There must be 3-5 supporting documents which are relevant to the issue/problem being examined and, these should be contemporary in nature - written within the last 2 years. Different types of secondary sources are recommended, e.g. financial statements, newspaper articles, online reports, etc. These documents must cover a range of ideas and views. The relevant parts chosen and used in the body must be highlighted.
Apply several business tools to write your commentary. They must be relevant to the question – the IA about marketing should not use theories related to employee motivation or lean production.
Business tools should be used to analyze source material from supporting documents to answer the question. Evaluation should involve questioning the evidence you have used in your commentary. Judgements about the importance of arguments should be made with all judgments substantiated. The nature of supporting documents should be considered and the reasons why the problem or issue exists should be critically discussed. Commentary should lead to a judgment in conclusions. Conclusions should be a logical extension of the arguments from the body. Conclusions must be relevant, supported by data from the supporting documents and specifically answer the title question at the beginning.
The commentary must follow a logical structure:The written commentary must be within the word limit 1,500 words, and the word count should be provided on the first page. The commentary must be focused on the issue or problem identified. Subject-specific terminology must be used throughout the commentary. Bibliography must be provided including sources for all supporting documents and for any quotations used. The referencing must be consistent throughout.
3-5 supporting documents must be relevant to the tile, sufficient to answer the question and provide a range of ideas from different stakeholders.
See above about business tools.
Focus on analysing supporting documents. What is written in other sources should only complement your commentary – IA SL is not a literature review.
Conclusions should include recommendations.
Evaluation should include limitations.
Structure of ideas rather than structure of the document itself – ‘Is your language clear?’, ‘Can the examiner easily understand your ideas?’
No elements should be missing! Follow the structure:
(1) Title page
(2) Contents page
(3) Introduction
(4) Findings
(5) Analysis and discussion
(6) Conclusions
(7) Bibliography and references
It is a research project addressing an issue faced by an organization or a decision to be made in the future. It is mainly based on primary research gathered from the organization investigated. Business tools, theories and concepts should be used to analyse and evaluate, leading to recommendations that will help address the research question. This report must be of practical use to management. HL IA must start with a 500-words Research Proposal & Action Plan that serves planning purposes.
Choose a sole trader, partnership or private limited company close to where you live as doing multiple rounds of primary market research with managers and/or customers is usually necessary. Schools should not be chosen unless very desperate.
Must be forward looking (solving a current business issue/problem) and enables recommendations to management to be made about how to improve/fix that issue/problem. Unlike EE, IA HL must be focused on an actual company, not on a single syllabus topic.
Should have maximum 500 words. The teacher and student should both agree that the research question can be addressed within the word limit making the IA realistically achievable. The research proposal is a working and active document. There is also an action plan that identifies possible sources of information - individuals within the organization chosen for primary research. Anticipated difficulties must be noted. Issues of confidentiality and ethics should be discussed. The action plan should include a clear timeline of activities
There must be sufficient primary research, and some secondary research. Sources and data should be clearly identified. Analyze your primary data by applying several business tools you have learnt (using quantitative tools will produce clearer results). Almost everyone uses SWOT – be different!
Analysis must focus on the primary research. The ideas should coherent and consistent with research question. Judgments should be made. There should be enough evidence to back up the analysis and evaluation. Evaluation should lead to your conclusions. Conclusion should answer your original question. Recommendations for future actions of the company, and also recommendations for future research should be made. There should also be evidence of critical, reflective thinking.
The research project must be within the word limit 2,000 words and is valuable to management. Subject-specific terminology to be used throughout the report. Executive summary should be written at the end of the writing process and include: research question, explicit summary of the whole IA, recommendations and conclusions. Bibliography and references must follow a consistent format. Appendices must be relevant and should be referred to frequently in the body.
Research proposal needs to be appropriate, detailed, clear and focused. No elements should be missing!
Explain reasons for selecting primary sources and primary markets research methods used. Research proposal should say what will be done in the IA.
More than 1 primary research method is required to score 3 marks, ideally have 3 different methods:
(1) Interview
(2) Survey
(3) Observation or Focus Group
Company information such as Final Accounts are considered secondary data. The primary sources selected and data collected must be appropriate, varied and sufficient. Interview transcript should be in Appendix.
Use tools, techniques and theories in the main body only to analyse primary data collected. You must show that you understand each tool, e.g. explain selection of forces and weights in Force Field Analysis.
Main Results and Findings should be separated from Analysis and Discussion. In Analysis and Discussion part, explain the business issue/problem, analyse the decision to be made, evaluate arguments for and against this decision, and make judgements.
Conclusions must be consistent with the analysis and evaluation part, and supported by evidence.
Recommendations should be related to the main body and consistent with conclusions. Areas of further study must be in Recommendations, not in Conclusions. Further study must be relevant to the existing investigation.
Structure of ideas rather than structure of the document itself – ‘Is your language clear?’, ‘Can the examiner easily understand your ideas?’
No elements should be missing! Follow the structure:
(1) The research proposal consists four components:
– Anticipated difficulties, such as limited or biased sources
(2) Title page
(3) Acknowledgements
(4) Contents page
(5) Executive summary
(6) Introduction
(7) Research question
(8) Methodology employed
(9) Main results and findings
(10) Analysis and Discussion
(11) Conclusions
(12) Recommendations
(13) Bibliography and references
(14) Appendices
Reflection on your research process and future improvements – how did you gather primary data? Reflection cannot be generalised.
‘How could my research be improved, if I had more time?’, ‘What else could I do?’
Reflection must not be placed in the Research Proposal, but in the body (in the methodology section or after recommendations).