The School of Business has considered starting a small business institute which would provide business consulting services for a fee.  If an organization was willing to pay a reasonable fee to our school for the conduct of a focus group study, what would we promise with regard to deliverables, what would be the timeline that we would provide, and what would be a reasonable fee for our services?

Below is a proposal that could be sent to the folks with whom we have been working at the IRS. 

1. Complete the parts entitled "Costs and Deliverables" and "Project Timeline."  Submit a reprint the entire letter along with the addition of these two sections.  An example of a proposal is here.

2. Attach a copy of a Gannt table and Gannt chart that would be used internally to guide these activities and ensure that the project stays on time and on budget. 

3. Attach a copy of your budget worksheet that would be used internally to estimate the billables in your proposal.  In working out the budget, we need to receive $50 per hour for work that is done behind closed doors in our facility, and $75 per hour when a Ph.D. professor meets with a client in our facility.

Although you are only submitting two sections of the proposal, note that your proposed timeline and budget is for the entire project from start to finish.  Note that this is an individual assignment.

Dear Ms. Ieress,

Thank you for considering our consulting services.  This letter serves as an initial proposal for the conduct of the focus group research that we had discussed. 

Project Background and Objectives

IRS offers free tax preparation services to people of low income, people who have disabilities, the elderly, and non-English speaking people.  Volunteers believe that not enough people are taking advantage of these free programs, but they are not sure why. 

The present study would be an initial exploration into questions associated with why qualified people might not know about and might hesitate to participate in this free program.

Methodology

Our proposal is to randomly recruit Texarkana area residents, limiting respondents to a quota sample that includes people within the confines of Texarkana and some people who live in outlying areas (e.g., Ashdown, AR).  The prospective recruit's location (i.e., zip code) and qualifications to participate in the program would be determined during telephone recruiting.  We would like a sample of at least 48 Texarkana-area residents (six focus groups of eight people), with 36 from the local Texarkana area and 12 from outlying areas.  We would over-recruit to ensure that we achieve this number of shows for the focus group sessions; our total number of participants could therefore be as high as 56.  Each session would include at least one person who is of low income, at least one who is elderly, and at least one who is disabled.

Focus Group Topic Areas

Recommended discussion flow is as follows:

1. Initial questions regarding whether the people prepare their own taxes or use someone else.  Why.
2. Questions regarding if someone else is or might be used, who and why that person/place.
3. Questions about knowledge of any sort of free assistance; if so, from whom.
4. Questions regarding where someone might go to find information about the availability of free assistance. 
5. Questions about what someone would want to know before considering such assistance.
6. Probes regarding what would make someone hesitant to use a free service.  (E.g., fear of confidentiality, fear of privacy.)

Costs and Deliverables

We will provide you with a topline report summarizing the results of and conclusions from these sessions.  We will also provide you with a presentation of results and conclusions at your facility.

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Project Timeline

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Ms. Ieress, I think that about sums up our initial thoughts about your research project.  We appreciate your consideration and want you to feel free to contact us if this proposal needs any modifications in order to best suit your needs.

Cordially,