Research Proposal: Innovation in Restaurant Business - Hospitality

This research proposal explores the importance of innovation in the restaurant business, particularly within the tourism and hospitality sectors. It outlines the problem statement, research objectives, and employs an applied research design using a mixed-method approach. Primary data is collected through a Qualtrics survey with close-ended questions to gather customer and employee perspectives. The proposal details the justification for using Qualtrics, systematic sampling techniques, and appropriate ethical considerations. Data analysis will be performed using SPSS. The research aims to identify the effectiveness of innovation, measure customer satisfaction, and provide insights into modern technologies and equipment used in restaurants to enhance their competitiveness.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research proposal
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this proposal.
I am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of those who helped me to prepare this proposal: students, teachers and
Local Education Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. In this context, I am also
thankful to them, whose research proposal helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Executive summary
This research proposal has focused on the research problem of innovation in the restaurant
business. The problem statement was clearly explained with detailed outlining of the objectives
to be achieved at the end of the research. Specific research methodology, research design and
data collection methods were described with the justification of using a particular one. Further,
explanation was given for using Qualtrics survey to gather information from the research
participants. The survey included only close- ended questions to gather valid response from the
participants. Sample selection and the justification for using the same was explained in this
proposal. It ended with suitable ethical considerations and the justification for using an
appropriate data analysis technique.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................5
Problem statement and research objectives.....................................................................................5
Research design...............................................................................................................................5
Data collection methods..................................................................................................................6
Qualtrics Survey Explanation..........................................................................................................7
Open Ended Questions....................................................................................................................7
Close Ended Questions....................................................................................................................8
Justification for selecting the Close Ended Questions.....................................................................8
Sample Selection.............................................................................................................................9
Justification for selecting the Systematic Sampling Technique......................................................9
Ethical considerations....................................................................................................................10
Data Analysis Techniques.............................................................................................................10
Justification for selecting SPSS.....................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendix........................................................................................................................................13
Questionnaire.................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
This research proposal will focus on innovation in the restaurant business that will lead to
effectiveness in the hospitality and tourism industry. It is important to move away slightly from
the traditional forms and experiment with new and modern technologies and equipments. In the
contemporary business environment, every sector is trying to adopt innovation for getting
competitive advantage in the business (Lee, Hallak and Sardesmukh 2016). Similarly, the
tourism and hospitality sector is also implying innovation in their restaurant business to attract
the customers.
Problem statement and research objectives
As innovation is an emerging trend in the business sector, therefore the hospitality and
tourism sector is also implementing the same. Innovation has always led to potential benefits
with proper application. The problem statement for this research proposal will be the importance
of innovation in the restaurant business.
The primary objective of this research is to use innovation in the form of new and modern
technologies in the restaurant business. Many restaurants all over the world have started
experimenting with their product and service delivery in order to bring in innovation (Bernstein
and Sheen 2016). It is intended to attract more customers in the restaurant thus, providing them
with ultimate satisfaction.
 To find out about innovation in the restaurant business
 To look out for the effectiveness of innovation in the tourism and hospitality industry
 To measure customer satisfaction as a result of innovation in the restaurant business

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Research design
There are two types of research design in core function- pure and applied research. Pure
research is carried out without thinking about any practical outcome and it is driven by intuition.
Applied research refers to the scientific work carried out to solve a specific problem (Lewis
2015). For this particular research, applied research will be used. This is because the research
will be carried out with the intention of finding an effective solution to the research problem.
Again, there are four types of research design in information requirements- exploratory,
descriptive, explanatory and predictive. Exploratory research refers to the pattern of research
when there are limited existing studies on similar problem. Descriptive research refers to
acquiring more information about the problem. Explanatory research refers to analyzing the
cause of the problem. Predictive research refers to the general relationship for finding out the
probability of similar problems. In this case, descriptive research design will be used in order to
gather more information on the research problem related to innovation in restaurant business.
With respect to research methodology, there are three types- qualitative, quantitative and
mixed (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). Qualitative research refers to the measurement of the
categories represented by name, code or symbol. Quantitative research refers to the measurement
of numeric variables. Mixed method refers to the combination of qualitative and quantitative by
evaluating, gathering and combining the name, numbers and symbols. For this particular
research, mixed method will be used to consider the measurement of both qualitative and
quantitative data.

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Data collection methods
There are two different forms of data collection methods- primary and secondary.
Primary data is collected from the first- hand and original sources. These kinds of data are
collected in the form of surveys and interviews. Secondary data is collected from the existing
sources, which were used for previous researches on similar topics. These kinds of data are
collected from company reports, shareholder reports, censuses, government documents, journal
articles and others (Orkin 2014). The benefit of using primary data is that the researcher collects
the information for a specific purpose, but it is expensive and time- consuming. Secondary data
has the benefits of using for future research as it was already used, but the data collected might
be inappropriate and invalid. For this particular research, primary data will be collected in the
form of survey by using questionnaire.
Qualtrics Survey Explanation
The survey is a systematic method for the gathering of information from a selected group
of sample or entities for the use of the construction of different qualitative descriptors of the
different attributes of the larger population of which the entities acts as the members. The main
purpose of conducting the survey is to gain an idea about the personal attitudes, behaviors,
options and different beliefs that cannot be observed directly. The more closely the answers the
people give to the survey questions, the more is the chance of the success of the survey.
The researcher in this particular topic will be using either the open ended or the close
ended questions to complete the particular process of the following research. The research on the
identifying the innovativeness of the Australian restaurants can be identified only through the
conduction of the survey to get the ground level responses of the customers and the employees of

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different types of restaurants. A key part in the creation of the excellent online surveys will be
the proper and efficient use of the open ended as well as the close ended questions. It is
important for the formulator of the research to gain a thorough knowledge on both the types of
the survey question types.
Open Ended Questions
The open ended questions are exploratory in nature. These types of different exploratory
questions provide the respondent with the freedom of answering questions without any form of
pressure. This type of questions does not have any options and thus the customers get the right to
answer in a detailed way. These questions generally contains rich amount of qualitative data that
provides an opportunity to the formulator of the research to gain the valuable insights into the
topics of the data. This type of questions does not at all refer to any form of statistical data or
provides conclusive research. The open ended questions are useful for the research in a number
of different ways which includes the likes of the;
a. Expert Interviews
b. Small Population studies
c. Respondent Outlets
Close Ended Questions
Just in contrast with the open ended questions the closed ended questions on the other
hand needs to have explicit options for a respondent to select from. There are a large variety of
different survey forms in this particular type of the close ended questions. This includes the likes
of the multiple choice questions, semantic differential, check boxes, ranking and many more as

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such. Each type of question does not allow the participants in the research to provide unique or
unprecedented answers. The participants have to choose from the pre selected range of the
different types of answer that are provided to them.
Justification for selecting the Close Ended Questions
The following research will be using the close ended questions to conduct and complete
the main research. The use of the closed ended questions is justified due to a variety of different
reasons. The huge time consumed to complete the research by means of the open ended
questions is one of the main reasons for the selection of the close ended questions. The next big
reason for the selection of the close ended questions will be its ability to provide to the point
answers as the multiple choice format will be used by the researcher to complete the following
study. Thus the use of the following questions is justified and explained.
Sample Selection
In order to conduct the research properly and efficiently, the formulator of the research
must make sure to select the appropriate range of the sampling technique. The most widely used
range of sampling technique Re the likes of the probability and the non-probability methods of
sampling. The samples of the following survey will be collected from a large range of different
population that will be based on the specific criterion, visit to the restaurants, experience and
gender. The probability sampling technique can be defined as the equal chances for each and
every participant that must be selected for the data collection process. In this particular case, the
different participants of a selected population have equal range of chances for their selection in
the responses collection process.

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The Non-Probability sampling process on the other hand can be explained as the unequal
or uneven chances that are presented to the participants of the survey to be conducted in the
research for the collection of the data. In this particular case the researchers selects the data by
judging the suitability in respect to the research topic.
Justification for selecting the Systematic Sampling Technique
In the research where the innovativeness of the Australian Restaurants will be identified
the research will use the systematic sampling technique. The particular form of research
sampling technique will be used in this research to avoid any bias and also to provide a much
greater scope to the research. A number of around 60 employees and customers of the different
restaurants will be involved in the following research.
Ethical considerations
This research will be carried out by maintaining strict ethical considerations. This is
because a research including primary data needs to maintain more ethical considerations than the
ones involving secondary data. The reason behind this is that while collecting primary data a
researcher needs to be in direct contact with the respondents. According to Lyles et al. (2017),
following are the important ethical consideration that will be focused on while carrying out this
research. The participants will not be harmed in any way during the course of this research and
the. On the other hand the top priority will be given to the dignity of the research participants.
The information that will be gathered in the research will be protected and the confidentiality
will be maintained. Apart from this, no information will be disclosed without the permission of
the respondents and the anonymity of the research participants will be maintained. There will not

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be any deception or exaggeration with the aims and objectives of the research or any chance of
possible conflicts will be informed beforehand.
Data Analysis Techniques
The data collected will be from the primary data collection that will be conducted through
the survey will be analyzed to prove both the null and the alternative hypothesis of the following
research. The collected data will be represented with the help of graphs and bar charts.
Justification for selecting SPSS
The case of the current research, the formulator of the research will be using the SPSS
analysis method for the analysis of the collected data. The data will be collected from the
different types of customers and employees of restaurants. This forms the variable of the survey.
The content will be analyzed with cross tabulation method.