Table 2.
3 Phrasing research questions as research objectives
Research question
1. Why have organizations introduced team
briefing?
2. How can the effectiveness of team briefing
schemes be measured?
3. Has team briefing been effective?
4. How can the effectiveness of team briefing
be explained?
5. Can the explanation be generalized?
Research objective
1. To identify organization’s objectives for
team briefing schemes.
2. To establish suitable effectiveness criteria
for team briefing schemes
3. To describe the extent to which the
effectiveness criteria for team briefing have
been met.
4a. To determine the factors associated with
the effectiveness criteria for team briefing
being met.
b. To estimate whether some of those factors
are more influential than other factors.
5. To develop an explanatory theory that
associates certain factors with the
effectiveness of team briefing schemes.
WRITNG AND PRESENTING YOUR PROJECT REPORT
Learning outcomes
 View the writing of the final project as an exciting prospect;
 Write in such a way that you can reflect on all you have learned while conducting the
research;
 Write a final project report that presents an authoritative account of your research;
 Adopt an appropriate format, structure and style for the final project report;
 Differentiate between a project report and a consultancy report;
 Plan and design an oral presentation of your report;
Resignation: Submission
Trepidation: Nervousness/Apprehension/Anxiety/Consternation
Rehash: Repeat

Importance of Writing

 We agree with Philips and Pugh (2005), who note that writing is the only time when we
really think.
 Writing is a powerful way of learning (Griffiths 1993).

Tips for Writing

 Create time for your writing
 Write when your mind is fresh
 Find a regular writing place
 Set goals and achieve them
 Generate a plan
Veroff (2001) describes the ‘clustering method’. The method’s stages are:
 Write the main topic in the middle of a sheet of paper.
 Jot down the other ideas that occur to you at other points on the page.
 As the page begins to fill, relationships between ideas suggest themselves and lines
between the ideas may be drawn.
 This allows you to group the ideas into discrete but related ‘chunks’, which enables
you to devise an outline structure for a section, or chapter.
 Finish the writing session on a high point.
 Get friends to read your work

Structuring your project report

Suggested structure
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Literature review
 Method
 Results
 Discussions
 Conclusions
 References
 Appendices

The Abstract
An abstract should contain four paragraphs with the answers to the following questions:
 What were my research questions, and why were these important?
 How did I go about answering the research questions?
 What did I find out in response to my research questions?
 What conclusions do I draw regarding my research questions?

Smith (1991) lists five principles for the writing of a good abstract. He argues that:

 It should be short. Try to keep it to a maximum of two sides of A4. (Some universities
stipulate a maximum length, often 300-500 words.)

 It must be self-contained. Since it may be the only part of your project report that some
people see, it follows that it must summarize the complete content of your report.

 It must satisfy your reader’s needs. Your reader must be told about the problem, or
central issue, that the research addressed and the method adopted to pursue the issue. It
must also contain a brief statement of the main results and conclusions.

 It must convey the same emphasis as the project report, with the consequence that the
reader should get an accurate impression of the report’s contents from the abstract.

 It should be objective, precise and easy to read. The project report contents page should
give you the outline structure for the abstract. Summarizing each section should give you
an accurate resume of the content of the report. Do ensure that you stick to what you have
written in the report. The abstract is not the place for elaborating any of your main
themes. Be objective. You will need to write several drafts before you eliminate every
word that is not absolute necessary. The purpose is to convey the content of your report
in as clear and brief a way as possible.

Abstract from a referred journal article on the changing travel behavior of Austria’s ageing
population and its impact on tourism.

As the population of the Western world is ageing, the importance of seniors for the
tourism economy is growing. Seniors are expected to be an important future market. Thus,
overall leisure behavior in general, and travel and tourism behavior in particular, are
analyzed for the example of the Austrian market.

A focus group was conducted with participants aged 55+, where their leisure and travel
habits as well as preference were investigated.

The results showed that leisure and travelling played a major role in the participants’
lives. Additionally, the participants did not change their travel behavior considerably when
entering retirement status. While they changed their preferences to longer stays and to
travelling off-season, mode of transport or distance of travel did not change significantly.
The assumption that travel behavior and travel preferences are acquired over a longer time
span during the life of tourists and, therefore, will not change considerably when retiring can
be confirmed for the participants of the focus group.

It can be concluded that future senior tourists will differ from today’s travelling seniors in
their travel behavior and travel preferences. A larger sample and more detailed research
concerning the actual motivation and preferences of Austrian holiday travelers, as well as the
factors influencing them, are necessary in order to be able to react adequately to future
demands of senior tourists.

The paper contributes to a better understanding of the importance of and attitude towards
leisure and tourism in the growing senior market. Based on the results of a focus group, it
serves as a basis for further research in the field.
LV Pimentel, AS Branca & Catalao, ML 2016, International Comparisons of Corporate Social
Responsibility, International Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, 5(2).

 Countries with the highest CSR vales seem to present the least social inequalities.

Carrol’s CSR Pyramid

Philanthropic Responsibility

Ethical Responsibility

Legal Responsibility

Economic Profitability

Figure 1: Carroll’s CSR Pyramid

First, the economic responsibility is the base of the pyramid, meaning that profitability is the
prerequisite condition concerning the development of the remaining ones. The second level of
the pyramid is the legal responsibility, since companies must pursue profits always within law.
Legal responsibilities require companies to comply with the law and act according to the rules.
The next level is the ethical responsibility that encompasses all activities or practices that reflect
what is just and fair, even when companies are not required to perform in the legal framework.
Finally, at top of the pyramid there is the philanthropic responsibility of business, which
encompasses all business matters taken in order to improve the quality of life of the employees,
the local communities and the society in general. This last level of the Carroll’s pyramid
addresses a wide range of CSR issues, such as charitable donations, support to local schools, or
sponsoring art and sporting events, among others.
 Also, these countries exhibit differences regarding the role of the government and of
companies in deploying CSR: in the United States and Norway, there is higher reliance
on companies to have a social responsibility, in other European countries such as Italy
 and France, it is expected that the government with its policies accomplishes this social
role and encourage firms to act in a more socially responsible way.
Collecting primary data using semi-structured, in-depth and group interviews
An interview is a purposeful discussion between two or more people (Kahn and Cannell, 2008).