IMSE7099 Dissertation
Guideline for Proposal writing
Cover page
Content
• Abstract
• Section 1 Introduction
• Section 2 Literature review
• Section 3 Research methodology
• Section 4 Research plan and milestones
• References
Abstract
• The abstract serves to highlight the studied problem, the major
research issues, objectives, the methodology, and expected
outcomes.
• Notice that ‘Abstract’ is not ‘Introduction’. The amount of
background/general information included should be minimum and
essential! Be relevant and concise!!
• Contribution(s) to the field of study. (For MSc, usually a modest one.)
• Around 300 words (for proposal)
Section 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of study
1.2 Description of the studied/research problem
1.3 Outline of research methodology
1.1 Background of study
• Provides the background information of the problem(s) to be studied.
• Provides just sufficient information to allow reader to understand the
nature and characteristics of the studied problem. Be relevant, and
specific and concise!
• Zeroes in on the main issues of this study. Justify why you should
select these issues in this study.
• Sets the scene for your study and state the objectives to be achieved.
1.2 Detailed description of the studied
problem
The discussion in this subsection will be organized around the items listed
below. Starting from problem identification, you establish the goals you
want to achieve, then translate, enhance, elaborate to come up with the
research issues and tasks, and expected outcomes.
1. Identification of the studied/research problem
2. Objectives
3. Research issues
4. Research tasks
5. Research scope (Can you do all these? What to focus on?)
6. Expected outcomes
Some background ideas in elaborating the
studied problem
• (These are for you to organize ideas to be presented in the remaining
subsections.)
• Finding the right and suitable problem to study is crucial; and this process
could be frustrating.
• The aim is to identify a worthwhile research/industry problem for you to
tackle.
• Sources of ideas for problem identification may come from (i) your
supervisor’s suggested direction or (ii) your professional knowledge or
radar on an ongoing topic (e.g., applications of NearLink1.0(星閃)); and/or
(iii) the ideas and insights derived from your literature review.
• Limit your research scope in considering of your research capabilities, new
skills that you have acquired, and your study time frame in this MSc
programme.
Objectives
• Based on the process of ‘Problem Identification’, a number of major goals
are to be established.
• The statements of these goals/objectives should be high-level, i.e., not
boiling down to implementation details just yet.
• For example, ‘Implementing a decision support system using the
programming language Python’ belongs to ‘Methodology’ and IS NOT AN
OBJECTIVE!
• May instead say ‘To explore something …’; ‘To investigate something …’; ‘To
demonstrate something ….’; ‘To establish something …’;
• ‘To develop something … and evaluate its effectiveness/efficacy’ (if
development work is a focus of your study), etc.
• See examples
Research issues and tasks, and expected
outcomes
• Research issues: To achieve the objectives mentioned above, what
need to be studied?
• Research tasks: To achieve these objectives and given the research
issues, what need to be done?
• See examples.
• Expected Outcomes: e.g., an IT system, design of a JIT order fulfilment
system; an improved optimization model; justification of a
distribution infrastructure project in a Chinese city, etc., etc.
Example 1: Design of a JIT order fulfilment strategy
for a distribution centre (DC) in XingTan, ShunDe
Objectives:
• To develop a JIT strategy (e.g., in order fulfilment) for an existing DC
• Compare the performance of the candidate and existing systems
• Develop an implementation plan for the strategy
Example 1 (Cont’d)
Research issues:
• Activity profiling (customer order, product mix, volumetric flow,
activity level, etc.)
• Existing DC’s approaches to replenishment, slotting, order picking;
and its layout, equipment, etc.
• Data collection approaches: actual plant visit, ‘designed’ case study(?)
• Analysis methods: data analysis, pareto analysis, etc.
• Optimisation methods: simulation, analytical, etc.
Example 1 (Cont’d)
Research tasks:
• Data collection;
• Data analysis: activity profiling;
• Layout design and order picking and fulfilment approaches;
• Strategy: a configuration of activity profiles, replenishment strategy, slotting
strategy, order picking strategy, layout, and equipment;
• Modelling: discrete-event simulation;
• Design of simulation experiments to try out different strategies;
• Optimisation, variance analysis;
• Result analysis;
• Presentation of findings and recommendations to the company’s management.
Example 2: Build a robo-adviser to invest in
pharmaceutical stocks in the US/China/HK markets
Objectives:
• To build a highly automated financial investment advising system with
minimal human intervention;
• To show that professional knowledge can be derived from market
data for the selection of Pharma stocks; and
• To show that the implemented robo-adviser can outperform major
benchmarks, e.g., pharma ETFs, ESF ETFs.
Example 2 (cont’d)
Research issues:
• The construction of the financial investment robo-adviser (i.e., the
how’s);
• Degree of automation to be offered;
• Understanding the Pharmaceutical industry in various countries and
the respective stocks;
• Transformation of market data into professional investment
knowledge;
• Testing and evaluation of the system.
Example 2 (cont’d)
Research tasks:
• Theories: portfolio, CAPM
• Model for stock selection: multi-factor model and related techniques
• Performance evaluation, backtesting
• Rebalancing
• Design of user interface to achieve the desired degree of user
interactions and automation, in consideration of the system
capabilities.
1.3 Outline of research Methodology
• Essentially, the research methodology is about finding the methods
that help to achieve the objectives.
• It involves the supporting theories, analysis, models, and
implementation, etc.
• At this initial stage, give as much thought to ‘it’ and as much detail as
possible.
• In this section, only an outline is required. You will say more in
‘Section 3 - Research Methodology’ below.
Section 2 Literature review
• Purposes: (i) strengthening your understanding of the studied areas and (ii)
identifying the research gaps available for this study.
• Discuss and comment on the existing research works and technologies
related to the study.
• Your comments should focus on the topics, characteristics, highlights,
methodologies and key contributions of the research works being
reviewed.
• Papers to be reviewed should preferably be taken from established sources
(journals, textbooks as opposed to Wikipedia) in the field.
• For MSc, this section may appropriately incorporate the basic theories and
models that you need.
Section 3 Proposed research methodology
• This section for you to elaborate on the outlined research
methodology given in Section 1.3.
• You will be rewarded for the good progress you make during this
initial phase.
Section 4 Research plan, milestones and
schedule
• Use a Gantt to present your research
plan and schedule.
• Be realistic!
References
A list of the reference materials you have used for and cited in the
research proposal. The referencing format should follow the one
recommended by HKU Graduate School. Some examples:
• Arunachalam, D., Kumar, N., & Kawalek, J. P. (2018). Understanding big data analytics capabilities in supply chain
management: Unravelling the issues, challenges and implications for practice. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and
Transportation Review, 114, 416-436. (Journal paper)
• Babich, V., & Kouvelis, P. (2018). Introduction to the special issue on research at the interface of finance, operations, and
risk management (iFORM): Recent contributions and future directions. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management,
20(1):1-18. (Journal paper)
• Chen, X. (2015). A model of trade credit in a capital-constrained distribution channel. International Journal of Production
Economics, 159, 347-357. (Journal paper)
• Analytics Insight (2020). Why data science can be a game changer in 2020. Analytics Insight (April 19),
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190821005780/en/AWS-Announces-General-Availability-Amazon-Forecast.
• Kernighan, B.W. and Ritchie, D.N. (1978). The C programming language. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. (Book)
General information
Word count and advice on formatting
• Word count: about 2,000-2,500 words (references not included)
• Font size: 12 point for main text
• Line spacing: 1.5 line spacing or double line spacing
• Page width: 25mm all round
• Indent paragraph (optional)
• Paragraph justified (optional)
Last but not least, research integrity/ethics
• No plagiarism!
• Data collection processes for AHP or business surveys must be
genuine and transparent.
• Often you require a ‘designed’ case for your optimization problem,
rather than a real one, with good reasons. Explain how you come up
with such a case from various data sources. What are the
‘extrapolated’ bits? Justify.