Learning outcomes assessed within this piece of work as agreed at the programme level meeting Knowledge:
You will be able to develop a deep understanding of the epistemology and ontology bases for research, as well as research methodology in the field of management. You will appreciate the different phases of research, and the nature and characteristics of each of them.
Intellectual/transferrable:
You will be able to
(1) Critically examine scholarly literature and to select, focus, and reflect on choice literature that motivates your (business and management) research to write up a critical review of your chosen literature;
(2) Understand research design issues, and conceive, frame, and articulate one or more personal research questions that motivate(s) your research;
(3) Critically evaluate, draw on, and present, orally and in writing, appropriate research methods to collect empirical data for your research project;
(4) Critically evaluate, select, and draw on quantitative and/or qualitative data analysis methods for your research project.
Instructions for assessment
A. Summative assessment
Your coursework assignment is designed for you to demonstrate your knowledge of management research methods and to prepare you for writing your research proposal to meet the requirements of the dissertation module. You are required to write a report of 3,500 words on a topic of your choice as explained below.
Step 1: Select a topic of interest or business problem relevant to your degree specialisation or pathway, i.e. if you are on the generic International Management degree, your topic will have an International Management theme. If you are taking a pathway within that degree, you will focus on a topic related to the pathway (marketing, finance, or HRM). The MBA would focus on topics relevant to strategic or operations management within an international business context.Choose a topicthat motivates you and that you are likely to pursue for your dissertation (you may change your mind later, but it will be to your advantage if you stick to it, so choose carefully). This will require some preliminary research into that specific area.
Step 2: For your chosen topic identify the body or bodies of knowledge that you consider relevant and find at least four or five academic journals that publish literature in this field. You should use key words or terms to search for the most relevant articles in these journals on your topic and identify the key authors by comparing the cited references across these papers. You should start to build up a bibliography of relevant literature, which you will analyse to ascertain the research questions or problems addressed, theories drawn upon or developed and the range of research methods used.
Step 3: Present your analysis within a report containing 6 elements as detailed below:
1) An introduction that provides a brief commentary of key relevant literature. Be sure to justify your choice of these references in introducing the existing knowledge on your topic. (About 250 words)
2) A further section discussing particular conversations taking place in the relevant journals you have selected with a map of the literature using a visual presentation in the form of either a mind map, Venn diagram, or grandfather, father, son literature map. The map should show the relationship between key knowledge contributions (seminar 3 will cover suggested formats for your map). (About 750 words)
3) An analysis section which documents the research questions, theories, and methods used in the literature, including at least one table to show the extent of use of alternative research methods (seminar 3 and 4 will cover suggested formats for this table). (About 500 words)
4) A detailed critique of at least two well-used research methodologies in the literature you have reviewed. Discuss a) how they are applied; b) how the methods were deployed to provide a worthwhile contribution to theory and research and c) what gaps the methods may leave that could lend the area to further analysis (and an opportunity for your own research). (About 1500 words)
5) A conclusion with regard to those research question(s) you consider worthy of further investigation in the light of your analysis above, and a suitable research methodology for your own proposed investigation and potential research question/s. (About 500 words)
6) A bibliography containing a minimum of 12 references to relevant journal articles from good academic sources, including at least 6 published in the last 24 months and all cited in your analysis (seminar 4 will cover how to find quality articles and reference correctly).
Your report should be presented in good academic style, having been formatted using the Harvard referencing system and proofread for grammatical errors. It should not exceed 3,500 words including tables and figures, but excluding references.
Formative assessment is non-marked work designed to help you develop your main piece of coursework to an acceptable standard for submission. We expect all students to complete the formative assessment which is an interim draft version of report elements 1, 2, and 6 (introduction to topic, literature map, and bibliography, as described above), handed in as a hard copy of no more than 3 sides of A4 during class in Week 6 of the module. This work will then be peer reviewed by a fellow student on the module with final comments from the module tutor. You will be asked to review someone else's work as part of this peer review process. By Week 8, the work will be returned to you and you will be assigned a dissertation supervisor. This interim work will not attract marks but will provide you with valuable feedback on your progress to help you develop your own critiquing skills, and it will be used to assign you to an appropriate dissertation supervisor.
Resit assignment details
For students who are offered a resit you are required to improve and resubmit your original work as well as adding a further reflective commentary discussing what you have learned from the process.
You should:
1. Review your previously submitted work and read carefully the feedback given by the marker.
2. Use this feedback to help you revisit and rewrite your work, improving it in the areas identified as weak in the original marking process
3. Include with your resubmission an additional reflective piece (up to 500 words) on what you understand was weak, how you set about addressing this and what you have learned from this that may help you with further assignments. You should address the following specifically:
i) Identify tutor feedback points on your original work and identify where/how the resit work has changed (give page number) in response to feedback
ii) Identify the lessons you have learnt from doing the resit
iii) Reflect on how your feedback and this process will help you improve future assignments
If you did not submit work at the first opportunity you cannot reflect on your feedback. However, you are still required to submit a reflective piece in which you identify your reasons for non-submission, the implications of non-submission for your future success and how you propose to address this in the future. If you have issues with confidentiality of your reasons for non-submission then you could reflect on how you have met the learning outcomes for the module, how you can use what you have done on the module to support your future career and what skills/employability attributes you feel the module has helped you to develop.
If you were deferred at the first assessment opportunity you do not need to include the reflective piece as this is a first submission at a later date, not a resit.
Attachment:- Assessment Brief.rar