Writing an MBA Dissertation Research Proposal That Gets Approved

The research proposal is a short document with disproportionate consequences. Approve a weak proposal and you spend six months on an unanswerable question. Supervisors reject proposals for a small, predictable set of reasons — all avoidable.

Reason 1: The Topic Is Too Broad

"The impact of digital transformation on retail" is a research programme, not a dissertation. Narrow along four axes:

• Population — which firms, which people, which market?
• Variable — which specific aspect of digital transformation?
• Outcome — impact on what, measured how?
• Context — which country, sector and time period?

The narrowed version: "How has the adoption of self-checkout technology affected frontline employee role perception in UK grocery retail?" That is answerable in the time you have.

Reason 2: The Question Cannot Be Answered

Test every research question against three criteria:

• Empirical — could evidence settle it, at least partially? "Should firms be ethical?" cannot be answered empirically.
• Accessible — can you actually reach the data? Studying board-level decision-making requires board-level access most students do not have.
• Bounded — could you answer it in roughly 12–15 weeks of part-time work?

Reason 3: Method Does Not Match the Question

Questions beginning "how many", "to what extent" or "is there a relationship" point to quantitative work. Questions beginning "how do", "why do" or "in what ways" point to qualitative work. Mixed methods must be justified by the question needing both, not by a wish to appear thorough.

Specify concretely: sample size and how you will reach it, instrument, analysis technique, and the software you will use. "Interviews will be conducted" is not a method section; "twelve semi-structured interviews with store managers, recruited via purposive sampling through the retailer's regional network, analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke's six-phase approach in NVivo" is.

What the Proposal Must Contain

1. Working title — specific enough to signal population, variable and context.
2. Background and rationale — why this matters academically and practically.
3. Preliminary literature review — the main debates and the gap you are entering. Ten to fifteen solid sources is usually enough at proposal stage.
4. Research questions and objectives.
5. Methodology — philosophy, approach, strategy, sampling, instruments, analysis.
6. Ethical considerations — consent, anonymity, data storage, withdrawal rights.
7. Timeline — a Gantt chart with slack built in.
8. Limitations — acknowledged in advance.

Ethics: Prepare for It Properly

Ethics review is where timelines slip. Anything involving human participants needs approval before you contact anyone. Prepare the participant information sheet, consent form and data management plan alongside the proposal — treating ethics as an afterthought commonly costs three to four weeks.

Build Slack Into the Timeline

Data collection always takes longer than planned. Participants cancel, gatekeepers go quiet, ethics comes back with revisions. Plan to finish data collection at least four weeks before the writing deadline. Supervisors read timelines closely, and one with no contingency signals inexperience.