.
· Organisation/sector background: Include financial and other company/sector information to give the reader the essential background to be able to understand the context of the report.
· Problem statement: Highlight the strategic challenge that you are looking to review, what has happened andwhat needs to be resolved. Why is this report important to the company and/or sector and how might your analysis and recommendations be used in the future?
· Aim and objectives: Your aim should set out in one sentence what your research was trying to achieve overall, using clear, simple English. You should have specific objectives for your background research/literature review,your primary data gathering and your recommendations. If you follow this approach, you do not also needresearch questions or hypotheses.
. Limitations of the report: Mention any limitations of the report and further work that may be required.
Section 2. Background Research (c3500 words)
This section should set out the background research you have done on the problem / issue / opportunity. Typically, your background research will be based partly on an analysis of secondary data from the organisation itself – forinstance, management accounts, staff survey results, training feedback forms or web analytics data. This will normally be combined with a literature review. Sometimes there may not be sufficient data, or you may not be able to gain access to a specific organisation. Under such circumstances the background research will take the form of a literature review alone.
The literature review element of this section has two main purposes:
· To find information which will directly help address your chosen problem / issue / opportunity (e.g. by identifyinga specific change that might help the organisation, such as identifying what is regarded as best practice in HR terms when implementing a major organisational change); and/or
· To guide your primary research (e.g. by identifying key questions that need to be followed up, such as identifying the key areas to be covered when measuring customers’ perceptions of the organisation’s brand).
Section 3. Method Justification and Explanation (c1500 words)
This section should briefly describe your primary research method(s) and then justify your chosen method(s).1 In other words, what are the advantages of the proposed method(s) in your specific case and, where there are potential disadvantages of the method(s), why are these not so important or how did you minimise them through a good research design. It is not necessary to discuss the underlying research philosophy, methods of reasoning etc. – whilst your research method needs to be soundly based, the purpose of the Consultancy Project Report is essentially applied and practical.
The section should then explain the primary data collection and analysis techniques that you used when undertaking your primary research, so that the reader can see that your results are likely to be valid. The section should typically include:
· Access – how you gained access to the organisation or why consent was not needed
· Sampling method and sample size
· Primary data collection instrument used – a clean copy of your questionnaire or interview questions should be included as an appendix
· Data collection administration – how you went about conducting your questionnaire survey or your interviews
· Data analysis approach – how you went about analysing the collected data
· Ethical issues relevant to the research- what these were and how you addressed them. You must complete a University of Chichester ethical approval form before any data collection takes place.
– In practice, you are strongly recommended to use only one method when collecting your primary data, as it will be difficult to explainand justify two methods within the recommended word limit.