Duration: 30 hours
Weighting: 25%
Introduction
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.
Requirements
HL students are required to:
- design and undertake research that either addresses an issue facing a business organization or a range of organizations or analyses a decision to be made by a business organization or range of organizations
- select a real business organization or a range of organizations and a real issue or decision under investigation
- base their research project on primary research they gather from the organization investigated (secondary research may be used as support)
- provide a title for the research project that, to give focus and direction, must be framed as a question
- produce a research proposal (of maximum 500 words), including an action plan, to be used as the primary planning document
- produce a written report that does not exceed 2,000 words
- write the report in a style and format of a useful working document for management.
Student booklet for writing HL IA Business Management.docIA Draft Feedback Form.docxChoice of research topic and organization
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.
Formulating the research question
Good research question should have three important parts:
Research proposal
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.
- Research question
- Proposed methodology, including:
- the rationale for study
- areas of the syllabus to be covered
- possible sources of information
- organizations and individuals to be approached
- methods to be used to collect and analyse data, and the reason for choosing them the order of activities and timescale of the project
- Anticipated difficulties, such as limited or biased sources
- Action plan
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.
Written report
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.
- Title page: The title page should give a clear indication of the content of the research project, including the name of the student, the title of the project, the intended audience and the word count.
- Acknowledgements: The acknowledgements should recognise any individual and/or organisation that made the production of the report possible.
- Contents page: The contents page should include the major headings in the report, beginning with the executive summary. Page numbers should be clearly indicated.
- Executive summary (abstract): The executive summary should be a concise, clear and explicit summary of the document, including the recommendations and conclusions. The research question and executive summary should guide the reader to the substance of the report. The maximum length of the executive summary is 200 words, and this is not included in the word count.
- Introduction: The introduction should demonstrate some background knowledge about the organization(s) and give a clear outline of the issue or decision under investigation.
- Research question
- Methodology employed: The methodology section should be a summary of the primary (and, where relevant, secondary) research undertaken and the business tools, techniques and theories applied. It should also include an assessment of the validity and reliability of the data collected (for example, partiality and scope) and the methods employed. Any changes made as the work progressed should be explained.
- Main results and findings: The main results and findings section should clarify what the raw data has revealed. This should include a summary of the data collected and of the findings made, and should, where appropriate, be supported by tables, graphs and statistics.
- Analysis and discussion: In the analysis and discussion section, the results and findings should be analysed with the help of relevant business tools, techniques and theories. They should also be interpreted: what main issues emerge from the research, and why and how are they helpful (or not) to answering the research question? An evaluative approach to the discussion of findings should be pursued: for example, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the various positions on the issue or decision under investigation and what are their implications?
- Conclusion(s) and recommendation(s): The conclusions should follow on from the analysis and discussion; new facts or arguments should not be presented. Recommendations should be precise, answer the research question and be practical proposals for action that stem from the conclusions. If the results of the research are inconclusive, further research should be recommended. To be of practical value to management, the report should be forward-looking and support the organization’s decision-making process.
- References and bibliography: For presentation of references and bibliography, please see the section on acknowledging the ideas and work of another person in the “The Diploma Programme” section of this subject guide.
- Appendices: The appendices should contain only information or data that is required to support of the text and should be clearly referred to where relevant. The appendices will typically include examples of photographs, documents, questionnaires, numerical raw data in tables and statistical calculations.
The teacher should comment on students’ first drafts of the written report as part of the learning process.
Word count
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:
- title page
- acknowledgments
- contents page
- executive summary (abstract)
- tables of statistical data
- diagrams or figures
- equations, formulae and calculations
- citations (which, if used, must be in the body of the commentary)
- references (which, if used, must be in the footnotes/endnotes)
- bibliography
- appendices.
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
