Project Report

Guidelines

S HRI B ABA M ASTNATH I NSTITUTE OF

M ANAGEMENT S TUDIES & R ESEARCH
ASTHAL BOHAR, ROHTAK –124021
As part of the requirements to be fulfilled for the award of
the degree of Masters in Business Administration from MD
University, Rohtak, students are expected to undergo a
research project and present a dissertation on the same in
their fourth semester. This booklet contains details of
expected practices with respect to the research project and
dissertation submission. Clearly general guidelines such as
these may not cover all circumstances. Particular emphasis
and minor adjustments may be necessary in individual cases.
Such adjustments are to be brought to the notice of the
faculty and only on their approval it should be incorporated
in the thesis.

It is thus imperative that students consult their faculty

members for specific advice and guidance on matters
pertaining to the design and content of your study and of
course, the reporting of it.

1
PART 1: THE MBA DISSERTATION
1.1 Ge neral Framework of the Dissertation
The following outline is indicati ve o f th e overall stru cture of a
dissertation . Clearly it will have to b e ad apted to the particular stud y yo u
have carri ed out.

Title Page
Declaration
Certificates (if any)
Acknowledgements
Abstract

Table of Conten ts

CHAPTER 1 Introduction
CHAPTER 2 Literature Re view
CHAPTER 3 Methodologies
CHAPTER 4 Findings and Analysis of Data
CHAPTER 5 Conclus ions, Implicatio ns and Recommendations

References

Appen dices

1. 2 Word Length
The total l ength o f the dissertation is 15,000 -25,000 words (70-100
A-4 size pages). This length is exclusive of title and contents page,
figures, tables, appendi ces and references.

1.3 Plagiaris m
Plagiarism, th at is, the willful represen tatio n o f ano ther person’s
work, withou t the ac kno wledgement or the deliberate an d
unacknowledged incorporation in a student’s wo rk of mat erial derived
from the work (published or otherwise) o f another, is UNACC EPTABLE an d
will incur the penalty of outright failure.

1.4 Planning Your Work

You are advised to b egin working on you r dissertatio n immediatel y
after second term. Th e lectures in Research Metho ds held during the

2
second term of your course are useful in help ing you to plan background
material and to choose yo ur methodology.

You sh ould see your sup ervisor on a regular b asis – at least onc e
every week in the beginning. It is also advisable to sta rt working a s soon
as possible. Do not worry i f you feel that your material is not good
enough, almost all early material is weak at the beginning. Starting to
work at an earl y stage wi ll enable your sup ervi sor to see wh at d irection
you are taking, where yo ur weakn esses are and give you constructive
advice and yo u will gain confidence fro m this feedback.

1. 5 The Role of Supervisor

1. Suggest some gen eral areas of resea rch for consideration and
where possible, any examples o f curren t research rel evant to the
top ic.
2. Discuss p ossible directio ns for the study and advise on aims and
objecti v es
3. Be availab le for regular m eetings
4. Examine wri tt en work and provid e constru ctive c riticism. It is not
the responsibility of the supervisor to correct sp elling mistakes,
etc. other than to poin t out these are present: nor is it th e duty of
the supervisor to or ganize th e presentation con tent of th e work,
although ad vice may be provided if enough work has b een
submitted.
5. Make stud ent aware of i nadeq uate pro gress or any other fact s
which could impede the completion o f a successful piece of work.
6. Mark the dissertation , confer with the Departmental Research
Committee and submit the allotted marks to the office.

1. 6 Responsibili ties of Students

1. It is you r responsibility to make appointments on a regular basis. I f
you are facing difficu lty i n arran ging appointments you must
contact th e Head of Departmen t.
2. Pro vide w ritten work for you r supervisor to comment on; maintain
you r ow n progress.
3. Submit your written work in advance of your appointment in order
that your supervisor has time to offer you constructi ve criticism.
4. Comply wi th the regulatio ns as d etailed in this h andbo ok.

3
PART 2: STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
2.1 Introduction
Although there is no single way of structuring a project or
dissertation proposal the following structure identifies the areas which
should be addressed within the p rop osal. If all of th ese areas are
consid ered as pa rt of the p rop osal then the actual research project
should b e more coherent and your research should be more productive.

The areas to consider in the resea rch prop o sal:

The research qu estion /probl em/topic/hypothesis
Introductio n and rationale for research
Resea rch Objectives
Resea rch Metho ds

2.2. The Research P roposal

The areas covered in the research proposal are expanded b elow.

Title Page
Proposed Title
Name of Student
Course
Su pervi sor’ s Nam e

The Research Que stion/Problem/Topic or H ypothesis

identify your area of research keeping it broad en ough to embrac e
existing literature; but
suffici ently narrow to allow a detailed investigation
the area iden tified could form a workin g titl e

Intr oduction and Ration ale for Research

explain why you think this is a valid research topic
what will the research contribute to the field?

Research Aim and Objective s

the aim of the dissertation should indicate what you wish to
ac hi ev e
the objectives are a list of go als which must be co mpleted in order
to satisfy th e aim (u sually about 6)
Eg. to provi de a state of the art review
to determine how a p articular market operates
to establish a typology

4
 to assess the impact of something

Rese arch Me thodology

choose metho ds wh ich will al low you to meet each of th e
objectives l ist ed ab ove; justify your metho ds chosen and the
disadvantages of the methods rejected
try to use a mix of metho ds

5
PART 3: SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE DISSERTATION

Wh at follows is an attempt to provide you with some rules, and some

hel pful advice on an acceptable practic e. However you are still advised to
consu lt your tutor for mo re sp ecific advice in relati on to your
dissertation .

3.1 The Abstract

An abstract should provide an overview of your study in all its asp ect s.
It should be aro und 250-300 in words and should answer th e following
questions.
What d oes th is research set out to do and why?
How did it seek to do it?
What are th e gen eral findin gs?
What d o th ese suggest?
What conclusions are reached?
What are th e implication s of these?

3. 2 Ackno wle dgeme nts

In this section you should express thanks to th ose who assi sted yo u
in your resea rch. These should b e kep t to a minimum and include
academic supervisors and people who participated in the fieldwork, an y
fundin g bod ies and so on.

3. 3 Introduc tion
In th e introducti on yo u should in trodu ce the reader to the
backgro und of the study and the natu re of the problem being considered.
It should therefore set the study in context explaining why this study is
i mp orta nt, highligh tin g significant issues, problems and id eas. Th e basi c
purpose this section is to provide the read er a basic id ea of what the
subject area of the dissertation its conten ts.

3.4 Literature Review

In the d issertation students are expected to provide a critical review
of the existing literature (publish ed and unpublished) on th e research
area being investigated. This does not mean that you have to indicate
every book and article that has been wri tten on the subject b ut any you
do read shou ld be referenc ed app rop riately. Nev erth eles s your revi ew
should indicate that yo u have studied existin g and rec ent work in the
field.

6
The literature revi ew sh ould be:
Relevant: Literatu re u sed should suppo rt you r arguments relating
to your research qu estio n and aim an d o bjectives of the study. It
shou ld uphold methodology. In some cases you may need to discuss
literatu re review and its relationship to methodo logy in a separat e
ch ap ter.
Up-to-D ate: Recent literature (not older than five years) i s
recommended u nless you are referring to classical works in your
field o f stu dy. Sources used have to be in th eir majority primary
sourc es, secondary referencing may be used.
Co mpreh ensive: Demonstrate that you have read ext en sively
without being over-inclu sive. Develop your ab ility to emp loy
summary stat ements and to synthesiz e.

3. 5 Method ology
The purpose of this chapter is to indicate what you actually did in your
research so that your reader ma y eval uate the d esi gn procedure and
fin dings of your study. Th e methodolo gy section should b e well-
structured, written in concise, matt er-of-fact man ner and should provide
answers to the following questions:
What actu ally happened?
How?
To whom?
With what result?
Ho w were problems deal t with?
Approach to dat a?

The follo wing is an outline of the Meth odology Section

Statem ent of Res earch Pro blem

What is the aim of the resea rch stu dy?
What are its major objectives?
Any hypo thesis constructed?

Criteria for Samp le selectio n

Who a re the research units?
Characteristic s o f sample un its?
What is the Samp ling frame?
What is the method of Samp le sel ectio n?
Numb er of to tal sample units?

7
 Review of Data Collection Methods
Why were the d ata co llection methods you chose th e b est sui ted
to fit your research qu estion ?
From which geo graphic data was co llected?
What was the period of d ata co llectio n?
Ho w Primary Data was collect ed? A detailed desc ri ption of
research conducted, design o f the to ol, description o f fieldwo rk,
you also need to mention any specific p rocedu res used.
What secon dary data wa s u sed ? How does it feed in to the
curr ent resea rch?

Pilot Study(if any)

To whom was the study administered?
What ch anges w ere made to the resea rch tool?

Methods of Analysis-
Briefly explain how you p rop ose to anal yze the data,
If computer software is going to be used, a description of the
type of software has to be included.

Limitations
What wer e th e limitations o f this st udy and how did you
overcome these limitations?

3.6 Pre sentation and Analysis of Data

In the p resen tatio n of data you are to present the major findings of
yo ur resea rch in a summarized fo rm and the details o f the analyses which
have been performed. Th e content and st yle dep en d on the natu re of th e
research m ethod chosen, but in th e case of both quantitative an d
qualitative studies, th e object i s to present the d ata col lect ed to an swer
the resea rch qu estion s. You are required to seek guidance from your
supervising faculty for p reparing this sect ion.

3.6.1 Presentation and Analysis of Qu ali tative Research

1. Presentation of data is mai nly descriptive and this is usually
presented in a chro nological o rd er.
2. Analysis of data i s conducted th ro ugh the identification o f themes.
The research tools in q ualitative research include open-ended
description s, transcripts of intervi ews, essays and o bservations.
These p rod uce a mass of data which sometimes can b e difficult to
sift. A u seful way to process this data is to keep th e research
question(s) in mind, to read through the data a coupl e of times

8
 until particular issu es or them es present themsel ves. These can b e
suggestive of a structure for presenting th e descriptive data.
3. Evidence is usually in form of quo tatio ns from th e subject s being
studied, di scussions of people involved, illustrations, p hotograph s
– the variations are unlimited.
4. You may find that there i s eviden ce of differen ce of op inion.
Includ e variations in opinion and descri be poles of b elief. Th es e
add richness to qu alitative research.

3.6.2 Pre sen tatio n and Analysis of Quan titati ve Rese arch
1. As a preliminary to working out results, any test given must be
scored, data inputted into the appropriate comp uter program and
additional material gained from the sample mu st b e sorted out.
This is often p urely m echanical wo rk, and it takes time but must be
done accurat ely.
2. The data present ed must not be in their raw fo rm. Only
summariz ed d ata should be present ed. The only time yo u would
ever d escribe data on individual subjects is wh en you have d one a
case study.
3. In th is sectio n, th e task i s to summariz e data meaningfully, thro ugh
the use of descriptive stati stics. These include mean scores,
medians, ranges, standard deviations, correlation co efficients and
so on.
4. Visual presentation is very important in quantitative research.
Grap hs, tables, histograms, ba r graphs are simple ways in which to
present condensed data but they are also very effecti ve.

3.7 Discussion of Results and Conclusions

1. This chapter should draw togeth er all t he issues of the research
and link back to th e aim and objectives which were ou tlined in the
Introdu ction and Methodolo gy. Have the aims set at the beginn ing
been met? If not, why not?
2. Evaluate how your findings b ear on issues o r points raised in the
Li terature Revi ew.
3. What are the implications arising fro m the findings. Be carefu l with
your generalizations and your interpret ations. Recommendation s
shou ld be b ased on evidence.
4. Do you h ave suggest io ns for future res earch in thi s area?

9
3.8 Reference s
Full details of all the books and journal articles cited or referenced
throughout the d issertation sho uld be included in this chapter. A reader
should b e ab le to identi fy the exact source an d refer to it directly.
References should be complete in all respect s and arran ged in
alp habetical order.
Text r ef er enc es sh oul d a ppea r a s fol lo ws:
“Recen t wo rks from (Alba et al., 2005, Keller and Kotler, 2006)
show th at...”
Journal references should be listed as follows:
Prof TV R amRaj (2006),"Blog Marketing”, Ind ian Journal of
Marketing, Vol 36 (9), pp. 3-7.
Books should be referred as follows:
V Venkata Raman, G Somayajulu (2005),"Custo mer Relationship”,
New D elhi: Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited.

3.9 Appendices
The Appendices should include selective, supplementary material
which is distracting when placed in the main bod y of text. On ly material
which is n ecessary for a fu ll understanding of your study sh ould be
included . These in clude important forms, questionnaires or interview
schedules, description of equipment or settings, tables and lists of data
supportive of the study.

10
PART 4: SOME OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

4.1 Pre se n tati on Layou t

4.1.1 Ge neral Te xt:

Text should be doub le-spaced using printing on both sides o f th e
pages and duly numbered. However, new chapters, sections, etc. should
start from odd n umbered pages.

Font
Times New Roman, size 12, Justified (both left and ri ght) alignment

In -text emph asis

Use italics or bold typeface

Paragraphs:
0.5” First line indentatio n
Do uble lin e spacing with 12point space after p aragrap h

Page Ma rgin s:
Top: 1”; Bottom: 1”; Inside: 1.5 ”; Outside: 1” (Mirrored layo ut)

Page numbers:
Cen tered at the bottom of th e page
Roman numerals (i, ii,…) should b e u sed from the pages
prec eding Tab le of Conten ts (excludi ng the title page)
The main body of the t ext (wh ere th e Introd uction) commence s
on Page 1
The pages in cluded in Appendices/Annexure a re to b e numbered
in Ro man numeral s (I, ii,…)

4.1.2 He adings:
Chapter Headings size 16 in bold typeface
Sub-Headings size 1 4 in bo ld typeface
Main Ch apter headings in b lock capitals
Chapter headings left justified at the top of a new page
All other headings justified and followed by a single line space
Use sub -h eadin gs togeth er with a numbering syst em used in th is
document thus giving stru cture to you r work.

11
4. 1.3 Quot ations :
Sin gle lin e-sp acin g
Indented left and right
Justified left and right
Must includ e author name, date and p age n umber r eferri ng to the
parent text

4.1.4 Tables, Figures etc.,

Must b e numbered according to the chap ter (eg. Tabl e 5.1 means
that it is located in Ch apter 5 and that it is the first tabl e
presented and discu ssed in thi s chapter)
Must have a title at the to p and key (l egen d) underneath
The table title must b e set in senten ce case (only first lett er in
capital) as follow:
Table 5.1 Summary of sample characteristics

Only the Tab le in dex number should be in bold. Rest of the titl e
should b e in plain text (as illustrated above)

4.2 Typing and Proof Readi ng

Always proof read yo ur copies for good grammar and presen tatio n
before handing your work to your supervising faculty. Special atten tio n
should b e made to the final draft of your dissertation.

Be prepared for the unexpected such as hard disk failure, loss o r

corruption o f CDs and printer failure. Use bac k-up disks and always keep
(updated) hard copies of your work in case of an emergen cy!

4. 3 Bindi ng
Three copies of the dissertation are to be submitted . Out of th ese
three two copies sho uld be hardbound and one shou ld be in paperb ack.
The hardbound cop ies shoul d have the con tents of title page
inscribed/past ed on them. It is the stu dents' responsibility to organize
the bindin g and make sure that the cop ies are ready before th e
submission date. The copies will be sign ed by the supervi sing auth ori ty
only in the binded format.

12
 Annex ure I Title Page

Project Report

An Exploratory Study on the Impact

of Advertising on Branding
Strategies of Luxury Car Segment

Submitted in partial fulfillment of re quirements for

the award of the degree of Masters i n Business
Management

Under Supervision of: Submitted by:

<Supervisor’s Name> <student name>
<Designation> <roll no.>

SHRI BABA MASTNATH INSTITUTE OF

MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH,
ASTHAL BOHAR, ROHTAK

MAHARSHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY, ROHTAK

13
Annex ure II

Declaration

I, <student name> , Ro ll No. of MBA Semest er 4 of Shri

Baba Mastnath Institute o f Managem en t Studies and R esearch , Asthal
Bohar, Rohtak, hereby declare that the project entitled __<title of
th e project > is an o riginal work and the same ha s not been
submitted to any other institu te for award of any other degree. The
interim report was present ed to the superviso r o n <date> an d
the pre-submission presentation was made o n <date> . Th e fea sible
suggestions have been duly inco rp orated in consultation with the
supervisor.

Signatu re of th e candidate

<Student Name>

Coun ter sign ed

<Supervi sor Nam e>

<Director of the Institute>

14