Assignment Task

Topics - Impact of Financial Literacy on Retirement Planning: A Study of Millennials in the UK

Introduction

• Introduction to the topic and issues – this should be written in prose and framed through a contemporary discussion of the issues or situation.
• Rationale – why is the research important? What is the need for the research? Who will benefit from the research?
• Research Aim & Objectives
• Research Questions – identify the key questions that the research is trying to answer.
• Structure of the project

Background/ Context

• Introduction – introduce the reader to the chapter and explain what it covers.
• Overview of the organisation and/or the business environment that the research is set within.
• Contextual discussion of the situation or issue in relation the business operations of the firm and/or the market conditions.
• Summary – sum up the key points from the chapter.

Literature Review

• Introduction – introduce the reader to the Lit Review, explain what a Lit review is and use some direct quotations and references to evidence this discussion. Provide an overview of the key theories that your lit review will discuss.
• Critical review of the underlying concepts and models that influence or impact on the issue / situation. Use sub-headings to structure the sections and arguments.
• Summary - by the end of the Lit Review you should have identified the gaps in the current research or have created a framework that you are going to use to apply within your methodology. Now you need to draw this together so that the reader can see the relevance of the literature that you have critiqued and the gaps / framework that you have created. 

Methodology

Introduction – introduce the reader to the Methodology, explain what a methodology is and use some direct quotations and references to evidence this discussion. Provide an overview of the chapter.

• Critical discussion of research design – detailed explanation showing how the research is structured, needs to cover:
• Research philosophy – ontology & epistemology
•  Research Approach – inductive, deductive or abductive
• Research Design – exploratory, explanatory or descriptive

Methods – a detailed explanation of the specific methods used in the research i.e. interviews, focus groups, observation, surveys, ethnography etc.

•  Explanation and justification of the methods
•  Detailed explanation of the construction of the method, i.e. explaining the interview / survey questions
•  Detailed plan for the delivery of the research method such as how and where will be the survey be distributed, what date range, day and time will the interviews take place, when and where will the observations be conducted etc.
• Piloting – explanation of any testing (piloting) of the research questions and the adjustments made.

Population & Sample – explanation about who the intended target audience is i.e. everyone in the company or all of the marketing & sales team and an explanation of the smaller sample (if applicable) that the research will target.

• Population
• Sample (if applicable) – if the population is small then the research group might be the whole population.
•  Sampling Techniques (if applicable) – explanation about how the sample will be selected.

Data Analysis – critical and detailed discussion explaining how the data will be analysed, should include a discussion of processes and tools.

Validity & Reliability – critical discussion detailing the methods to ensure (as much as possible) the reliability of the data gathered.

Limitations of the Research Design – critical review of the research design choices and discussion of any immediately obvious issues that could prevent the research from generating the data sought, i.e. lack of access to key personnel, company policy, GDPR etc. Needs to include a plan for how to mitigate against these issues.

Research Ethics – explanation about how the research conforms with best practice in research ethics and with the UoG Business School ethics guidelines. Identify any areas of ethical concern and construct a plan to mitigate against these.