| Course | BUS 499 Senior Capstone |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Capstone research proposal |
| Length | About 1,094 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 499 Module 1
Why Do Pest Control Customers Leave After One Year? A Capstone Research Proposal for Prairie Shield Pest Control
Student Name
Business Administration Program, Aspen University
BUS 499: Senior Capstone
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Why Do Pest Control Customers Leave After One Year? A Capstone Research Proposal for Prairie Shield Pest Control
I work as the customer service supervisor at Prairie Shield Pest Control, a composite family-owned company in Wichita, Kansas, that treats homes for insects, spiders and rodents. Most of the company's residential revenue comes from a quarterly service plan: a technician visits four times a year to treat the outside of the home and, when needed, the inside. Over the past two years, my team has taken noticeably more calls from customers who want to cancel, often just before their plan's anniversary. When I asked the owners why customers were leaving, each had a different theory. This capstone project proposes to find out, using the company's records and the customers themselves.
From a Broad Interest to a Researchable Problem
My first idea was to study customer loyalty in service businesses. That topic is far too large for one course. I narrowed it in three steps. First, I limited it to one organization, Prairie Shield, where I have access to records and customers. Second, I limited it to residential customers on the quarterly plan, which accounts for about 70% of revenue, rather than commercial accounts or one-time treatments. Third, I focused on one outcome that can be measured: whether a customer cancels within the first twelve months of enrolling or renewing. The resulting problem is specific enough to study in ten weeks and important enough that the owners have agreed to act on the findings.
Background
Prairie Shield has about 3,400 residential plan customers. Company records show that twelve-month retention, the share of customers still active a year after enrolling or renewing, fell from 74% for customers who started in 2023 to 61% for those who started in 2025. Each plan brings in $516 a year, paid either as $129 per visit or as $43 a month by automatic payment. Had retention stayed at 74%, the company would have kept about 13 more customers in every hundred. Across a base of about 3,400 households, that is roughly 440 customers and about $228,000 a year in plan revenue, before counting the advertising needed to replace them.
Over the same period, the company grew its technician staff from nine to fourteen, switched to new routing software, and raised the per-visit price from $119 to $129. Any of these changes, or something else entirely, could explain the decline.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to identify the factors associated with first-year cancellation of residential quarterly plans at Prairie Shield and to recommend practical changes that could improve retention.
Significance
Research on continuous services suggests why the question matters. Bolton (1998), studying customers of a cellular telephone service, found that satisfaction predicted how long customers stayed, that customers with longer histories leaned more on their accumulated satisfaction, and that losses from poor service counted more heavily than equal gains. Pest control customers may behave similarly, so one bad experience early in the relationship could outweigh several uneventful visits.
Reichheld and Sasser (1990) argued that service companies can increase profits substantially by reducing customer defections, because long-term customers cost less to serve, buy more over time and refer others, while new customers must be won with costly marketing. For a small company like Prairie Shield, retention is especially important because each lost customer must be replaced by advertising in a crowded local market. The findings will give the owners evidence to choose among competing theories instead of acting on guesses. More broadly, the project may be useful to other small service businesses that sell recurring plans.
Scope
The project includes residential customers who enrolled in or renewed a quarterly plan between January 2023 and June 2025. It excludes commercial accounts, termite contracts and one-time treatments, which have different patterns. It examines factors the company can observe or influence, such as billing method, technician assignment, complaints and customer tenure, rather than factors such as household income that the company does not record. The project will recommend changes but will not implement them during the course.
Research Approach and Data Access
Creswell and Creswell (2018) describe mixed methods research as collecting and combining quantitative and qualitative data so that each helps explain the other. This project will use both. The quantitative part will analyze company records for about 3,400 customers, including enrollment dates, cancellation dates, billing method, technician visits and logged complaints. The qualitative part will consist of telephone interviews with about twenty customers who canceled, asking in their own words why they left. The owners have given written permission to use anonymized records and to contact former customers who agreed to be contacted when they canceled.
Ethical Safeguards
I will remove names, addresses and phone numbers from the data set before analysis and store it on a password-protected company computer. Interview participants will be told the purpose of the study, that participation is voluntary, that they may stop at any time and that their answers will not be linked to their names in any report. I will not interview customers I have personally served, to avoid pressure. I will follow any additional requirements Aspen sets for research involving people, and I will report findings honestly even if they reflect poorly on my own department.
Timeline
| Week | Task | Module |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Final proposal approved by the owners and instructor | 1 |
| 2 | Problem statement and research questions | 2 |
| 3 | Literature review | 3 |
| 4 | Method and data plan; interview guide drafted | 4 |
| 5 to 6 | Data extraction, cleaning and interviews | 5 |
| 7 | Analysis and findings | 6 |
| 8 | Recommendations and implementation plan | 7 |
| 9 to 10 | Final report, presentation to owners and reflection | 8 |
Risks to the Project
Three risks could delay the work. Former customers may not answer calls, so I will contact twice as many as I need and offer a short window of evening times. Company records may be incomplete, especially for complaints logged before the new software, so I will check data quality in week 5 and adjust the analysis if needed. Busy season in late spring could limit my time, so the most demanding tasks are scheduled for the weeks before it.
Conclusion
Prairie Shield is losing customers faster than it did two years ago, and no one knows why. This proposal narrows a broad interest in customer loyalty into a focused, applied question, confirms that the necessary data and permissions exist, and sets out a realistic ten-week plan. The project should give the owners evidence they can act on and give me experience applying research methods to a real business problem.
References
Bolton, R. N. (1998). A dynamic model of the duration of the customer's relationship with a continuous service provider: The role of satisfaction. Marketing Science, 17(1), 45-65. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.17.1.45
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE.
Reichheld, F. F., & Sasser, W. E., Jr. (1990). Zero defections: Quality comes to services. Harvard Business Review, 68(5), 105-111.
BUS 499 Module 1 instructions, in plain terms
Aspen describes BUS 499 as an individualized research project of an applied and pragmatic nature, drawing on what students have learned across the degree, and the first module typically asks for a topic and a proposal. Check the Module 1 prompt in your classroom for required parts; this example interprets it as a full proposal. Begin with why the topic matters to you and to an organization. Walk the reader through the steps that turned a wide interest into one problem. Give background facts that establish the problem exists. State the purpose of the project in one or two sentences. Explain who would benefit from the findings. Draw the edges of the project so the reader knows what lies outside it. Confirm that you can obtain the data you need and describe how you will protect the people involved. Finish with a realistic schedule.
Inside the BUS 499 Module 1 example
The proposal starts with the student researcher, a customer service supervisor at Prairie Shield Pest Control, noticing more cancellation calls each month. A section on narrowing the topic shows how customer loyalty in service businesses became first-year cancellations of residential quarterly plans at one company. Background figures report about 3,400 plan customers, twelve-month retention falling from 74% to 61% and an estimated $228,000 in lost annual revenue. Reichheld and Sasser's argument about the value of keeping customers explains the significance. The purpose statement, a scope section that excludes commercial accounts, and a data section describing records and interviews follow. Ethical safeguards, including the owner's written permission and Aspen's requirements, precede a ten-week timeline in a table.
Where the marks sit in the BUS 499 Module 1 rubric
Capstone proposals are judged mainly on whether the topic is focused and researchable, whether the problem is supported by evidence, whether the purpose and scope are clear and whether the plan is feasible. This example earns those marks by showing the narrowing process step by step and by grounding the problem in the company's own retention figures. The significance section uses Reichheld and Sasser's Harvard Business Review article to connect retention to profit, while the fifth edition of Research Design by the Creswells backs the plan to combine records with interviews. The scope and data sections show the project can be finished in the time available. Ethical safeguards appear before any data are collected. The timeline in a table gives the instructor a way to check progress in later modules.
BUS 499 Module 1 help: mistakes that cost marks
First proposals usually aim too wide, at goals like better customer satisfaction or lower turnover everywhere. Narrow it to one organization, one group and one outcome you can measure. Another is proposing research you cannot carry out, either because you lack access to data or because the timeline is unrealistic; confirm access before you commit. Back up the problem with numbers rather than impressions. Keep the purpose statement short and specific. Do not promise to prove a cause when your data can show only patterns. Address ethics early, especially if you will use company records or interview people, and get written permission from the organization. Write the timeline backward from the final report so that analysis and writing are not squeezed into the last week.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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BUS 499 Module 1 questions, answered
What does BUS 499 Module 1 usually ask for?
Aspen's BUS 499 begins with choosing a topic and writing a proposal for an original, applied research project. Your classroom prompt lists the sections your instructor expects.
How do I narrow a capstone topic?
Move from a broad interest to one organization, one group of people and one measurable outcome, then phrase the problem as a question your data can answer.
Can my capstone be about my own workplace?
Yes. Aspen encourages applied projects connected to your work, provided you have permission to use the organization's information and protect the people involved.
Where can I find a free BUS 499 Module 1 sample paper?
The full proposal is above: a capstone on why residential customers cancel quarterly pest control plans, with background figures, purpose, scope, data access, ethics and a timeline table.
What should a research proposal include?
Background, the problem, the purpose, significance, scope, the data you will use, ethical safeguards and a timeline, each kept brief and specific.