MBA Dissertation: Business/Management Research Methods and Writing Guidelines

Module Learning outcomes: On successful completion of this module you will be able to: 1. Formulate a research question(s)/ hypotheses relevant to Business/Management with clearly defined objectives, identify an appropriate methodology and prepare a proposal for a dissertation. 2. Adopt a critical perspective in selecting and devising a research methodology appropriate to a chosen research question(s)/problem or hypotheses. 3. Synthesise and critically appraise a body of academic literature relating to a specific topic or issue relevant to Business/Management. 4. Gather data and apply appropriate analytical tools and other research skills in order to present findings that will lead to defensible conclusions and recommendations that relate to the research question or problems identified. 5. Communicate ideas, arguments, conclusions and recommendations in an effective and appropriate scholarly manner that draws from the research findings and reference source materials consistently and accurately. Please see detailed marking scheme at the end of the assignment Page 2 of 6 Dissertation (Including Research Methods) Assignment Rationale The dissertation is the culmination of the MBA and provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned on the course and that you have acquired the necessary skills to independently undertake a substantial piece of work under the guidance of a supervisor. The dissertation aims to enable you to demonstrate your ability to design, conduct, evaluate and write up a project on a topic that is relevant to your interests. In so doing, you will be able to demonstrate self-direction, enquiry, originality and an ability to act autonomously in the planning and implementation of project skills at an advanced and professional level. It is a significant piece of evidence-based work, which demonstrates your ability to qualify for the award of MBA. The research study has a business focus that is appropriate to your career aspirations and is of greater depth and conceptual complexity than a normal assignment. Contacts Dr Tom Domboka (Module leader) Summative Assessment Summary This module is assessed in two parts - a dissertation proposal dissertation. Both the proposal and report will be submitted online via Moodle. The details of the assignment brief for each part are given below. You are strongly argued to read the briefs carefully and in conjunction with the marking grid at the end of this document. Dissertation  You are required to prepare  dissertation with significant implications in any business and management disciplines. The dissertation should be ordered in chapters and the number of chapters and their sequence may vary depending on, among other things, the aim and objectives of the dissertation. One chapter will focus on a critical review literature relating to your project chosen topic and research question(s) and another on the methodology. A chapter will be devoted to your findings/results, analysis and discussion. The final chapter should provide your conclusions, implications, and recommendations, including evidence on how the dissertation aim and objectives have been achieved and/or hypothesis confirmed or disproved, possibly with suggestions of the direction of future research on the area. Please refer to the dissertation handbook, which is on Moodle for other details. Formative Assessment and feedback Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 formative assessment will be obtained via the comments of supervisors on draft material in one to one tutorials and via Moodle forums. Dissertation guidance handbook The Dissertation handbook is a separate document that you can access via Moodle on the module site. You are required to read this carefully as that is what your supervisor will follow. The handbook also includes the Internship project supervision record forms that you will be required to complete after each supervision meeting. Ethical Approval You are required to obtain ethical approval before you proceed to collect any primary data. The ethical form can be found on the Moodle site. Any data collected without ethical approval may result in an automatic fail for the dissertation and an academic misconduct case may be raised against you. Referencing requirements Page 3 of 6 All work should be referenced using the Harvard format – there are handouts available online at the library website and are available as hard copy in the library if you are unsure of this. - Exercise caution when using Wikipedia, Google or Yahoo – the former is not peer assessed and the work is not always reliable and the later are search engines. Do not rely too heavily or exclusively on such sources. - Use textbooks and journal articles (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 textbooks, these should be the latest so it is important to check whether you have the latest edition. Citations should be used very minimally and in limited circumstances, you may reference lecture material such as handouts and presentation slides. Submission requirements Please read the Internship project handbook for the submission requirements. University Regulations If you produce less than or exceed the word limit by up to 10%, no action will be taken, though you may receive adverse feedback. If you produce less than or exceed the stipulated word count by more than 10%, a deduction of the mark awarded will be made to reflect that you have not met the assessment requirements. This is usually 1% for every additional 100 words outside the word limit.