Business Research Requests & Proposals
指導老師：任維廉 教授
學生：科管碩一 邱弘懿
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自我介紹
 邱弘懿
 學歷
 政治大學資訊管理學系畢業
 交通大學科技管理所碩一
 工作經驗
 中華民國對外貿易發展協會展覽業務處
 科定企業股份有限公司
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出處 : Business Research Methods, McGraw.Hill
 Author
 Donald R. Cooper
 Florida Atlantic University-Boca Raton
 Pamela S. Schindler
 Wittenberg University
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Outline
 Proposing Research
 The Request for Proposal (RFP)
 The Research Proposal
 Evaluating the Research Proposal
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Proposing Research
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Proposing Research
 Proposal process(Exhibit a-1)
 Request for Proposal (RFP) & Research Proposal
 Internal Research & External Research
 The more inexperienced a researcher is, the more important it is to have a well-
planned and adequately documented proposal.
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Exhibit a-1
The Research Proposal Process
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The Request for Proposal (RFP)
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RFP Development Process
Internal experts + External experts(optional) E.g., Tourism study
Criteria: industry experience, reputation, quality of previous work, strategic alliances etc.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Proposal Administration
Summary Statement of the Problem
Technical Section
Management Section
Contracts and License Section
Pricing Section
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Qualify Potential Suppliers
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RFP Development Process
Internal experts + External experts(optional) E.g., Tourism study
Criteria: industry experience, reputation, quality of previous work, strategic alliances etc.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Proposal Administration
Summary Statement of the Problem
Technical Section
Management Section
Contracts and License Section
Pricing Section
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Proposal Administration
 An overview of important information
 Dates of the RFP process
 When the RFP is released, when the RFP team is available for questions, the date the
proposal is expected, the dates of the evaluation and suppliers selections
 Requirements for preparing the proposal and describe how the proposal will be
evaluated
 Contact information
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Summary Statement of the Problem
 Take the form of a letter introducing the organization and its needs
 Can be an abstract or the first page of the technical section
 Example:
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Technical Section
 Building quality control strengthens the project.
 Problem statement
 Description of functional requirements
 What actual phases will be included in the research
 Neither too specific nor too general
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Management Section
 Sponsor’s management
 Timing on schedules, plans, reports
 Requirements to suppliers
 Implementation schedule, training and reporting schedule, quality control and other
documentation (e.g., supplier qualification, references, etc.)
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Contracts and License Section
 The RFP is a part of final contract and thus should be worded precisely to avoid
interpretation problems.
 Contracts
 A sample purchase contract
 Non-disclosure agreements
 E.g., firm’s strategies, tactics, solutions to challenges
 Others
 Safeguarding of IP and the use of copyrights
 Terms of payment
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Pricing Section
 List all anticipated activities to help sponsors compare and suppliers to cost the
proposal.
 Ethical standards are integral to designing this section.
 Example:
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RFP Format
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Recap and More in RFP Development Process
 Qualify potential suppliers
 Write and distribute RFP 8-10 weeks before the requested date
 Be available to answer questions or hold a pre-bidding conference
 Evaluate submissions on known criteria
 Award contracts and start the project on published dates
 Provide a critique to all suppliers
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The Research Proposal
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The Research Proposal
 The purposes:
 Present the management question and relate its importance
 Discuss the research efforts of others before
 How necessary data are gathered, treated, and interpreted.
 A winning proposal:
 Plan
 Services
 Credentials
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Sponsor Uses
Through iterative discussions,
sponsors may discover the
interpretation of the problem doesn't
encompass all the original symptoms
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Researcher Benefits
 Make cost estimation more accurate
 Help plan and review the project’s logical steps
 Monitor the progress
 Outline for the final report
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Types of Research Proposals
>Exhibit a-4 Proposal Complexity
In public sector, the complexity is generally greater.
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• Sometimes more or less than what’s
shown here is appropriate for a
purpose. E.g., Glossary
• External Research
• Solicited
• Unsolicited
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Executive Summary
 Allow one to quickly understand the thrust = informative abstract
 Solicited version
 Brief statement of management dilemma and management question
 Research objectives/ research questions
 Benefits of your approach
 Unsolicited version
 Brief description of you qualification
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Problem Statement
 State the management dilemma, background, consequences and the resulting
management question( and the importance of a solution)
 Restrictions or areas of the management question that will not be addressed
 Management question
 Shouldn’t be broadly defined
 Distinguish the primary problem from related problems clearly
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Research Objectives
 Address the purpose of the investigation and how the proposed research is planned
 the basis for judging the proposal and final report
 In descriptive study: research question  investigative question
 In causal study: hypothesis
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Literature Review
 Examine the recent(or historically important) research studies, company data, or
industry reports that act as the basis for the study.
 May go beyond scrutinizing the past studies to examine the accuracy, credibility,
and appropriateness of early studies.
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Importance/ Benefits of the Study
 Describe explicit benefits that will accrue from the study and the importance of
“doing the study now” should be emphasized
 Especially important to the unsolicited external proposal
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Research Design
 Describe what you’re going to do in technical terms
 E.g., sample selection and size, data collection method, etc.
 Include as many subsections as needed to show the phases of the project
 When more than one methods exists, discuss the reason for selection and rejection
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Data Analysis
 Describe the proposed handling of the data and the theoretical basis for using
selected techniques.
 For large-scale contract research this section is appropriate whereas for smaller
projects, it is usually included in research design section.
 Suggested to apply sample charts and tables featuring “dummy data”
 A field expert to review the latest available techniques
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Nature and Form of Results
 Specify the types of data to be obtained and the interpretations that will be made in
the analysis.
 E.g., statistical conclusions, applied findings, action plans, recommendations
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Qualifications of Researchers
 Begin with the principal investigator and then similar information on all
participants.
 Professional research competence( relevant research experience. The highest academic
degree held, and memberships in business and technical societies)
 Relevant management experience
 Optionally include the profile of subcontractors for offering specific resources or
facilities such as focus groups and interviews.
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Budget
 Details vary depending on both the sponsor’s and research company’s requirements
and policy.
 Internal: employee and overhead cost
 External: person-hour price
 Don’t forget to put in the cost of proposal writing, publication and delivery of final
report.
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Schedule
 Include major phases, timetables and the milestones.
 Major phases: (1) exploratory interviews, (2) final research proposal, (3) questionnaire
revision, (4) field interviews, (5) editing and coding, (6) data analysis, (7) report
generation
 Chart your timetable by using Gantt chart or Critical Path Method (CPM) if the
project is large and complex
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Facilities and Special Resources
 Should be carefully listed and thus be cost in the budget section
 E.g., proposed data analysis may require a sophisticated computer algorithm
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Project Management
 Show the sponsor the research team is organized in a way to do the project
efficiently.
 A master plan(charts or tables) is required for complex projects
 The research team’s organization
 Management procedures and controls for executing the research plan
 Examples of management and technical reports
 The research team’s relationship with the sponsor
 Financial and legal responsibility
 Management competence
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Bibliography
 For projects that require a literature review and use the format required by the
sponsor or standard style manual if not specified.
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Appendices
 Glossary
 Terms and definitions as well as acronyms. E.g., CATI
 Measurement Instrument
 Include samples if available in large projects.
 Other
 Any detail that reinforces the body of the proposal. E.g., CV and firm profiles
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Evaluating The Research Proposal
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Evaluating the Research Proposal
 Formal Reviews and Informal Reviews
 Formal review is likely to be used for competitive government, university, or
public sector projects, and also for large-scale projects. The review process includes:
 Development of review criteria, using RFP guideline
 Assignment of points to each criterion, using a universal scale.
 Assignment of a weight for each criterion, based on the importance.
 Generation of a cumulative score for each proposal.
 Informal review doesn’t use a system of points and is more qualitative and
impressionistic.
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Evaluating the Research Proposal(Cont.)
 Other factors:
 Neatness
 Organization in terms of being both logical and easily understood
 Completeness in fulfilling the RFP’s specifications, including budget and schedule
 Appropriateness of writing style
 Submission within the RFP’s timeline
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The End
Thank you for listening
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