Reference no: EM133104846

BUS4001 Business Dissertation - University of Northampton

Learning Outcome 1: Select and justify a topic, from within the discipline, suited to investigative analysis using an appropriate research design for the investigation of their chosen problem(s).

Learning Outcome 2: Outline, discuss and critically evaluate relevant literature within the context of the study (analyse key debates/theories/views associated with the chosen topic).

Learning Outcome 3: Demonstrate a critical understanding of the relationship between theory, research methodology (qualitative and quantitative aspects of data collection and analysis) and interpretation of findings.

Learning Outcome 4: Conceptualise detailed knowledge and understanding of a particular problem or situation within the general business domain related to the topic of their choosing.

Learning Outcome 5: Write a feasible research proposal which includes a critical review of an area of business, explicating the implications of that review for a specific research question for further investigation and demonstrating problem-solving skills - intended to give students the opportunity to display analytical abilities.

Learning Outcome 6: Systematically develop an empirical investigation, using a research methodology to gather data for analysis and critical interpretation by producing a coherent formal research report to professional standards demonstrating effective communication skills.

Choosing a topic - the requirements

The basic requirement is for the work to be about a ‘contemporary business issue'. This allows a wide range of student choice, enabling individuals to research and write about an area in which they have a particular interest. The requirement for the issue to be contemporary means that the topic chosen needs to be based around a current area of interest - the research must not be purely historical in nature. It is important, also, to look at the topic chosen from a business perspective; other areas may well be incorporated into the discussion but must not be its main focus. For example, students in recent years have written a variety of dissertations on issues related to the internet and online transactions. In these cases, we are NOT interested in the technical specifications of the hardware/software that is being used; we are interested in how the use of the technology affects business!

Developing a hypothesis/ research question

This is probably the most difficult part of the whole process! Students often struggle to write a precise hypothesis or research question at the start of their research. This may well be because they have a hunch that something is worth investigation, but the topic is still too broad and needs to be refined. For most people, the initial idea may well be very broad: ‘I want to write something about women in management', for example. This is fine as a starting point, but it is important to realise that the area to be studied must become more specific -, and a precise hypothesis or research question developed - as time goes by and you read more material.

In this case, it is necessary to reconsider the intended scope of your research. This should result in the adoption of a more tightly focused hypothesis or research question. The aim is to define the limits of your research and, thus, to define the areas about which you need to collect data. For example, the above idea might be re-written as: ‘Female managers show more concern for staff welfare than male managers'. In this case, a research strategy would have to be developed to measure a manager's concern for staff welfare. For example, you could undertake some primary research to survey a sample of male and female managers. At the very least, you would need to use secondary research techniques to find and analyse previous surveys.

Establishing your conceptual framework/ academic literature searches

Regardless of the topic of a dissertation, it is important to identify some conceptual material
- theory - which will aid analysis of the issue identified. This stage can be quite difficult if you have an idea of a contemporary business issue but are unable to identify any relevant theoretical writing. Make use of your supervisor to guide you through this process!

Hundreds of thousands of books and articles have been written on business topics in the past few decades. Several thousand articles have been written on topics of continuing interest such as motivation and job satisfaction alone. The student's task is not to find and read them all, which is of course impossible. Rather, it is to locate some of the important ‘milestones' in the literature on a topic. These milestones usually make up the key conceptual ‘building blocks' of a topic; identifying (and discussing) them may be thought of as the main aim of your initial literature search.

Academic literature attempts to develop these concepts and models. In other words, it tries to confirm or disprove theories relating to business as a way of advancing knowledge. In particular, articles in academic journals generally attempt to report results of research and thinking by:
• testing hypotheses or examining research questions that help to support or contradict theories;
• bringing together knowledge and understanding in review articles of individual topics;
• developing improved research methods for use in particular fields such as strategy or organisational behaviour; and
• reporting the results of surveys and investigations.

Every field of business has a set of related academic journals in which research findings are published. An important task for the student is to locate the right set of journals for the topic under study. This has become (relatively) much easier with the development of comprehensive electronic databases - if you know where and how to access them. The subject librarians are able to provide that assistance! Although it may seem at first as if journals contain a haphazard collection of papers, over time, consistent themes emerge in them. In almost every field of business, there are unresolved issues and continuing debate that academics pursue through conferences, journals and books. This is the material that you must get to grips within your work.

Attachment:- Business Dissertation.rar