As part of the formal assessment for the Master of Business Administration you are required to submit a Research Methods assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module the student will be expected to:
1. Critically appraise and evaluate the contribution primary and secondary data sources can make to research studies, particularly with respect to sampling, statistical analysis and data presentation techniques.
2. Critically appraise and evaluate research undertaken by others.
3. Undertake multidisciplinary research through the acquisition of skills relevant to the context of business and management.
4. Effectively plan and undertake personal development including the awareness of an ethical and socially responsibly dimension to decision making.
Assignment Task :
You are required to produce a research proposal for a dissertation in a management related field. The proposal prepared may be the one which you follow for your dissertation but this is not essential. If you eventually choose another topic for your dissertation you will have to go through a similar process as that required for this assessment on that topic. It would therefore be sensible to think carefully about the topic choice and decide now what your dissertation will be about. Your answer should include the detail below.
Format:
The format should broadly follow the plan provided below. Diagrams and charts may be added to clarify and illustrate points.
Research Questions & Objectives:
Explanation of the problem/issue and justify why it is important, both from an organisational and a personal perspective, and a series of precisely written objectives, to include observable outcomes, that flow from this.
Literature review:
Demonstrate knowledge of relevant literature by identifying key debates: concepts and theories within the topic area and how the literature will be utilised to inform your research.
Methodology:
Explanation of fundamental issues in methodology followed by a full description of the methodological approach to be adopted. This and your data collection methods should be justified and you should explore issues of validity, reliability and
generalisability of the research proposal.
Reflections & Resources:
Appraisal of resource and ethical implications, including an audit of researcher's knowledge and skills, and an action plan that demonstrates the sequence of the research and shows the viability of the proposal.
Overall Structure of Proposal:
Appropriate use of references. Harvard referencing to be used in both the text and bibliography - all detail to be included. Logical structure, report format.
Practical Issues:
• The assignment is to be submitted in a single word-processed format. For more information please see the "Guide to Submitting an Assignment" document available on the module page on ilearn.
• Including quotations, but exclusive of the bibliography and appendices, the assignment must not exceed 4,000 words in length.
• You are required to state the word count on the front page.