A research plan should contain the following elements:
- Topic: this outlines the name of the research.
- Background: In the background to the research plan, one would sketch a short history of the problem or opportunity to be researched, its causes, effects and symptoms.
- Research scope: The scope of research is the areas covered in the research. This part of the research paper you will tell exactly what was done and where the information that was used specifically came from. The type of information that would be included in the scope of a research project would include;
- Facts and theories about the subject of the project. Depending on the subject, the scope can be large or small, as there are different materials available for different projects.
- The limitations, also known as the bounds, are the cease of the scope of studies.
- When enough information has been gathered from a scope of a study, the individual who is doing the project may “wrap up” the information once a conclusion can be formed. Projects with too much information may bore or overwhelm the audience and cause the project to be ineffective due to the lack of information retained.
For example, the scope would be something such as person gathering information from children between the ages of five years of age to 18 years of age. The information could be used for several purposes, such as for school record keeping. The limitations of this study would include the decision to not gather information from students from college and up. The information for school record keeping would not include those who have already graduated high school; therefore, information collected from college students and beyond would be irrelevant. Every research project includes scopes and limitations of the material being researched. Without these two factors, the reports would be meaningless and drone on for a length of time, and would not benefit anyone in the long run.
- Research objectives: There is need to translate’ chosen area objectives into research objective. For example, research objectives for new markets may be to:
- Identify a shortlist of markets to focus on
- Select a target market within each of these shortlisted markets to focus research and marketing efforts on
- Better understand the market environment
- Identify the tariff and non-tariff barriers to success
- Identify your major competitors and the products they sell
- Understand what drives the customer to buy similar products
- Understand the importance of brands, pricing, quality, features, service, etc. to potential customers
- Identify intermediaries that could assist in entering the market place
- Identify the best way to market the products in the foreign marketplace
- Target audience: This section of the research plan specifies the audience that the research is seeking to target. It covers who is the audience, where are they , current knowledge, educational qualifications, and expectations
- Research methodology:This part of the research plan which is quite important and will outline how one plans to carry out the marketing research. This part identifies the research methods and sources of information to be used. This shall be discussed in the next session.
- Research budget:A statement of the resources needed for the research. This is very important as it would determine the scope modus operandi in the research. Whether or not the research is going to be done in a vast or small area depends on the budget.
- Research schedule:The research schedule should indicate how long this research will take to complete and when the various outputs of the research can be expected. It acts as a guide to the researchers.
- Data analysis and presentation: This section covers the data analysis tools that shall be used in the research, computer application or software to be used for presentation of data e.g power point, excel etc
- Conclusion:The brief will end with a conclusion, summarising the purpose of the research and indicating that all of the outcomes generated by this brief will be compiled into a research report.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.