BRP Proposal Template for Business Research Project LSBM300 2021-22

BRP Proposal Template
Business Research Project
LSBM300
2021-22

Index
Instructions 2
1. The Proposal Template 3
2. Ethical Review Form 4
2.1 Ethical Review Form: Part 1 5
2.2 Ethical Review Form: Part 2 6
2.3 Ethical Review Form: Part 3 7
3. Company consent 8
Appendix 1: Participant information sheet 9
Appendix 2: Participant consent form 10
Appendix 3: Company consent form 11
BRP Proposal Template 2021-22 Page 1

Instructions
This document has three sections:
 Section 1: The Proposal Template
 Section 2: The Ethical Review Form (Parts A, B and C)
 Section 3: Company Consent Form
All students are required to complete Sections 1 and 2, and together these form the Business
Research Project Proposal.
Only students who are conducting research directly with a company need to complete Section 3.
Important: If your research involves the use of human participants, you will need to complete the
Ethics Approval Form. Failure to complete the Ethics Approval Form, when required to do so, will
result in your work being returned unmarked. No research with human participants can be undertaken
without receiving Ethics Approval and achieving a pass grade on the proposal.
Before you submit this Proposal form, please make sure that you have:
 Read the Business Research Project Handbook and follow all instructions.
 Read the lecture and seminar materials in the Business Research Project module area
in Canvas.
 Discussed your ideas with a Business Research Project seminar tutor. You can do this
face to face in the seminars or learning sets, or you can do this by email or through MS
Teams.
 Discussed with a Business Research Project seminar tutor any questions you have
about Part 3 of the Ethics Approval Form (if required).
 (If you are completing research directly with a company) Gained consent from the
company if you are conducting research on a company.
BRP Proposal Template 2021-22 Page 2

1. The Proposal Template
Use the following sections in your proposal. Once completed, delete the text with instructions, update
your headings (see the ‘Styles’ in the tab ‘Home’) and update your table of contents.
Student number [do NOT write your name]
Please state which tutor(s) you discussed your proposal with, and the forum you used
(e.g. face to face, email, MS Teams)
Title (maximum 20 words)
A title should summarise simply the main idea of the proposal. You may want to use a colon to separate the main idea and a
further explanation/elaboration of the main idea (e.g. ‘CSR: Does it influence consumers in the banking sector?)
The financial sector i.e. discuss the dominance of the ‘Big Four’ retail banks in the UK and efforts to make account-switching
easier: A study on Barclays
Terms of Reference (approx. 400 words)
Provide a rationale that explains your reason for selecting this area of study and why it is interesting and relevant.
State your research question and associated aim(s) and objectives i.e. what you want to achieve and how.
State the scope of your study: what will you include and what will you not include?
Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the dominance of big four retail banks in UK and Barclays efforts in order to make
account switching user.
Objectives:
 To understand the concept of dominance of big four retail banks
 To critically evaluate the ways used by Barclays in order to make the account switching procedure easier.
 To identify the challenges faced by the company while implementing account switching procedure.
 To recommend the ways through which company can minimize the challenges and improve the performance.
Research questions:
Q1: What is the dominance of big four retail firms?
Q2: What are the ways through which Barclays make the account switching procedure easier?
Q3: What are the challenges faced by the company while implementing account switching procedure easier?
Scope: The current study will be beneficial to the banks operated in UK retail sector such that they can understand the account
switching easier and this in turn help to meet the demand of customers. Along with this, other scholars may also use the
research in order to understand about the term and they can use the same as a secondary research in order to understand the
concept of account switching. Moreover, another scope of study on this topic is such that it will be beneficial for all the four retail
banks in order to determine the ways through which it can make the account switch user.
Rationale: The reason for conducting the research on this topic is to evaluate the dominance of big four retail banks in the UK
and efforts to make account switching easier. Most of the customer faces issue with regard to difficulties faced by them to
maintain account and this in turn causes negative impact over their satisfaction. That is why, it is considered as a current issue
because it affect the sales of a business. On the other side, anther rationale for conducting research on this specific topic is
related to personal issue. Such that with the help of present study, scholar is able to understand the term and determine the
dominance of big four retail banks in order to apply the knowledge in near future. That is why, study on this topic will be
beneficial in both personal as well as professional aspects.
Relation to previous research (approx. 1000 words)
Presents your preliminary review of existing literature from secondary sources. You should identify credible
texts/sources such as books, journal articles, business/industry reports, credible websites and any other online based
sources etc that are relevant to the topic and research area chosen. Identify and critically review some key themes and
theories relevant to your selected research area (topic). Use Harvard style for citations
Theme 1: Dominance of big four retail firms
According to the Stiglitz (2019) there may be many concern related to cost of office rents and skilled
workers but financial technology i.e. fintech sector is settled all the same in a best manner. In order to maintain the
dominance within a world, bank keep complying with new technologies that helps to keep attract the new customers
towards it. Whereas, according to the Financial Conduct Authority, it has been analysed that the dominance of four big
retail banks in Britain is beginning to weaken as digital challengers in order to secure more market share. It can be
stated that from the update of 2018, strategic review into a retail banking, there are traditional scale advantage of big
BRP Proposal Template 2021-22 Page 3