001_CWRK:Project initiation documentation

001_CWRK:Project initiation documentation

Summary

This module offers two assessments, a Project Initiation Document to be submitted in week 8 (worth 25% of the overall module grade) and an Individual Research Project to be submitted in week 22 (75%).

Assessment Information - Ethics Procedure

You must also have received your approved Ethics Forms before you can begin this assignment. Your supervisor will communicate further to you about this but be sure to stay on top of getting the full Ethics Form approved. Refer to the accompanying Assignment Brief detailing the ethics procedure and requirements.

Assignment Brief

Word Count

4,000 words maximum

Overlength Assignments

Please refer to University policy regarding overlength assignments in the Academic Regulation section of the Student Hub.

Summary

This module offers two assessments, a Project Initiation Document to be submitted in week 8 (worth 25% of the overall module grade) and an Individual Research Project to be submitted in week 22 (75%).

Assessment Information - Ethics Procedure

You must also have received your approved Ethics Forms before you can begin this assignment. Your supervisor will communicate further to you about this but be sure to stay on top of getting the full Ethics Form approved. Refer to the accompanying Assignment Brief detailing the ethics procedure and requirements.

Project Initiation Document - What you need to do:

It is now your turn to write your research proposal plan and present your research literature and fully develop your plan for analysing and presenting the data for your research proposal. You have already had the opportunity to examine other researcher choices for data analysis and presentation, and to discuss your thoughts about your own project with your classmates.

Keep in mind you are writing a proposal plan, so make sure your work is of a high standard. Please consider the larger picture: visualise your full Individual Research Project and consider how you will refine, expand and use Chapters 1, 2 and 3, in your dissertation.

This Project Initiation Document (Proposal) consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction, including research objectives, context, rationale, identified gap in literature, academic and societal relevance (750-1000 words)

Chapter 2: Critically revised literature review (1250-1500 words)

Chapter 3: Research design and methods, including data analysis plan and steps to ensure validity and credibility and ethical considerations (1500-1750 words).

Instructions to prepare and complete each chapter are listed below. Before submitting your Project Proposal Plan, make sure you:

Write your introductionWrite your critical literature review / theoretical backgroundWrite your data analysis and presentation planIntegrate all paragraphs

Project Initiation Document Layout Requirements

Chapter 1: Introduction (750-1000 words)

Chapter 1 contains the Introduction, including research objectives, context, rationale, and high-level literature references. (Note: This is not the literature review, which is the theoretical background coming later.)

To complete your Module 5 Project Plan Chapter 1, your research Introduction should contain specific paragraphs in which you present and explain the rationale for your research.

Paragraph 1: Introduction introduce the research problem from a practical point of view and describe your research context.

Paragraph 2: Research Topic state your research question(s) with your arguments from the academic literature, and discuss your research objectives.

Paragraph 3: present and include a high-level description of your research environment and the demographics of your research group.

Paragraph 4: define the academic, as well as the practical, relevance of your management research (circle it back into the practical).

Remember to write in a coherent way throughout. The paragraphs should fit together and read as a full story. Take your reader by the hand, integrate your paragraphs, use connective sentences and write academically.

Chapter 2: Critical Literature Review (1250-1500 words)

To complete Module 5 Project Plan Chapter 2 you should include a critical literature review. In this chapter, you present your theoretical background. Make sure to:

Extend and improve your critical literature review based on feedback from your supervisor.

Contextualise your proposed research in the existing literature. Choose the most relevant studies to frame and contextualise your research aims, methodology and theoretical framework.

Discuss the ongoing debates relevant to your research question(s). At the end of this section, you should clearly identify the gap in knowledge and discuss / provide a rationale for how you intend to address it in your proposed research.

Include propositions or hypotheses (build up from arguments in your literature).

Chapter 3: Proposed Research Design and Methods (1500-1750 words).

In this chapter, you propose your Research Design and Methods sections, including your data analysis plan and steps to ensure validity and reliability, as well as ethical considerations.

To complete your Unit 5 Project Plan Chapter 3, the Proposed Research Design and Methods chapter should include all the details of your research design including:

Research Design: outline your epistemological stance, and justify the design of your choice, while referring to its strengths and limitations.

Operationalisation of your conceptual research questions describe concepts you use in your propositions or hypotheses. If applicable (in quantitative methods), include the validated scales you are using. Describe the research instrument you are building:

Sampling and recruitment strategy: data collection, data analysis plans

Setting: description of the geographic setting where research will be conducted (including organisational setting)

Population: description of your targeted population and if applicable, discussion of any issues with vulnerable populations

Sample: outline of your sampling strategy, and description of sampling procedures (eg who will collect data and procedures for doing so)

Ethical consideration: discuss all relevant issues, including risks / benefits to participants, consent, sampling, recruitment, anonymity / confidentiality / privacy and data storage. Clearly state whether research permission letters and/or local ethics approval are required.

Research tools: describe each of the research tools for data collection (software, if applicable) and the analysis you plan to use.

Explain how you plan to collect and analyse your data and discuss issues related to the validity of your analysis.

Data analysis methods: clearly describe your methods. When performing a qualitative study, lay out your data analysis steps, coding, assessing, concluding and reporting. When performing a quantitative study, include descriptive statistics (qualitative / quantitative study designs) and inferential statistics (quantitative study designs). Discuss bias and appropriateness of data analysis methods proposed.

Validity and Reliability: explain how you will address these issues to ensure your data is valid and reliable, and how you will minimise any potential biases in your research design.

Submission

Please submit this assignment electronically via Canvas in Word doc or PDF format.

Additional Information

You must follow the Harvard referencing style.

Your review must be written in Times New Roman, 12 font, 1.5 line spacing.

Read carefully the guidance on plagiarism from the Universitys website. Submitting work that is copied and/or not referenced properly could result in being referred to the plagiarism committee and receiving a mark of zero (0).

Module Learning Outcomes

LO1 Devise, plan and carry out an individual project and provide evidence of in-depth knowledge and comprehension of a range of complex issues pertinent to the task.

LO2 Identify, select, retrieve and appraise different sources of information, illustrating the links between the retrieved information, data and the outlined task, and make judgements by formulating new connections and ideas.

LO3 Select and use relevant advanced project management tools and techniques, codes / frameworks and research strategies to meet all defined milestones and objectives.

LO4 Communicate and defend investigative research findings in an objective, coherent and professional manner.

002_CWRK:Dissertation (Final Project Report)

Assignment Brief

Word Count

15,000 words maximum

Overlength Assignments

Please refer to University policy regarding overlength assignments in the Academic Regulation section of the Student Hub.

You will start working on your Individual Research Project (IRP) after you receive your grade for your Project Initiation Plan assignment from your supervisor. You need to get a pass grade (50 marks) for this assignment in order to continue working on your IRP.

You have 22 weeks to complete your IRP after you receive your grade from your supervisor. You should email your supervisor with your progress every four weeks, in order to receive formative feedback on each of your chapters. You can also arrange one to one meetings if you need to have a discussion with your supervisor. Before you submit your final IRP, you will compile your whole project and send it to your supervisor for final approval.

ndividual Research Project - What you need to do:

Here is what each chapter should look like:

Chapter 1 Introduction

As your introduction is the first impression the reader gets, you should provide plenty of information. Your introduction should give the reader an overview of the literature, followed by an identification of the main gaps and the need for your research. Then you should describe your research objectives and what you are trying to achieve, and continue with your research questions.

Your research objectives should be critically reviewed, therefore, you should identify the strengths and weaknesses as well as any anticipated obstacles. Continue by describing the methodology you have decided to follow, the rationale (which is the justification of the study), as well as its significance, followed by the definition of key terminology.

At the end of your introduction you should include a summary of the ensuing chapters.

Chapter 2 - Literature Review

You should start with an overview of the literature, choosing relevant and up to date sources. Give the reader as much information as possible and use separate headings for different subjects.

Continue with your critical review of the literature. Identify advantages and disadvantages and compare and contrast the theories with each other. Follow this with a part on gaps in the literature, identify those that make your research imperative, and relate the gaps to your research questions and hypotheses. How do your questions derive from the literature? How will the gaps be filled by your study?

Always start your chapters with a brief introduction of what is about to follow and end with a part that prepares the reader for the next chapter.

Chapter 3 - Research Methodology

Begin this chapter with a theoretical review of research methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed). Compare and contrast them, identify advantages and disadvantages and discuss which one you have chosen and why. Then start to describe your specific methodology for gathering and analysing data.

Continue with a discussion of the limitations and delimitations of your methodology. Discuss your research instrument and add your questionnaire in the appendix. Talk about your sampling technique in detail, as well as your sample number. After identifying your sample, you must explain how you plan to analyse your data. Which statistical tools will you use? How will you ensure reliability and validity?

Finally, discuss ethical considerations. When you are done with your research, write a concluding paragraph where you discuss your methodology in retrospect. Did things go according to plan? What obstacles did you face?

Chapter 4 - Data analysis

Start your chapter with a description of how your research went. Sum up your key theoretical ideas and what you are trying to prove or disprove. Continue with an analysis of your findings. Start with the quantitative data that give the reader an overview of your research, ie your sample size and demographics. Then address each research question with the relevant data from your questionnaire.

Analyse each finding separately, offering the reader tables and graphs relative to your finding. Underneath each graph, address the findings in relation to your research questions, as well as to the literature. Which theory do you prove or disprove? Are the findings strong enough to do so? After this part, discuss reliability and validity of your findings, using statistical means, such as triangulation or Cronbach's Alpha to prove your research is valid, reliable and highly recommended.

Write a short conclusion summing up your findings.

Chapter 5 - Conclusions and recommendations

Start this chapter with a good presentation of your conclusions in relation to your hypotheses. Relate them to the theory. Continue with the impact your findings have by discussing the management implications of your work.

Offer recommendations based upon your findings. Discuss limitations and delimitations of your research and identify further gaps. This should lead to your final part, which is the recommendations for future research.

Appendix

In your appendices, you should include the research instrument, ie questionnaire or interview transcripts, the complex calculations of chapter 4, and any other information necessary to support your arguments that should not be part of your main body.

At the end, you should add the ethics response form signed in your previous module.

Individual Research Project Template and Layout Requirements

Please download and read the Individual Research Project (IRP) template with extra guidance for your project here Download here.

Submission

Please submit this assignment electronically via Canvas in Word doc or PDF format.

If you have any issues uploading a submission, take screenshots immediately and contact the Student Adviser Team.

Assessment Information

The assessment is governed under the Universitys general rules for assessment. Refer to University Code of Practice Assessment Procedures Download University Code of Practice Assessment Procedures for further information.

Additional Information

You must follow the Harvard referencing style.

Your review must be written in Times New Roman, 12 font, 1.5 line spacing.

Read carefully the guidance on plagiarism from the Universitys website. Submitting work that is copied and/or not referenced properly could result in being referred to the plagiarism committee and receiving a mark of zero (0).

Supervisor Guidance

EM5 is very different from the other modules undertaken so far. The aim is different, the output is different, the interaction with the supervisor is different and the pace of the module is different. It is your responsibility to decide upon the level of interaction with your supervisor. Given all these aspects and the duration of the IRP submission period (22 weeks), it is recommended to produce regular reports and submit individual chapters of your dissertation, in order to help you keep track of your progress.

You should aim to submit your chapters at the end of each 4-week period of your IRP that you complete (e.g. after the completion of week 4, week 8, week 12 and so on). Promptness in submitting your chapters will help you and your supervisor identify and resolve any issues in a timely manner. Experience shows that regular submissions help keep track of progress and increase the ability to submit on time the final output. Regular submissions will also help your supervisor in identifying the next steps that need to be addressed for a timely completion. The overall IRP milestones are included here for your perusal.

Please note that it is very important not to limit the interaction with your supervisor to these submissions; you are strongly encouraged to actively seek contact whenever necessary.

Timing Action

Weeks 1-4 Research process designedDraft of literature review deliveredData sources identified

Weeks 5-8 Data collection underway

Weeks 9-12 Data analysis underway

First interpretation of data delivered

Weeks 13-16 First draft of analysis/interpretive chapter delivered

Weeks 17-18 First draft of discussion, conclusions and data tables (where appropriate) delivered;Research project argument clearly defined

Weeks 18-19 First complete draft of IRP prepared

Week 20 Complete IRP draft submitted to management advisor class draft Turnitin link, for supervisor review.

It is important that you submit your first complete draft of the IRP 2 weeks before the final submission deadline, to give enough time to your supervisor the review the draft and give you feedback. Also, it is very important that you allow enough time for you to address the feedback.

Week 22 Final research project submitted to management advisor class final Turnitin link.

There are 6 key interaction points with your supervisor:

Week 4: Chapter 1 submission

Week 8: Chapter 2 submission

Week 12: Chapter 3 submission

Week 16: Chapter 4 submission

Week 18: Chapter 5 submission

Week 20: Compiled draft IRP submission

Module Learning Outcomes

LO1 Devise, plan and carry out an individual project and provide evidence of in-depth knowledge and comprehension of a range of complex issues pertinent to the task.

LO2 Identify, select, retrieve and appraise different sources of information, illustrating the links between the retrieved information, data and the outlined task, and make judgements by formulating new connections and ideas.

LO3 Select and use relevant advanced project management tools and techniques, codes / frameworks and research strategies, to meet all defined milestones and objectives.

LO4 Communicate and defend investigative research findings in an objective, coherent and professional manner.

002_CWRK:Dissertation (Final Project Report)

Assignment Brief

Word Count

15,000 words maximum

Overlength Assignments

Please refer to University policy regarding overlength assignments in the Academic Regulation section of the Student Hub.

You will start working on your Individual Research Project (IRP) after you receive your grade for your Project Initiation Plan assignment from your supervisor. You need to get a pass grade (50 marks) for this assignment in order to continue working on your IRP.

You have 22 weeks to complete your IRP after you receive your grade from your supervisor. You should email your supervisor with your progress every four weeks, in order to receive formative feedback on each of your chapters. You can also arrange one to one meetings if you need to have a discussion with your supervisor. Before you submit your final IRP, you will compile your whole project and send it to your supervisor for final approval.

ndividual Research Project - What you need to do:

Here is what each chapter should look like:

Chapter 1 Introduction

As your introduction is the first impression the reader gets, you should provide plenty of information. Your introduction should give the reader an overview of the literature, followed by an identification of the main gaps and the need for your research. Then you should describe your research objectives and what you are trying to achieve, and continue with your research questions.

Your research objectives should be critically reviewed, therefore, you should identify the strengths and weaknesses as well as any anticipated obstacles. Continue by describing the methodology you have decided to follow, the rationale (which is the justification of the study), as well as its significance, followed by the definition of key terminology.

At the end of your introduction you should include a summary of the ensuing chapters.

Chapter 2 - Literature Review

You should start with an overview of the literature, choosing relevant and up to date sources. Give the reader as much information as possible and use separate headings for different subjects.

Continue with your critical review of the literature. Identify advantages and disadvantages and compare and contrast the theories with each other. Follow this with a part on gaps in the literature, identify those that make your research imperative, and relate the gaps to your research questions and hypotheses. How do your questions derive from the literature? How will the gaps be filled by your study?

Always start your chapters with a brief introduction of what is about to follow and end with a part that prepares the reader for the next chapter.

Chapter 3 - Research Methodology

Begin this chapter with a theoretical review of research methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, mixed). Compare and contrast them, identify advantages and disadvantages and discuss which one you have chosen and why. Then start to describe your specific methodology for gathering and analysing data.

Continue with a discussion of the limitations and delimitations of your methodology. Discuss your research instrument and add your questionnaire in the appendix. Talk about your sampling technique in detail, as well as your sample number. After identifying your sample, you must explain how you plan to analyse your data. Which statistical tools will you use? How will you ensure reliability and validity?

Finally, discuss ethical considerations. When you are done with your research, write a concluding paragraph where you discuss your methodology in retrospect. Did things go according to plan? What obstacles did you face?

Chapter 4 - Data analysis

Start your chapter with a description of how your research went. Sum up your key theoretical ideas and what you are trying to prove or disprove. Continue with an analysis of your findings. Start with the quantitative data that give the reader an overview of your research, ie your sample size and demographics. Then address each research question with the relevant data from your questionnaire.

Analyse each finding separately, offering the reader tables and graphs relative to your finding. Underneath each graph, address the findings in relation to your research questions, as well as to the literature. Which theory do you prove or disprove? Are the findings strong enough to do so? After this part, discuss reliability and validity of your findings, using statistical means, such as triangulation or Cronbach's Alpha to prove your research is valid, reliable and highly recommended.

Write a short conclusion summing up your findings.

Chapter 5 - Conclusions and recommendations

Start this chapter with a good presentation of your conclusions in relation to your hypotheses. Relate them to the theory. Continue with the impact your findings have by discussing the management implications of your work.

Offer recommendations based upon your findings. Discuss limitations and delimitations of your research and identify further gaps. This should lead to your final part, which is the recommendations for future research.

Appendix

In your appendices, you should include the research instrument, ie questionnaire or interview transcripts, the complex calculations of chapter 4, and any other information necessary to support your arguments that should not be part of your main body.

At the end, you should add the ethics response form signed in your previous module.

Individual Research Project Template and Layout Requirements

Please download and read the Individual Research Project (IRP) template with extra guidance for your project here Download here.

Submission

Please submit this assignment electronically via Canvas in Word doc or PDF format.

If you have any issues uploading a submission, take screenshots immediately and contact the Student Adviser Team.

Assessment Information

The assessment is governed under the Universitys general rules for assessment. Refer to University Code of Practice Assessment Procedures Download University Code of Practice Assessment Procedures for further information.

Additional Information

You must follow the Harvard referencing style.

Your review must be written in Times New Roman, 12 font, 1.5 line spacing.

Read carefully the guidance on plagiarism from the Universitys website. Submitting work that is copied and/or not referenced properly could result in being referred to the plagiarism committee and receiving a mark of zero (0).

Supervisor Guidance

EM5 is very different from the other modules undertaken so far. The aim is different, the output is different, the interaction with the supervisor is different and the pace of the module is different. It is your responsibility to decide upon the level of interaction with your supervisor. Given all these aspects and the duration of the IRP submission period (22 weeks), it is recommended to produce regular reports and submit individual chapters of your dissertation, in order to help you keep track of your progress.

You should aim to submit your chapters at the end of each 4-week period of your IRP that you complete (e.g. after the completion of week 4, week 8, week 12 and so on). Promptness in submitting your chapters will help you and your supervisor identify and resolve any issues in a timely manner. Experience shows that regular submissions help keep track of progress and increase the ability to submit on time the final output. Regular submissions will also help your supervisor in identifying the next steps that need to be addressed for a timely completion. The overall IRP milestones are included here for your perusal.

Please note that it is very important not to limit the interaction with your supervisor to these submissions; you are strongly encouraged to actively seek contact whenever necessary.

Timing Action

Weeks 1-4 Research process designedDraft of literature review deliveredData sources identified

Weeks 5-8 Data collection underway

Weeks 9-12 Data analysis underway

First interpretation of data delivered

Weeks 13-16 First draft of analysis/interpretive chapter delivered

Weeks 17-18 First draft of discussion, conclusions and data tables (where appropriate) delivered;Research project argument clearly defined

Weeks 18-19 First complete draft of IRP prepared

Week 20 Complete IRP draft submitted to management advisor class draft Turnitin link, for supervisor review.

It is important that you submit your first complete draft of the IRP 2 weeks before the final submission deadline, to give enough time to your supervisor the review the draft and give you feedback. Also, it is very important that you allow enough time for you to address the feedback.

Week 22 Final research project submitted to management advisor class final Turnitin link.

There are 6 key interaction points with your supervisor:

Week 4: Chapter 1 submission

Week 8: Chapter 2 submission

Week 12: Chapter 3 submission

Week 16: Chapter 4 submission

Week 18: Chapter 5 submission

Week 20: Compiled draft IRP submission

Module Learning Outcomes

LO1 Devise, plan and carry out an individual project and provide evidence of in-depth knowledge and comprehension of a range of complex issues pertinent to the task.

LO2 Identify, select, retrieve and appraise different sources of information, illustrating the links between the retrieved information, data and the outlined task, and make judgements by formulating new connections and ideas.

LO3 Select and use relevant advanced project management tools and techniques, codes / frameworks and research strategies, to meet all defined milestones and objectives.

LO4 Communicate and defend investigative research findings in an objective, coherent and professional manner.