Employability, Research and Professional

Wk10

ERPD 2016 Final Research Lecture

"20 key things to remember before submitting your research proposal".

Becky Quew-Jones

• Consider the Future In your final year you will undertake either a research based Dissertation, a Business Research Project (BRP) or a Work- Based Learning Project. You will need some understanding of research and research methods. •This unit has provided a valuable opportunity to start thinking about what topics interests you and what you might like to pursue in more detail in your final year. •Your career? Think about it – what will you do? •Use these opportunities to develop a specialism and a competitive advantage over the 350,000+ other students graduating this year.

1. Don’t miss the deadline! •Assessment Deadline for BRP : Wednesday 6thMarch 2016

Word count: up to 2,000 words.

The assessment for Term 2 is 100% coursework,

and is worth 60% of the unit. •Check when the UG office closes if you are submitting on the 1st. •When you submit your work at the UG office, please write your seminar tutor’s name (not the lecturer or unit coordinator) on the submission sheet.

2. You must use the structure provided (Please see the research proposal template on Moodle)

Use the following headings:

1.Title

2.Research Questions

3.Literature Review (as a guide: around 900 – 1000 words)

4.Methodology / Methods / Sample (as a guide: around 600 words)

5.Ethical issues

6.Timescale

7.Appendix

3. Don’t ignore the word count – you don’t have an extra 10% •This Research Proposal should be up to 2,000 words in length (if you write 2,001 words or more you will lose marks). •The word count required for this assignment does NOT include your Contents Page, Bibliography, Appendices or Turnitin Report. •You can also exclude the 'Timescale Table' in Section 6 of the template from the word count (the template can be found on Moodle) •Please put the word count on the front page of your work

Marks will be deducted if the word count is exceeded. •We will deduct 5 marks - in cases where a student submits work between 2001 - 2500 words. •We will deduct 15 marks - in cases where a student submits between 2501 - 3000. •3001 + words will fail automatically.

4. What you need to include in the Appendix: •You will need to include evidence that you have put your work through Turnitin. Please include a printed page from Turnitin showing the % match, in your Appendix. •Check your Turnitin Report to make sure you have referenced correctly. There is a difference between poor scholarship and Plagiarism. •You will need to submit a proposal which is your own work. Plagiarism will be identified and will be subject to disciplinary procedures.

• Optional: You could submit an Ethical Checklist Form in the Appendix – this is not essential, but completing the form may help you think more critically about your work. A blank Ethics Form is available on Moodle.

•Completing the Ethics form might highlight issues you hadn’t considered.

5. Present your work professionally and clearly: Presentation does matter and does affect the mark. •“Very good presentation, presentation, organisation, grammar, spelling, punctuation, diagrams and tables” (70+, University Assessment Criteria Level Five) •The Research Proposal should be word-processed. Please use a standard type face e.g. Courier, Times New Roman or Arial in Word. •The work needs to be written in third person, and in an academic style. •Please submit the work stapled together. •Be consistent – margins, font, size, headings. •Reference correctly using Harvard APA (6th Edition).

6. Ensure you understand what a research Proposal is

•A good proposal is direct and straightforward, it says clearly what you are proposing to do, why you want to research the topic and how the research is going to be undertaken. •Good research demands clarity and strong justification (think about ‘why’ you are proposing everything). •A good research proposal helps provide evidence that you have the necessary knowledge to do research. •The assessment for this unit does not ask you to collect primary data. You are only asked to propose a research study. So, please do not collect primary data!

7. The Title should summarise what the work overall is trying to do. •Your 2 research questions will be relatively more specific than the overall title. •Try to avoid proposing ‘too much’. Discussions with your tutor will help. •You have had 12 weeks of seminars…reflect on the advice you have been given by your tutor.

8. Good literature reviews help produce good research questions •Literature Review: aim for around 900-1000 words

•Good research questions evolve as you read.

•Many scholars will have published studies in areas related to your chosen topic area. As you read and review the literature on your topic, think about where your proposed research study will fit into the research literature.

•Can you add something new to what has been done already?

Good questions = questions you could only ask if you know something about the topic and have done some

reading? •Do you need to have studied Business/HRM/marketing

to be able to ask your research question? Has your reading into the subject and critical review of relevant theories and research findings helped you design the

question? How?

Remember: you are not studying sociology or politics. Keep the questions ‘business focused’. You need

relevant research questions •Relate to course content: your topic must relate to

your degree course. •Research is about questions – you need to present 2 closely related questions that help you investigate an

academic problem worthy of research. •Your literature review will help you identify an

‘academic problem’.

E.g. you may have critically reviewed a particular area of literature relating to your chosen topic and discovered that something (e.g. a relationship,

effect or cause) is unclear or not very well understood. •You may find contradictory results in different studies.

•There may be a lot of research in one industry or country – but not in others.

•Maybe you want to explore or test a theory in a new context? •Maybe you want to expand or develop a theory?

•What will your proposed research study do to help the world understand more about your topic?

• 9. Make the link between your literature review and research questions very clear The literature review should help you decide what you want to research, and why. Ensure you make it as clear as possible to the reader how your reading (your review of literature) helped you design your research questions. •The marker will want to know why you are asking the research questions– your analysis of the literature should provide reasons for wanting to ask a research question. Make it clear in your literature review how the review led to the questions.

It would be useful to conclude your literature review by stating how your work will fit into the literature. •As you review the literature (identifying strengths, weaknesses, methodological trends/limitations, assessing reliability, generalisability etc.) you will gradually arrive at your research questions. •E.g. Will you add something new? Will you build on what has been done in some way? Will you develop deeper understanding of something? Maybe you will address a weakness in the literature? •How does your review lead you to your research questions? Use the review to present an argument for your own research.

General literature review tips…

•Provide a clear and logical structure. •Highlight the main theoretical concepts in the area. •Present strong critical arguments for the research. •Provide a literature review that is relevant to your research idea •Be critical – rather than descriptive. •Don’t report what you have read – review it. •Develop views from what you have read, and put forward (from a review of the evidence) your own conclusions on what is known and what is not known. •Use the review to present an argument for your own research •Cover a range of academic sources (including recently published studies)

10. As a guide, aim to include around 15 -20+ different academic sources in your literature review. •Citing just 3 sources from the Internet is not a literature review •Rely (mostly) on journal papers. •Use Harvard APA referencing. 40-49 •“Topic is researched using mainly books & Internet. Attempts to use &/or present references/bibliography according to convention” (University Assessment Criteria Level Five).

11. The markers are looking for a review, not a report

of the literature

It is important that you review the literature, rather than simply report what you have read. Reviewing literature requires you to synthesize sources, identify themes and think critically. •Think about a restaurant or film review. Instead of repeating exactly what has been eaten or seen, the reviewer provides a critique, questions, assesses the strength of the film/food, makes judgements, compares, analyses, and comes to conclusions. •Don’t simply read a source and then describe or paraphrase what you have read.

12. Don’t be afraid to have your own opinions. •Your views, statements, assertions, arguments and conclusions will be the result of careful consideration and analysis of the evidence (research literature). •Your conclusions (or you might say – your opinions) will flow logically from your review of the evidence and the arguments you put forward. 70-79 •“well argued and covers the subject matter in a thorough, thoughtful and competent manner. Contains some originality of approach, insight or synthesis” (University Assessment Criteria Level Five).

13. Descriptive or critical? Reflect

14. There are many, many sources available to help

you develop your critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing skills…..use these sources!

An Example from the University of Leicester: •http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writing-resources/critical-writing •http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/study-guides-pdfs/writing-skills-pdfs/critical-writing-v1%200.pdf •What is critical writing? •What is descriptive writing? •The difference between descriptive writing and critical writing •Finding your academic voice •Stringing together of quotes •Strategic use of paragraphs

15. It may be useful when reading to keep in mind the

following 3 point strategy:

• Reflect • Examine reasons • Consider alternatives (Edited from, and Inspired by: http://www.criticalthinking.net/howteach.html)

Reflect •Be Reflective. •Give yourself time to think. •Avoid quick, instinctive, judgments. •Avoid accepting the first idea that comes into your head. •Avoid accepting (without question) whatever you hear or read. •Do you really “know” if it is true? •Are you making any assumptions?

Examine the reasons

•Look at the claims and ask yourself: How do you know? •What are the reasons? •Is there any evidence? Is it a good source of information? How reliable is the evidence? •Examine the reasons given for conclusions and claims. •Do the claims and conclusions logically follow from the evidence? How convincing are they? •Are there errors in the reasoning?

Consider alternatives •Look at the reasons, the conclusions, explanations, sources of evidence etc. •What alternative explanations might exist? •What else is possible, and what seems more likely? Why? •Is anything ever certain?

16. Don’t forget to include all three parts in section 4 Methodology / Methods / Sample (aim for around 600 words):

You will need to include all three sections in this part of the proposal:

•4.1. Methodology

•4.2. Research methods

•4.3. Sampling strategy

• Please note: in all sections you need to justify your decisions and reference research methods texts.

4.1 Methodology: •Your methodology should outline your overall approach and the philosophical stance you will adopt (i.e. positivist or interpretivist?). •Say why you have taken this approach. •Read about the basic differences between interpretivist and positivist approaches to research. Comment on whether your proposed research is more interpretivist or positivist, and inductive or deductive.

Quantitative Research:

Tends to emphasise quantification in the collection and analysis of data that: 1.Entails a deductive approach to the relationship between theory and research – concerned with testing theories. 2.Epistemological orientation (The type of knowledge you can generate) tends to be positivist/realist. 3.Ontological position (Belief about the nature of reality) tends to view social reality as external and object

Qualitative Research:

Tends to emphasise words rather than quantification that: 1.Predominantly emphasises an inductive approach to the relationship between theory and research – concerned with generating theories. 2.Epistemological orientation (The type of knowledge you can generate) tends to be interpretivist: concerned with the ways individuals interpret their social world. 3.Ontological position (Belief about the nature of reality) tends to view social reality as socially constructed and subjective. (Bryman, 2003, p. 22).

4.2 Research Methods •Your research proposal will need to propose primary data collection. •How do you propose to do your research, and why? You should describe the method(s) by which you are going to gather the data, any potential problems (e.g. reliability?) with your selected method(s) – and how you might deal with those problems. •Use research methods texts to help you explain why you are going to use the method(s) in relation to your research questions.

4.3 Sampling strategy:

•You then need to outline the sampling strategy. You will need to consider questions such as: who you are going to research, how have they been chosen (e.g. probability / non probability) and how many people and/or organisations do you intend to research? •The answers to these questions need to be justified (i.e. explain why). •You need to be realistic.

Read about sampling – and consider how it is different in realist/positivist research compared to interpretivist research. •What are the aims of your research? –Interpretivist research aims to do something very different to positivist research. –Link to your literature review where possible – to support your sampling choices.

17. Be realistic

• You need to be realistic – it is unlikely that you could obtain data from a Premier League Football Club, or the Chief Executive of a major multinational company.

Also…

Please note: you should not attempt to research any subject involving children or vulnerable groups. Research on the National Health Service is also problematic, as you need to comply with NHS guidelines for researchers.

18. Don’t neglect the Ethics section – it is an important part of the proposal and is marked.

• It is important that you demonstrate that you understand the ethical issues facing researchers.

•You should consider issues related to confidentially and anonymity.

Check what the forms below are, and why they

are used by researchers:

• Ethics Form (What is the golden rule?)

•Participant Information Sheet

•Consent Form

• Will you use these forms? How?

• http://www.port.ac.uk/research/ethics/

19. You need a realistic timescale plan

Your plan should be over a 7-10 month period of time

•Include a plan (presented as a table – see the template) of what you propose to do, month by month (e.g. from September to March) and consider any resources you might need.

•You could plan your research over anything between 7-10 months.

•Remember to be realistic and pragmatic.

•Y

20. Overall coherence: your research proposal needs

to link together and flow

There are obvious links between sections. •What are you trying to achieve? Why? How? •Interpretivist or positivist? This will influence how you phrase your questions, the type of method you propose, how you sample, how you think about reliability and validity, the types of claims you believe you can make about data, the generalisability and aims of the research…

Avoid common mistakes made by students who have

failed in the past

Students who fail usually…. 1. Tend not to attend regularly 2. Don’t read the handbook or check lecture slides 3. Don’t follow the directions or guidelines given and ignore word limits. 4. Produce vague research questions or too many research questions 5. Fail to make any reference (or very little) to any research methods texts. 6. Are unrealistic about what can be achieved (e.g. proposing to collect data from a Premier League Football Club). 7. Start writing the proposal during the final week before it is due to be submitted. 8. Fail to explain how the literature review helped justify the research questions. Good research questions evolve as you read. 9. Produce a report of the literature – rather than a critical review of it. 10. Submit work which contains poor scholarship, large quantities of paraphrasing or description, and sometimes plagiarism.

References & Useful Sources

Bryman, A. (1998). Social Research Methods. Oxford.

Chaffee, T. (2005). Thinking Critically. Cengage.

Collis, J., and Hussey, R. (2009). Business Research: A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Palgrave-MacMillan.

Cottrell, S. (2011). Critical Thinking Skills. Palgrave.

Fink, A. F. (2009). Conducting Research Literature Reviews. Sage

Gill, J. and Johnson P. (2011) Research Methods for Managers. Sage

Groarke, L., and Tindale, C. (2008). Good Reasoning Matters. Oxford.

Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review. Sage.

Lee, N. (2008). Doing Business Research. Sage.

Machi, L. A., and McEvoy, B. T. (2008). The Literature Review. Sage.

McEwan, E. K. (2003). Making Sense of Research. Sage.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2009). Research Methods for Business Students. Pitman.

Saunders, M., and Lewis, P. (2012). Doing Research in Business and Management: An Essential Guide to Planning Your project. Prentice Hall.