BM4200 Research Project Handbook 2025

BM4200 INTRODUCTION

The research project is an independent piece of work that we hope you will find both challenging and interesting. This handbook aims to support you in the completion of your research project.  

It is essential that all students attend and participate in the lecture and workshop sessions. You will undertake a 1-hour open book online exam at the end of the lectures and workshops. Dates and information on the format will be discussed by the course team during the workshops.

You should complete the Research Project Proposal (Appendix 1) to help develop your research topic; this will form the basis of the initial discussion with your supervisor. It is not assessed, but it is a document that will help you navigate the early stages of the process. You MUST have ethics clearance from your supervisor BEFORE you commence research. Any research submission without ethics approval will be held as having breached research ethics.

You can collect data from collect primary data from participant individual or organisation. Or secondary data about the organisation or context you are researching. Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is NOT acceptable as data collection in this module. All collected data must be sent to the supervisor for inspection. Any submitted work without data file or using SLR will be regarded held as having breached assessment brief.

2.0 THE RESEARCH PROJECT SUPERVISOR & WORKSHOPS

Throughout the research project process, the Supervisor will be a key support alongside your cohort and course workshops.  Appendix 3 provides guidance on the roles and responsibilities of students and supervisors.

The role of the research project supervisor is to offer individual support and guidance to students.  It is your responsibility to maintain contact with your supervisor during the research project process.  Your allocated supervisor will have experience of supervising and assessing a wide range of research projects and their advice can be a key factor in producing an effective research project.  

There will be some additional non-compulsory opportunities for discussion facilitated by the course team. These sessions are for you to raise issues, questions and concerns and for the group to discuss these. The workshops primarily enable you to interact with other students reducing the feeling of isolation as you will predominantly be studying alone. We also encourage students to share e-mail addresses and keep in touch with each other through electronic/social media sources.

3.0 PRESENTATION AND STYLE OF REPORT

You must submit your research project by Turnitin. Your research project should follow these guidelines (it’s a good idea to create a template at the outset in word.

• Typed on white A4
• 1.5 spacing throughout (except where indicated in section 5)
• Include all the sections indicated in section 5 (unless agreed with your supervisor)
• Margins – the left-hand margin should be 1.5 inches (wide enough to allow for binding)
• Type face – must not be smaller than 12 point
• Page numbering – pages should be numbered consecutively, starting with the introduction which should be page 1.  
• Headings – act as a guide to the reader and provide the writer with a framework within which to construct a well-organised report.
• Paragraphs – there is no optimum length for a paragraph, it should contain related material.  If the paragraph is too long the reader may lose the sense of the topic.  If the paragraph is too short the result is staccato in appearance and reading flow.
• Numbering – in this research project it is not normal to number paragraphs, however each section and subsection should be clearly numbered.
• Abbreviations – before using abbreviations spell the work out in full the first time it is used.
• Word limit – this is 9,000-word reflective essay.  10% under or over the limit is acceptable, but no more.  Remember part of the skill of writing the report is being able to communicate within the specified word limit.  Editing can be a frustrating process, but it improves the quality of your work and therefore your grade.  Your word count must be accurately recorded – you will be penalised if you are over the word limit.
• An Assessment Cover Sheet should be included in the report.
• Referencing should follow the Harvard System (see Programme handbook on how to do this

4.0 ASSESSMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

Your research project supervisor and another member of staff will separately read and assess your research project in line with the assessment criteria (Appendix 4).  They will then meet to compare their comments and the grade that they have awarded your work.  If there is a disagreement between the tutors this can be resolved by a third person marking the research project. As with all other modules a selection of research projects will be sent to the external examiner.

5.0 SECTIONS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

Below is a list of the sections that should be included within your research project, in the order in which they would normally appear, with details of the content of each section.  There may be occasions when it is appropriate to deviate from one or more of the guidelines outlined, however this should be undertaken after consultation with your research project supervisor.

A question that is often asked is how many words there should be in each section. There is no absolute right and wrong here – and quality of what you say and how you say it (which is called your ‘argument’) is significantly important.  Some staff will give definitive answers and you will see below some suggestions for each section – these are suggestions only. Remember that your research project is a unique piece of work it may be different to other students and the guidelines.  For example, a more academic study (where a strong literature review and justified methodology are required to support the findings) will be different to a more applied study (where emphasis will be on the research context, the findings and subsequent conclusions and recommendations). 

You should add the assignment cover sheet, which will be provided by the teaching team to the front of your project.

5.01 Title Page

The first page of your research project must include:

• Title of the report
• Your name and programme of study
• Name of your supervisor
• Date of submission

If the material in your report is confidential then you MUST discuss this with your supervisor and clearly indicate this on your title page.

5.02 Acknowledgements

You may wish to include a page that expresses thanks to those who have helped you in the completion of your research project.

5.03 Abstract

The aim of this section is to provide an overview of the research project.  It should be about a side of A4 in length, and unlike the rest of the body of the report it should be single-spaced.  This should be a VERY concise summary of the purpose of your report, the central issues considered in the report, and your central findings and conclusions.  This section should not have any subtitles.

5.04 Contents Page

It is important that the main sections of your report are listed here, with their appropriate section and page numbers.  It may be appropriate to list the details of sub-sections too.  You should also include a contents page for your appendices at this point, which should be duplicated at the beginning of your appendix.

5.05 Introduction – 500-1000 words

The purpose of this section is to interest your reader in the subject matter of your research project, to provide a context for the subject and to justify your choice of topic.  How you provide the context for your topic and justify this choice will depend largely on the topic itself.

For example if you are researching a topical issue such as continuing racial discrimination in the national police force you could provide the wider context for your topic by referencing the sociological literature on race discrimination; you could also identify the historical context of racial discrimination within Britain and make reference to the legal framework.  From this context you could move on to justify your selection of this topic by including statistics, press reports and academic literature that demonstrate continuing racial discrimination in the police force, and stating that your research project will provide an new angle on this topic, for example by undertaking in depth qualitative interviews.

Once you have presented the rationale for your topic choice it is essential you identify the aims and objectives of the research project. These need to be CLEARLY identified, and you should remember that markers will compare your aims and objectives to your conclusion and recommendation sections and consider whether there is coherence between the two. The aim of your research project is a statement of its overall purpose.  The objectives identify how you will achieve this purpose i.e. the stages that you will work through. These may be presented as bullet points.

For example:

Aim

To investigate the impact of change management programmes on the psychological contact of workers within public sector organisations.

Research Objectives

• To identify, investigate & analyse literature in the area of change management & the psychological contract, with particular reference to public sector organisations.
• To identify organisations in the public sector undergoing change management programmes and agree access.
• To carry out primary research in the organisations to analyse the impact of change management programmes on the psychological contract.
• To analyse findings & compare them to the literature.
• To make appropriate recommendations.

5.06 Literature Review – 2-3000 words

The focus of this section is to provide the theoretical underpinning for the consideration of your topic, and with which to analyse your data.

Reading relevant literature should: develop your understanding of the subject matter, help you to refine your research topic, help you to consider the subject from a range of different viewpoints, and consider the use of different methodologies. The written literature review should demonstrate your understanding of the subject and ability to analyse the work of different authors.

The Literature Review Process
The first step to complete your literature review is to find appropriate sources.  The library session should help you to develop your skills to search the library for appropriate sources, and to use the online facilities more confidently.  This can be a frustrating process and you may not find information on your exact research area immediately.  A good way to approach the literature is to begin by reading generally on the topic.  

For example, if you were writing a research project on the potential implications of age discrimination legislation on small businesses in the manufacturing sector, you would need literature in the areas of both age discrimination and skills.  For the former you may begin reading broadly, considering literature that deals with broader issues of discrimination and how age discrimination fits into this literature and debates.  You may then narrow your reading to focus on literature that deals specifically with the debates concerning age discrimination.  Your reading would then narrow further to focus on organisations in the manufacturing sector.

As you undertake this reading it is possible that your objectives may change, so for example you may find a model in the literature that you wish to use as a basis of comparison for your primary research.  Alternatively, your reading may raise new questions that you wish to pursue in your primary research.

As you are reading you will be taking notes and it is essential that you get in the habit of taking the full details (author’s name; date of publication; title; place of publication and publisher and the page number) of each piece that you read.  If you do not take the details then you cannot reference the material if you cannot reference it then you cannot use it.  It can be very difficult to try retrospectively to work out which page, from which book or article a quote that you really want to use comes from, and very time consuming. 

Your supervisor can support you in this process and may be able to recommend some useful books, however your ideas and the way that they develop are key to the process.

The notes that you have taken when reading the literature may well be arranged as a set of notes about, or comments on the work of each author, but this is not how your literature review should be presented in the final research project. At this point a bit more explanation could be helpful.  The title of the section seems to suggest that what we want is a list of authors and a summary of what they have written.  Though this would demonstrate that you have knowledge of the literature, it does not demonstrate that you understand it, and this is where one of our favourite words as tutors often comes in – critical analysis!  What we need you to demonstrate is that you also understand what you have read, and that you can present this information in a way that is meaningful for your report. Rather than listing what different authors have written; you should group your literature review in relation to the topics that are relevant to your research project.  

When you have undertaken your reading, it can help to stand back from the list of authors and summaries of their work and consider what the themes, or issues, are that are emerging. To put it another way, start to work out who agrees with whom, about what and why.  This should help you to see the patterns in the literature review. Then you need to work out a logical order in which to present the information, i.e. in an order that makes sense in relation to your report research project and to the reader. The order in which you present the literature can be used to support your critique of the literature.  It is essential that this section of the research project lays the foundations of the debate that you will have in your analysis chapter.  The literature review may begin to develop your line of argument.  The notes that you make at this stage may be the beginnings of your written literature review.

At this stage of your project it can be useful to have a learning set meeting with your supervisor to discuss through the thoughts you have and how you might present them in the literature review.

The Written Literature Review

One way in which you could choose to present your literature review would be to open the chapter with a brief introduction that identifies the purpose of the literature review, and then move on to identify what the sections of the literature review would be. You then present the literature under section headings in the order identified in the introduction and analyse appropriate literature under each heading.  At the end of the literature review it can be useful to include a couple of concluding paragraphs that summarise what is most relevant in the literature for your report, and how you will use this in the following chapters, e.g. there may be a particular model that you will be analysing your results against,.
 
An example of how this process may work: -

You are writing a report on the flexible working practices in public sector organisations with the aim of assessing their benefits to the organisation.  You begin by searching the literature for anything about flexibility and as you read it becomes clear that along with the benefits some authors would argue that flexible working practices can bring negative implications for both the organisation and the employee.  This wasn’t the angle that your report was originally going to take, but after discussions with your supervisor, you decide that you would really be interested in considering the potential downside of flexibility.  You go back to searching the literature and begin to find that there are a number of definitions of flexible working practices, and also some authors who build models of flexibility.   As you read more literature your opinion of flexible working practices changes, you see flexibility as beneficial for organisations, but begin to wonder whether it is a form of exploitation of the workforce, so you begin to focus your reading in this area.  All of this reading has not only developed your research project ideas and potentially refined them, but it has also left you with a pile of notes that you need to stand back from and identify the themes/ issues and how to present them logically.  As you reflect on your reading you see that there are themes in your notes.  What you now need to do is pull together the notes that you have on each of these themes and develop them into meaningful prose.  So, you draw up headings and begin writing drafts under each section.  If you are not feeling particularly confident about your writing or referencing style it can be good to discuss one or two pages of your draft literature review with your supervisor so they can give you guidance at an early stage in the process.

5.07 Methodology – 1500-2000 words

You should refer to several books and articles on research methods in general, and your chosen approach specifically, to support you in the research for the research project.  Before you undertake your research, it is advised that you discuss this with your supervisor.  It would be very valuable to meet with your learning set and your supervisor to critique one another’s approaches as this can be a very effective method of identifying the strengths and limitations of your chosen approach.  

The written methodology section should be written in the past tense and should contain the following information: -

Introduction to the section: that reminds the reader of the aims and objectives of your research project and identifies the role of primary research in meeting these objectives.

Methodology: Before moving on to identify and discuss the methods that have been used in your research it is essential to consider what is behind that – i.e. your methodology.  It is essential that you demonstrate the relationship between your methodology and the methods that you have employed.

Methods: the methods used should be clearly described, and you need to acknowledge: your research design, your method/s, your sampling, your data collection and your data analysis.  These topics will be covered in the lectures and workshops.  Enough detail should be provided so that if the reader wished to replicate your research they could.  This doesn’t mean that it needs to be a lengthy section, for example you could use a table to identify the interviews you undertook, and over what period as part of your description.  It is likely that you will include supporting details in the appendix, for example a copy of the questionnaire that you used.

Justification of your choice of methods: in your methodology it is important that you justify why you have chosen the method or methods that you have used.  It is essential that you do this in relation to relevant literature.  The Research Methods module will help you to achieve this.

Analysis of methods: once you have identified and justified the methods that have been used it is necessary to analyse their limitations.  No research approach is perfect, and it is important that the weaknesses of your approach are recognised by you.  Reading of research methods text should help you in this process

Ethics: In this section you will need to demonstrate that you have given due consideration to the ethical issues involved in your research and have adhered to University guidelines in this area.  Issues that you will need to consider are confidentiality and anonymity.

It is critical at Master’s level that you clearly explain and effectively justify your methodology and methods.  Failure to do so will mean that the reader will not be able to make an accurate assessment of the research that you have undertaken and therefore the grade of your report will be negatively affected.  The lack of a convincing Methodology section calls into question the validity of your research.

5.08 Findings and Discussion 2-3000 words

This section can also be split into separate Findings and Discussion sections, as you will see when you read different journals.

The purpose of Findings is to present your findings in a clear and meaningful way so that the reader understands what your primary research has found.  You need to present your data in a way that is appropriate, so for example if you have undertaken qualitative research such as interviews with a small number of people it may be appropriate to comment on how many people answered a question with a positive response, and include direct quotes to illustrate this. 

You need to provide evidence of appropriate data collection to your supervisor and in your report – further details of this will be provided later in the semester.

If you have undertaken quantitative research, it may be appropriate to present your data in the form of graphs and tables and comment on what they show.

There are many ways to analyse and present your findings and research methods literature and your supervisor should be referred to for suggestions about these two aspects.  

You should remember throughout this section, as elsewhere in your report to retain the anonymity of the research participants.  

The Analysis of your findings crucial, but as it comes late on in the report process students often feel that they have ‘run out of steam’ – or lack energy and enthusiasm - by this stage.  It is very important that you pay as much attention to the latter stages of the report as you have done to the earlier.  From this stage on you draw together the primary and secondary data and analyse what the implications of this are for your organisation, and what recommendations you can make to your organisation that are meaningful.  So you need to collect your data to give you plenty of time to prepare and analyse your findings.

The purpose of the analysis section is to draw together the results of your primary research and compare them to the theory/literature (which relates to more academic studies) and/or the study context (which relates to more applied studies).  Through this section of the report you can demonstrate your ability to analyse the data and theory critically.  If you do not draw these two aspects of your research project together effectively you will not fulfil a crucial element of your research project.  

5.10 Conclusions – 500-1000 words

When writing this section many students comment that it feels repetitive, that’s fine, it is the section in which you draw together the key points of your report and demonstrate that you have met the aims and objectives of your report.  At this stage you may find that your aims and objectives have developed or changed, if this is the case make sure that it is the new aims and objectives that are recorded at the beginning of the report reflect any changes.  You should not introduce any new material into this section.  If the previous sections of your report have been clearly and logically constructed, then your conclusions should follow naturally from them.  This is one of the shorter sections of your report, with students often writing sections of two to three sides of A4.  This is fine; you should make your points clearly and concisely.  Some students find it useful to work through the aims of their report and demonstrate how they have been met.  

At this point in the research project process students are usually so close to their work that it is not unusual for them to think that they have found something that is not substantiated by their data.  It is valuable to ask someone else to read through your research project at this point so that you are able to discuss this with them.  It would be useful to have an agreement within the learning set that you will do this.  However, do be careful NOT to read the work of someone who is investigating either the same organisation or a similar topic area as this could lead you to question, maybe even change your own work inappropriately.

5.11 Recommendations – 500-1000 words

At Master’s level this section can take a variety of forms, and in some research projects, it is simply not relevant to include this section.  This would be another valuable time to have a meeting with your supervisor for guidance and support.  As you are now in the final stages of your research project, the temptation could be too hastily knock together what is a very short section in comparison to others, however this would be a mistake.  Though brief this section must build on earlier work, and any recommendations made must be clearly substantiated by your earlier material in your research project, and clearly built up to during earlier sections, in particular it should clearly follow on from your conclusions.

6.0 PERSONAL REFLECTION – 1000 words (+/- 10%)

The purpose of this section is to demonstrate what you have learnt during the research project process professionally, academically and personally; considering the following issues: 

• What personal learning was there for you in the research project process both in researching and writing it?
• What could you have done differently in the process of your report?
• What development needs or issues does the report process highlight for you?
• What action can you take to meet the development needs that you have identified?

Your work will be improved by including a reflective model e.g. Gibbs or Kolb and considering the various stages of your research journey, for example: the identification of the topic, acknowledging your meetings with your supervisor, your development of a methodology, your data collection, challenges faced and changes to your plans. 

7.1 Referencing

This should be presented alphabetically by author’s surname and should adhere to the Harvard Referencing System.  A useful resource is Cite them Right Click here  .

7.2 Appendices

Please don’t use this section as somewhere to dump all the interesting things that you wish you could have the space for in your report, but you weren’t sure how to fit in.  This can be really tempting to do, particularly when so much hard work has gone into getting information, however this will detract from the quality of your research project.  One simple way to decide what should be in or out of the appendices is to only include that which you refer to in the text of your report, and to order the appendices in relation to the order in which items are referred to in the report.  For example, you may refer to an organisational chart in the Introduction, and then a list of interview questions in your Methodology; these would then be Appendices 1 and 2 respectively.  You should include copy of your signed off Ethics form and any consent forms here.

BM4200 Marking Criteria