FISAT BUSINESS SCHOOL

Hormis Nagar, Angamaly, Cochin-683577

INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR SUMMER RESEARCH

PROJECT

(IV SEMESTER MBA)

General
 The Research Project, scheduled to be carried out during semester
IV, is an important practical activity intended to enable the students
to develop their capabilities for systematically and objectively
studying, analyzing, interpreting and reporting a particular subject
matter or problem, which may be relevant from the operational and
practical aspects of business.

 This manual is intended to provide broad guidelines to the MBA

students of the FISAT B-School on the procedures to be followed for
the conduct of the project work and in the preparation and
submission of the final report of the project.

1. Caveat
1.1. The project report submitted by the students must be the outcome of
original and independent research work done by the student under the
supervision of the research guide(s) assigned to them from the Institute
and from the organization with which they associate themselves for the
project.
1.2. The report should not contain any plagiarized material. Any material
reproduced in the report, in whatsoever form, shall be appropriately
acknowledged.
1.3. The research work should be of high quality and should be making
some positive contribution to enhancement of knowledge.

2. The Project Work

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2.1. The duration of the time allotted for the students for completion of the
study in the organization or otherwise is two months.
2.2. Students are required to select a topic of their interest, related to their
subjects of specialization chosen by them for the MBA course, in
consultation with the Faculty Research Guide (FRG) allotted to them by the
Institute. The topic has to be approved by the concerned faculty guide.

2.3. Students are required to prepare and submit a detailed research

project proposal under the guidance and supervision of the Faculty
Research Guide and/ or the project supervisor in their respective
organization. The proposal shall include a detailed survey of related
literature, formulation of theoretical framework or model, statement of
objectives and scope of the study, formulation of hypothesis if any ,
sampling and data collection techniques, time allocation table and plan of
analysis.

2.4. Students are also required to provide along with the proposal, the
details of the name, nature of the organization in which they will be
conducting the study and the letter from the organization granting
permission for the conduct of such study.

2.5. The proposal must be presented in a seminar which will be attended by

the members of the faculty and other students of the same semester.

2.6. The final proposal, after incorporating the necessary modifications

proposed by the attendees of the pre–project seminar, and duly approved
by the Project coordinator, shall be submitted to the Director. This will be
the guide for carrying out the project work.

2.7. Substantial subsequent modifications in the research proposal

submitted by the student may be permitted only in exceptional cases,
where the subject matter of the study cannot be proceeded with, due to
reasons beyond the control of the student. Such modifications shall be

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done only with the written approval of the Director, the Faculty Research
Guide and the Project coordinator.

2.8. During the course of the project work, the student is required to keep
the Faculty Project Guide informed of his/her progress. The Faculty Guide is
required to ensure that the student submits weekly progress report of
his/her work. The Director and the Project Coordinator may periodically
review the progress and suitably give directives that may be deemed
necessary.

3. Draft Report
On completion of project work, the student shall prepare a type written fair
draft of the report in the same format as that of the final report. The fair
draft has to be duly approved by the concerned faculty guide. Suitable
corrections/alterations in the draft report have to be incorporated in the
final report, as per the directives of the guide.

4 .The Report
The size of thesis should not exceed 200 pages of typed matter reckoned
from the first page of Chapter 1 to the last page of the Appendix.

4.1. The sequence of the Report

The sequence in which the material in the final report should be arranged
and bound should be as follows:

1. Cover Page
2. Certificate from Organization
3. Acknowledgement
4. Declaration by student
5. Certificate by Guide /Director
6. Table of Contents
7. List of Tables
8. List of Figures/Graphs/Charts

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 9. List of Symbols and Abbreviations
10. Abstract/Executive Summary
11. Chapters
12. Limitations of the study
13. Findings, recommendations and conclusion
14. Bibliography
15. Appendices

4.2. Guidelines for Preparation of Format

4.2.1. Cover Page & Title Page – A specimen copy of the Cover page &
Title Page of the project report are given in Appendix 1.

4.2.2. Certificate from the Organization – The Certificate from the

Organization shall carry the supervisor’s signature and should contain the
supervisor’s name, designation, department and full address of the
institution where the supervisor has guided the student.

4.2.3. Acknowledgement - The acknowledgement should be brief and

should not exceed one page when typed double spacing.

4.2.4. Declaration by Student to the effect that the work is bona fide
and has not formed part of any other submission. See Appendix – 2

4.2.5. Certificate by guide/director – The certificate from the

institute that carries the signatures of the faculty research guide and the
director is to be attached

4.2.6. Table of Contents – The table of contents should list all material
following it as well as any material, which precedes it. The Title Page and
Certificate from the Organization will not find a place among the items
listed in the Table of Contents. One and a half spacing should be adopted
for typing the matter under this head.

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 4.2.7. List of Tables–The list should use exactly the same captions as
they appear above the tables in the text. One and a half spacing should be
adopted for typing the matter under this head. The pages where the tables
appear should be shown on the right hand side of the page. A specimen
copy of the list of tables is given in Appendix3.

4.2.8. List of Figures/Graphs /Charts – The list should use exactly the
same captions as they appear below the figures in the text. One and a half
spacing should be adopted for typing the matter under this head.

4.2.9. List of Symbols & Abbreviations - Standard symbols,

abbreviations etc. should be used.

4.2.10. Abstract or executive summary – This is a comprehensive

restatement of the projects purpose, scope, methods, results, and findings.
The executive summary narration should not exceed two pages.

4.2.11. Period of the study – The period of the study can be kept in the form of
PERT,

4.2.12. Chapters - The chapters may be broadly divided into five parts
(i) Introductory chapter
(ii) Review of literature
(iii) Chapter developing the main theme of the research project
(Conceptual Overview of the study)
(iv) Results discussion (Analysis & Interpretation)
(v) Findings, recommendations and conclusion

(i)The Introductory Chapter

The introduction should contain
1. A brief background of the problem under study,
2. The macro- dimensions of the issue under study,

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 3. The micro trends and contemporary developments in the given and
related aspects under study.
4. The objectives of the study
5. Scope of work
6. Need and relevance of the study
7. Methodology,
8. Population characteristics
9. Sampling procedures ,
10. Sources of data,
11. Tools of data collection,
12. Tools and methods of statistical analysis,
13. Broad hypotheses put for testing, a priori relationships expected
between the variables and assumptions made,
14. Operational definitions of terms and concepts
15. The technical terms used in the study,
16. Limitations,

(ii) Review of literature

A brief survey of previous studies may be included in this chapter.

(iii) Chapter developing the main theme of the research project

(Conceptual Overview of the study)
This chapter should include
1. Concept introduction
2. Historical Background
3. Relevance
4. Operational definitions
5. Traditional concept
6. New perspectives
7. Integrated area performance framework in organizations
8. Managerial implications
9. Future research opportunities
10. A brief profile of the company / industry

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(iv)Results Discussion (Analysis & Interpretation)
This chapter should include the analysis of the data and interpretation of
findings with supporting data in the form of tables and charts. Statistical
tests if any, in order to prove the hypothesis and findings should be
included towards the end of this chapter

(v) Findings, recommendations & conclusions

The researcher should put down the results of his research clearly and
precisely. Such implications may have three aspects

(a) A statement of the inferences

(b) The relevant questions that still remain unanswered or new questions
raised by
the study along with suggestions.
(c) A conclusion which summarizes and recapitulates the main points of the
study.

The main text, described in each chapter may be further divided into
several divisions and sub-divisions. Each chapter should be given an
appropriate title.

4.2.13. Bibliography
All material drawn from whatsoever source must be acknowledged without
fail and the same should be appearing in the bibliography. The listing of
references should be typed 4 spaces below the heading “Bibliography” in
alphabetical order in single spacing left – justified. The reference material
should be listed in the alphabetical order of the first author. (Sample given
in Appendix 4)

4.2.14. Appendices
Appendices are provided to give supplementary information, which if
included in the main text may serve as a distraction and cloud the central
theme.

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 • Appendices should be numbered using Arabic numerals, e.g.
Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.
• Appendices, Tables and References appearing in appendices should
be numbered and referred to at appropriate places just as in the case
of chapters.

5. Format of the project Report

5.1. Page dimensions and Margin

The project report has to be typed on A4 size paper and should have the
following margins:
Top edge : 35 mm
Bottom edge : 30 mm
Left side : 40 mm
Right side : 25 mm

Tables and figures should conform to the margin specifications. Tables and
figures that do not conform to the above specifications must be kept as
annexure.

5.2. Typing Instructions

The impression on the typed copies should be black in colour. One and a
half spacing should be used for typing the general text. The general text
shall be typed in the font style ‘Times New Roman’ and font size 12.
Single spacing should be used for typing:

(i) Long Tables

(ii) Long quotations
(iii) Foot notes
(v) References

All quotations exceeding one line should be typed in an indented space -

the indentation being 15mm from either margin. The last word of any page
should not be split using a hyphen.

5.2.1. Headings

The following illustrative examples may be followed in the format for typing
chapter headings, divisions headings and sub-division headings.

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 Chapter heading : CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Division heading : 1.1. Outline of the Study

Sub-division heading: 1.1.6. Objectives of the Study

The word CHAPTER without punctuation should be centred 50mm down

from the top of the page. Two spaces below, the title of the chapter should
be typed centrally in capital letters. The words CHAPTER and the title of the
chapter may be typed bold. The text should commence 4 spaces below
this title, the first letter of the text starting 20mm, inside from the left hand
margin.
A sub-heading at the bottom of a page must have at least two full lines
below it or else it should be carried over to the next page.
The division and sub-division captions, along with their numberings, should
be left-justified. The typed material directly below division or sub-division
heading should commence 2 spaces below it and should be offset 20mm
from the left hand margin.
Within a division or sub-division paragraphs are permitted. Every
paragraph should commence 3 spaces below the last line of the preceding
paragraph, the first letter in the paragraph being offset from the left hand
margin by 20 mm.

5.2.2. Tables and Figures

Tabulated numerical data in the body of the thesis as well as in the
appendices are to be referred to as tables. All other non-verbal material
used in the body of the thesis and appendices such as charts, graphs,
maps, photographs and diagrams may be designated as figures.

• All tables and figures should be prepared on the same paper or

material used for the preparation of the rest of the thesis.

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 • A table or figure including caption should be accommodated within
the prescribed margin limits and appear on the page following the
page where their first reference is made.

• Tables and figures on half page or less in length may appear on the
same page along with the text. However, they should be separated
from the text both above and below by triple spacing.

• For preparing captions, numerals, symbols or characters in the case

of tables or figures, the Computer should be enclosed.

• Two or more small tables or figures may be grouped if necessary in a

single page.

5.3. Numbering

5.3.1. Page Numbering

Numbering of pages which contain items 2 to 10 in 4.1 above should be
done in lower case Roman numerals. The title page will be numbered as (i)
but this should not be typed. The page immediately following the title page
shall be numbered (ii) and it should appear centralized at the bottom of the
page.

Pages of main text, starting with Chapter 1 should be consecutively

numbered using Arabic numerals. Page numbers should appear on the top
of the page centralized. The page numbers of the pages where chapter
headings appear should not be typed, but have to be reckoned while
numbering the subsequent pages.

5.3.2. Numbering of Chapters, Divisions and Sub-Divisions

The numbering of chapters shall be in upper case Roman numerals.
Numbering of divisions and sub-divisions should be done using Arabic
numerals only, and further decimal notation should be used for numbering
the divisions and sub-divisions within a chapter. For example sub-division 4

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under division 3 belonging to chapter 2 should be numbered as 2.3.4. The
caption for the sub-division should immediately follow the dot after the last
digit of the number assigned to it.
Appendices included should also be numbered in an identical manner
starting with Appendix 1.

5.3.3. Numbering of Tables and Figures

Tables and figures appearing anywhere in the thesis should bear
appropriate numbers. Thus, if a figure in Chapter 3 happens to be the
fourth then assign 3.4 to that figure. Identical rules apply for tables except
that the word ‘Figure’ is replaced by the word ‘Table’. If figures (or tables)
appear in appendices then figure 3 in Appendix 2 will be designated as
Figure A 2.3.

Tables and figures in a chapter should be placed in the immediate vicinity

of the reference where they are cited. If a table to be continued into the
next page, this may be done, but no line should be drawn underneath an
unfinished table. The top line of the table continued into the next page
should, for example, read Table 2.1 (continued) placed centrally and
underlined.

5.4. References
References within the text of the report may be indicated at the end of the
sentence/paragraph which has been referred.
For example: (Srinivasan , 2003).
(Gary ,Hamel, Robinson, 2005).
(Thomas Friedman et al 1984 ).

5.5. Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. They should be descriptions of
terms, which appear in the main text and is expected to make the
reader understand terms effortlessly. They should be typed in single
space and placed directly underneath, in the very same page, which
refers to the material they annotate.

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 6. Binding Specifications:

The project report should be hard bound and covered using flexible thick
art paper of the colour predetermined by the students of each batch. The
colour of the outer flexible thick art paper should be the same for all
students of the same batch.

The cover should be printed in black letters and the text for printing should be as specified in
Annexure 6 .

7. Final Presentation
The Project work has to be presented to the panel of faculty constituted by
the Institute on the designated dates. The students are expected to make
the necessary modifications as per guidelines from the panel of faculty
members.

8. Submission of Report

Students should submit three copies of the report, complete in every

respect and duly signed by the Faculty Project Guide and the student, to
the Director of the Institute on or before the specified date.

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 Appendix 1

A STUDY ON THE FINANCIAL

PERFORMANCE OF COCHIN
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LTD
<Font Size 24><1.5 line spacing>

Report of the Research Project submitted in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the MBA (Full time)
Degree of the
Mahatma Gandhi University

Submitted by

<Font Size 14><Italic>

Edwin Elias
Reg. No.73912
2006-08 Batch

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 LOGO
FISAT BUSINESS SCHOOL
<Font Size 14>
Hormis Nagar, Angamaly,Cochin –683 577.

<Font Size 12>

June 2008

Appendix 2

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the research project Report

entitled---------------------------- is a record of bona fide work done by me in
Cochin International Airport Ltd. Nedumbassery ,Cochin, during 1st to 30th
June 2007 under the supervision of Mr.R.Suresh Kumar, General Manager,
Cochin International Airport Ltd. Nedumbassery ,Cochin and Sri. K
Sreekumar, Professor, FISAT B-School and that no part of this Report has
formed the basis for award of any degree, diploma, associate ship,
fellowship or any other similar title or recognition in any other institution.

Hormis Nagar
Date Edwin Elias

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Appendix 3

LIST OF TABLES
Table No Title of the Table
Page no.

3.1 Gender-wise Distribution of Respondents 44

3.2 Distribution of Respondents according to Age 44
3.3 Distribution of Respondents according to Education 45
3.4 Distribution of Respondents according to Monthly Household Income 45
3.5 Distribution of Respondents according to Occupation 46
3.6 Distribution of Respondents according to Place of Residence 46
3.7 Distribution of Respondents according to Nature of purchase 46
3.8 Scores Allotted on Responses 50
3.9 Distribution of Respondents Based on Scores on Attitude
regarding Friendliness of the Market 52
3.10 Skewness of Items comprising Attitudes to Intrinsic Friendliness 53
3.11 Distribution of Skewness on Total Scores- Age –wise 54
3.12 Distribution of Skewness on Total Scores according to Levels of Income
55
3.13 Distribution of Skewness on Total Scores According to Place of Residence
56
3.14 Reliability Analysis-Scale Measuring Consumer Confidence(Split-Half) 58
3.15 Iteration History 59
3.16 The Variations Accounted for by the First Two Principal Components. 59

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3.17 Correlations of Transformed Variables 60
3.18 Component Loadings of Different Variables 60
3.19 Distribution of Respondents into Different Groups Confidence –wise. 63
3.20 Age- wise Distribution of Values of Mean of First principal Component 64
3.21 Chi-square test for Independence –Confidence and Age 66
3.22 Result of Independent Samples t – test of Confidence of Two
Extreme Age Groups 66

Appendix 4

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Mc Leod, Jack. M., and, Steven Chaffee. R. “The Construction of Social

Reality: The Social Influence Process”, Ed. Tedeschi, James. T. Chicago:
Aldine Atherton, 1972. pp. 50-59.

Journals
ReVelle, C.S.; Eiselt, H.A.; Daskin, M.S. “Multiattributive Modeling,”
European Journal of Operational Research, Feb2008, Vol. 184 Issue 3, pp.
817-848.

Research Papers

Cattin, P. and Wittink, D. R. (1976). “A Monte Carlo Study of Metric and

Nonmetric Estimation Methods for Multiattribute Models”, Research Paper,
Graduate School of Business, Standford University, p 341.

Articles from newspapers

Firbank, J., “The World-Wide Club of Wizards”, Daily Mail, 8th January 1985.
p. 22.

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Manchester, P. Z., “Chatting up Total Strangers at Home”, The Times, 13th
November 1984. p. 26

Websites: Full URL to be typed.

Company documents, Annual reports, Brochures, In house Journals or any

other relevant matter whatsoever collected from the organisation has to be
acknowledged and added to the bibliography.

Appendix 5
Certificate

Certified that the research project report entitled

------------------------------------------------------- is a bona fide work done by
Mr.Edwin Elias during June 2008 under my supervision and guidance.

Director Guide

Appendix 6
Sample Cover Page

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