Research Project Guidelines for Students

To identify, determine and justify a disciplinary-relevant project, including its aims, scopes and objectives. 
2. To self-manage research, including managing the supervisory process. 
3. To understand how to identify and synthesise the relevant conceptual and methodological techniques from the degree programme, using a range of sources and data, applying them to them to a particular topic, case or organisation. 
4. To show and review the results or the project, including drawing appropriate conclusions and recommendations, and assessing their impacts. 
5. To understand the ethical request process and apply it appropriately to the research project. 

Under the Standard University Assessment Regulations (UAR20) students have two opportunities to be assessed and to pass this module.  If a student has not achieved a pass in  this module after the resit, no further opportunities are available and the student will be withdrawn from the course. 

Rationale 
To pass this module, you must achieve a final overall mark of at least 40%.  Failure to achieve a pass after the second attempt will result in the student being withdrawn  from the course. 
Option 1: Dissertation 
A  dissertation  is  an  academic  document  created  as  a  consequence  of  a  student  carrying  out  a research  project  based  on  a  2,000  word  proposal.  It  is  an  extended  piece  of  academic  writing  of approximately 8,000 words on a topic of your own choice, which has to be related to the subject area of your degree programme. The fact that you choose the topic and focus of your research makes this piece of work very different from any of your other modules where your ability to choose what you  write  about  is  restricted  in  some  way.  It  also  differs  significantly  from  other  modules  in  the expectation that you take full responsibility for the whole of the work: its organisation, subject area and  content,  the  production  of  the  literature  review,  the  design  of  the  methodology,  the  research activities, the analysis of results, the discussion of consequences, etc. 

A  useful  calling  card  for  employment,  graduate  training  schemes  or  further  study.  As  you  are  in control of the process, (from problem definition through to the design of data collection and analysis  in  order  to  shed  light  on  that  problem),  the  integrated  research  project  allows  you  to  refine  and  consolidate your research and communications skills. In fact, you should see that the whole process is highly relevant to many key employability skills. 

A placement project is also an academic document created as a consequence of a student carrying out  an  integrated  business  research  project.  It  is  an  extended  piece  of  academic  writing  of  approximately 8,000 words on a topic of your own choice, which has to be related to the context of  your  placement  experience  and  fit  the  subject  area  of  your  degree  programme.  This  option  is therefore only available to students who carried out a placement in an organisation in their sandwich year.  The  only  real  difference  between  a  dissertation  and  a  placement  project  is  that  placement  students who choose this option are required to contextualise their research study within the setting  of  their  placement.  This  decision  on  what  you  do  and  how  you  do  this  will  be  influenced  by  how directly you intend to build from your work placement organisation and the experience you gained  there. 

Assessment Regulations and Requirements

Simply put, former placement students have two choices within Option 2: 
1. You can choose an issue directly related to your work experience organisation and enjoy the benefit of your own access to information of the organisation to resource your work.  This may involve the job role(s) you actually carried out there and the data and information you had access to at the time. 
2. You may consider that the industry/sector setting of your placement experience may provide you with your focus for your placement project rather than a very specifically  defined issue affecting your placement organisation. This choice may be suitable for you if you have less access to primary data related to the placement organisation because it may have been regarded as too sensitive for publication. 

You are required to carry out an original piece of research under the guidance of your supervisor which is accounted for on in a final report document. You are entitled to attend up to 8 group  supervisory meetings of up to 8 hours along with written or recorded verbal feedback on your proposal (for Option 1) / introduction (for Option 2), literature review, methodology and analysis/discussion. Please see the supervision policy document for more detailed information. 

All students are required to submit an initial topic idea or research area on Moodle by 9am on Monday 4th October 2021. This will enable the module leader to allocate you a suitable  supervisor. Students who provide a topic later than this will still be allocated a supervisor but the allocation process will not start until supervisors are first allocated to the students who submitted a 
topic idea in time. 

Dissertation  students  should  upload  their  proposal  on  Moodle  by  midday  on  Monday  22nd November 2021. This counts as 20% of your total mark for this module.  The maximum wordcount is 2,000 subject to the usual ±10% limit. See the module guide for further information. After receiving feedback on your proposal you should be in a good position to complete your introduction, literature review and methodology chapters.
 
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of... This placement project is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of If confidentiality is required the phrase 'ln strictest confidence' must be stipulated on the dissertation / placement project cover. You should also inform the dissertation / placement project module leader and your supervisor in writing. The  maximum  number  of  pages,  including  index,  tables,  diagrams  and  appendices  should  not exceed 250. Your  work  should  be  paginated  in  the  bottom  right  hand  corner  of  each  page  starting  from  the beginning of the contents pages with one sided printing throughout. Use Arial font throughout the work and note the following requirements:

Option 1: Dissertation

All work should be referenced using the BCU Harvard format - there is a full definition of the style along with guides available at the library website (https://www.bcu.ac.uk/library/services-and- support/referencing/harvard). The guides are also available as hard copies in the Library.  Do not cite popular websites such as Wikipedia, Google or Yahoo – Wikipedia is not peer assessed and the work is not always reliable; and the other two are search engines.  Emphasise citations from journal articles and textbooks (although reports and newspaper articles may at times be acceptable). You should however, make more reliance on journal articles as these are peer reviewed and are often more recent than text books. If you are to use text books, these should be the latest edition so it is important to check whether you have access to them. 
 
? Outline Literature Review (30%): A short review of literature relevant to your topic. The review should: 
o Provide proof of scholarship 
o Reflect your basic understanding of your topic 
o Reflect your intellectual ability to construct critical arguments based on your reading of the relevant literature 
 
? Outline Methodology (25%): A well-reasoned methodological approach in terms of: 
o The scope of the research 
o The choice of a research philosophy, approach and strategy 
o A basic understanding of methods and techniques to collect primary data (if appropriate). 
For example, if a questionnaire survey is to be used, this should include a description of your population, how you intend to select your sample and how you will distribute your  questionnaires. 
o The techniques proposed to be used to analyse the collected data 
o Any ethical concerns 
 
? Project Plan (10%). A short narrative providing an appreciation of your research’s feasibility within the time frame available to you. A schedule using a Gantt chart or similar graphical  device showing activities to be undertaken at specific times. Note: This should not simply be copied and pasted from the sample Gantt chart provided but demonstrate personalisation and interpretation. 
 
? Completed ethics request form (5%) – signed by you but not by your supervisor; not included in the word count 
 
The topic may have been poorly chosen. The objectives of the study are possibly poorly stated, but sit within a recognisable conceptual framework based on limited background reading which shows  some  evident  gaps.  Primary  research  and  /  or  the  use  of  other  data  sources  may  be  insufficient. Though execution of may be adequate, methodology will be weak and the methodological decisions made will be less justified and / or have weaker links to objectives. If data collection reaches minimum 
levels it may be flawed in other ways. Results and analyses may contain errors as well as omissions and  the  subsequent  interpretation  and  discussion  of  the  data  collected  is  likely  to  be  very  poorly developed. The study may show that relevant material is not always distinguished from superfluous and  irrelevant  commentary.  Conclusions  may  be  repetitive  or  lack  a  clear  focus  and  may  not completely refer back to the stated objectives even though an attempt to do this has been made. 
Weaknesses are apparent in both the organisation and presentation of the study.  

Option 2: Placement Project

There are poorly stated aim and objectives and/or inadequate conceptual framework based on little background reading. The topic may have been poorly chosen and / or poorly defined in the rationale.  Significant  weaknesses  are  likely  to  be  seen  in  the  planning  and  implementation  of  the  study. Conceptual  content  is  likely  to  be  minimal.  Some  appropriate  academic  sources  are  cited  but generally in a descriptive or narrative way. Deeper issues are not explored. Poor primary research is  likely  to  be  present  and  /  or  poor  use  of  secondary  data.  Perhaps  not  enough  data  has  been collected  for  robust  analysis  to  take  place.  Methodology  may  be  largely  unexplained  or  poorly  justified or poorly linked to objectives. Results usually contain errors and omissions, some of which may be significant, and the attempted analyses may often be more superficial and / or inappropriate and / or highly descriptive.

The interpretation and discussion of the data tend to be short and lack detail with inadequate attention to relevant material. Conclusions are likely to be repetitive, lacking  in  consistency,  depth,  or focus,  not  necessarily  linked  to  aim /  objectives,  or  just  incomplete. The work may be poorly organised with several flaws in presentation. Any strengths tend to be mainly those  of  effort  and  persistence;  though  the  content  has  some  merit,  only  a  small  amount  of  the  possible potential of the study has been realised. Inclusion of a completed ethics form but not signed by the supervisor and not of a suitable standard. 

The  study  may  have  been  carried  out  in  good  faith  but  exhibits  several  of  the  following  serious deficiencies:  aim  and  objectives  are  poorly  defined  or  lacking,  little  citation  of  relevant  academic  literature of a suitable standard, very little or no conceptual framework is apparent, methodology is  inappropriate, not justified or misunderstood, data collection seriously inadequate or non-existent, poor description of results, analysis contains very serious errors or omissions, wrong interpretations, 
very limited discussion, superficial ineffective conclusion, missing abstract, substandard presentation, likely to be below the word count.  
 
This work shows few signs of being a proper concerted effort. There is an attempt to introduce the topic, describe methods, present and discuss results, and come to a conclusion. The study does not  meet its own aim and objectives (which may be absent) and as a result it does not meet the learning outcomes of the module. Inclusion of a partially completed ethics form not signed by the supervisor. This work does not approach the demands of the assignment brief and does not achieve the learning outcomes.