Research Project: Digital Technology Impact on SMEs

This research project examines the impact of digital technology on the business activities of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), specifically focusing on The 41 Hotel London. The project aims to understand how digital technology is used in business operations, identify the types of digital technologies employed, and assess their impact on the hotel's business. The research includes literature reviews of sources discussing technology's role in satisfying customer needs, embracing digital technology as a strategic imperative, and understanding information behavior. The methodology involves a communicative approach, utilizing both primary and secondary data collection through questionnaires administered to 20 employees. The project covers various areas, including the implications of digital technology in SMEs. Ethical considerations, including informed consent and data storage compliance, are also addressed, ensuring participant privacy and data security.

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Unit 11
Research Project
Term 4
Research Proposal form……..pg2
Research Ethical form .…..pg8
Research Proposal Form
Proposed Title: “The impact of digital technology on business activity of SME’s”
______________________________________________

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Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a question, objective or hypothesis)
“The impact of digital technology on business activity of SME’s”
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer? What do you want to learn how to do? What do you want to find out?):
Research objectives
 To understand how it takes place business activities at The 41 Hotel London
 To determine what types of digital technologies are used by The 41 Hotel London
 To examine the impact of digital technology on business operations of The 41 Hotel London To recommend and suggest methods through which The 41 Hotel London can improve their digital technologies effectively and efficiently.
Research questions
 What types of business operations are carried out at 41 Hotel UK?
 What kinds of digital technology are needed to be used at 41 Hotel UK taking in the consideration the type of activity is doing?
 What kind impact has digital technology on business activities of 41 Hotel UK?
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you are studying, personal interest, future plans,
knowledge/skills you want to improve, why the topic is important):
In order to get the picture of the implications understanding and use of digital technology at small and medium scale enterprises

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this project has been chosen.
As a future women business that has experience in hotelier field we believe that analysing how digital technology is used can be a
very important aspect in future activity as business manager, owner, entrepreneur knowing that more and more business is
moving in the virtual field
Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question, objective or hypothesis:
According to authors technology helps in satisfying customers need. In daily life, mobile phones, laptop, different machines help in storing and
generating its data. Hotel system also includes informing about flight timings and make reminders to them through mobile phones by texting to
customers. Digital technology is very essential and significant for any business or organization to increase its effectiveness and efficiency. In hotels,
digital technologies are used widely in terms of increasing business efficiency. It is used to boost competitive advantage in organisation. Furthermore,
access to internet helps in getting information about hotels and can analyse data in reference to check in and out times, its rating scale and reviews to
make easy decisions. Different hotel websites help customers in getting room booked rapidly. There are various types of digital technologies which can
be implemented in a hotel such as Mobile Engagement, Artificial Intelligence,Alternative Payments and Things On Internet that can assist the firm to
improve performance and profitability.
Blackwell, C.K., Lauricella, A.R. and Wartella, E., 2016. Factors influencing digital technology use in early childhood education. Computers &
Education. 77. pp.82-90.
In few words, in our assignment we will analyse and highlight the factors that are influencing digital technology and why is important to digital
technology to be introduce even from the early years of education.
Fitzgerald, M., Bonnet, D. and Welch, M., 2016. Embracing digital technology: A new strategic imperative. MIT sloan management
review. 55(2). p.1.
As the world evolves very fast and digital technology becomes a big player in this game Fitzerlad, Bonnet and Welch how and why is important to
embrace digital technology as a new strategy to be able to expand a business

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Goodall, K.T., Newman, L.A. and Ward, P.R., 2016. Improving access to health information for older migrants by using grounded theory and
social network analysis to understand their information behaviour and digital technology use. European journal of cancer care. 23(6). pp.728-
738.
Goodall, Newman and Ward are talking about grounded theory, social networks analyse and how to understand behaviour and the use of digital
technology, so for research we will have a deeper look over how they analyse the use of digital technology.
Nambisan, S., 2016. Digital entrepreneurship: Toward a digital technology perspective of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and
Practice. 41(6). pp.1029-1055.
Digital technology is not only a theory this new tool must be put in practie and we will analyse how this concept can be put in practice looking at how
Nambisan describe and analyse digital entrepreneurship and use of technology in the perspective of a new business.
Oldham, G.R. and Da Silva, N., 2017. The impact of digital technology on the generation and implementation of creative ideas in the
workplace. Computers in Human Behavior. 42. pp.5-11.
Oldham and Da Silva in the book The impact of digital technology of generation and implementation of creative ideas in the work place
Paints a picture of how digital technology impacts over the creative ideas that can be introduced in the workplace, we will analyse the impact and how
computer impacts Human Behaviour.

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Section Four: Activities and timescales
Activities to be carried out during the research project
(e.g research, development and analysis of ideas, writing,
data collection, numerical analysis, tutor meetings,
production of final outcome, evaluation, writing the
report):
Research and development
Analysis of data
Writing of information
Data Collection
Numerical analysis
Meetings with tutors
Production of final outcome
Evaluation of results
How long this will take:
4 weeks
5 weeks
1 week
2 weeks
3 weeks
2 weeks
3 weeks
4 weeks.

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Milestone one: __________Research proposal____
Target date (set by tutor): ______10-Aug_______
Milestone two: ________Literature Review, _Drafting of methodologies, data collection, analysis of
data_______________
Target date (set by tutor): ______16-Aug________________
Section Five: Research approach and methodologies
What type of research approach and methodologies are you likely to use and why?
The present report will utilized the communicative approach, the reason for choosing this research design is that it will depict
the entire task and furthermore recognizes the significance of the research. The researcher will utilize both sort of information
which is effective in understanding the outcome of the task. In this research both primary and secondary data collection is used
to collect data, the reason to choose both the techniques of collecting is data it helps to collect most appropriate data from
primary and secondary sources. Qualitative research approach has been utilized as it assists In To be able to create precise and
useful information effectively and efficiently this research will be a qualitative research. The approach is qualitative but at the
same time it will be quantitative. Data will be collected from 20 employees working in the 41 hotel London. The researcher will
use questionnaire technique for conducting an interview for employees working in the 41 hotel London.
What your areas of research will cover:?
R:This research wil cover areas as what impact and implication can have digital technology in small and medium size
organisations

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Research Ethics approval form
All students conducting research activity that involves human participants or the use of data collected form
human participants are required to gain ethical approval before commencing their research. Please answer all
relevant questions and note that your form may be returned if incomplete.
For further support and guidance please see your respective Unit Tutor:

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Before completing this form, we advise that you discuss your proposed research fully with your unit tutor. Please
complete this form in good time before your research project is due to commence.
Section 1: Basic details:
Project title: The impact of digital technology on business activity of SME’s
Section 2 Project summary
Please select all research methods that you plan to use as a part of your
project:
 Interviews Yes √ No
 Questionnaires Yes √ No
 Observations Yes √ No
 Use of personal records Yes √ No
 Data Analysis Yes √ No
 Action Research Yes √ No
 Focus Groups Yes No √
 Others (Please specify) :
Section 3: Participants
Please answer the following questions, giving full details where
necessary.
Will your research involve human participants?

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Who are the participants? Tick all that apply:
Ages 12-16: Young people aged: 17-18 Adults: √
How will participants be recruited (identified an approached)?
Online
Describe the processes you will use to inform participants about what
you are doing:
R:Email them the details
How will you obtain consent from participants? Will this be written?
How will it be made clear to participants that they may withdraw
consent to participate at any time?
R:Written
Studies involving questionnaires: will participants be given the option of
omitting questions that do not wish to answer? Yes √
No
If no please explain why below and ensure that you cover any ethical
issues arising from this

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Studies involving observation: Confirm whether participants will be
asked for their informed consent to be observed. Yes √
No
Will you debrief participants at the end of their participation (i.e give
them a brief explanation of the study)? Yes √
No
Will participants be given information about the findings of your study?
(This could be a brief summary of your findings in general) Yes
No √
Section 4: Data Storage and Security
Confirm that all personal data will be stored and processed in
compliance with the Data Protection Act (1998) Yes √
No
Who will have access to the data and personal information?
Myself
During the research:

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Where will the data be stored?
My laptop, USB storage and CD
Will mobile devices such as USB storage and laptops be used
Yes √ No
If Yes, please provide further details:
After the research:
Where will the data be stored?
R: Personal archive, USB storage
How long will the data and records be kept for and in what format?
R: 1 Year
Will data be kept for use by other researchers? Yes
No √
Section 5 : Ethical Issues
Are there any particular features of your proposed work, which may

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raise ethical concerns? If so, please outline how you will deal with these:
It is important that you demonstrate your awareness of potential risks
that may arise because of your research. Please consider/address all
issues that may apply. Ethical concerns may include, but are not limited
to the following :
 Informed consent.
 Potentially vulnerable participants.
 Sensitive topics
 Risk to participants and /or researchers
 Confidentiality/anonymity
 Disclosures/ limits to confidentiality
 Data storage and security, both during and after the research
(including transfer, sharing, encryption, protection).
 Reporting
 Dissemination and use of your findings.
Section 6: Declaration
I have read, understood and will abide by the institution’s
Research and Ethics Policy: Yes No
I have discussed the ethical issues relating to my research with
my Unit Tutor:
Yes No
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge:
The above information is correct, and this is a full description of
the ethical issues that may arise in the course of my research