Business and Management HL
Internal Assessment Handbook
Introduction
IB-DP Internal Assessment Handbook
HL Research Project Weighting: 25%
The research project enables HL students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge to real organizational issues or decision-making. Students must select a real organization, not a fictional one, and the issue or decision under investigation must also be real. The expectation is that a student should gather primary research from the organization. The research project must be the student’s own work, and students must provide a declaration of authenticity on the coversheet of the project. Most importantly, the research project must not be a descriptive piece of work. It should be a useful working document for the management of an organization.
Students are required to research an issue facing an organization or range of organizations or a decision to be made by an organization or range of organizations. This means the research question has to be forward looking rather than descriptive and should require the student to make recommendations for further action. It should, therefore, be designed to be of practical value to management.
HL students need to develop two pieces of work for the project:
• a research proposal and action plan
• a written report.
Requirements
HL students are required to:
• Design and undertake research that either addresses an issue facing an organization or range of organizations or analyses a decision to be made by an organization or range of organizations
• Produce a research proposal that should be used as the primary planning document and be presented in terms of an action plan
• Provide a title for the research project that, to give focus and direction, must be framed as a question
• Produce a written report that does not exceed 2,000 words.
• More than one student is allowed to choose the same organization for their research, provided that the written
report