The Research Report needs to contain 7,500 words that are a product of the assessment of the gathered information and written according to a specific criteria, with a recommended structure and content. There are 20 OBU approved topics the students can choose from and base the RAP. All the topics are based on the ACCA Qualifications syllabus and cover F1 to F9 papers, and the ACCA students are fairly familiar with all of them.

After selecting a topic, the student needs to aim their choice on one company for basing the RAP upon. For topics 8 and 15, there are sector specific requirements for the selection of companies, that are based on the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). All the industry sectors are outlined in this Information Pack and are published on the ACCA website in June each year.

The project research needs to be a business evaluation and analysis, and not only a financial analysis, and needs to covet the topic area issues of the selected company. The reached conclusions and recommendations need to provide answers to the specific research questions and meet the set project objectives. The student needs to take in all these constraints while performing the research and later when writing the Research Report. Here are some helpful suggestions:

1. Set realistic, achievable research questions and report objectives.

The student is not submitting a Masters or a Doctorate dissertation, which means that there can be some limits that arise from the word count, content and structure of the Research Report. Some students forget this, and usually make a long list of objectives or a very short list of objectives – both these actions lead to low grade project of even failing the project.

The criteria for effective objectives are sometimes defined as SMART objectives which is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic and
• Time bound

The student needs to think over these objectives related to the project objectives that have been set. It is advisable that the student discusses the proposed objectives with their Mentor before the actual work begins.

2. There is a recommended structure and content which the student needs to follow and have in mind the suggested word count for every section of the project. There are benefits from the close following of the recommendations about the structure and content, and the most important one is that it serves as a checklist that pictures the assessment criteria that later apply. Some students select to ignore the recommendations about the structure and content, and use their won structure and content. This may not be a reason for failure on its own, but it can easily lead to forgetting of some important requirements which can lead to failure. The presentation of the information is very important, and the students need to check their report for style, language, expression, the proper use of tables, charts and diagrams and the correct structure of the appendices, and be in the limit of the proposed 7,500 word count.

3. The nature and type of information you need the student needs to gather is determined by the choice of topic and the set research questions and report objectives. Depends on the project objectives that have been set, many (if not all) of the approved topics can be completed using information from secondary sources. There is no unique requirement to use only primary sources, but the selection of the topic and company and the setup of the objectives may lead to the consideration that the student will have to use the primary sources of information.

Every student needs to go over many sources of information including the Internet. Many students make the mistake of relying only on one source of information, like for example only on the company’s annual reports, and not considering any additional sources of information like analysts’ reports, financial press articles, consumer journals and more, in order to get an alternative point of view.

The student should also consult important academic sources so they are able to make the correct decision regarding the business and accounting concepts, models, techniques and theories they will be using in their project. The student should also use the academic sources to understand the issues that are connected to the selected company, and in the analysis and evaluation of the gathered information.

A “relevant” business model in the mentioned context is the presentation of the part that can be explained as a business system or a business process. This serves as a manner for facilitation of the understanding, analysis an assessment of the part of the business process or business system it is related to. There are several of these models – tools – that can be used, some shown below:

For example,

• A PEST model identifies those factors which shape and influence the business environment in which the organisation operates;
• A SWOT identifies the key issues emerging from an examination of the organisations internal strengths and weaknesses in the context of the opportunities and threats which its business environment presents;
• PORTER’S 5 FORCES identifies those factors which determine the level of competition in the industry in which the organisation exists, and thus key aspects of the competitive environment which an organisation faces;

The VALUE CHAIN model enables an organisation to analyse and assess its competitive strength.

Students can easily make a mistake of numbering several models without the appropriate discussion of their limitations or their application in the understanding of the important issues in the selected company and the business environment. None of these models are used for the analysis and evaluation of the gathered information and judging the level of the meeting of the proposed report objectives. The point of this is to use a limited number of important theories/models etc., and to know and show their limitations and correctly apply these theories/models…, in the evaluation of the company’s issues and for explaining the findings and the drawing of the conclusions that are important to the set report objectives.

A common student mistake that leads to failure is the failing to make a proper analysis/evaluation and mistakes in the information gathering process and referencing. This occurs when many information that is not correctly referenced in the text is included in Section 3 of the Report: Results, Analysis, Conclusions and Recommendations.

Example: a detailed SWOT analysis is listed, but without the correct referencing, there is a lack of sources that are related to the presented information. In many cases, parts of the company’s annual report have been extracted, or from some other source, but there is no proper reference in the text. If a student does this, they will probably fail in the professional and technical skills of the analysis/evaluation, on the point that there is no manner of knowing where the used information comes from and the lack of graduate skills in referencing.

The proper and adequate referencing is an important graduate skill. This points to the acknowledgement of the efforts and work used from others, and helps in avoiding plagiarism, providing evidence of the extent of the student’s research and reading material. It allows the examiners, if necessary,  to check the cited sources and evaluate the student’s interpretation. Every student is required to use proper references in their report, in the text and the appendix with a comprehensive list of references.

If the student selects to do primary research in the selected company, there are some important things to consider:

• The student needs to get permission from a relevant senior staff member of the company. Many student come to difficulties when trying to gain access to the require information from their selected company, and they need to clearly outline who they are and what they need so they can obtain permission for obtaining the necessary information. The student is required to supply a Letter of authorisation and approval for taking the primary research, and this letter needs to come from a senior member of the management of the company. It needs to be a part of the Appendix of the RAP submission.
• The student has to explain the used methods, the sample size and strategy, and give appropriate comments on the response rate they have gotten.
• The student should include a discussion of the ethical issues they’ve encountered while conducting the primary research and their manner of dealing and resolving of such issues.

The student must remember that if they use questionnaires or interviews, then a copy of these needs to be included in the Appendix of the Research report, a copy of the questionnaire, a summary of the responses, list of interview questions and a sum of the main responses and points.

The student needs to extract the important points they have encountered that will be the support for the analysis in the main part of the Report. The student also needs to be aware of the limits the gathered information bring. Considering the sample size used and the response rate, and the proposed word count limit of the Research Report, the student can likely use a tentative conclusion based on the primary research. This points that a comprehensive, complex statistical analysis is not possible or appropriate. This is again a point into the fact that a limited and realistic Research Report objectives need to be set at the start of the research process.

4. A very important fact to remember is that a major cause for failing the Research Report is the insufficient analysis and evaluation of gathered and presented information.

Many students show that they have problems when it comes to analysis and evaluation. The analysis points to the detailed study of the parts of a complex phenomenon so it can be interpreted and explained easily. For example, Topic Area 8 is related to “The Business and Financial Performance of an Organisation over a 3 year period”.

The “Business and Financial Performance” is a complex phenomenon. This contains many elements, like market share, market growth, revenue growth, profitability, liquidity, productivity and many other efficiency indicators. These indicators may be of a quantitative or qualitative nature. The studying of the business and financial performance over a three year period needs to consider the business environment or context in which the selected company operates. A situational analysis like a PEST of 5 C analysis can be very helpful, but only if properly applied to the selected company and the business context. The financial performance is best analysed via the ratio analysis. But the attempt in explaining the reason why these indicators have changed needs to be based on the business context that has to include the actions by the government, competition and the company itself.

The evaluation is the process of creating judgements about something, viewed form a point of significance, size, quality, or impact. This implies the process of measurement, appraisal, estimation and judgement. It is not sufficient to evaluate the company’s yearly performance by simply looking at the reports. That is why the use of a comparator companies. The “benchmarking” against the best in the industry, or using the industry norms is necessary for preparing an objective conclusion on the performance of a company. This is in terms of establishing a relation to the performance of others, and not considering if the performance of the studied company is determined as poor or good.

While making a consideration about the performance of a company, the students needs to recognize that the judgements of the different stakeholder groups are likely to be based on various different indicators or criteria, like:

• Shareholders will look at indicators related to capital growth and dividends;
• Customers will tend to focus on a price/quality dimension – such as “value for money”;
• Suppliers may be much more concerned with liquidity or longevity of a business relationship, and

Employees may be most concerned with those indicators related to increased security of employment and promotion opportunities, such as growth and liquidity etc.

That is why a point of view that considers all the different indicators and viewpoints, and has included the short and longer-term criteria will be helpful while making the evaluation of the performance of the company. The perspective that is taken in such case is determined by the specified objectives that were set at the beginning of the Research Report.

No matter the selection of topic, the need to ensure that the Research Report clearly outlines the necessary analytical and evaluative skills is very important.

Should the student select a topic on motivation, they will most likely evaluate the findings against the predictions originating from the organisational theories that have been reviewed. The most important point of this is that the Research Report demonstrates that the student has applied the correct and appropriate analytical and evaluative techniques to the gathered information, and this enables the student to reach their set report objectives and with that, they will easily meet the established RAP requirements.

The ACCA website offers advice on the approach to the RAP in their Information Pack. The students need to read this, and pay attention to the defined assessment criteria. The completion of the RAP is a significant learning experience, and knowing and respecting the above mentioned points will serve as great help in the student’s success.

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Students can get confused by the requirement to “explain the general research approach” that is outlined in the guideline for preparing the RAP. A proposed explanation that the research is the “framework… developed in order to meet the project objectives and provide answers to the research questions”, does not satisfy the student’s expectations. What is this, what does it mean, and why it’s importance?

A good explanation can be: the base structure which shapes and guides the student’s Research Report. This provides the link between the goal that the student is trying to find out and an outline to the methods the student has used to give the necessary answers. This sets a series of parts that are important to the research process, and the ones related to the RAP are noted below:

1. The original problem or issue that is defined by the topic the student  selects in the context of the selected company.
2. The specific research questions and report objectives which the student sets or proposes, to answer or meet.
3. Review of literature relevant to the concepts/theories/models in accounting and business in order to determine which the student will use, identification of their limitations, and develop the understanding of the issues in the context of the selected company.
4. Methods of gathering information the student will use including a discussion of the limitations of the information gathering process, and any ethical issues arising and how their resolution.
5. The analysis and evaluation the student conducts based on the business/accounting techniques etc. applied in providing answers to the proposed research questions and meeting the report objectives.
6. Conclusions and all (if any) relevant recommendations of practical benefit that have come out from the performed research.

Even though the above explanation makes the research process to look like an orderly and sequential, it is not so much in practice. In reality this process is tangled, disorganised and messy. It is still very helpful for the student to set a plan of action before proceeding with the actual research.

Every student should write a short statement that will outline the selected approach before the actual information gathering begins, or in the list above this is between stages c. and d. After this, the student should ask the following questions:

• Will this approach enable me to answer the research questions and meet the report objectives I have set?
• If not, do I need to gather more information from a wider range of secondary sources, or conduct some primary research, or both?
• Or do I need to review and revise my research questions or project report objectives?
• After the student has ensured themselves that they are familiar with all the important facts about research, only then they should proceed with the investigation and information gathering process. The clear way of consideration of the general research approach and the layout of a statement based on that act as guides during the whole research process, and influence on the structure of the student’s actions and deeds.

The layout of a clear statement about the general research approach enables the examiner to note that the student has in fact adopted a systematic approach that is appropriate and helpful for reaching the set objectives.

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A good first step is the demystification of the research process, as it is essential to the preparation of the RAP.

A simple definition of research means to investigate, enquire, look into, explore and find out. If considering  as an investigation, then a simple example: people conduct research when looking to buy a car. Certain decisions need to be made: size, economy, reliability, price range… A person will study all the reviews of the selected models in order to get in-depth help in evaluation of the possibilities. After a suitable test-drive, the person is able to make a selection of a car that best meets their specifications and by their judgment is the best “deal” for a car.

There are a lot of similarities in this sample and the general view of the research seen as an investigative process that involves many stages and phases, and it is necessary for preparing the RAP.

The research for the RAP is an example of an applied business research that focuses in the business problems and issues that are set in a context of a single company. The applied business research has a purpose of contributing to the solution of the issues or even increasing the understanding of its significance. It may result in some recommendations that can be made to a concerned individual or the studied company. It brings a very practical aspect in problem solving, and in some ways can be similar to consultancy work.

There is also academic purpose that underlines the design of the RAP project, and this is in ensuring that the student masters some important transferable or graduate skills, that the student can show by passing the RAP.

These skills include the following:

• Completing an independent research based project;
• Information gathering and referencing appropriately;
• Effective written and oral presentation;
• Using information technology;
• Problem solving, analysis and evaluation; and
• Self-managed learning.

All of these are subjected to assessment in the Research Report, and the reflection on the learning experience achieved during the preparation of the project is assessed by completing the Skills and Learning Statement, both of these are parts of the RAP.

The applied business research requires the student uses a systematic investigative process.

The most important part is the word “systematic”, meaning that the research is planned, methodical and in compliance to the already established research methods, and also this takes account of the other published work by other authors in the relevant field.

There are some practical suggestions that the student should partake a systematic approach to the following:

• Information gathering;
• Interpretation and analysis of gathered information; and
• An overall evaluation that provides answers to, or allows understanding of the original problem or studied issue.

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The information is the base for every Research Report. The information sources (including secondary sources of information) are classified as primary or secondary data. There are no strict requirements that you needs to collect information only from primary sources of the Research Report, there is an acceptable point to collect information from secondary sources for the necessities of the Research Report.

The Secondary Data is the data collected by other for different purposes, and can be used by the researcher for the purpose of their Research Report. Some samples are reference materials, books, CD-s, financial statements and the like. The student should always examine the relevance and correctness of the sources of secondary data. Many information from online sources may not be very reliable, seen from an academic point of view, and are sometimes inappropriate to be used in the Research Report.

Should the student decide to use secondary data for their research, then a proper justification and explanation should follow the choice. The use of published secondary data needs to be properly referenced by using the Harvard Referencing System (refer appendix 3 of Information Pack for more detail)

The student needs to retain and keep all the information gathered during the research and preparation of the project, and have them in their possession until they receive an official notification on their RAP grade by the OBU. This goes for questionnaire responses, financial statements, extracts from journals and books, reports used, magazine articles and the like. Sometimes it is possible that the OBU will ask some of the students to supply additional evidence of their information gathering process that has occurred during the preparation of the Research and Analysis Project.

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The information is the base for every Research Report. The information sources are classified as primary sources or secondary sources.  The Primary Data (primary sources) is the original data collected by a researcher using whatever necessary means for the purpose of answering the specific research questions, meaning that it has been collected specifically for the purpose of the Research Report. Some samples are questionnaires, interviews, e-mail contacts and surveys.

If the student decides to collect primary data (primary sources) for the purpose of the Research Report, then they should explain (1) The intended data collection techniques to use: questionnaires, interviews (2) The sample size and an outline of the sampling strategy and (3) The method used for selecting the sample and the likely response rate.

If, for the purpose of the Research Report, the student plans to collect primary data from the staff of the selected company, they will need to obtain a permission from a senior member of the management of the company. This should be done at the beginning of the work on the Research Report, because if the student faces rejection, then they will still have time to reconsider other means for meeting the set project objectives and answering the proposed research questions.

Few important considerations for collection and analysing primary data provided below;

• Many students get confused by the term “primary data”. This is not the “main” data, like the company accounts used in Topic 8. The primary data does not exist and needs to be created and collected so the student will reach their set research objectives and get the appropriate answers to the proposed research questions of the RAP.
• Several RAP topics, like Topic 8 do not require the use, collection and analysis of primary data. For Topic 8, the use of primary data rarely enhances the analysis and improves the results.
• Several topics, like Topic 6, require the use of primary data (unless there is already such data like employee satisfaction survey). When there is the requirement to use primary data, then it is important that the student’s research approach is explained in the RAP, along with it the need to use primary data instead of secondary data. Below in this text, there is an explanation of the structure of the RAP project. In Part 1 of the Research Report, there is a requirement to explain the general research approach used. This provides the reader of the report an easy understanding of the genera framework that the student has developed in order to meet the research objectives and give the answers to the proposed research questions. (It is not expected in the BSc RAP that students develop a ‘research methodology’, or have a ‘research philosophy’, as would be expected in a postgraduate research project).
• May students get ambitious with wanting to test a hypothesis (explained like a positivist study). There should be some close review and care for this kind of project, as this can lead to an inappropriate or incorrect statistical analysis that will lower the quality of the final analysis in the Research Report.
• The research approach must explain the following:

1. 1. 1. Why use primary data, for example the information on the individual employee attitudes regarding motivation at work;
      2. Where will the student find its sources of primary data: employees, managers, company directors and the like; why these particular respondents have been selected;
      3. How did the student get access to the providers of the primary data (and interviewing employees or ambushing them outside of the workplace is unacceptable);
      4. An explanation of the sampling strategy needs to be given. The student needs to show their awareness of the probability and the non-probability sampling, and select the appropriate approach. There are no expectations of including a statistical calculation of the necessary sample size, the student needs to show that they are aware of the size of the studied population and know that the sample size used is representative. Saunders quotes the advice of The Economist (1997) that a minimum sample size of 30 for statistical analysis provides a useful rule of thumb; and
      5. Where a sampling strategy is of critical importance when using a questionnaire, this needs to be considered then the data collection planning is done for an interview. A small number of interviewees are acceptable, maybe less than 10, but the student should explain the small sample size, explain the selection process and show that the selected interviewees are in face a representative of the whole population.

• Very important role has the design of the questionnaire and the selection of the interview questions. The recommended RAP structure demands that the student explain, in Part 2 of the Research Report, the used methods for data collection and the accounting and/or business techniques used in the analysis. For RAP topics like Topic 6, that depends on the primary data, the design of the interview or questionnaire needs to relate to one or more business models. For the structure of the questionnaire and/or interview, appropriate theory needs to be used, and this needs to have influence on the wording of the questions. The questionnaires that have adopted the Likert scale are facilitating a rigorous analysis, but even a combination of closed and opened questions may lead to acceptable outcome. The questionnaires should not contain irrelevant questions (marital status) and need to look at correlation of the data (different age groups’ rating of the different products and their attributes in a marketing survey). In the RAP Appendix, there needs to be a blank copy of the questionnaire and a list of the used interview questions.
• The analysis of the responses of the interview needs to be done in a systematic and comprehensive manner. A clear number of answers needs to be given, any percentage analysis of the similar responses needs to be related to the total number of answers. In the Appendix (or the body of the report) also includes should be a quantitative analysis of the responses (the percentage of responses to each question or element of the Likert scale), such that covers all the questionnaire questions. The application of the relevant theory and the analysis of the questionnaire or interview questions needs to cover all of these.
• The proper references need to be placed in their appropriate places throughout the RAP project. The questionnaire results need to be referenced as “author research survey, date:” or with similar words. The sources used as interview subjects need to be noted with job title and interview date, and name (if not confidential) or with a form of an anonymous but informative and recognizable title (See RAP Information Pack, Appendix 3, Section 3.4 Personal Communication).
• The presentation of the results of the collection of the primary data need to be done in a detailed and informative manner, via the appropriate use of tables, charts and diagrams, but the student needs to note that presentation does not equal analysis. For meeting the analysis requirements of the RAP, the collected primary data needs to be critically evaluated via the use of the business model that have been identifies in Part 2 of the Research Report (or other models, where appropriate).

Important Consideration: If the student uses primary data collection, they need to include a Letter of authorisation and approval for conducting primary research; this Letter needs to be issued from a senior person in the management of the company and be included in the Appendix of the RAP submission.

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