Learning Methods and Assessment for Business and Academic Research

Learning Methods

Learning Methods
This section describes learning methods used, and the resources available, to support learning.

Lectures
You will have one-hour lectures every week, which covers the following key areas:
• Introductions to the module, assessment and research for business and academia
• Revising literature reviewing and identifying research questions
• Qualitative research planning, sampling, methods, analysis (including statistics) and evaluation
• Quantitative research planning, sampling, methods, analysis and evaluation
• Mixed alternative and new research methods
• Drawing conclusions from data and generating action points and theories.

Reading and Learning Support

There is some reading recommended in the lectures to support specific topics. An indicative list of books and relevant journals is provided below (and on the Blackboard reading list) but these are only starting points and you should read as widely as is necessary to demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge and to enhance your enjoyment of the module. This list may be very useful for your final year projects.

Assessment is in two parts:
• Part 1: Group Presentation [In total, 25% of the module grade]
• A 10 minute presentation, prepared and presented as a group, but submitted individually on Blackboard.

• Part 2: The Research Proposal [In total, 75% of the module grade] consisting of:
• A proposal outlining what the main aspects of your research WOULD be (this is also prepared as a group but each student writes their versions out individually. 
• There is no exam.

Important Changes to Assessment Regulations
Please note that assessment regulations do change from year to year, you will have received notice of these direct from the faculty. If you are unsure of any of these please consult a student advisor: not knowing about these changes is not an excuse for extenuating circumstances.

Research Proposal:
This element of the coursework is designed to prepare you for your IBPR in the second semester as well as the final year projects. It should also give you the skills needed to commission, use or develop research in your future careers. Research Proposal is to be written on your chosen topic. There will be a list of potential topics related to your degree programme so far (listed in this handbook) as suggested guides but you can also do it on other different topics should you wish.

Research projects take time and resources to complete. Those interested in research can shoulder the burden of costs themselves, however for bigger research projects they tend to need research funding i.e. someone to pay for the research costs. Universities often pay for their staff to carry out smaller research projects, but funding organisations (either private sector or linked to the government) will fund larger projects. These funding bodies generally don’t want to risk giving money to researchers who are not skilled enough to produce results. Therefore, researchers put forward a bid, or research project, outlining the steps that they would take to state the research aim, the relevant academic literature and details on how they would collect, analyse and present data. This is the task that you’ll be carrying out for your RMB research proposal.

Lectures

You are asked to play the part of a business or market research agency researcher, submitting a proposal document to the client for their approval of your plan to research the question you choose. In order to create an appropriate proposal, you are required to analyse the existing academic and practitioner literature in the area, identify an aim and objectives, decide what industry sector / organisation you will be studying (i.e. the context), develop a strategy for sampling, collecting, analysing and interpreting data, and discuss the ethical and other limitations of your research. Work carried out on this will be done with your group (the same group with which you work on the group presentation), however the submitted work is to be written up individually. 

Full details of the assignment task, requirements, approaches and marking guidelines will be made available on Blackboard. They will be presented and discussed in lectures and tutorials.

Objectives Learning Outcomes
The coursework assessment is designed to enable you to partially demonstrate the learning outcomes required for the successful completion of the module, with particular reference to the business/market/academic research skills development outcomes for this component as detailed in the module specification and module handbook: 

• Evaluating secondary data sources such as academic literature and market research reports to frame research question
• Demonstrating understanding of development, conduct, analysis and interpretation of business, market and academic research to propose a research plan
• Working creatively with qualitative and quantitative (and potentially alternative research methods)
• Understanding of ethical issues in business, market and academic research that apply to your proposal
• Producing a succinct, well-argued and well-presented research proposal.

This Research Proposal is mostly based on topics you have covered over your degree programme so far. This gives you a choice of topics to focus upon (see below): a list of potential topic choices is given in this module handbook to help those undecided about what to focus on. Groups are free to choose a topic that is not on the list (as long as it is ethically sound).

You are asked to play the part of a business researcher or market research agency, submitting a proposal document to the client for their approval of your plan to research the question you choose. In order to create an appropriate proposal, you are required to analyse the existing academic and practitioner literature in the area, identify an aim and objectives, develop a strategy for sampling, collecting, analysing and interpreting data, and discuss the ethical and other limitations of your research. The research proposal is to outline a mixed methods (qualitative AND quantitative) research project. 

Although practically-focused, this assessment requires an academic slant uniting academic and practitioner knowledge. You are expected to integrate academic concepts and theories from your other modules, and your own reading, to underpin your work and support the judgements you are making. In this regard it is essential that you properly reference all books, academic articles, websites and other reference sources used in your report.