Business research plan.

Page 1 of 8

BPP Coursework Cover Sheet

Please use the table below as your cover sheet for the 1st page of the submission. The sheet should be before the cover/title page of your submission.

Programme

Module name

Schedule Term

Student Reference Number (SRN)

Report/Assignment Title

Date of Submission

(Please attach the confirmation of any extension received)

Declaration of Original Work:

I hereby declare that I have read and understood BPP’s regulations on plagiarism and that this is my original work, researched, undertaken, completed and submitted in accordance with the requirements of BPP Business School.

The word count, excluding contents table, bibliography and appendices, is ___ words.

Student Reference Number:

Date:

By submitting this coursework, you agree to all rules and regulations of BPP regarding

assessments and awards for programmes. Please note, submission is your declaration

you are fit to sit.

BPP University reserves the right to use all submitted work for educational purposes and

may request that work be published for a wider audience.

BPP School of Business and Technology

Page 2 of 8

MSc Management with Streams

Business Research Plan

Coursework Assessment Brief

Due: 23.59, 25th August 2020

Submission mode: Turnitin online access

Page 3 of 8

1. General Assessment Guidance

 Your summative assessment for this module is made up of this Coursework submission

which accounts for 100% of the marks

 The deadline for submission is 23.59 on 25th August 2020. Please note late

submissions will not be marked.

 You are required to submit all elements of your assessment via Turnitin online access.

Only submissions made via the specified mode will be accepted and hard copies or any

other digital form of submissions (like via email or pen drive etc.) will not be accepted.

 For coursework, the submission word limit is 4,000 words, divided into a 3,500-word

individual business research plan in report format [80% of Module Grade] and a 500-

word evaluation of the research plan [20% of Module Grade].

 You must comply with the word count guidelines. You may submit LESS than 4,000

words but not more. Word Count guidelines can be found on your programme home

page and the coursework submission page.

 Do not put your name or contact details anywhere on your submission. You should

only put your student registration number (SRN) which will ensure your submission is

recognised in the marking process.

 A total of 100 marks are available for this module assessment and you are required to

achieve minimum 50% to pass this module.

 You are required to use only Harvard Referencing System in your submission. Any

content which is already published by other author(s) and is not referenced will be

considered as a case of plagiarism.

You can find further information on Harvard Referencing in the online library on the VLE.

You can use the following link to access this information:

http://bpp.libguides.com/Home/StudySupport

 BPP University has a strict policy regarding authenticity of assessments. In proven

instances of plagiarism or collusion, severe punishment will be imposed on offenders.

You are advised to read the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and collusion in

the GARs and MOPP which are available on VLE in the Academic registry section.

 You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission

without this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not

marked.

Page 4 of 8

2. Assessment Brief

This module (BRPlan) is, directly, linked to the Business Research Project (BRProject) module

that students undertake during the last term. BRProject is designed in such way that students

conduct a research project in topics of their personal and professional interests. The task of

the assignment for the BRPlan is to provide a comprehensive and coherent plan of the

research project in the BRProject module.

In particular, students are required to do the following:

 Choose a research topic in the context of their programme/degree

 Write a 4,000-word summative assignment comprising of a 3,500-word individual

research plan and a 500-word evaluation of the choices made in the individual

research plan.

2.1. The Research Topic

Students can choose research topics in the context of their programme/stream that reflect

their professional and personal interests and represent contemporary challenges in their field

of studies. The topics should be expressed in such way that they are researchable in scientific

terms (focused and answerable questions/issues) and realistic (amount of time available,

access to required information and data and a reasonable level of implementation

requirements).

2.2. The Research Proposal

The research proposal is the plan that students recommend in order to investigate the chosen

research topic. It should demonstrate a critical approach to the literature using a good number

of reviewed sources (academic articles, books, etc.) with the majority of them being academic

and professional work and properly referenced based on the Harvard System. References

should be used where appropriate throughout the whole report.

The report should also inform decisions about the general research approach

(deductive/inductive view), a good understanding of the variety, the advantages and the

challenges of different research methods and techniques (e.g. questionnaires, interviews), a

plan of gathering data, any time frame considerations, possible and alternative ways to

analyse the data, any relevant ethical and access issues. The reasons for the choices selected

must be clearly outlined in the research plan and in the evaluation.

Page 5 of 8

The main part of the individual plan should discuss the following:

 Introduction

 Literature Review (Background of the research)

 Research Aims/Objectives

 Research Methodology (Philosophy, approach etc.)

 Sampling (Population profile, sampling theories and sampling size)

 Accessibility

 Ethical Issues

 Significance

 Deliverables

 Required Resources

 Implementation Time Table (Gantt-like chart)

2.3. The Structure of the Assignment

The summative assignment is, essentially, a professional report. The proposed structure

includes the following sections:

 Assignment Cover Page/Statement Page (Available on the VLE)

 Title page

 Table of contents (Headings and Sub-Headings, List of Appendices, List of Numbered

Tables, Graphs and Figures, Summary of Abbreviations)

 Main Parts (see “The Research Proposal” part above): Headings/Sub-headings should

guide the readers thought the text

 A 500-word evaluation of the individual research plan

 References (All work that has been cited in the text)

 Appendices (if relevant and appropriate): They should present extra information not

information which is crucial for the research proposal. The main text, without the

appendices, should be complete and solid without the need of appendices. In

addition, if appendices are used, they should be numbered and referenced in the

main text (e.g. Appendix A)

The report should use a font size of 12 points, Arial or Times New Roman, “normal” page

margins (default A4 margins) and a minimum of 1.5-line spacing. For headers and titles,

please use font size 14. Your submission must have standard margins and page numbers.

Page 6 of 8

In addition, page numbers should be included (both in the main part and the appendices).

For reference, there is a report template on the VLE (Home>Business Research Plan (MSc

Mgt)>Documents, Forms and Templates>Report Template path on the VLE)

2.4. Assessment Marking Scheme

The assignment is composed of 2 sections, a 3,500-word individual business research plan in

report format [80% of Module Grade] and a 500-word evaluation of the individual research

plan [20% of Module Grade].

Portfolio Area Mark

Individual Business Research Plan 80%

Business Research plan evaluation 20%

Total Marks 100%

The evaluation must justify the choices made for the methodology selected and identify why

the methodology is the most appropriate for addressing the overall research question.

The following table (Table 1) shows the mark allocation per element of the individual

business research plan report and Table 2 presents the marking criteria.

Table 1: Marking Scheme (Business Research Plan)

Report Area Mark

Literature Review (Background of the Research) 40%

Research Aims/Objectives 10%

Research Methodology, Sampling 30%

Accessibility, Ethical Issues, Significance, Deliverables 10%

Required Resources, Time Table 5%

General (creativity, use of language, presentation,

structure), Harvard referencing

5%

Total Marks 100%

Page 7 of 8

3. Submission Dates

Due Date: 23.59, 25th August

Submission Mode: The assignment should be submitted on VLE using the relevant

Turnitin link [Home> Coursework Submissions (MSc Mgt)]

4. General Notes

Students should be aware of the following notes:

a) Students should be very alert and very careful with issues that raise plagiarism

concerns. Such cases can affect students’ marks and, in some circumstances,

students’ progression in the programme. Therefore, students are strongly advised to

make sure they understand what plagiarism is and how it can be avoided by use of

appropriate writing styles and accurate referencing.

Page 8 of 8

5. Generic Marking Criteria Table 2: Generic Marking Criteria (GMC)

Criteria Grades

Distinction

70-+%

Merit

60-69%

Pass

50-59%

Fail

40-49%

Fail

0-39%

The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays: The work displays:

Knowledge &

Understanding

(a) Systematic

Understanding

(b) Emerging

Thought

(a) Clear evidence of

a comprehensive and

systematic

understanding of a

considerable variety

of issues, concepts,

theories and

research

(a) Clear evidence of

a comprehensive and

systematic

understanding of all

major - and some

minor - issues,

concepts, theories

and research

(a) Evidence of a

systematic

understanding, which

may contain some

gaps, of all major -

and some minor -

issues, concepts,

theories and

research

(a) Evidence of an

understanding of an

appropriate range of

issues, concepts,

theories and

research but has

significant gaps or

misunderstandings.

(a) Evidence of a

limited

understanding of

issues, concepts,

theories and

research either major

and/or minor.

(b) Precise and well-

judged application of

thoughts and

practices at the

forefront of the

discipline

(b) Some clear

evidence of the

application of

thoughts and

practices at the

forefront of the

discipline

(b) Clear evidence of

an understanding of

thoughts and

practices at the

forefront of the

discipline.

(b) Unclear or

imprecise

understanding of

thoughts and

practices at the

forefront of the

discipline.

(b) Significant gaps in

the understanding of

the debates at the

forefront of the

discipline.

Argument

(a) Analysis,

Synthesis &

Evaluation

(b) Numerical

Analysis

(c)

Argumentation

(d)

Independent

Research

(a) Consistently

precise, accurate and

reasoned analysis,

synthesis and/or

evaluation

addressing all issues,

some with creativity

(a) Precision,

accuracy and clear

reasoning

throughout the

analysis, synthesis

and/or evaluation

addressing all issues

appropriately

(a) Broad levels of

precision, accuracy

and reasoning in

analysis, synthesis

and/or evaluation,

and addresses all key

issues

(a) Errors which

affect the

consistency of the

analysis, synthesis or

evaluation and/or

key gaps in the issues

addressed

(a) A lack of

precision, accuracy

or reasoning in

analysis, synthesis or

evaluation with

significant gaps in the

issues addressed

(b) Numeric analysis

that is complete and

mostly free from

errors with fluent

and appropriate

application of

methods.

(b) Numeric analysis

that is complete and

mostly free from

errors with relevant

and effective

application of

methods.

(b) Numeric analysis

that is mostly

complete and free

from significant or

critical errors with

appropriate

application of

methods.

(b) Numeric analysis

that is mostly

complete but

contains errors with

significant effect, or

methods that are

applied

inappropriately

(b) Numeric analysis

that is incomplete or

contains errors which

have critical effect,

or methods that are

applied

inappropriately

(c) Extremely strong

and consistent

argument that

convincingly

addresses issues

including

uncertainties and

conflicts. Excellent

use of information

gathered which to

support and further

the argument

(c) Evidence of an

argument that is

generally convincing

with a good internal

consistency and

addresses most

issues. Very good use

of information

gathered to support

the argument.

(c) Evidence of an

overall convincing

argument but may

have weaknesses,

gaps or

inconsistencies. Clear

use of information

gathered but may

have some

weaknesses in the

integration into the

argument.

(c) Evidence of a

consistent argument

but may have

weaknesses,

significant gaps or be

unconvincing. Clear

use of information

gathered but may

not be sufficient to

sustain the

argument.

(c) Lack of

consistency or

structure in the

argument. Serious

weaknesses in the

integration of

evidence and/or no

awareness of the

limitations or

weaknesses of the

research.

END OF DOCUMENT