Reference no: EM133148834 , Length: word count:2000
Assessment Guidance: Mixed Methods Students
Assessment - Methodological Report
The assessment requirement is as follows.
A 2000-word methodological report in which you justify, apply and critically evaluate one of the data analysis techniques you have learnt on the module.
What is a methodological report?
A methodological report is a commonly published document, that accompanies a publication of research findingsor a bid proposal to conduct research, whichaims to specify in detail how the collected data will be analysed. Thereforeit is designed to be read by an academic, specialist or technical audience.
The main thing that your methodological report does is outline your chosenapproachfor analysing data and justify it. In addition to this, your methodological report needs to convince the reader of your competency as an analyst. In order to meet this aim,you need to provide evidence of applying your analytical approachto organising, summarising, coding, and interpreting your data, to the dataset you have been given.
Research Question
Your research question is
What diversification opportunity would best meet the needs of Sunrise Farm and its current customers?
You may wish to slightly respecify this question in terms of particular customers or the range of diversification opportunities they have available considering their situation and history. You may do so, but you must justify any amendments.
Dataset
You will find the data set in a folder on the VLE assessment page. You will see that you are provided with interview transcripts and customer survey data that have been collected by the owners of Sunrise Farm, which are relevant to this particular research question. You must use this dataset as the basis of your analysis, though you may also draw on public sources of secondary data for context if you feel this is required.
Objectives
- To select an analytical approach for a specific research question and dataset
- To demonstrate the application of an analytical process or technique
- To justify the application of a data analysis process or technique including any amendments or variable modes of application
- To evaluate the suitability of the analysis process or technique in terms of the results you might obtain.
Structures
Title
Introduction (approx. 200 words)
In your introduction you should describe the approach you are taking to the research question, including any initial assumptions or decisions.
Main body (approx. 800 words)
In this section you should justify your data analysis technique and show evidence of your application of this technique to the data. You mustinclude;
• Guide to Methods
Describe and justify the data analysis technique you are using. You might wish to explain your assumptions or significant methodological decisions you have made with reference to relevant academic literature.
• Results
Describe the findings or results you have obtained from applying the technique to the data. You may wish to include figures or tables to present your results concisely. Detailed workings or full results can be included in the appendices.
Conclusion (approx. 800 words)
In this section you should discuss the suitability of your technique and give a critical account of its challenges or limitations in the context of the research question. You may wish to reflect upon assumptions that were necessary to your analysis or actions you took to address data quality.
Recommendations (approx. 200 words)
Briefly describe the actions or recommendations you would propose in response to the research question on the basis of your results. This might include recommendations for further data gathering or research.
For Mixed Methods students, you should take special care in the Results section not to get carried away with the volume of data you have available. You are not supposed to analyse and write up everything fully for this report. You simply need to demonstrate evidence of the application of your technique, the type of results or findings your methodological techniques produce, and account for their fit with the research question you have specified.
Things you may wish to include:
• Graphs or tables of any significant patterns or relationships in the quantitative data.
• Table of codes derived from or produced for coding of a transcript.
• Excerpts or quotations from a coded transcript.
Remember, this is a methodological report, not a full research report. So it is not the purpose of this report for you to conduct a full analysis of all the data in the dataset.You simply need to show enough information to highlight the trends that have directed your approach or where you would go next in your research project.
Achievement: What markers will look for
In order to help you in preparing your assignment, here is some guidance on what markers will be looking for.
Selection of an analyticalapproach for a specific research question and dataset
Firstly, in terms of the selection of the chosen approach, markers will be asking whether the student has explained the method and analytical practices that are being used and why it is appropriate in the context of the research question and the available data.
Suitable approaches would include one of:
• A mixed-method or multi-methodcase study approach
• A quantitative-led content analysis approach
• A qualitative-led thematic analysis approach
• A qualitative-leddiscourse analysis approach
As this is a mixed-methods pathway we would not expect students to submit a solely quantitative or solely qualitative report. Other mixed methods approachesnot listed above may also be suitable.
NB: the provided dataset includes sufficient primary data for you to write your report. However you may wish to supplement this with publicly available secondary data for some approaches.It is also fine for you to recommend collection of additional data for further research - you are not being assessed on the completion of your findings.
Application of an analytical process or technique
Markers will be looking for whether evidence is provided that the required process for organising, summarising, coding, and interpreting your data has been applied competently and to appropriate data. For example,analysis of quantitative data should show clearly presented summaries of appropriate information, along with any relevant measures of central tendency and dispersion, or of significance where testing hypotheses. Analysis of qualitative data should provide summaries of relevant codes and clearly describe/showthe steps of processing text(s) or documents.
We will also be looking for whether any choices in the application of the technique, exclusion,inclusion or amendments of data or the use of additional data have been clearly explained to the reader.
Justification of an analytical process or technique
In terms of the justification of your process, we will be looking for whether the student has explained the strengths and limitationsof the approach in the context of this particular research question and data set.This relies upon a clear explanation of how the research question is interpreted as a project and the consequences of the chosen project design. We will also be looking to see that your decisions about the approach to the analysis of your data have been clearly and logically explained.
Appropriateness of Recommendations/ suitability of the analysis technique
Finally, in terms of the appropriateness of the recommendations, we'll be looking to ensure that the student has provided clear recommendations that are closely in alignment with the findings as presented in the section on results. We'll be looking for whether the recommendations have both been clearly thus justified and also whether any caveats or limitations of applicability have been made clear.
The fact that your approach may have limitations is not necessarily a reason not to use it.Aslong as you can provide a convincing justification for why it is appropriate and under what circumstances,it can still be used to inform the recommendations that you are making in the report.
Attachment:- Methodological Report.rar