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BUS2018 Research Methods 2022/23

Assessment brief for research proposal assignment (Semester 2) (70%)

Task

Your task is to produce a 2,800-word research proposal for a project that you could carry out in your final year at Newcastle University Business School. In devising your research proposal, you are required to apply your knowledge of conducting research to a specific project situated in an industry, sector, or organisation that (1) you are keen to work in or have an interest in, and (2) is related to a specific issue encountered in this setting. Your research proposal should further highlight (3) your awareness of the issue that the industry, sector, or organization is facing and (4) how you might conduct research to better understand the issue.  

As such, the task is specifically designed to allow you to demonstrate your knowledge of how and why academically-informed research can be applied to practice in a specific industry, sector or organizational context that might play a part in your future career.

The research proposal assignment is a stand-alone piece of work used to assess your learning on BUS2018 Research Methods. However, you may choose to use the proposal as a foundation for your final-year research project on Management Dissertation, Management Consultancy Project, or Advanced Business Topics, though there is no obligation to do the same project. The following resource may help you in your planning for the assessment:

The Proposal Planner is a tool to help you refine your initial thinking when developing your research proposal.

The assignment requires you to design and plan a focused study with its scope being appropriate for a final-year undergraduate research project on a business management degree. You must select a relevant topic area, review the extant research, develop a focused research question, devise an appropriate research design, propose appropriate methods, and consider any ethical implications. We have covered all these issues in class over the course of the academic year.

The word count is 2,800 words +/-10%. Your assignment must be word processed and submitted as a Word file, following the NUBS formatting guidelines provided on Canvas. The assignment will be marked anonymously, so please only put your student number on the script.

Structure

You should follow this structure for your assignment:

1. Introduction

This concise section sets the scene for your research project by outlining the key issue that the chosen industry, sector or organisation is facing and that you seek to examine further. It should also contain your research question – what your proposed project is about. Your research question should be phrased as a question (not a statement) and you should add an explanation of why it is important and worthwhile to study it. You should also include your research aims and objectives here.

2. Literature review

This section explains how your proposed project relates to scholarly research that has already been done in your chosen topic area. This is important because the purpose of research is to develop new knowledge.

Your literature review should outline the main points of reference in a broad topic area to establish the background for your proposed project. More words should be devoted to those aspects that are directly relevant to your proposed project and that help you to justify its importance. Most studies will make only small, incremental additions to our understanding of a particular phenomenon, but it is important to show the prior research that your study will build on.

The literature review will help you to justify your study beyond a specific industry, sector, or organisational context. For example, well-established topics such as employee motivation or customer satisfaction may not have been studied in the specific setting that you have in mind, but it will be hard to make a contribution to the current understanding. So unless you can find a novel angle on such topics, it may be best to consider something that is less well established.

3. Research methodology and methods

This section explains how you plan to go about answering your research question, including research approaches and designs (Lecture 2) and specific methods to collect and analyse data (Lectures 6-15). The most important thing here is to ensure consistency between your research question, and the approach and methods. For example, quantitative methods tend to be associated with questions such as ‘Is it?’, ‘Does it?’ or ‘How much?’ that can be answered through correlation of clearly defined variables. Qualitative methods tend to be concerned with ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions that require more differentiated answers.

We have no preference for any particular method or approach as long as it is low risk (see Lecture 3 for details). There is no expectation that you generate your own data through questionnaires, interviews, observations etc. in your final-year project. It is perfectly acceptable to use secondary data (e.g. existing statistical datasets) or naturally occurring data (e.g. documents or video clips). It is often preferable for you to draw on such data because you do not rely on access to an organisation. In any case, you must detail the method(s) by which you seek to collect and analyse data, remembering that you must not collect and analyse data for this assignment. When explaining your research approach in your research proposal, you should consider questions such as:

1. What is the best type of data to help me answer my research question?

2. What data and how much is already available for analysis?

3. How will I analyse the data? What data analysis protocol will I use and why?

4. Is there benefit in using a particular software package to support my analysis?

If you wish to generate your own data in your final-year project, you should consider the following questions, also:

1. Who are the best people to participate in my research, and why?

2. How many participants do I need to get a robust answer to my research question?

3. How will I gain access to potential research participants?

4. Will I need a gatekeeper who brokers access to my research participants?

5. How can I convince a gatekeeper to give me access to my research participants?

6. What are the limitations of the proposed research?

These questions are not exhaustive but give you an indication of the level of detail that we expect. Writing this assignment requires you to ‘think through’ your proposed project and plan how it could be done. This is important because you will have to conduct your final-year project within a roughly six-month timeframe available (October – April) alongside all your other commitments, which involves effective management of your time and resources.

4. Research ethics

This section identifies the key ethical issues involved in the proposed research and how you seek to mitigate to ensure that no harm comes to your research participants and yourself. We have discussed ethical issues in Lecture 3 and expect you to apply your learning from the Semester 1 assignment. You should consult the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics (2015) or similar framework for this section and demonstrate how you will prevent harm to participants and mitigate any issues that may arise.

5. Conclusion

This concise section brings your assignment to a close by giving a brief summary of the proposal as a whole and by showing how the various elements knit together into a coherent whole. You may also want to explain here the contributions that your study may make to the current understanding of your topic.

6. References

A complete and consistent list of sources you consulted for this assignment is required. It should be formatted in accordance with the guidelines of Harvard at Newcastle. It is very important to check all your references and in-text citations, and if you are unsure, you must ask for guidance.

Please note:

· You only have one opportunity to submit your assignment.

· We advise you to check on Canvas if your submission has been successful.

· You will be penalised for late submission.

· You must keep all documentation relating to your assignment until the marks have been confirmed by the Board of Examiners.

Marking and feedback

Your assignment will be marked in accordance with the module marking criteria provided in the ‘Assignments’ section on Canvas. We endeavour to provide you with your grade and individual feedback via Canvas within 20 working days.