The research proposal

The proposal is really a plan of action. It begins with a statement of the research objectives and then continues by specifying what information will be sought from which source, and how it will be gathered. Initially, the proposal goes to the client for approval - it is the researcher's response to the brief. Subsequently, it is used by the researcher to guide the research activity, so it needs to be fairly detailed.

The research report

There are certain items which must be included in the report in some form. Although they will not necessarily be in this order, these are:-

1. An introduction, including the research objectives and background to the marketing problem
2. An executive summary which contains the key findings in brief
3. A full discussion of the findings
4. The methodology
5. Appendix material, e.g. tables of data; a copy of the research instrument