TH50155E Applied Research Methods L5 Assignment Brief | UWL

Module Overview

This module supports your final research project (known as a dissertation). It gives you the tools to be able to identify your area of interest and explore an area in depth. You can define your aims, objectives and plan your research questions (what do you want to find out?).   

The module will guide you to your approach to research, evaluate the methodologies and the planning process. It will discuss sampling methods, qualitative and quantitative methods and the methods to analyse the data. Finally, the module will assist you in guiding you on how to present your findings.
 
The aim is to provide you with a broad knowledge and understanding of the principles and practices of conducting research. The module focuses on the use of a range of different research methods in order to successfully undertake a dissertation or any research project. The module encompasses the understanding and application of appropriate research designs, research statistics, and the use of the computer for data analysis and report writing and presentation.

The Learning Outcomes of the Applied Research Methods Module are as Below:

• LO1: Demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the process for framing research questions.  
• LO2: Critically examines relationships between theory and practice in undertaking research.  
• LO3: Compare and contrast the different research methodologies.  
• LO4: Analyse the limitations of primary information acquired by observation, questionnaire and interview and that of secondary information in electronic and print formats.  
• LO5: Critically identifies the methodological approaches that are suitable to investigate different types of research questions and hypotheses.  
• LO6: Reflect upon their ideas regarding the value of research in the workplace.  
• LO7: Present a written research proposal and/or project.

Preparing for your Assessment

A key part of your learning will be preparation for your summative assessment. You will be provided feedback on your formative assessments, and this will help you to better understand what is required of you when you submit your summative assessment. Please see below guidance on your formative assessment and how to access your feedback.

Assessment support sessions will be organised a week before each summative assessment, where students will receive feedback on their draft work. More information related to these will be communicated in class.

Summative Assessments

Summative Assessment 1

Main objectives of the Assessment

This group presentation presents your ideas for your future research. This should be completed in the context of the lecture content, the seminar discussions you have had and, very importantly, your reading of the recommended academic texts.   

Your presentation will have four distinct units (reference list), which are the following:  

Slide 1 – Introduction: 

Your introduction sets the scene and explains what the research is about and why it is of academic interest. In this section, you should indicate what your theoretical base will be and briefly define any key terms. Finally, you will need to articulate your research focus. Use the following headings.  

• Brief Overview of your research
• What is the current thinking on the specific area of your research?
• Identification of the theoretical area and rationale for research
• Briefly define/describe/discuss key concepts/theories/models as appropriate to your research  
• What are the key and current issues/arguments/debates?
• Where are the gaps in the literature, and where is there research to be done?
• What will your contribution be to research in this area?

Slide 2 - Research Focus:  

• Research aim
• Research objectives (3-4)
• Research questions OR Hypotheses (2-3)  

Slide 3 - Proposed Methodology: 

• Research Paradigm (Positivism v Interpretivism)
• Methodology(ies): Qualitative v Quantitative.
• If you propose to do a case study, then explain this here and identify and describe your case study organisation/location. If you are doing a combined approach, this needs to be explained here.  
• Methods(s): Interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, etc and how to be administered.  If you are doing more than one method, they all have to be explained.
• Population(s): the people who will be involved or job titles, you need to say how you will compile a list (your sampling frame), if it is possible to do this.
• Sampling technique(s): How you will choose respondents, participants, random/judgemental, etc sampling)
• Sample Size(s): How many people will be interviewed/sent Qs, etc.

Slide 4 - Research ethics:  

• Presentation of potential ethical issues and your strategy to eliminate them.

Summative Assessment 2

 Main objectives of the Assessment

Assessment Two – Research Proposal – 60% weighting 

This assessment with address the module learning outcomes 3,4,5,6, and 7. 

This is research that is on a topic that usually relates to a wide number of people or organisations, and what you find out would be of interest to a sector of the Research or to some of the people within it.  So, for example, if you wanted to find out the extent of a particular practice, you would need to perhaps send out a questionnaire to a large number of companies in order to find out what is happening or what attitudes are prevalent.  
  
Any methods (or mix of methods) can be used (questionnaires, interviews, observations, case studies, etc.) as long as you can argue and support from literature that they are the most appropriate method(s) to answer your research questions.   

The point is that your conclusions will be of interest to a wider group of people. The advantage of this type of Research Project is that you would have potential access to a wide number of people who could help you with your research

Content of the research proposal (1,500 words)

The proposals for the two different types of research require more or less the same information and are the same length. The content is detailed below: 

Title Page 

• The Title of your proposed Research Project  
• Module name and code
• Your student number and Course

Introduction (word guide 150-200 words)  

This is an introduction to the topic and a rationale for it being of interest and worthy of study. This should set the scene. It will either focus on why the research is of interest to the wider community (Standard Research Project) or the company (Work-Based Research Project).  

Research focus (word guide 150-200 words)  

This section is very important and may be the most important in terms of judging whether your proposal will be accepted. This is where the focus of your research will be apparent, and it is probably the most difficult section to write as it requires you to have thought very carefully about exactly what it is that you will be doing.

You need to state the overall purpose of your proposed research (the aim) and develop this idea through more detailed statements (your objectives). From these, you then develop your research questions. These can then be reworded and become your main and subsidiary research questions. An alternative to having research questions is to have hypotheses.   

It is fairly easy to choose a topic and read around it. It is much harder to identify research questions that you are trying to answer or define specific hypotheses that you will test.  

These will likely be developed further as your research progresses, but we will still be looking for evidence that you can define the focus of your study at this early stage and will have a clear direction to follow. You may have just one research question, or it may stretch to two or three. If there are more, likely, you are not sufficiently focused.   

Do not confuse the core research question(s) with the questions you may want to ask in your primary data collection – the core research question(s) will be the overall, ‘big’ question(s) you are trying to answer by doing the whole Research Project.   

Literature Review (word guide 800-1000 words)  

This should be an integrated essay-style section and will discuss the key points of relevant literature that you have found on the topic identified in your title. Your supervisor will be looking for evidence that you have found some key and relevant texts in the topic area, have read them, identified some key themes and issues, and can discuss them with a level of understanding.

You should include key concepts/theories/models that will underpin your research and give a brief explanation of how these are relevant and how they will be used. This will form the basis for your eventual literature review, and it is important for all research that you can carry out your research within an appropriate theoretical framework.

Data Collection (word guide 400-450 words)  
Present and discuss the methods you will use and the people involved. You should include:

• Method(s) of research to be used (e.g. questionnaires/interviews). 

For each method, the following should be given

• The target population (e.g. front office managers in 4* London hotels, travel agents in Ealing, etc.).
• Sampling method to be used (e.g. simple random sampling, stratified sampling, etc.).
• Sample size (e.g. 100 questionnaires, 8 interviews, etc.).
• Any potential access difficulties or ethical challenges, and how these will be overcome.  

Time Plan (Chart no word count)  

You should put in a time plan for your work, which should start with the handing in of the proposal and finish with the handing in of the Dissertation. It should cover all the things you have to do in between. It should take into account deadlines for drafts and include meetings with your supervisor and what you will produce at each stage. It should be done every week with dates, but not on a day-to-day basis! A table or Gantt chart (if you know how to draw one) can be used. 
  
Reference list (no word count) 

It is not expected that you have done a complete literature search It is not expected that you have done a complete literature search for the proposal, but it is expected that you have made a start and read around the subject – you cannot develop your research questions (or hypotheses) and literature review unless you have done this.    

The Reference section should be a minimum of 20 academic references.  

This must conform to the Harvard System and be in alphabetical order based on authors’ surnames and organisations' names, with all different sources (books/journals/internet, etc.) integrated into one list.

You should refer to the booklet on the Harvard System for full details on citations, quotations and constructing a Reference.

Websites must be fully referenced and not just be the name of search engines such as Google.