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• How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

Published on October 12, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 21, 2023.

A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it’s important, and how you will conduct your research.

The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals will contain at least these elements:

Introduction

Literature review.

• Research design

Reference list

While the sections may vary, the overall objective is always the same. A research proposal serves as a blueprint and guide for your research plan, helping you get organized and feel confident in the path forward you choose to take.

Table of contents

Research proposal purpose, research proposal examples, research design and methods, contribution to knowledge, research schedule, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research proposals.

Academics often have to write research proposals to get funding for their projects. As a student, you might have to write a research proposal as part of a grad school application , or prior to starting your thesis or dissertation .

In addition to helping you figure out what your research can look like, a proposal can also serve to demonstrate why your project is worth pursuing to a funder, educational institution, or supervisor.

Research proposal length

The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor’s or master’s thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can help you determine the best length for your work.

One trick to get started is to think of your proposal’s structure as a shorter version of your thesis or dissertation , only without the results , conclusion and discussion sections.

Download our research proposal template

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Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We’ve included a few for you below.

• Example research proposal #1: “A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management”
• Example research proposal #2: “Medical Students as Mediators of Change in Tobacco Use”

Like your dissertation or thesis, the proposal will usually have a title page that includes:

• The proposed title of your project
• Your supervisor’s name
• Your institution and department

The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project. Make sure it succinctly explains what you want to do and why.

Your introduction should:

• Introduce your topic
• Give necessary background and context
• Outline your  problem statement  and research questions

To guide your introduction , include information about:

• Who could have an interest in the topic (e.g., scientists, policymakers)
• How much is already known about the topic
• What is missing from this current knowledge
• What new insights your research will contribute
• Why you believe this research is worth doing

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As you get started, it’s important to demonstrate that you’re familiar with the most important research on your topic. A strong literature review  shows your reader that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said, but rather using existing research as a jumping-off point for your own.

In this section, share exactly how your project will contribute to ongoing conversations in the field by:

• Comparing and contrasting the main theories, methods, and debates
• Examining the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches
• Explaining how will you build on, challenge, or synthesize prior scholarship

Following the literature review, restate your main  objectives . This brings the focus back to your own project. Next, your research design or methodology section will describe your overall approach, and the practical steps you will take to answer your research questions.

To finish your proposal on a strong note, explore the potential implications of your research for your field. Emphasize again what you aim to contribute and why it matters.

For example, your results might have implications for:

• Improving best practices
• Informing policymaking decisions
• Strengthening a theory or model
• Challenging popular or scientific beliefs
• Creating a basis for future research

Last but not least, your research proposal must include correct citations for every source you have used, compiled in a reference list . To create citations quickly and easily, you can use our free APA citation generator .

Some institutions or funders require a detailed timeline of the project, asking you to forecast what you will do at each stage and how long it may take. While not always required, be sure to check the requirements of your project.

Here’s an example schedule to help you get started. You can also download a template at the button below.

Download our research schedule template

If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a detailed budget. This shows your estimates of how much each part of your project will cost.

Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover. For each item, include:

• Cost : exactly how much money do you need?
• Justification : why is this cost necessary to complete the research?
• Source : how did you calculate the amount?

To determine your budget, think about:

• Travel costs : do you need to go somewhere to collect your data? How will you get there, and how much time will you need? What will you do there (e.g., interviews, archival research)?
• Materials : do you need access to any tools or technologies?
• Help : do you need to hire any research assistants for the project? What will they do, and how much will you pay them?

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.

A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.

A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.

All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.

Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

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McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 21). How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved April 8, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/research-proposal/

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• PMC7385541.1 ; 2020 Jun 30
• ➤ PMC7385541.2; 2020 Aug 6

An inexpensive and easy-to-implement approach to a Quality Management System for an academic research lab

Michael Hewera

1 Clinic for Neurosurgery, Medical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany

Ann-Christin Nickel

Nina knipprath.

2 Center for Information and Media Technology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 40225, Germany

Sajjad Muhammad

Xiaolong fan.

3 Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

Hans-Jakob Steiger

Daniel hänggi, ulf dietrich kahlert, associated data, underlying data.

Zenodo: STR Analysis results BTSC 349, BTSC268 and mix of both. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3901446 11

This project contains the following underlying data:

• - 15-1-Wiss2020-01-16.fsa (BTSC 349 short tandem repeat analysis)
• - 15-3-Wiss2020-01-16.fsa (BTSC268 short tandem repeat analysis)
• - 15-4-Wiss2020-01-16.fsa (Mixed cell line short tandem repeat analysis)

Data are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY 4.0).

Version Changes

Revised. amendments from version 1.

The revision of the article includes: condensed title, and introduction. Next we explain our motivation to establish a QMS, declare our vision on terminology of quality and QC and explain our opinions on the benefit of using a QMS. We include the notion that this article shall use as a reference guide for lab leaders in academia or beyond incl. wider group of stakeholders involved in translational biomedical research. We also elaborate the underlying reasons for choosing our software solution, add more details about the biobanking and SOPs system as well as introduce the composition of our lab group. Some problems with tense in the writing were corrected, and we rewrote sentences to make them easier to understand. Furthermore Fig 1 was adapted to fit the text. Some passages of text have been moved to other places, to better fit the article. Finally some problems with the references have been fixed.

Peer Review Summary

Background: Increasing concerns emerge regarding the limited success in reproducing data and translating research results into applications. This is a major problem for science, society and economy. Driven by industry or scientific networks, several attempts to combat this crisis are initiated. However, only few measures address the applicability and feasibility of implementation of actions into an academic research environment with limited resources.

Methods: Here we propose a strategy catalogue aiming for a quality management system suitable for many research labs, on the example of a cell culture focused laboratory. Our proposal is guided by its inexpensiveness and possibility of rapid installation.  For this we used eLabFTW, an electronic lab book, as hub for all other components of our Quality Management System (QMS) and digital storage of lab journals. We introduced Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) as well as a managed bio bank for safer long-term storage of bio samples. Next, we set up a lab meeting as feedback mechanism for the QMS. Finally, we implemented an automated pipeline to be used for example for drug screens.

Results : With this effort we want to reduce individual differences in work techniques, to further improve the quality of our results. Although, just recently established, we can already observe positive outcomes in quality of experimental results, improvements in sample and data storage, stakeholder engagement and even promotion of new scientific discoveries.

Conclusions: We believe that our experiences can help to establish a road map to increase value and output of preclinical research in academic labs with limited budget and personnel.

Background and Goal

By sharing our motivation and experiences in this effort, the aim of this article is serve as a reference supply for other leadership staff, both from academic or technical background, dedicated to responsible research innovation. Given the persistent hurdles in overcoming the bridge from biomedical lab discoveries to socio-economic applications in most of the projects, even with successful project development and breakthrough character, we dedicate this article especially to stakeholders involved in translational research. This spans from bench/animal scientists, to application specialists, to academic professors as well as to opinion leaders of funding agencies, scientific journals and governmental policy.

In our minds, laboratory quality is defined by highly accurate, efficient, transparent, data protective and through internal feedback algorithms constancy improving lab procedures. Laboratory quality control (QC) is the supervised sum of all measures put in place to aiming to achieve those parameters as most comprehensively as possible. We believe QC ensures lab operations streamlined to more efficiently than without leading to economic efficacy (by reducing time and resources due to minimizing wasteful replications), user loyalty and trust in own data since QC aims to minimize untrustable results. In a large picture, the authors believe that QC will shorten the delay of introducing innovation in clinics and market. Thus, unlike as considered by traditional society assumptions to restrict the innovation character of a lab, and, although for academic labs certain flexibilities need to be secured by not too heavy QC restrictions, QC represents an innovation mark and competition advancement especially in regards to sustainability (of results).

Two main factors urged us to introduce more stringent and monitored QC strategies in our lab. First, using same cell models and substance, a follow up project on an established, prior by at least two independent scientists of our lab confirmed model of pharmacological mediated suppression of a molecular signaling pathway in vitro, a new third lab member had difficult to replicate the model to the same extend. In the search of inequalities in the experimental design amongst the conducted, we identified differences in the manufacturer of the drug candidate, outdated cell authentication certificate, or even lack of knowledge of the genetic identity of one of the used cell model, as well as inconsistency in documenting the age of the cells when stressing them with the drug as contributors to the situation.

Due to its immense documentation load, the establishment of a quality management system (QMS) certified with ISO 9001 standard 1 in biomedical research labs, like ours (state-funded lab with less than 20 employees, only two of them being permanent positions, one being the lab head, the other a technician), is challenging. This is particularly true for academic labs where usually staff is changing rapidly and the progress for individual careers is often the dominator for operator’s decision making. However, it is shown, that a lack of quality management and transparency are two reasons for the ongoing reproducibility crisis 2 – 4 . We implemented a slim line QMS that should lead to an increase of confidence in our scientific lab outcomes by optimizing internal processes for elevated transparency and reproducibility.

We introduced several technological tools to optimize processes, which combined, will form the QMS ( Figure 1 ) of our lab.

SOP: Standard operation procedure, QMS: Quality management system.

Experience with freeware solution for electronic lab documentation

Transparent data management is a cornerstone for research integrity. As the basis of our work we set up an electronic documentation system to document all lab activities of all lab members. We chose eLabFTW 5 in the current version 3.4.8, an open source solution to track experiments with a powerful and flexible database. In the used version it provides all features necessary to provide the grounds of conformity with the principles of good research practices as proposed by the German research Foundation (DFG). This includes, not exclusively, the installation of a non-delete policy for created entries. The relevant software code can be found on GitHub platform 6 . eLabFTW is made up from two parts. One is called ‘experiments’ and is the lab journal part of the software, the other is called ‘database’ and lets the user create text entries in self defined data types. The journal part of eLabFTW is used by each researcher to document their research, and for project management. Created entries cannot be deleted and changes to these entries will automatically be logged. The database part makes up the backbone of our QMS. We decided to share reading and search authorization for all entries amongst all registered personal accounts in our working group to increase transparency and to stimulate the critical interaction. Data storage, backup and archiving of eLabFTW data files can be easily implemented in regular executed local data management policy. All finished experiments are time stamped (digital signature), and blocked for editing from any user by the server itself. This will secure the written text and attached primary data (pictures, raw data from lab machines etc.) from later manipulations, as they are now unchangeable and undeletable.

After trying a few electronic lab book solutions, eLabFTW was chosen as the documentation solution for our lab, because is has some advantages over other electronic lab books, which include: A strong encryption and modern codebase (only ELN with A+ rating on Mozilla’s Observatory), RFC 3161 compliant timestamping of experiments it is community developed through volunteers (by scientists, for scientists) and compatible with all common browsers (also mobile). Furthermore it allows the import and export in common file formats and is translated into various languages. An instance of eLabFTW is hosted on out universities own servers, which ensures high availability.

Establishment of coherent protocol and lab tool documentation system

SOPs are a main principle of most QMS. To our experience, even within one working unit, for one given experiment various self-developed, self-adapted protocols are in use at the same time. By implementing a binding SOP policy for all users, defining the accountability of the data to qualify for the use in external presentation such as in a scientific publication, we aim to enhance process coherence in order to increase intra-lab reproducibility success. As first step, a template for SOPs was created and its categorization and storage were implemented in the electronic lab documentation system followed by the establishment of a writing procedure for how to complete the template was developed. Any person can then write a draft of a new SOPs, but creation of the SOPs and QMS implementation are managed by selected authorized identity (in our hands a governmental- certified technical assistant to ensure conformation with regulation processes), to avoid duplicates or development of multiple parallel versions of one subjects. Approved, newly established SOPs then are categorized by name, a standardized alphanumerical identifier, and version number. Then all new SOPs get uploaded to the database of the electronic lab book. If applicable, SOPs are electronically linked with each other if their execution/specification depends on each other. In the last year 91 unique procedures and recipes have been standardized. 31 of them have been revised at least once, to either correct them, or adapt them to new findings or necessities. The SOPs are built that way, that one SOP describes one specific process. For the example of a qPCR, this would be one SOP for RNA extraction, one for cDNA synthesis, and one for the qPCR itself. The SOPs cover every area of lab work, from cell culture, over molecular methods and buffer preparation, to lab maintenance and data management. Every new employee will be sent a package of our most used methods and receipts as well as SOPs related to his proposed project, prior to their first day of work, so they have the chance to already get familiar with the methods in theory.

Moreover, virtual one-to-one project development meetings have been integrated in our e-documentation system by weekly, time-stamped progress reports of each lab member. Those are composed of structure items common for academic research projects featuring presentation of new results, problems experienced, suggestions of problem management and update on current literature. Leadership provides feedback on each parameter within a timely manner to secure up-to-date project management. Importantly, apart our open visibility of progress reports and feedback to all team members ensuring full transparency for all stakeholders, we have set up visibility-restricted sub projects. Those more restricted groups are intended to exchange work-in–progress documents between the individual user and the leadership, that have certain impact on the “outside-presentation” of the lab, such as presentations or manuscript drafts. We found this virtual project development-meeting platform enables efficient time management of the leadership and has been proven suitable to be conform with guidelines to minimize social contact, that have been stated by governments worldwide to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to FAIR principles, when publishing research results, used material and created bio samples (tissue, cell pellets, DNA, RNA, plasmids, etc.) need to be held in stock to allow for future replications of the experiments performed or to share lab tools with the community. By establishing our lab bio bank, we aimed to provide a centralized storage facility for bio samples both for experimental and clinical research projects The bio bank consists of a temperature surveilled 500 L -80°C deep freezer, that stores about 400 cryo boxes and a 110 L liquid nitrogen tank, that stores 40 cryo boxes. The nitrogen tank is used to store cell culture cryo vials only. Other samples are stored in the freezer. Both, freezer and nitrogen tank, contain labelled boxes with designated positions for bio samples. Stored samples are characterized by a unique identifier. Long term preservation is supported by using freezing approved label technology and designation with printing instead of handwriting. The entire needed lab infrastructure to install our bio bank is a standard set up in each lab and does not require extra investments. Due to the anticipated large and constantly increasing number of bio samples included in the storage, we decided not to integrate the storage data into the database of eLabFTW but used a separate SQL database as the digital complement of the physical bio bank. Nevertheless, samples and experiments can be cross referenced in both platforms using the unique identifiers of the samples in the experiment section of eLabFTW, thereby securing complete and intertwined electronic documentation in our QMS. All lab members can search for samples in the digital database. However only three people have write access and can add and delete entries. Only those three people can access the physical bio bank, to add and remove samples. With this setup we aim to minimize sample loss and mix up, as well as ensure proper labelling of the samples.

Quality assessment of cell models

As for many research labs, most of our projects fundament on in vitro experiments. For most of the cancer research projects, we perform our work by using the standard disease model type: the cancer cell line. Meanwhile paying particular attention to create the most-accurate-as-possible recapitulation of the pathophysiology of the disease by using 3D cultures, we furthermore surveil our technical quality of the applied biological test matrixes. This includes a) the confirmation of authentication through short tandem repeat analysis (STR) of cultured models every 6 months, b) the use of as-young-as-possible cell models (monitoring cell passage number); c) surveillance and - if necessary - clearance of mycoplasma contamination (PCR-based mycoplasma detection) and d) adherence to culture procedures as defined in SOPs. The STR analysis is outsourced to an in-house service. There Quantitation was performed using the QuantusTM Fluorometer (Promega) and the QuantiFluor® dsDNA Sample Kit (Promega) following manufacturer’s instructions. A multiplex PCR of 21 STR loci (PowerPlex® 21 System Kit, Promega) was performed in a total reaction volume of 12.5 µl with 0.5 ng template DNA. Thermal cycling conditions were followed as described by the manufacturer. Capillary electrophoretic separation was performed on the ABI Prism® Genetic Analyzer 3130 equipped with a 36 cm Capillary Array/POP-4 (Applied Biosystems, Darmstadt, Germany) following manufacturer’s instructions. Data acquisition and analysis was performed using the ABI Prism 3130 Collection software (Applied Biosystems) and GeneMapperID® v.3.2 software (Applied Biosystems, Darmstadt, Germany). For STR and mycoplasma test we invest less than 20 USD in total. We believe that the adherence to chronic execution of those simple methods is an economical, feasible and robust measure to sustainably reduce the creation of low-value cancer cell line data.

Feedback and update communication platform

A monthly gathering of all participating and interested stakeholders secures the communication of updates and feedback mechanism of the QMS. Here also the state of the QMS is constantly revised by all lab members, and the further development is coordinated. The date and location for the meeting is circulated well in advance to ensure high frequency of participation of invitees. The feedback platform is open for all stakeholders independently of profession, profession hierarchy and amount of involvement in hands-on lab work. Each time a protocol of the meeting is generated in form of meeting minutes-like listing including specification of attendance. Although sometimes time consuming due to extent exchange of opposing opinions on topics, we hypothesize the impact of this outreach effort to involve all participants in the policy development extends further then the QMS. We believe such a platform increases the teamwork atmosphere and group belonging hereby increasing work atmosphere. We also think this is a valuable tool to fight occurrence of inequality and discrimination in our working group. The generated meeting minutes will be used to permanently alter the QMS to guarantee the highest possible quality. For that they will also be uploaded to the electronic lab book.

Automation for lab work execution

Automation is a standard in industry labs and clinical diagnostics. We implemented a robotic liquid handling instrument (Beckman Coulter Biomek FxP) connected with automated plate reading for performing pharmacology testing on a cancer cell (Vargas-Toscano et al .) 7 . We chose this method as our implementation trial since this is one of our most frequently used lab procedures. Our validation experiments based on manual repetition of the experiment proves that the functionality of our automation assay. Besides the accurate execution, the possibility of direct data reporting into the electronic lab documentation system and the possibility of electronic surveillance of executed pipetting for error reduction makes the inclusion of automation a valuable measure to increase reproducibly and transparency of our work. Given the existence of low-cost pipetting automation, more economically feasible options instead of the Biomek solution are available. Here, single-dose pumps in particular come to mind. These are of cause not as comfortable as robotic systems but fulfill the need of standardized pipetting. Used pumps can be bought for less than 1000 USD.

Results and discussion

In our experience the approach of using an all-digital lab book with shared reading rights and automated storage of raw data, does not only guarantee data management according to FAIR 8 or increase the transparency according to the Hong Kong principles 9 , but also helps to increase motivation of the team in general and thereby improving scientific development of the users. From all 17 lab members (at the time of publishing this), only 4 are not using the electronic lab book for recording their experiments. Those are members who are at the end of their projects and were therefore encouraged to keep their old method of recording, for consistency. Yet also those people use the database part of the electronic lab book, as well as the SOPs. The implementation of eLabFTW was a rather quick process. It is hosted on our university servers and as soon as the IT department set up a user group for our lab, our lab technician could populate the internal database during less than a week, as all inventory lists, primer lists, enzyme lists etc. where already available in a digital format and only had to be converted and imported to eLabFTW. As soon as this was done, the whole lab had a one day introduction into the functions of eLabFTW and where then able to use it. As eLabFTW is an open source freeware, there were no additional costs by our lab to use it. Exept from the 4 users mentioned before, for existing users old data is still stored in hand written lab books, but new projects are documented electronically. All new lab members will directly start documentation with the electronic lab book.

The use of SOPs, which were uploaded to the electronic lab book, lead to the standardization of particular processes in the lab. Before researchers performed several experiments with protocols from other or former labs. This leads to lack of reproducibility inside of the lab. Now a higher consistency of experimental results is given, as all researchers perform each experiment in only a single way, minimizing individual differences. Initial creation of SOPs was a very time costly process, as we had to decide which protocols to use to form a standard procedure. In addition, we decided, that only one person should write the final version of the SOPs, to keep constant wording and style. However other lab members handed in drafts and were involved in creating preliminary versions for specific SOPs. Now the addition of new SOPs is not very time consuming, as a draft will be created by the researcher who introduces a new method, after this method is refined, and the person responsible for creating SOPs will finalize them.

Compared to shared freezers used in the lab, central administration by only a few people highly reduces the loss of samples and mix-ups. Furthermore, the bio bank and its digital complement, with the possibility of linking it to the electronic lab book, make it very easy to find all samples used in all experiments. Since the Bio Bank is relatively freshly implemented, we cannot give results for the improvement of storage over longer periods of time yet. Until now the model of a digital copy of the bio bank, combined with limited access to the physical bank is holding up. All samples that got stored in the bio bank are still unmistakably findable. We argue that due to the QMS we fulfill the requirements for storage of data and samples, according to good scientific practice guidelines, as proposed by DFG 10 . The SQL-Database was set up by our IT department. Before that the samples have already been moved to the biobank and all necessary information was already stored in an Excel-File that could then be imported to the SQL-Database. Because SQL Servers are also available as freeware, there are no additional costs, then running a Server for a lab that wants to implement such a database.

STR and regular mycoplasma testing lead to rejection of low quality cell cultures, ensuring higher significance of results derived from experiments with those cells ( Table 1 11 ). Especially for metabolics or pharmacoproteomics experiments, a contamination with mycoplasma can lead to wrongful results. In our experience, even the most skillful and experienced cell culture scientists cannot avoid the introduction of unrecognized contamination. We found out that both, mycoplasma PCR and STR-Analysis are no big additional time costs. The PCR can be set up in about 5 minutes and then runs for 2.5 hours in which regular lab work can be continued. As the STR-Analysis is done by an in-house service, we just need to provide the DNA which can be extracted in about 30 minutes. With the introduced QMS, in our lab we identified cancer cell models have established subclones with different genetic background due to inter cell line contamination. Those subclones were designed as a different cell line instead of a subclone. The introduction of the QMS leads to big project adjustments and in some case to termination of experiments. We also put on hold a scheduled submission of a manuscript draft for publication due to cell line miss-identification.

For comparison and a reference for the scientific community, STR profiles of parental lines are provided as well. STRs with mixes of both cell lines are marked. For original data as supplied by in-house service, see underlying data 11 .

The implemented communication system already proved its worth by leading to updated and refined versions of some SOPs. Given the deliverables of the meetings have a large influence on future lab procedures, we have experienced an increase in involvement and commitment of responsible lab members in this effort. A regular non-science oriented lab meeting creates an opportunity for easier expression of general matters thereby facilitating interpersonal communication amongst stakeholders. The virtual one-to-one project development report-feedback loops provides an opportunity to timely manage diverse research branches with moderate resources needed at each time.

As the technologically most advanced component of our QMS, we implemented an automated pipetting system in our lab routines. We believe that the robustness and transparency of the data generation, as well as the simplicity of its use in supporting repetitive work procedures are the reasons for high attractiveness to many lab users and that robotic assays increase the value and innovation of our work. As such, the application of the screening identified a repurpose of a FDA approved neurotransmitter drug to inhibit growth of brain tumor cells. Given the recent high-profile publications revealing the importance of neurotransmitter signaling for the biology of brain cancer 12 , our QMS coincidently enabled us to contribute to current line of cancer research that we had not purposely addressed without it. Our initial results applying this industry-like assay on drug resistance testing on cell models are very encouraging. However, conclusive evaluations on whether data quality is improved requires further projects comparing manual pipetting-derived data with corresponding data retrieved from the robot tool. Such a project is currently underway.

We present a rapid-to-implement, feedback approved method guide for initial steps to improve value of preclinical lab deliverables in a budget-restricted academic research environment. Given the increasing concerns on the value of preclinical research, we believe our activities are in line with current goals of funding authorities, academic self-governance and help to improve trust and recognition of science in society. We hypothesize that side effects of a QMS can also reduce inequality/discrimination amongst stakeholders.

Data availability

[version 2; peer review: 2 approved

Funding Statement

This work was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research through a grant to UDK [KZ 03VP03791].

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Reviewer response for version 2

Olavo b. amaral.

1 Institute of Medical Biochemistry Leopoldo de Meis, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Clarissa Carneiro

The revisions addressed most of our concerns – in particular, the objective of the article is stated more clearly, and important details on the lab and procedures have been provided. However, we note that during the process of the revision a number of problems in English usage have appeared, and the manuscript would clearly benefit from a language revision to improve readability.  We have noted some of these issues below, but this is clearly not an exhaustive list.

• “Although, just recently established…”. There should be no comma after ‘although’.

Background and goal:

• “the aim of this article is serve”. Should be “to serve”.
• “In our minds, laboratory quality is defined by highly accurate, efficient, transparent, data protective and through internal feedback algorithms constancy improving lab procedures” – this sentence is quite hard to understand and should be rephrased.
• “as most comprehensively”. Should be “as comprehensively”.
• “We believe QC ensures lab operations streamlined to more efficiently” – something seems to be off in this sentence.
• “Thus, unlike as considered by traditional society assumptions to restrict the innovation character of a lab, and, although for academic labs certain flexibilities need to be secured by not too heavy QC restrictions, QC represents an innovation mark and competition advancement especially in regards to sustainability (of results).” – This sentence is very hard to understand as well.
• “Two main factors urged us to introduce more stringent and monitored QC strategies in our lab. First, using same cell models and substance, a follow up project on an established, prior by at least two independent scientists of our lab confirmed model of pharmacological mediated suppression of a molecular signaling pathway in vitro, a new third lab member had difficult to replicate the model to the same extend.” – There are various errors in this sentence, which is also very hard to read.
• “progress for individual careers is often the dominator...” – I don’t think “dominator” is the right word here.
• “RFC 3161 compliant timestamping of experiments it is community developed through volunteers (by scientists, for scientists) and compatible with all common browsers (also mobile).” – there seems to be a period missing between “experiments” and “it”.
• “The SOPs are built that way, that one SOP describes one specific process.”. Should be “are built in a way that...”
• “Importantly, apart our...”. Should be “apart from our...”
• “Both, freezer and nitrogen tank, contain labelled boxes”. There should be no commas here.
• “most of our projects fundament on in vitro experiments”. “Fundament” is not a verb.
• “Each time a protocol of the meeting...”. Should be “Every time”.
• “To extent exchange”. Perhaps “extensive exchange”?
• “Of cause not as comfortable...”. Should be “of course”.

Results and discussion:

• “introduction into the functions”… Should be “introduction to the functions”.
• “Exept from…”. Should be “Except for”
• “there are no additional costs, then running a Server from a lab…” – something seems odd here.
• “wrongful results”. Should be “wrong”.
• “miss-identification…”. Should be “misidentification”.

Besides these language issues, other minor concerns include:

• Should the meetings description be under the “documentation system” heading? Perhaps this issue deserves its own subheading.
• The detailed description of STR analysis methods seems out of place and excessive in a methods section that is much more generic in nature. Moreover, there seems to be no reason to use the past tense here (which is likely an artifact from copying and pasting the methods from somewhere else). If this is meant to be the methods for the results on Table 1, perhaps the authors might consider placing them in the legend or in the same repository as the data.
• I still don’t quite grasp how the meetings and QMS would reduce inequality and discrimination (something that is mentioned in the methods and in the last sentence of the summary). If you want to keep this statement, please explain why this is the case.
• The results section mentions that “now a higher consistency of experimental results is given”. As asked in our previous review, do the authors have data to support this statement? If not, it should be marked more clearly as speculative.

Is the work clearly and accurately presented and does it cite the current literature?

If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?

Not applicable

Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility?

Is the study design appropriate and is the work technically sound?

Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results?

Are sufficient details of methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others?

Reviewer Expertise:

Metascience and behavioral neuroscience.

We confirm that we have read this submission and believe that we have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however we have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Jan Vollert

1 Pain Research, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK

Happy with this revision.

Pain Research, Placebo, Improvement of Clinical and Preclinical Trial Design

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard.

Reviewer response for version 1

The article describes an experience with a quality management system (QMS) within an academic basic biomedical research laboratory. The subject is relevant to the life sciences in general, as concerns with research quality are on the rise, and describing the development and implementation of a QMS within a lab is a worthy contribution; however, we believe the article would benefit from major changes in its structure to make its objectives, methods and results clearer.

Main concerns:

• Who is the intended audience for the article? If this is meant to be a template or example to be followed by laboratory researchers in general, we believe that more information about the concept of QMS and the process of developing it are probably warranted. On the other hand, very specific information about cell culture automation and STR profiling, such as that presented on Table 1, is only of interested to a very specific audience. If the article aims to be a description of QMS in cell culture labs, that would be a valid goal as well, but in this case this topic should be covered in more detail, and the text in other sections should be changed in order to reflect this aim.
• What are the objectives of the article? If the goal is to describe the effects of the QMS system on some aspects of quality, more data is needed to adequately assess its impact. If the goal of the article is to present the development of the QMS, that is fine as well, but the methods and results sections should then be restructured to reflect that goal – in this case, the methods should explain the decision process leading to QMS implementation, while the results would present the system as it was implemented. In either case, a more detailed description of each block of the QMS is warranted, either as methods or as results, depending on the objective of the article.
• What is meant by quality and by reproducibility? Both terms can be read with many different interpretations, so including definitions would help to avoid misinterpretations of the goals of the article. Note that the QMS seems to address multiple facets of these concepts, so clarification might be necessary within each block of the QMS. In particular, most lab researchers are not familiar with the literature on quality management, so a more in-depth review of these concepts is needed in the introduction.

Title and abstract:

• Given the direct and practical content of the article, we suggest the title would be improved by removing the first part (i.e. “Measures to increase value of preclinical research”) and leaving only the second one.
• While the abbreviation QMS is defined in the abstract, we believe it should not be used in the title, in which it cannot be defined. Instead, we suggest using the unabbreviated form.
• The whole abstract could be shortened and made more direct, particularly in the Introduction and Methods section.
• If the system has already been implemented (as seems to be the case), why are some sentences in the future in the methods section of the abstract (e.g “These will be stored…”)?
• The abstract “Methods” subsection contains information not available elsewhere in the full text article (i.e. “Moreover, we restrict presentations of our actions on those for what we received a positive feedback by the users regarding its applicability”). Moreover, such feedback data is never presented in the article.
• The “Results” subsection does not seem to contain any result, irrespective of what objective is intended (as described above).

Introduction:

• If the article is targeted at a life sciences audience, however general or specific, we would not expect most of them to be familiarized with quality assessment vocabulary or literature. With that in mind, we suggest including an operational definition of QMS. Additionally, there has been some debate about its implementation in the basic academic research lab; thus, describing this context and reviewing the literature on the subject would also beneficial to the readers.
• On a more specific development of the previous point, we suggest including a brief description of your motivations for engaging in this endeavor. Was this a requirement by a superior instance, such as the institution or a funding agency? Was this a bottom-up initiative from the researchers? This could both (a) help to reach readers that could identify with the same issues but were not aware of them and (b) help to contextualize the adopted strategies in a broader landscape of previous experiences.
• Independently of the goal or targeted audience, for a case-study such as this one, it is vital that the introduction includes a description of the lab setting for which this QMS was developed. This includes the number of people and their positions in the lab (such as students, technicians, postdocs, etc), the group’s research interests or focus areas and the institutional environment (such as governmental vs. private funding, discovery-based vs. applied, etc). While some of these features can be inferred from other sections of the text, they should be presented upfront in the Introduction.
• The three references cited on “that a lack of quality management and transparency are two reasons for the ongoing reproducibility crisis” do not seem to fully support the sentence, as they do not directly mention quality management. That sentence should either be corrected or clarified to better represent the cited articles.
• The issues raised as general comments should have a strong impact on the structure of the methods section. If the goal is to describe the creation of the QMS, the decision process to create each component of the system should be included here. If the goal was to assess the QMS itself, a more objective description of the QMS itself is warranted, but new sections on data collection would be required. In each subsection of the Methods, we found one or a combination of these strategies, which causes the section to lack coherence and makes the reader unsure about what the objectives actually were.
• From our understanding, Figure 1 is intended to be a summary of the QMS system. However, it does not completely correspond to what is described in the text. On one hand, the “lab meeting deciding core rules of QMS” shown in the first block of the figure is not described in the Methods section; on the other the “Quality of Cell Cultures” subsection is not reflected in the figure.
• In the description of standard operating procedures (SOPs), it is not clear for what processes they are being developed. Listing at least the most used SOPs would greatly improve our understanding of the strategy; one cannot understand for example, how specific a process is described in each of the 91 SOPs. Ideally, the authors should share some examples in the article, and perhaps include a template as a supplementary material.
• The description of one-to-one meetings probably deserves its own subheading and should not be under the SOP subsection.
• As mentioned previously, the quality of cell culture assessments subsection seems out of context and should only be included if the authors mean to reach a very specific audience (e.g. labs mainly working with cell cultures). If they mean to use cell culture as an example of the QMS implementation, we would suggest describing it in the Results section and relating each step of the process to the QMS blocks that are described in the methods.
• In the Feedback and Update section, there are three consecutive sentences with “hypothesize”, “believe” and “think” as verbs. That said, do the authors have data on the subjects touched upon? If so, they should present it – otherwise, they might be excessively speculating on the impact of their intervention.
• Also in this section, the link between the meetings and the claims of reduced inequality and discrimination is not clear. Please clarify.
• When describing automation, a result is mentioned: “i.e. the application of the screening identified a repurpose of a FDA approved neurotransmitter drug to inhibit growth of brain tumor cells…”. This does not belong in the Methods section and should be moved to the Results. Moreover, the causal link between automation and the mentioned results is not obvious and could be better explained by the authors.
• As mentioned above, the structural questions about the objective of the paper addressed in the General section of this report should have an important impact on the “Results and discussion” section of the article. In general, we found it to be better structured than the “Methods” section. In particular, we appreciated the description of some quantitative results and recognition of some limitations. That said, the section is still scarce on providing actual measures of impact of the QMS implementation – and, if this is meant to be the goal of the article, should include more data on the subject.
• In the first paragraph, the authors mention an increase in team motivation and improvement of scientific development of lab members, while the second paragraph states that “now a higher consistency of experimental results is given”. Do the authors have any data to base these statements on? If so, it should be shown (and details of this assessment should be included in the methods). If not, these conclusions might not be warranted.
• We suggest including more information when describing the implementation of the electronic laboratory notebook. For example, this particular product requires server installation, which might not be accessible to many biomedical researchers. Did you have assistance from an IT department of your institution? Moreover, how was the process for the 13 people who were able to completely migrate to this system? Did they have to stop their experimental schedules to implement all changes at once or was it gradual?
• The description of cell culture contaminations (Table 1) is very specific and not understandable for readers with no experience with STR profiling. If this is to be presented, it definitely needs a general description of how the results should be read and interpreted. That said, perhaps the best option would to leave this information out of the main text of the article and present it as supplementary material.
• To support the claims of this being a QMS for resource-restricted research groups, more information regarding the implementation cost of all blocks of the system is needed. Exemplifying the financial costs of the cell culture assessment assays is a welcome contribution; this, however, could be expanded in other parts of the QMS, not only in terms of financial costs but also of human resources and time requirement.
• In various points, but especially when discussing meetings (i.e. “a non-scientific oriented lab meeting creates an opportunity for easier expression of general matters…”), it would be useful to know whether the authors’ impression is indeed shared by all of the lab personnel. Do they have any kind of questionnaire/feedback data to know whether this opinion extends beyond the authors themselves?
• We suggest toning down the conclusions presented here. Given the methods and results presented as they are, there is little data to support the claims of fast, easy or low-cost implementation of the QMS. To substantiate this claim, more details relating to cost, speed and implementation challenges should be provided in the previous section.
• The same recommendation holds for increased value of preclinical lab deliverables – unless the authors present more data on the impact of QMS implementation, this conclusion might not be warranted.
• Once more, it is not clear what the hypothesis of a reduction of inequalities (also mentioned in the methods) and discrimination is based on, as this does not seem to follow logically from QMS implementation.

References:

• In general, we do not believe the study provides an adequate reference list. It is insufficient to provide context to the methods used or to the discussion presented.
• Reference 4 has the wrong title and links to an unofficial source. It should be corrected to the publisher’s version.
• There is a typo in Reference 10: it should read OSF Preprints.
• Reference 12 is listed with two “publishers”: F1000 and Zenodo. From the link, we infer that Zenodo is the correct one.

Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf, Germany

Dear Clarissa Carneiro and Olavo B Amaral,

We thank you a lot for your very detailed review of our publication.

Most of your suggestions have been introduced in the revised version of the article.

Best regards,

Frank Miedema

2 University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

3 Open Science Program, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Judith de Haan

1 Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

It is an interesting manuscript that shows that research groups can improve the quality of their experimental work without spending lots of money. It is great that researchers feel the need to improve their own practice, even if that does not immediately lead to more publications or more funding, but because it will improve the reproducibility of their work and contribute to the quality of the whole research field they are working in.

Some suggestions for improvement: 

• The level of details in this paper vary a lot, on the one hand it is very detailed  (the amount of DNA and volume for the reaction to check cell line stability), but the level of information on the bio bank is very limited.
• It seems that the authors try to write a ‘case report’ about their own lab and at the same time try to give recommendations for other labs. It might be more valuable to make a clear distinction between those two goals. Maybe write it as a case report and then provide recommendations in the discussion part. Maybe distinguish the recommendations too, material wise recommendations (check cell lines, buy a pipet pump of ~1000 USD), (data ) storages recommendations and attitude recommendations (have regular lab meetings about quality, make sure all lab members use the same digital notebook and SOPs).

Human cellular immunology, virology.

We confirm that we have read this submission and believe that we have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard.

Dear Judith de Haan and Frank Miedema,

Thank you for reviewing our publication.

Following your suggestion, we adapted the level of detail, by adding some information to the bio bank part of the text.

The authors present the quality management system they have implemented in their lab and lay out specifics and improvements to their previous processes. The reader would benefit from more elaboration of the motivation that initiated the change, a better structure in before/after comparisons, and a primer in quantifying compliance and satisfaction of the users.

Specific points:

• “ However, it is shown, that a lack of quality management and transparency are two reasons for the ongoing reproducibility crisis 2 – 4 .  “

While I fully agree with this statement, I think the reader would benefit from some elaboration on this topic: why and how do QS and in particularly organised documentation, increase reproducibility?

• eLabFTW: it would be interesting to lead the reader through your decision process, as I assume other labs will consider similar options as you did. Why did you choose this one over the others?
• The central element of this manuscript – the reporting on some bits on the motivation of the researchers to finally approach this step would be interesting, which could also allow for a better before/after comparison. Which processes have improved by the introduction of the new system, where do the users experience early benefit, where are the users rather reluctant?

I appreciate that some information on the before is given in the results section, but think that a separate, earlier header on “before” would improve the structure.

• Similarly, the reporting of enthusiasm within the group is relatively vague – maybe you could even add a small anonymous survey within the group which bits are most and least liked. This can quantify the impact of the system at least a bit.
• Minor point: I am always at risk of doing this myself, but I would recommend refraining from using terms like “significant influence” as the word “significance” is so strongly tied to p-values in research papers.

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Dear Jan Vollert,

Thank you a lot for your very quick response!

Following your advise, we added a short part about the process of choosing eLabFTW as out electronic lab book and changed the several "significants".

We really liked your idea of small surveys, but think it would have been only feasable, if we also did the same one before the installation of the QMS.

Inside of the team we do have our feedback meetings, to get these responses. Unfortunately we cannot publish our meeting minutes as data though.

Total Quality Management Research Paper Topics

Total quality management research paper topics have grown to become an essential area of study, reflecting the critical role that quality assurance and continuous improvement play in modern organizations. This subject encompasses a wide array of topics, methodologies, and applications, all aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and competitive advantage. The purpose of this text is to provide students, researchers, and practitioners with a comprehensive guide on various aspects of total quality management (TQM). It includes an extensive list of potential research paper topics categorized into ten main sections, a detailed article explaining the principles and practices of TQM, guidelines on how to choose and write on TQM topics, and an introduction to iResearchNet’s custom writing services that cater to this field. This comprehensive resource aims to assist students in navigating the complex landscape of TQM, inspiring insightful research, and offering practical tools and support for academic success.

100 Total Quality Management Research Paper Topics

Total Quality Management (TQM) has evolved to become a strategic approach to continuous improvement and operational excellence. It has applications across various industries, each with its unique challenges and opportunities. Below is an exhaustive list of TQM research paper topics, divided into ten categories, offering a rich source of ideas for students and researchers looking to explore this multifaceted domain.

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Total Quality Management transcends traditional boundaries and integrates concepts from various disciplines. Its goal is to create a culture where quality is at the forefront of every decision and process. The following list presents 100 TQM research topics divided into ten different categories. Each category represents a specific aspect of TQM, providing an extensive foundation for exploring this complex field.

• Historical Development of TQM
• Core Principles of TQM
• TQM and Organizational Culture
• Deming’s 14 Points: A Critical Analysis
• Six Sigma and TQM: A Comparative Study
• TQM in Manufacturing: Case Studies
• TQM and Leadership: Role and Responsibilities
• Customer Focus in TQM
• Employee Involvement in TQM Practices
• Challenges in Implementing TQM
• TQM in Healthcare
• TQM in Education
• TQM in the Automotive Industry
• TQM in the Food and Beverage Industry
• TQM in Information Technology
• TQM in Hospitality
• TQM in the Banking Sector
• TQM in Construction
• TQM in Supply Chain Management
• TQM in Government Services
• Statistical Process Control in TQM
• The 5S Method in Quality Management
• Kaizen and Continuous Improvement
• Root Cause Analysis in TQM
• Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
• The Fishbone Diagram in TQM
• Process Mapping and Quality Improvement
• Benchmarking for Quality Enhancement
• The Role of FMEA in Quality Management
• Design of Experiments (DOE) in TQM
• ISO 9001 and Quality Management
• The Benefits of ISO 14001
• Understanding Six Sigma Certifications
• The Impact of OHSAS 18001 on Safety Management
• Lean Manufacturing and Quality Standards
• Implementation of ISO 22000 in Food Safety
• The Role of ISO/IEC 17025 in Testing Laboratories
• Quality Management in ISO 27001 (Information Security)
• Achieving CE Marking for Product Safety
• The Influence of SA 8000 on Social Accountability
• Measuring Customer Satisfaction in TQM
• The Role of Service Quality in Customer Retention
• Customer Complaints and Quality Improvement
• Building Customer Loyalty Through TQM
• Customer Feedback and Continuous Improvement
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and TQM
• Emotional Intelligence and Customer Satisfaction
• The Impact of Branding on Customer Loyalty
• Customer Experience Management in TQM
• Customer Segmentation and Targeting in TQM
• The Role of Training in TQM
• Employee Empowerment in Quality Management
• Motivational Theories and TQM
• Building a Quality Culture Through Employee Engagement
• Employee Recognition and Reward Systems in TQM
• Leadership Styles and Employee Performance in TQM
• Communication and Teamwork in TQM
• Managing Change in TQM Implementation
• Conflict Resolution Strategies in TQM
• Work-Life Balance in a Quality-Oriented Organization
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in TQM
• Balanced Scorecard and Quality Management
• Performance Appraisals in a TQM Environment
• Continuous Monitoring and Evaluation in TQM
• Risk Management in Quality Performance
• Process Auditing and Quality Control
• The Role of Quality Circles in Performance Evaluation
• Value Stream Mapping and Process Optimization
• The Impact of E-business on Quality Performance
• Outsourcing and Quality Assurance
• Environmental Sustainability and TQM
• Social Responsibility and Ethical Practices in TQM
• Green Manufacturing and Environmental Performance
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategies in TQM
• Waste Reduction and Recycling in TQM
• Community Engagement and Social Impact
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and TQM
• Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Quality Management
• Ethical Sourcing and Supply Chain Responsibility
• Human Rights and Labor Practices in TQM
• TQM Practices in Different Cultures
• The Influence of Globalization on TQM
• Cross-Cultural Communication and Quality Management
• International Regulations and Quality Standards
• TQM in Emerging Economies
• Quality Management in Multinational Corporations
• The Role of WTO in Global Quality Standards
• Outsourcing and Global Supply Chain Quality
• Global Competition and Quality Strategies
• International Collaboration and Quality Innovation
• Technological Innovations and Quality Management
• Big Data and Analytics in TQM
• Quality 4.0 and the Role of IoT
• Artificial Intelligence and Quality Prediction
• The Impact of Social Media on Quality Perception
• Sustainability and Future Quality Management
• Agile Methodologies and Quality Flexibility
• Blockchain Technology and Quality Traceability
• Cybersecurity and Quality Assurance
• The Future Role of Human Resource in Quality Management

The vast array of topics listed above provides a comprehensive insight into the dynamic and multifaceted world of Total Quality Management. From foundational principles to future trends, these topics offer students a diverse range of perspectives to explore, understand, and contribute to the ongoing dialogue in TQM. With proper guidance, dedication, and an open mind, scholars can delve into these subjects to create impactful research papers, case studies, or projects that enrich the existing body of knowledge and drive further innovation in the field. Whether one chooses to focus on a specific industry, a particular tool, or an emerging trend, the possibilities are endless, and the journey towards quality excellence is both challenging and rewarding.

Total Quality Management and the Range of Research Paper Topics

Total Quality Management (TQM) represents a comprehensive and structured approach to organizational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback. This article aims to provide an in-depth exploration of TQM, shedding light on its evolution, its underlying principles, and the vast range of research topics it offers.

Historical Background

Total Quality Management has its roots in the early 20th century, with the development of quality control and inspection processes. However, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that TQM became a formalized, systematic approach, greatly influenced by management gurus like W. Edwards Deming, Joseph Juran, and Philip Crosby.

• Early Quality Control Era : During the industrial revolution, emphasis on quality control began, primarily focusing on product inspection.
• Post-World War II Era : The concept of quality management grew as the U.S. sought to rebuild Japan’s industry. Deming’s teachings on quality greatly influenced Japanese manufacturing.
• TQM’s Formalization : The integration of quality principles into management practices led to the formalization of TQM, encompassing a holistic approach towards quality improvement.

Principles of Total Quality Management

TQM is underpinned by a set of core principles that guide its implementation and contribute to its success. Understanding these principles is fundamental to any research into TQM.

• Customer Focus : At the heart of TQM is a strong focus on customer satisfaction, aiming to exceed customer expectations.
• Continuous Improvement : TQM promotes a culture of never-ending improvement, addressing small changes that cumulatively lead to substantial improvement over time.
• Employee Engagement : Engaging employees at all levels ensures that everyone feels responsible for achieving quality.
• Process Approach : Focusing on processes allows organizations to optimize performance by understanding how different processes interrelate.
• Data-Driven Decision Making : Utilizing data allows for objective assessment and decision-making.
• Systematic Approach to Management : TQM requires a strategic approach that integrates organizational functions and processes to achieve quality objectives.
• Social Responsibility : Considering societal well-being and environmental sustainability is key in TQM.

Scope and Application

Total Quality Management is applicable across various domains and industries. The following areas showcase the versatility of TQM:

• Manufacturing : Implementing TQM principles in manufacturing ensures efficiency and consistency in production processes.
• Healthcare : TQM in healthcare focuses on patient satisfaction, error reduction, and continuous improvement.
• Education : In educational institutions, TQM can be used to improve the quality of education through better administrative processes and teaching methods.
• Service Industry : Whether in hospitality, banking, or IT, TQM’s principles can enhance service quality and customer satisfaction.
• Public Sector : Governmental bodies and agencies can also employ TQM to enhance public service delivery and satisfaction.

TQM’s multifaceted nature offers a wide range of research paper topics. Some areas of interest include:

• TQM Tools and Techniques : Research on tools like Six Sigma, Kaizen, and statistical process control.
• Quality Standards : Investigating the impact and implementation of ISO standards.
• Industry-Specific Applications : Exploring how TQM is applied and adapted in different industries.
• Challenges and Opportunities : Assessing the difficulties and advantages of implementing TQM in contemporary business environments.
• Emerging Trends : Examining future trends in TQM, such as the integration of technology and sustainability considerations.

Total Quality Management has evolved from a simple focus on product inspection to a strategic approach to continuous improvement that permeates the entire organization. Its application is not confined to manufacturing but has spread across various sectors and industries.

Research in TQM is equally diverse, offering students and scholars a rich and complex field to explore. Whether delving into the historical evolution of TQM, examining its principles, evaluating its application in different sectors, or exploring its myriad tools and techniques, the study of TQM is vibrant and multifaceted.

By undertaking research in Total Quality Management, one not only contributes to the academic body of knowledge but also plays a role in shaping organizational practices that emphasize quality, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and social responsibility. In a global business environment characterized by competitiveness, complexity, and constant change, the principles and practices of TQM remain more relevant than ever.

How to Choose Total Quality Management Research Paper Topics

Choosing the right topic for a research paper in Total Quality Management (TQM) is a crucial step in ensuring that your paper is both engaging and academically relevant. The selection process should align with your interests, the academic requirements, the targeted audience, and the available resources for research. Here is an in-depth guide, including an introductory paragraph, ten essential tips, and a concluding paragraph to help you make an informed choice.

Total Quality Management encompasses a broad spectrum of theories, tools, techniques, and applications across various industries. This richness and diversity offer a plethora of potential research topics. However, selecting the perfect one can be daunting. The following tips are designed to guide students in choosing a research topic that resonates with their interests and the current trends in TQM.

• Identify Your Area of Interest : TQM has many facets, such as principles, tools, applications, challenges, and trends. Pinpointing the area that piques your interest will help in narrowing down your topic.
• Consider Academic Relevance : Your chosen topic should align with your course objectives and academic guidelines. Consult your professor or academic advisor to ensure that the topic fits the scope of your course.
• Research Current Trends : Stay up-to-date with the latest developments in TQM by reading scholarly articles, attending conferences, or following industry leaders. Current trends may inspire a relevant and timely topic.
• Evaluate Available Resources : Make sure that your chosen topic has enough existing literature, data, and resources to support your research.
• Assess the Scope : A too broad topic might be overwhelming, while a too narrow one might lack content. Balance the scope to ensure depth without over-extending.
• Consider Practical Implications : If possible, choose a topic that has real-world applications. Connecting theory to practice makes your research more impactful.
• Check Originality : Aim for a topic that offers a new perspective or builds on existing research in a unique way. Your contribution to the field should be clear and valuable.
• Evaluate Your Expertise : Choose a topic that matches your level of expertise. Overly complex subjects might lead to difficulties, while overly simple ones might not challenge you enough.
• Consider the Target Audience : Think about who will be reading your research paper. Tailoring your topic to the interests and expectations of your readers can make your paper more engaging.
• Conduct a Preliminary Research : Before finalizing your topic, conduct some preliminary research to ensure there’s enough material to work with and that the topic is feasible within the given timeframe.

Selecting the right topic for a Total Quality Management research paper is a thoughtful and multifaceted process. It requires considering personal interests, academic requirements, current industry trends, available resources, and practical implications.

By following the guidelines provided, students can align their research with both personal and academic objectives, paving the way for a successful research experience. The ideal topic is one that not only aligns with the ever-evolving field of TQM but also resonates with the researcher’s passion and curiosity, laying the foundation for a meaningful and insightful investigation into the dynamic world of Total Quality Management.

How to Write a Total Quality Management Research Paper

Writing a Total Quality Management (TQM) research paper is a valuable endeavor that requires a clear understanding of the subject, strong analytical skills, and a methodical approach to research and writing. This guide outlines how to write an impressive research paper on TQM, including an introductory paragraph, ten actionable tips, and a concluding paragraph.

Total Quality Management is a comprehensive approach that emphasizes continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, employee involvement, and integrated management systems. Writing a research paper on TQM is not just an academic exercise; it is an exploration into the principles and practices that drive quality in organizations. The following detailed guidance aims to equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to compose a compelling TQM research paper.

• Understand the Basics of TQM : Start by immersing yourself in the foundational principles of TQM, including its history, methodologies, and various applications across industries. A deep understanding will form the basis of your research.
• Choose a Specific Topic : As outlined in the previous section, select a specific and relevant topic that aligns with your interest and the current trends in the field of TQM.
• Conduct Comprehensive Research : Use reputable sources such as academic journals, books, industry reports, and expert opinions to gather information. Always critically evaluate the reliability and relevance of your sources.
• Create a Thesis Statement : Your thesis statement is the guiding force of your paper. It should be clear, concise, and articulate your main argument or focus.
• Develop an Outline : Organize your research into a logical structure. An outline will guide you in presenting your ideas coherently and ensuring that you cover all essential points.
• Write the Introduction : Introduce the topic, provide background information, and present the thesis statement. Make sure to engage the reader and provide a roadmap for the paper.
• Compose the Body : Divide the body into sections and subsections that explore different aspects of your topic. Use evidence, examples, and logical reasoning to support your arguments.
• Incorporate Case Studies and Examples : If applicable, include real-world examples or case studies that demonstrate the application of TQM principles in a practical context.
• Write the Conclusion : Summarize the key findings, restate the thesis, and provide insights into the implications of your research. A strong conclusion leaves a lasting impression.
• Revise and Edit : Pay attention to both content and form. Check for logical flow, coherence, grammar, and formatting. Consider seeking feedback from peers or professionals.

Writing a research paper on Total Quality Management is a complex but rewarding task. By understanding the fundamentals of TQM, selecting a precise topic, conducting thorough research, and following a structured writing process, students can produce a paper that not only meets academic standards but also contributes to the understanding of quality management in the modern world.

Emphasizing critical thinking, analytical prowess, and attention to detail, the journey of writing a TQM research paper enriches the student’s academic experience and provides valuable insights into the field that continues to shape organizations globally.

The strategies and tips provided in this guide serve as a roadmap for aspiring researchers, helping them navigate the challenges and triumphs of academic writing in the realm of Total Quality Management. With dedication, creativity, and adherence to scholarly standards, the result can be a meaningful and enlightening piece that resonates with both academics and practitioners alike.

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Why Is Quality Control in Research So Important?

Quality control can mean the difference between good science and bad science. So, what is quality control? Very simply, it is any process that aims to monitor and maintain laboratory standards.

The processes of quality control can include detecting, reducing, and correcting any problems within a lab. Quality control can also help to make sure that the results of an experiment or method are consistent. Quality control is known as quality assurance or quality management.

Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is one form of quality control. GLP was introduced in the field of chemical research, to try to ensure high quality, reliable test data. This was a good starting point. However, it was not perfect.

What is the Best Type of Quality Control?

The best practice for quality control is a Laboratory Quality Management (LQM) program. The design of  LQM helps control factors that cause variation in a lab. By doing this, an LQM can increase the researcher’s confidence in the results of their experiments.

An LQM has six vital parts:

• Quality manual
• Labs should have a manual that describes its quality control systems in detail.
• Staff and training
• Training for all staff should be thorough and consistent.

3. Methodology

• The method must be consistent throughout the lab. They should be validated to check that they are precise and accurate.
• In-house reference materials
• This means that labs can have their control samples for standard methods. These samples will have known properties. They can be used to check that methods are working correctly.
• Record keeping
• Write down the preparation, procedure, and analysis of the experiment
• Cost vs. benefits
• The prices of setting up an LQM should be low. Benefits include confidence in results, fewer problems, and lower costs.

Tackling Problems in Quality Control

In a Nature article, a scientist describes her experiences with quality control. Rebecca Davies manages quality control at her lab for a long time. Although her task was huge, she soon became hooked on finding and fixing problems.

Once she started looking, Davies found several problems. These ranged from issues with sample storage to issues in data collection. She also discovered faulty equipment and spotted missing controls. However, these problems did not put Davies off. Instead, she realized how much the lab’s work could improve.

In 2009, Davies set up a group called Quality Central. The group helps several research labs to design proper quality control systems. Along with some other scientists, Davies believes in “voluntary” quality assurance (QA). Voluntary QA does not force quality control through regulation. Instead, it helps scientists to strengthen their research with QA.

What Happens when Quality Control is Poor

Scientific rigor is a hot topic. Over the last few years, several issues in science have caused both researchers and the public to question the scientific process. For example, some studies have found that as few as one-third of scientific papers are  reproduced . Peer review and plagiarism have also been a problem. Among researchers, there is a general opinion that publications are of more value than the science itself.

Many scientists are cautious in their work. However, some are careless. Failing to record data, writing reports months after the experiment and not using controls are just a few examples. Each of these may seem like a small problem. But together, they can lead to studies that cannot be reproduced.

We can fix a lot of issues with better quality control. Unfortunately, many labs still carry out quality control in a casual, ad hoc way.

Barriers to Good Quality Control

In many labs, quality control is not seen as the best use of resources. With limited funds, other things can take priority. Some scientists explain that a lack of quality control is due to both lack of funds and lack of staff.

When Davies first set up Quality Central, she found that other researchers at her college were not interested. They thought that it was not essential, and so was a waste of time and money.

However, one scientist was interested. The researcher had used another lab’s equipment, but the results seemed odd. She discovered that to save money, the PI of the lab had not been maintaining the equipment. Equipment maintenance is one of the things that a good quality control program should check

The Benefits of Great Quality Control

Thanks to the efforts of Davies and others, researchers are starting to understand the benefits of quality control.

Quality control does not need to be complicated. Here is one example. Notebooks checking is a weekly task in a laboratory. To make sure this is fair, each member of the lab draws a name from a paper bag to decide whose notebook they will check. Notebooks include factors such as whether control was used, how and where data was recorded, and which equipment was used. Any previous problems should be fixed. This is a tremendous low-tech quality control system.

Some PI’s with large labs find it hard to check everyone’s work. It can be challenging to track samples, data, and equipment. One solution is a tracking system. This gives tracking numbers to every sample or data record. PI’s can then easily follow the progress of a study.

Often, researchers only realize the benefits of quality control when problems occur. Unexpected results can mean searching through stacks of data to try to find the cause. With reasonable quality control, this should be a rare event. Moreover, if it does happen, the reason should be easy to find.

Do you want to learn more about running a lab? Alternatively, finding and fixing problems? Why not start with this Enago article on GLP.

What are the quality control systems in your lab? Has your work ever  suffered from poor quality control? Do you have any suggestions for improvement? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL – “Enhancing Quality in Patient Care”

1. relevant background of the proposed work:.

Patient care has gained immense importance in recent years due to the increased number of medical disorders and increasing awareness amongst people and patients. Increased demand in hospitals and healthcare centres to improve the patient’s health condition has become a formidable factor for all the health care professionals at every hierarchy level. Errors have become a part of the system, due to increase in the number of challenging issues that affect the deteriorating health condition of the patient. Improving the health condition by minimising system and human errors has become a crucial concern in the health industry. Health professionals have identified several causative factors for poor quality and implemented various measures to improve the quality of the situation. Unlike the old paradigm, the person approach, where the percentage of errors recorded was high, the system approach came into existence and is these days reducing the percentage of errors and increasing the complexity of the system (Warburton. 2005). In addition to the improvement of organisation, there are many other improvements underway, which include the public involvement in primary health research (Jonathan et al., 2010). According to the current situation, the health care team is also getting educated to reduce the risk of errors (Colin. 1995). Awareness of errors also created a significant impact on the safety of the patient and hence many resources were created and modified to reduce the risk (Warburton. 2005). These days, usage of health information technologies lead to improvement of the health. In the study by Connie and David (2010), through the innovative technology, the system can be advanced globally to reduce the socioeconomic barriers in various countries. Appropriate use of technology at the right time would cause miracles in the health sector (Connie et al., 2010). Many health care changes initiated in certain categories of patients decreased the risk of errors. Some of the measures included direct, personal supervision and decreased adverse reactions in case of paediatric and geriatric patients (Cambern. 2009). Another main implementation is an introduction of rapid assessment and initial patient treatment team (RAPT) in accident and emergency patients, reducing the risk to life (Cronin et al., 2005).

Summarising all the developments, quality in health care can be achieved by the academic and technical knowledge of the physician along with the communication of the health care assistants and public. In addition, appropriate utilisation of resources and tools is also essential to achieve the improvement of patient’s health condition as a target (Michelle. 1996).

2. HYPOTHESIS: Objective of the current project is to demonstrate new techniques based on studies done in previous years and to improve the quality of patient care, which is a considerable challenge for the health sector.

The tasks to accomplish include:

• To increase safety of patients by relevant initiatives. 12/16/2010 Research Proposal
• Team working within the health care sector and involvement of patients and public in primary research.
• Implementing innovations in patient care.

3. SCOPE: The following tasks would be undertaken as a part of proposed research:

• Task 1: To investigate the past studies on existing and improved health care system.
• Task 2: To appreciate the improvements in the health sector in the recent years.
• Task 3: To design research in order to increase quality in health care system and patient safety by reducing errors and implementing innovations.

4. METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH:

1. Patient Safety Initiatives: Although lots of experiments were done in patient safety in recent decades, it still remains a challenge for health professionals. These days, hospitals are spending enormous resources to reduce errors, which are appreciated. However, implementing all the proposals is not easy (Warburton. 2005). It is cost involving and depends on manpower to a greater extent, which is difficult to control.

The safety improvements cannot be implemented and always be accurate as it changes according to the situation. Improper design and rapid enforcement of safety measures would only cause meagre improvement to patients (Warburton. 2005).

There are several approaches and studies for obtaining maximum benefit out of the available resources. They are:

• Setting up a committee of professionals across the health sector to highlight vital safety measures in the hospital according to the patient conditions (Warburton. 2005). This method is time consuming and complicated. The results obtained were vague and could not improve the quality of patient.
• Another approach, which is my area of research interest, is setting up an Economic Evaluation Loop (EEL), based on the recommendation of Leape and others (1999) which would be based on utilising available evidence to establish priorities. In this approach, priorities would be set according to the analysis of available resources and outcomes of the changes (Warburton. 2005).

Accordingly, evaluation would be based on the benefits and resources available for research. Later, detailed research would be completed according to Warburton (2005), by which alternative assumptions could be identified and compiled. Finally, an additional research network would be framed to fulfil the requirements in the best possible way to reduce critical gaps (Warburton. 2005). This loop is a variant of Technology assessment iterate loop, called TAIL (Tugwell et al., 1986; Tugwell et al., 1995).

By this EEL approach, critical gaps in the research area can be identified by discussions among the health professionals and these gaps, which are usually overlooked, would be considered to provide the best safety measures within the scope of resources.

Increasing research on safety implementation to patients often raises a question of how much safety is essential. Warburton (2005) describes that there is no upper bound for providing safety to patient as demands of improving safety measurements never drop. He explains this fact by the figure depicted in figure 2 of this paper.

The curve depicts total costs of errors to the society against the level of safeguards and clearly reveals that the safety measures are implemented based upon the cost effectiveness. When initial safety methods are employed it is initially cheap, and then with the increase of costs, negligible benefits are obtained due to less reduction of adverse effects when cost measures increases. This continues uphill, further reducing the benefits with increased cost (Warburton. 2005).

The curve depicts total costs of errors to the society against the level of safeguards and clearly reveals that the safety measures are implemented based upon the cost effectiveness. When initial safety methods are employed it is initially cheap, and then with increase of costs, negligible benefits are obtained due to a drop in the reduction of adverse effects when cost measures increases. This continues further reducing the benefits with increased cost (Warburton. 2005).

Figure 2: Cost to the society versus level of safeguards Figure adopted from Warburton (2005).

In my research project, EEL with regards to one of the patient safety will be studied in the clinical environment and conclusions would be compiled accordingly in the thesis work.

2. Patient and Public Involvement in Primary Research: Involvement of potential patients and the public is an import contribution to primary research.

According to Beresford’s argument, the research experiments tend to be more accurate when the distance between the potential patients and the investigator is minimal (Beresford. 2005).

Furthermore the public, the part owners for research as taxpayers, have an equal right to subscribe for the success of research, which would improve their lives directly (Boote et al., 2010).

Additionally, public involvement at all stages of research, especially the primary level, would reduce the initial value of resources by direct focus on potential treatment areas and thus contribute to the quality of care (Boote et al., 2002; Thompson et al., 2009).

One of the approaches by which quality of patient care would be enhanced is performing clinical trials in a particular diseased population. In these clinical trials, design of the study would be based on their relevant experiences. Questionnaires would be prepared accordingly to consider general experiences and needs in that category of patients. These questionnaires are then compiled together to establish a basic structure of description and would form the research theme. Initially consent forms would be taken from the patients, and research would be carried out by contacting them regularly for feedback. All the issues the public need to be addressed would be collected for better supervision and analysis would be carried on to ensure results favouring the potential patients. This attempt ensures that questions of the potential patients would be answered and treatment becomes patient friendly, reducing the stress on the investigator, and the patient.

In this project, clinical trial is closely observed on a class of patients. Later analysis would be done on how the involvement of public and potential patients influences quality of patient care.

3. Team Working Team working is essential for effective health care management, especially in critical conditions like chronic health disorders. To achieve quality team working amongst all the health care professionals, interaction among them in day-to-day service is necessary. To ensure team-working skills in hospitals and health care centres, educating the team would be required.

Education should be a dynamic process that is patient-centred (Coles et al., 1995). Education amongst the health professionals should be multidisciplinary rather than self-centred research.

Patients and their cares should get an education alongside to improve care and hygiene. Thus, quality in health care would be achieved by a patient-centred approach.

In addition, regular team meetings and interaction between the physicians, care takers and patients would improve the quality of patient care. Discussion among patients and physicians during the treatment would be useful to record the treatment procedure, which could be useful in future investigation of the same kind.

In this project, team-working skills within a selected hospital would be improved and quality of patient care would be compared.

4. Innovations in Delivering Patient Care Many advances have been introduced in the health sector in the recent years. Use of modern technology is one that simplified the administration of health sector. Health information technologies (HIT) include mobile phones, computers, self-administration equipment, health decision-making management devices, life style modification devices, monitoring chronic illness and patient education devices (Gustafson et al., 2002). Socioeconomic barriers cause slow penetration of HIT in developing countries (Connie et al., 2010).

Setting up an appropriate HIT within a health sector is a challenge for technologists as many factors would be taken into account while considering it, and to facilitate the system, a framework would be employed. By the use of this framework, approaches could be studied and the best HIT would be employed (Connie et al., 2010). Some factors that would be taken into consideration include situational factors like setting and clinical domain, technological factors and work force (Connie et al., 2010).

Other remarkable innovations include the establishment of RAPT, which is a rapid assessment and initial patient treatment team within accident and emergency, where the patient would be allocated 4 hr of comprehensive treatment in an emergency condition (Cronin et al., 2005).

Personal care within the department of paediatrics and geriatrics is one of the other innovations (Cambern et al., 2009). This would reduce the incidence of risk and errors causing adverse reactions in them.

My intention of study would be to try and implement some of the innovations in a hospital environment and examine the quality in terms of health care. 12/16/2010 Research Proposal.

5. FACILITIES TO BE USED: Many facilities would be used to perform the following objectives in accordance with available resources and these include:

• Discussion with various people across the health sector to set up the economic evaluation loop in order to set up priorities in patient safety.
• Seeking clearance to participate in some clinical trials which would enable to understand the association of public and patients in primary health research.
• Visiting hospitals and health care organisations to examine and record the facilities for a certain group of patients.
• Getting initial training in the system of control within the primary health sector to minimise the occurrence of errors.
• Many paper and poster articles analysing different approaches of patient education.
• Certain use of technology to study the improvement of quality with the use of innovation.

6. PROGRAM SCHEDULE AND DELIVERABLES: (A basic gnat chart without dates, client should set up dates appropriately)

7. FUNDS AVAILABLE: Client has to decide according to available funding

8. REFERENCES: Warburton, R.N. (2005) Patient safety-how much is enough? Health policy,71, pp.223-232.

Perrow, C. (1984) Normal accidents: living with high risk technologies. New York Basic Books.

Leape, L. L., Forward, I.N (1999). Error reduction in health care: a systems approach to improving patient safety. Jossey-Bass.

Tugwell, P.,Bennett, K.,Feeny, D.,Guyatt, G.,Haynes, R.B. (1986) A frame work for the evaluation of technology. Institute in research and public policy, pp.41-56.

Tugwell, P.,Sitthi-Amorn, C.,O’Connor, A.,Hatcher-Roberts ,J.,Bergevin, Y.,Wolfson, M (1995)

Technology assessment. Old, new and needs-based. International Journal of Technology Assesment in Health care, 11(4), 650-662.

Jonathan, B.,Wendy, B.,Claire.,B. (2010) Public involvement at the design stage of primary health research: A narrative review of case examples. Health policy, 95, pp.10-23.

Boote, J.,Telford, R., Cooper, C. (2002) Consumer involvement in health research: a review and research agenda. Health policy, 61(2), pp.213-236.

Beresford, P. (2005) Developing the theoretical basis for service user/survivor-led research and equal involvement in research. Epidemiologia e psichiatria Sociale, 14(1), pp.4-9.

Thompson, J.,Barber, R.,Ward, P.R.,Boote, J.D.,Cooper, C.L.,Armitage, C.J. (2009) Health Researchers’ attitudes towards public involvement in health research. Health expectations, 12(2), pp.209-220.

Coles, C. (1995) Educating the health care team. Patient Education and Counseling, 26, pp.239-244.

Connie, V.C.,David, R.K. (2010) A technology selection frame work for supporting delivery of patient-oriented health interventions in developing countries. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 43, pp.300-306.

Cambern, K. (1952) A quality improvement program. Pediatrics and child health, pp.5172-5175.

Cronin, J.G.,Wright, J.RN. (2005) Rapid assessment and initial patient treatment team-a way forward for emergency care. Accident and Emergency Nursing, 13, pp.87-92.

Gustafson, D.H.,Hawkins, R.P.,Boberg, E.W.,Mc Tavish, F.,Owens, B.,Wise, M. (2003) 10 years of research and development in consumer health informatics for broad populations, including the underserved. Med inform, 65(3), pp.169-177.

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• Essay on Quality

Free Quality & Strategic Management Research Proposal Example

Type of paper: Research Proposal

Topic: Quality , Management , Business , Strategy , Ball , Company , Organization , Products

Words: 1400

Published: 11/27/2021

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Background of the Research

The successful companies of the world have recognized the importance of quality improvement of their products and services for competitive advantage. They have also improved their financial performance by reducing their manufacturing and delivery costs as they have limited their manufacturing and supplying processes according to the market needs (Meredith & Mantel, 2011). In this way, companies have also reduced their production cost and they have reduced the selling prices of their products or services for the customers. The customer’s perception of improved quality is enhanced when the selling prices of products or services are reduced and the conformance level of the company is improved. Nowadays, customers are more conscious of the quality of the products and services and they consider quality in terms of value. When companies provide better quality products at lower prices, customers perceive it as superior quality. Most of the companies are failed to link their profits with the performance of quality and they only use non-financial measures for quality improvements. The companies must need to use financial measures for assessing the performance of the quality improvements (Charnes, 2012). Moreover, companies need to integrate their quality improvement efforts with the strategic goals and objectives of the organization. In order to achieve quality improvement, companies are using different tools and techniques for strategic quality management. Oracle Crystal Ball is one of the most widely tools for risk and uncertainties analysis in different organizations; the research explains the importance of Crystal ball for managers in strategic quality management (Oracle Corporation, 2012).

Purpose of the Study

Oracle Crystal Ball is a software application that enables the managers to use different tools for forecasting, simulation and optimization of risks in the strategic planning of the organization. The Crystal Ball helps the managers to identify critical factors affecting the quality management within the organizations (Kim et al., 2012). The purpose of the study will be to understand the importance of quality strategic management for the organizations and the issues related to strategic quality management. Moreover, it explains the benefits of Crystal Ball tools for managers in order to achieve desired outcomes of the organization.

Aims and Objectives

The main aim of the research will be to analyse the importance of Crystal Ball for managers in strategic quality management; however, following objectives will help the researcher to achieve the desired aim of the research:

Research Questions

The research question is as follows: “How can Crystal ball help managers in the strategic quality management and for improving company’s performance?” Literature Review Quality and Strategy Companies need to align their business strategy with the quality standards in order to meet the customer’s expectations and requirements. The cost structure of the organization is highly impacted by the poor quality of the products and services offered to the customers. The companies can increase their sales and market share by providing high quality products to their customers in lower prices resulting in increased competition in the market (Dennis Beecroft, 1999). Managers need to develop effective strategies for the quality management and quality improvement in the organizations. Managers across the globe are using different tools and techniques to improve processes and procedures of quality management yet they are failed to maximize the company’s profits (Somero, 2011). However, the strategic planning for quality management provides deep insight of the risks and factors which may impact the quality management in manufacturing processes. The strategic planning of the quality management involves the following steps: The strategic quality management enables the managers to focus more on processes rather than results which ultimately produce better results for the process. Managers must integrate the business strategy with the quality planning and ensures that the employees have fulfilled their responsibilities in accordance with the set quality standards (Oakland 2014). In this way, managers can improve the quality performance and reduce the risks and uncertainties involved with the strategic quality management.

Benefits of Crystal Ball for Strategic Quality Management

Oracle Crystal Ball is widely used spreadsheet based software that is use for reporting, modelling, forecasting, simulation and optimization of risk in different business operations such as manufacturing, quality management, supply chain management, performance management and many others (Oracle Corporation, 2012).. With the help of Crystal Ball, companies are able to minimize their risks and to achieve strategic goals of the organization and to create competitive edge. The utilization of Crystal Ball is increasing in different business applications and strategic quality management is one of them. The spreadsheet software enables the managers to take most effective decisions for quality improvement and to identify the factors which are impacting the quality of products and services from time to time. Moreover, the Oracle Crystal Ball can reap following benefits for the large as well as small organizations.

Revenue Maximization

Generate results more Quickly Collaboration Communication Optimization Cost Reduction Productivity Improvement Quality Enhancement The companies can easily solve their problems related to strategic quality planning and management by using Oracle Crystal Ball in business processes. It also helps to identify valuable resources for the project that also involves fewer risks and uncertainties ((Oracle Corporation, 2008). Therefore, it is essential for the managers to use spreadsheet technology in the form of Crystal Ball software to improve quality performance.

Methodology

The research will use qualitative research method for examining the effectiveness of crystal ball in the strategic quality management for managers in their business activities. The research will utilize both primary and secondary sources of data collection; secondary sources will include data extracted from past papers, journals and articles where as the primary data will be collected through interviews of the managers and employees of the companies which are using Crystal ball tools in quality and strategic management (Saunders et al., 2011).

Expected Results

After conducting thorough research of the proposed topic, the expected results of the study believed to reveal that the mangers need to understand the importance of strategic quality management for the company’s performance. They should utilize tools and techniques of strategic quality management for assessing the quality of their products and services (Dennis Beecroft, 1999). Managers need to utilize Oracle Crystal Ball to forecast, simulate and optimize their business activities within the organization.

Possible Limitations

The researcher may face following limitations while conducting research: He may not able to access the most recent and relevant research material in the form of secondary sources. The managers and employees may not provide accurate information related to the utilization of Crystal ball and its tools within organizations. Moreover, there is a possibility of time constraints and limited resources for the research.

Charnes, J. (2012). Financial modeling with crystal ball and excel. John Wiley & Sons. Dennis Beecroft, G. (1999). The role of quality in strategic management.Management Decision, 37(6), 499-503 Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. pearson. Kim, D. Y., Kumar, V., & Kumar, U. (2012). Relationship between quality management practices and innovation. Journal of Operations Management,30(4), 295-315. Meredith, J. R., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2011). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons. Oakland, J. S. (2014). Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge. Oracle Corporation (2008). Information Decides: Dramatically Improve the Quality of Your Strategic Business Decisions. Oracle Crystal Ball. Retrieved January 18, 2016, from http://www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/bus-int/crystalball/cb-brochure-404904.pdf Oracle Corporation (2012). Oracle Crystal Ball Enterprise Performance Management. Oracle Data Sheet. Retrieved January 18, 2016, from http://www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/bus-int/crystalball/oracle-crystal-ball-epm-1562770.pdf Saunders, M. N., Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2011). Research methods for business students, 5/e. Pearson Education. Somero, G. N. (2011). Comparative physiology: a “crystal ball” for predicting consequences of global change. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 301(1), R1-R14.

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