BUSI2311 Business Research Methods and Statistics Formative Assignment Brief 2024-25 | DU

Formative Assignment

For this assignment, you are required to prepare a short (1) initial research plan describing the topic for your proposal, (2) ethical statement, and (3) risk assessment relating to your chosen dissertation topic.

It is highly recommended that you seek out and look over the content on the university Ethics pages and to open and review the online ethics form that you will need to complete for your dissertation in your final year (you do NOT need to complete the who form now but it is recommended you fill in at least the first section and read through the remaining sections to get a sense of what is involved). The online ethics form should be accessible via.

You will not be tied to carry out your proposal and dissertation on the topic you put forward for your formative. If you are not yet sure on the topic for your proposal, try to put together something for your formative that plays to your interests and is likely to utilise a similar methodology to that in your proposal (e.g. if you are favouring qualitative methods but don’t have a specific topic in mind, try and propose something suitable to a qualitative study using techniques you favour).

Notes:

The use of generative AI is permitted in this assignment, but it must comply with the “Policy on the Use of Generative AI in the Faculty of Business” (link), including reporting the AI software used, referencing, and the prompts and outputs utilised in the Appendix. AI may help correct grammar and typos, but the quality of responses generated for other purposes is often unsatisfactory. There is no list of pre-approved software packages. You can use whatever software you like for the assignment.

Assignments should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font. You should use double-sided printing,  and ensure that assignments are securely bound. Written assignments and dissertations/and business projects must not exceed the word count indicated in the module handbook/assessment brief.

The word count should:

• Include all the text,  including title,  preface,  introduction,  in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other items not specifically excluded below.
• Exclude diagrams,  tables  (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations,   executive summary/abstract,   acknowledgements,   declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way  of circumventing the word limit.  If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.

Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed.  Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented  their  word count, the School may treat this as an offence under Section IV  of the General Regulations of the  University.  Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.

Very occasionally, it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment - examiners are under no obligation to read appendices, and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text.

Guidance on referencing can be found in the programme handbook and on ULTRA.

Marking Guidelines

Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following criteria:

• Relevance to question(s)
• Organisation, structure and presentation
• Depth of understanding
• Analysis and discussion
• Use of sources and referencing
• Overall conclusion