Duration: 30 hours
Weighting: 25%
The HL internal assessment is a research project that allows students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge to business issues or decision-making.
HL students are required to:
Students should, with the teacher’s guidance, choose their own topic and organization that they find interesting and motivating.
The teacher should approve each topic before work is started, and ensure that it complies with the requirements for internal assessment.
The research question should be forward-looking, targeted at an issue or a decision still relevant for the business organization(s) rather than descriptive of something already finished, and should require the student to make recommendations for further action. Guidance from the teacher in formulating an appropriate research question is important.
For a variety of reasons not apparent at the start of the project, such as confidentiality, some organizations fail to provide data, which will undermine the quality of the final report. Students must therefore confirm before starting their investigations that they will be able to obtain the necessary data from the chosen organization.
Students must be aware of ethical considerations when undertaking any research. There is a need for tact, sensitivity to other people and respect for confidentiality.
If more than one student chooses the same organization for their research, it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that the written commentaries reflect the students’ own individual research, interpretation and analysis.
If a student also writes an extended essay in business management, it is the responsibility of the teachers to ensure that students do not build their internal assessment and extended essay in business management on the same syllabus content. Also, given different requirements and assessment criteria, students should choose different organizations for these different tasks.
Good research question should have three important parts:
The internal assessment must start with a research proposal. This will become the primary planning document, giving direction to the research project. The maximum length of the research proposal is 500 words. The word count must be stated on the submitted work. If the word limit is exceeded, the teacher’s assessment must be based on the first 500 words of the proposal.
Note: Moderators will not read beyond 500 words for the research proposal.
The research proposal has a required format consisting of four components.
Students should use the research proposal as their primary planning document, reviewing it regularly with the teacher and modifying or rewriting it as necessary, should circumstances change.
The maximum achievement level for criterion A, research proposal, is 3 marks (see “Internal assessment criteria—HL”). Students who fail to produce a research proposal will be awarded 0 marks for this criterion.
The written report, which follows the research proposal, is the second part of the research project. This will document the main findings of the research.
The report must follow acceptable practice in report presentation, reflected in the required format for the written report shown below.
The written report must consist of the following sections.
The teacher should comment on students’ first drafts of the written report as part of the learning process.
The written report must not exceed 2,000 words. A word count must be included as part of the written report. If the word limit is exceeded, the teacher’s assessment must be based on the first 2,000 words of the report.
Note: Moderators will not read beyond 2,000 words for the written report.
The following are not included in the 2,000-word count:
Please note that footnotes/endnotes may be used for references only. Definitions of business management terms and quotations, if used, must be in the body of the work and are included in the word count. Please note that citation is a shorthand method of making a reference in the body of the commentary, which is then linked to the full reference in the bibliography.
Suitable techniques for HL IA data analysis