7BUSS002W Business Research Methods, Module Handbook S1 2024-25

7BUSS002W Module Handbook

INTRODUCTION & WELCOME TO THE MODULE

Welcome to the module! We hope that you find it worthwhile, challenging and interesting. The Business Research Methods (BRM) module aims to develop your knowledge and competence of the research process and the application of research methods in the area of Business and Management. It consists of an overview of methodology, literature review, qualitative and quantitative research methods and considers the contexts within which different methods are useful and how they should be applied in practice. The focus is on research design, data collection and analysis, and the presentation of findings. This preparatory module is intended to complement more specialised course-specific modules
offered by Westminster Business School and dovetails with your Project module, for which you will submit an independent 20 credit project.

MODULE AIMS, LEARNING OUTCOMES AND INDICATIVE CONTENT

Module Aims

The purpose of this module is to develop students’ knowledge and practical competence of effective research design at Master’s level. It provides a comprehensive overview of the research process, namely formulating the research topic, defining the research problem, understanding research philosophy, approaches and methods, critically reviewing the literature, data collection and analysis, plus ethical considerations. Equally, the module aims to equip students with the practical skills of interpreting and analysing qualitative and quantitative data which can be most appropriately applied in business and management contexts. Finally, to enable students to apply the knowledge and skills to establish the most effectual research design and method for their project, and write a successful research proposal.

Learning Outcomes

On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:

1. Formulate a research topic and research questions within the field of business and management appropriate for a master’s level research project
2. Critically evaluate the applicability of different business and management research methodologies, research design and methods, incorporating the sustainability and ethics to ensure compliance with the University's requirements.
3. Critically analyse the literature relevant to the specific topic.
4. Develop a comprehensive research proposal that addresses all aspects of the research process, whilst demonstrating a high level of written communication.

ASSESSMENT

The University has arrangements for marking, internal moderation, and external scrutiny. Further information can be found in Section 12 of the Handbook of Academic Regulations: westminster.ac.uk/study/current-students/resources/academic-regulations

7BUSS002W Assessment General Threshold Criteria

FEEDBACK ARRANGEMENTS

Feedback is an important part of your learning. Feedback normally takes one of two forms:

1.Formative feedback: This is the feedback opportunities that are embedded in the module to help with your learning, as well as your assessment.

2. Summative feedback: This is the feedback that is generated following an assessment submission, which helps you understand how you performed against the marking criteria and how you can improve your academic skills for future assessments in this module as well as other modules in your course.

Details about how feedback is provided within this module is explained below

The key dates are on the inside front cover. 

Formative feedback

The purpose of the formative assessment is to support you with writing the summative proposal. After you submit this formative element of the assessment, your project supervisor will give feedback which you can build on, when writing your summative proposal. While this assessment is formative and not assessed, we encourage you to engage in it as it gives you an opportunity to get valuable feedback from your supervisor before submission of your summative proposal.

There will be an opportunity for an academic support & feedback drop-in session, where you will receive support and feedback on your assessment prior to submission.

Summative feedback

Summative feedback will be provided for each assessment, this feedback is to help you not only to understand how you performed in the assessment, but it will also provide guidance into how you can improve your academic skills for future assessment in this and other modules within your course.
Specific summative feedback will be provided online via blackboard, where feedback takes the form of a mark & statement allocated against each assessment criteria. You will also receive a number of key points on strength, weakness, and academic skills you can improve upon. We aim to provide you this feedback within 15 working days and after the feedback has been released online there will also be an opportunity to meet with marker for oral feedback. 

ACADEMIC SUPPORT

Academic support is an important aspect of your learning within the University, on your course and in this module. Academic support is offered in different ways within each module. Below we will explain how you should receive academic support within this module and specific weekly academic support can be found in the module calendar.

During the lectures, time is allocated for questions and answers about the module content, as well as the assessment within the module. 

During the module we have allocated a number of opportunities within the seminar time for you to receive academic support and formative feedback on your coursework.

We will also provide academic support through the discussion boards on Blackboard, where you are encouraged to post your questions about the module contents and its assessment. This mechanism also ensures everyone on the module receives the same pieces of advice and information at the same time.
The module team will have academic support hours.  This is the time they have allocated for students to drop-in or make an appointment for academic support on a one-to-one basis.

We will also make video recordings available for the weekly lectures, assessment briefing and introduction to the module. Although we make these recordings available to you, they should not be considered a replacement to you attending the sessions, where we could support your learning better.

MODULE CALENDAR

In this part you will find how your learning will be structured each week. 

Each week, you will have lectures first.  Then each week’s Seminar - Assessment and Feedback session, will be centred around discussions, application-orientated activities, and team-based mini project.  These activities need your active preparation and participation. 

The principle of team-based active learning is students yourselves should take the accountability of learning and team success.  I, as your tutor, will take on the role as a guide and facilitator.
The student-centred learning activities enable you to actively digest and apply what you have learnt from lectures, online materials, and the relevant chapters in the recommended textbooks. Thus, your engagement and group collaborative work are highly emphasised during your learning journey. 
 
Throughout the learning journey, it is important that you frequently reflect upon your teamwork skills, for example how to work together collegiately in a group, how to manage your time well, how to communicate with team members and how to resolve differences if they arise. The teamwork skills are crucial for your future career and employability too.

Key activities and procedures at Seminars - Assessment and Feedback Sessions:  
The seminar activities are built around the skills you will require for the final assessment of the module, which is your individual Project Proposal.  

Each seminar will effectively be an “Assessment and Feedback” session to support you to develop your application abilities to undertake research.  The on-going activities are so designed as to be in line with the themes of the lectures. 
  
Whilst there will be some individual activities, the most important aspect is you will work in small teams of up to 6 in developing a mini project to fully develop your skills.  This is referred to as the team-based mini project and will proceed as below:  To start with, your group needs to develop a research idea, refine it into a specific topic, which you will work on throughout the semester.  For example, say you choose to investigate “the impact of culture on MSc IBM students’ teamwork behaviour”.  Then your team should decide what articles, books, and other literature to review about the working title.  After that, which research method(s) to apply to find out IBM students’ teamwork experiences.  Your team will then design an online mini-survey or some interviewing questions or both.  

At the seminar, you will be given 30 minutes time to work within your team to complete your weekly task and then 10 minutes to present your work to the whole class.  It is important to note that to be successful with this, independent research and reading are required outside of class time.

Your seminar tutor and peers will provide feedback after your team’s presentation. 
   
Note:

Additional preparation materials may be posted on Blackboard. To benefit fully from your face-to-face taught sessions, these should be accessed and completed beforehand.  Any changes to the schedule will be announced on Blackboard.

LECTURE CAPTURE

We support our students by providing recordings* to support education and learning.

We aim to offer recorded versions of the following:

- Course and module induction sessions

- Lectures

- Assessment briefings

Other types of learning may be also provided, depending on the module and mode of study.

Workshops and seminars will not be routinely recorded.

*Recordings may be provided in a range of forms, including Panopto recording, audio, video, and other learning resources. 
Recordings can be found on our virtual learning environment (Blackboard).

USING YOUR STUDY TIME EFFECTIVELY

You have primary responsibility for your own learning. You will have a schedule of formal study where you will be working with academic staff, and this is outlined later in this handbook.

Alongside your scheduled studies, your private or ‘independent’ study is very important. This is the time that you spend learning without direct supervision from, or contact with, a member of teaching staff and this makes up a large part of your studies. It is likely to include background reading, preparation for seminars or tutorials, follow-up work, wider practice, the completion of assignments, revision and so on. Some independent study may be structured for you as a key part of your learning, but it also is the additional study you choose to undertake to further improve your learning.

To summarise, in general your study activity will break down into:

Scheduled contact/activity time (such as lectures, classes, tutorials, workshops, supervisions, and other-directed activities)

Structured independent study (such as reading and preparing for scheduled learning activity) 

Module and course-based wider study (such as reading the business media, employability activities, personal tutoring activity)

Assessment (working on coursework and/or preparing for and taking tests/exams) 

You should be putting in 10 hours of study time for every credit so you should plan to commit more hours than the class time in this module in order to gain the most of your studies.

Below is an indicative split of study time for this module:

These hours are indicative only and may be subject to change. They also indicate what would be typical. Your particular study needs may vary.

If you are unclear on any aspect of making the best use of your study time on this module, speak to your class leader or the module leader.

EMPLOYABILITY