| Category | Excellent | Good | Needs work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization & Formatting | 5 All formatting guidelines are followed; YAML is correct with all team members listed. |
4 Most formatting guidelines are followed; YAML is correct with all team members listed. |
3 Several or all formatting guidelines not followed; YAML contains elements that aren't updated from the template. Some template text / content remains in submitted proposal. |
| Abstract | 5 Abstract clearly defines the product, product attributes, and design decision variables. |
4 Abstract defines the product, product attributes, and design decision variables, but some components are unclear. |
3 Abstract is missing a component: product, product attributes, or design decision variables. |
| Introduction | 5 Includes a description of the product with some background content and a picture / diagram. |
4 Includes a description of the product with limited background content and a poor quality picture / diagram. |
3 Includes a description of the product with little to no background content and / or is missing a picture / diagram. |
| Market Opportunity | 10 / 9 Clearly identifies customer, competitors, and estimated market size. |
8 / 7 / 6 Identifies customer, competitors, and estimated market size, but parts are unclear. |
5 / 4 / 3 Section is missing a key component: customer, competitors, or estimated market size. |
| Product Attributes | 10 / 9 All product attributes being considered are listed and well-described; metrics and level ranges are specified; diagram is appropriately labeled; product attribute table is well-defined. |
8 / 7 / 6 All product attributes being considered are listed; metrics and level ranges are not all specified; diagram is poorly labeled; product attribute table is not well-defined. |
5 / 4 / 3 Product attributes are listed, but some key ones are missing; metrics and level ranges are not specified; diagram is not labeled; product attribute table is poorly-defined or missing. |
| Research Questions | 10 / 9 Research questions are clear and well thought out; questions directly relate to product attributes / policies being considered. |
8 / 7 / 6 Research questions are acceptable, but could be improved; questions relate to product attributes / policies being considered, but some connections aren’t clear. |
5 / 4 / 3 Research questions are poorly thought out and / or unrelated to the product attributes / policies being considered. |
| Questions | 5 Includes at leaset three thoughtful questions. |
4 Includes one or two thoughtful questions. |
3 Includes few or no questions. |
| Writing Quality | 5 Writing is clear, concise, and logically-structured; ideas are easily understood. |
4 Writing is clear but verbose and the structure could be improved; ideas are mostly easily understood. |
3 Writing is not clear, verbose, and poorly-structured; ideas are not easily understood. |
Project Proposal
Due: Sep 22 by 11:59pm
Weight: This assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.
Assessment: Your submission will be assessed using the rubric at the bottom of this page.
As a team, write a proposal defining the scope of your project plan. Your chosen project topic should follow the project selection guidelines.
The course instructor will review and grade your proposal and provide feedback in team meetings the week following the due date. If your proposal is approved, you are done and can move on towards the next project task. In some cases, the instructor may ask you to submit a revised proposal, most likely by focusing / adjusting the proposal scope. Follow the guidelines below to prepare your proposal.
1. Get Organized
Download and unzip this template for your proposal. Open the proposal.Rproj file and write your proposal in the proposal.qmd file. The template comes with some text and code explaining how to use it - you should delete this code / text as it is only for explanatory purposes. Be sure to adjust the content in the header:
- Write your project title in the
titlefield (and provide a subtitle if you wish, or delete thesubtitlefield). - In the
authorfield, list the names of all teammates, e.g.author: Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo.
2. Writing Quality
Your proposal should be written in a clear, concise, and logically-structured manner so that a reader can easily understand the ideas presented. The proposal should be proof-read before submission to correct any grammatical or spelling errors. Spell checking can be automated by installing the spelling package and running this in the R console:
All figures should be referenced in the text.
3. Proposal Contents
Your proposal should contain the following items listed as separate sections.
NOTE: If your team is working on a policy project rather than a product, see the Policy Proposal Contents section below.
Abstract
A few sentences summarizing the overall proposal and convincing the reader why it is important. Specifically, tell the reader:
- What is the product you are studying?
- What key product attributes make it different than its competitors?
- What major research questions will you focus on for your analysis?
Introduction
Provide a brief description and background of the product or technology. Include a picture or diagram of the product.
Market Opportunity
Identify Your Customer
If there are multiple potential markets, choose one to focus on for your analysis. Describe who you plan on taking your survey and how you intend to gain access to that population. You may survey customers of a “downstream” product, if appropriate (e.g. survey electric vehicle buyers to learn about preferences for electric vehicle battery attributes).
Identify Competitors
Which other products will compete with yours? Benchmark how competitors compare on your product’s attributes.
Identify Market Size
Estimate the size of the annual market (expected sales in units per year) for this product and its competitors. Specify if your estimated annual market size is regional, national, or global, and provide references. Also address how the market size is expected to grow in the future.
Product Attributes
A key component of your proposal is to identify the relationships between your product attributes and research questions.
These are the product features that consumers observe and care about. For example, price is almost always an important product attribute that influences consumer choices. You should list and describe the major product attributes you will include in your analysis. Where possible, label the product attributes on the diagram of your design. Where possible, quantify the metrics for each attribute (e.g. if one of your attributes is weight, the metric could be “kilograms”). Also list the set or range of possible levels you plan to explore for each attribute (e.g. for color you may choose the set {red, green, blue}, or for price you may choose the range $1 - $10).
Summarize your product attributes in a table, identifying the basic features of your attributes as well as the features of current competitors. Use this example as a template.
Research Questions
Your research questions are the central decisions that you are trying to inform with your project, and they often are directly related to the product attributes! For example, a research question on a project about solar panels might be “how thick should the cells be?”. This question affects multiple product attributes, such as the weight (thicker cells are heavier), price (thicker cells use more material), lifetime (cell thickness may affect how quickly a cell degrades), etc. You should discuss ~2-3 key research questions that are related to your product’s design. Discuss why you chose these questions, and note any relationship between the questions you are asking and the attributes of your product.
Other Questions
List major outstanding questions (e.g. about the product / technology performance metrics, market opportunities, etc.) that you will need to know to conduct your analysis and how you propose to find answers. The purpose of this section is to identify high-priority items that you will need to know early on in your project.
Attribution
Include a short description of the specific contributions of each team member in your team. Here is an example:
- Student A wrote the initial proposal draft.
- Student B identified the market opportunity and created the product attribute table.
- Student C helped organize project files and edited the final draft of the proposal.
If all members contributed equally, you can just put the single sentence “All members contributed equally”.
Team members who do not make meaningful contributions to their projects will not receive the same grade as that of their team mates. If you are having any issues or disputes among team members, please contact Professor Helveston ASAP so we can find a resolution.
4. Submit
Render your proposal.qmd file, then create a zip file of all the files in your R project folder for this assignment and submit it on the corresponding assignment submission on Blackboard. Only one person from your team should submit the report.
Policy Proposal Contents
For teams looking at a policy design rather than a product design, your proposal should contain the following sections.
Abstract
A few sentences summarizing the overall proposal and convincing the reader why it is important. Specifically, tell the reader:
- What is the problem you are trying to address?
- What policy options are you considering to address the problem?
- What is the target population of your policies? Who will be affected by them?
Introduction
Provide a brief description and background of the problem you are trying to address and the goal of the policies you are considering.
Target Population
Describe the target population for your analysis. Who will be affected by the policies you are considering? Who are you targeting these policies towards? Who are you planning on getting to take your survey, and how you intend to gain access to that population? Include an estimate of the size of the total target population.
Policy Options
Identify Policy Options
Which policies are you considering, and what are some of the potential pros and cons of them? Are some easier / more feasible to implement or enforce than others? Are some more costly to implement than others? Include a summary table comparing some basic features of each policy, e.g.
| Policy | Description | Pro | Con |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy 1 | Brief description | Easily implemented | Expensive |
| Policy 2 | Brief description | Hard to enforce | Cheap |
Identify Policy Attributes
For each policy, identify the key attributes that your target population will observe. For example, if the policy involves a fee or tax, then the amount of that fee or tax would be a key attribute. For each attribute, specify the range of possible levels you plan to explore (e.g. for amount you may choose the range $1 - $10). You should choose levels that reflect the range of existing policies or potential policies. You may choose to include policies / attributes that have not yet been implemented as well.
Research Questions
Your research questions are the central decisions that you are trying to inform with your project, and they often are directly related to the policy options and attributes.
Questions
List major outstanding questions that you will need to know to conduct your analysis and how you propose to find answers. The purpose of this section is to identify high-priority items that you will need to know early on in your project.
Grading Rubric
55 Total Points