Master's Dissertation Project Proposal

The assignment requires students to submit a dissertation project proposal that includes an introduction, aim, objectives, ethical statement, intellectual challenge, deliverables, resources, research approach, data collection approach, literature review, and conclusion. The proposal must include specific headings and sections, including a sample ethical form as Appendix A.

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Assessment title: Dissertation Project Proposal

Task 1 The proposal must include the following headings
Headings in your proposal report Guidance for Students MARK SCHEME
 An introduction. This should identify why the
proposed project is important so that your
award leader understands why you are
choosing this project. There should be a clear
connection between your Award and the
project.
You should write in the 3rd person. This section
introduces your research question.
Your project MUST be appropriate for your award
2
 Aim Give the aim of your project 3
 Objectives Aims and objectives are different things. If you read
your lecture notes, you will know how to write the aim
and the objectives
5
 Ethical Statement You must include an ethical statement and complete a
sample ethical form. The sample Ethical form must be
included as Appendix A to your report
Research projects cannot be approved unless they
meet ethical requirements. If you do not include a
completed ethical form as appendix A you will receive a
FAIL grade
0
There are no marks for this element but this is a
pass/fail element. An assignment that does not
include an ethical statement and a copy of the ethical
form will receive a maximum of 49 marks.

 Intellectual Challenge You must include a paragraph showing why this
research is at master’s level. A master’s level project
will include the investigation of a problem, academic
research and the development of an artefact. A project
which only includes an artefact such as “develop a
banking system” or “Build an e-commerce site” is NOT
at masters level and would fail
5
 Deliverables You must state the deliverables from your project.
Deliverables are the things that will exist at the end of
your project but which do not exist at the start of your
project. We will expect you to include things such as:
Project plan
Literature review
Analysis and design documentation
A working artefact/proof of concept implementation
A test plan and test results
A critical evaluation
3
 Resources List the resources you will need to produce these
deliverables
3
 Research Approach You must provide an outline of your research approach.
You must explain whether your approach will be
qualitative or quantitative and how you will carry out the
research
12

 Data Collection Approach In this section you must explain the type of data you
expect to be dealing with, how you will collect the data
and how you will analyse it.
20
 A literature review that gives the context for
your investigation. In this section you must
identify important past and current work
connected to the project. Key researchers and
practitioners should be cited, particularly those
whose work you expect to be using or
developing.
This section must be referenced.
References must be current. A paper where the
references are all from the last decade or earlier will
receive a FAIL grade for this element
Failure to reference appropriately will mean a fail grade
for this element
25
 A conclusion 2
Appendix A Include a copy of your ethical form Total: 80
Appendix B