Reference no: EM132603327

HI6008 Business Research Project - Holmes Institute

Purpose

Clearly identify your chosen topic, having carried out some basic review of available secondary data to secure your interest (at least 3 academic articles, plus a business report, and a relevant current news item). Indicate the Research Problem, as you see it so far, and at least ONE research question at this stage (additional questions may be defined as you progress with this unit).

List the student numbers and names of your team members and complete the Team Charter, indicating what role(s) each will contribute throughout the project.

Assignment 1 Specifications

Purpose:
This unit aims to give you an opportunity to combine many facets of your acquired MBA skills into the production of a high-quality research project.
Assignment 1 - the Topic Approval - is to ensure you have given sufficient thought to the topic you are choosing to base your research project on. You will ideally work with a group consisting of 2 or 3 class-mates. Your respective contributions will be governed by the Team Charter, which is a document you will produce at the same time as your Topic Approval submission. The Team Charter is to indicate, essentially, what roles will be played by each member of the team.
Your tutor will LEAD and FACILITATE you through the process, week by week. The learning will be progressive, so for best results you will need to be listening to the weekly lectures as well as in contact with your tutor during the interactive tutorials.

Assignment Structure
1. Say why this topic interests your team
2. Discuss your team's initial search for relevant literature and show that it has provided you with a good contextual understanding
3. Define the Research Problem that your team intends to address (as you see it, so far)
4. Propose at least ONE research question that your team will be seeking to answer through your research project(additional questions may be defined as you progress with this unit)
5. List the student numbers and names of your team members, complete a Team Charter (see template) and include in your submission as an appendix.

Appended Team Charter (not applicable if doing the assignment individually)
Here the team members must participate in robust discussion during which they discuss their individual interests, strengths and weaknesses and contemplate who can best contribute what over the period of the business research project. For example, while all members of the team must contribute to the whole project, the team members may decide that a particular person will take the lead role in a certain section of the project, such as the sourcing of relevant literature. [If one member takes on the lead role it doesn't mean that others don't do any of the work, just that they will be guided by the one leading that section of the project]. It is recommended that each team member assumes a leading role for one aspect of the team effort. The result of your discussions should be documented in a table similar to the one below. [Note that you need to define the roles; those listed are simply examples]. Each person's name and student number must appear at least once in the table. There may be more than one person allocated to any role.

1. Explain the team's agreed goals and timeline for completion (Due dates, meetings, milestones, deliverables from individuals)

2. Who is responsible for each activity?

3. What particular team-roles will each member contribute to the team?

4. What are your team's expectations regarding meeting attendance (being on time, leaving early, missing meetings, etc.)?

5. What process will team members follow if they have an emergency and cannot attend a team meeting or complete their individual work promised to the team (deliverable)?

6. What are your team's expectations regarding the quality of team members' preparation for team meetings?

7. What are your team's expectations regarding team members' ideas, interactions with the team, cooperation, attitudes, and team-member contributions in general?

8. How will your team ensure that members contribute as expected to the team and that the team performs as expected?

9. How will your team reward members who do well and how will you collectively manage members whose performance is below expectations?

10. Add any other team agreements and commitments here

Assessment 2 - Literature Review

Report on Literature Review

Purpose of the assessment - This assessment item seeks to ensure that all students enrolled in the Capstone Unit - Business Research Project - are adept at sourcing relevant and current literature using academic search portals, such as Pro-Quest, and other places where high quality secondary data resides.

Furthermore, this assessment requires students to not only read and summarise what other authors have already established, but also to become skilful at weaving together complementary or contrasting arguments relevant to their approved topic, research problem, and research question(s).

Assignment Specifications

This unit aims to give you an opportunity to combine many facets of your acquired MBA skills into the production of a high-quality research project.

Assignment 2 - the Literature Review - is designed to ensure that each team member masters the skills of searching, locating, reading, summarising, and using relevant academic literature and secondary data to create a compelling discussion and/or argument, thereby creating the context for their further research in pursuit of the answer to their research question(s).

Assignment Structure should be the following:

Part 1. An opening statement of the Research Problem and research Question(s) - these should now be more detailed than what you had in your Topic Approval.

Part 2. Discussion of major theories, models or streams of influence around this topic. This provides your lecturer with evidence that you have gone deeper than your initial search now to find literature that leads you toward answering your research question

Part 3. Draw the reader's attention to any contrasting views expressed in prior research in this area and give your view of how differing opinions can be brought together to help answer the research question and ultimately resolve the research problem. [the more comprehensive your literature review, the better. Whatever you do NOT find out in this literature review will leave you with more work to do when you move to the next part of the project, i.e. methodology]

Part 4. Report how it has brought you closer to an answer to your research question(s).

Part 5. Ensure all in text citations are correctly referenced.

Part 6. Add a comprehensive List of References, in Harvard referencing style.

Part 7. Append a statement indicating ‘who wrote which sections of this report'

Assessment 3

Assessment - Report on Research Design and Methodology (including statement of 'who wrote which sections')

Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping) - The purpose of this assessment is to ensure each student is able to contribute to the construction of a written report demonstrating their understanding of the business research paradigm, appropriate methodology, and required (proposed) data collection, analysis and interpretation.

Assignment Specifications -

Purpose: This unit aims to give you an opportunity to combine many facets of your acquired MBA skills into the production of a high-quality research report.

Assignment 3 - the Research Design and Methodology - is to ensure each student is able to contribute to the construction of a written report demonstrating their understanding of the business research paradigm, appropriate methodology, data collection, analysis and interpretation.

You will ideally work in a group of up to 3 persons. Your respective contributions will be governed by your Team Charter, which you produced at the same time as your Topic Approval submission. Additionally, you are required to append to this report a statement indicating 'who wrote which sections'.

This assessment builds upon your Literature Review (assessment 2) in that you are now aware of what additional data is needed to lead you to the answer to your research question(s) (as defined in Topic Approval (assessment 1). To discover the required data may require you to search for additional secondary data, and will most probably also require the collection of primary data, by applying qualitative or quantitative methods. In this assessment you will document what your team has decided as the most appropriate way forward. If you choose a quantitative approach, you will go ahead and state your hypothesis, how you intend to verify it, what data you need, how it can be collected and analysed. [Note that you are NOT required to actually obtain primary data]. If you choose a qualitative approach, you will go ahead and decide which method is appropriate, how you would design the questionnaire (include a few example questions), and state how you would collate and interpret your data. [Note that you are NOT required to actually obtain primary data].

Your lecturer will LEAD and FACILITATE you through the process, week by week. The learning will be progressive, so for best results you will need to be in weekly contact with your lecturer during class time at your campus.

Only if you were requested to revise and resubmit your Literature Review should you append it to this submission.

This submission does require an appendix in which it is stated which members of the group actually wrote which sections of the Business Research Design and Methodology.

Assignment Structure should be as the following -

1. Introduction (an edited and adjusted version of your topic approval) including a justification for your research question(s).

2. A detailed research methodology addressing the qualitative-quantitative debate, hypothesis (if appropriate), additional secondary data, proposed primary data sample size and sampling approach, questionnaire design factors (include some sample questions), data collection method, envisaged analysis and interpretation.

3. A summary of your findings OR what you would expect to find.

4. A conclusion (relating back to your original research problem and question(s)).

5. List of references in Harvard style (only for sources mentioned in this submission).

6. The appended statement of 'Who wrote What'.

Attachment:- Business Research Project.rar