This paper will be a research project that tests a hypothesis chosen by the student that can relate to the place of current employment or previous employment but may not include or involve human subjects directly.
Sample general topics could include:
Manufacturing Quality/Cost Improvement
Service Quality Improvement
Systems Design
Accounts Receivable/Billing/AR Aging
Marketing/Advertising Issues
Sales of Goods
Investments
Product Safety
Workplace Safety
Labor Pools
HR matters of broad concern
Population Studies
Others approved by course instructor
The hypothesis should be a possible cause and effect relationship regarding a process, underlying assumption, or plan that is important to the business. It should not be too broad. The hypothesis must be approved by the instructor by the end of the third week of class. The research process of planning, data sampling, collection and data evaluation should be described. The type of study should be defined and justified. Collect a small representative data sample. Fifteen is the recommended sample size. The data can be collected from observations, surveys, or historical records. The data results should be summarized and displayed and a brief analysis should be included. Use appropriate descriptive or inferential statistics.