MSc Dissertation Detailed Guide 2021 - 2022

MSc Dissertation Detailed Guide 2021 - 2022

Module Code: BU7001

Module Title: Management Research Project

Module Leader at Chester Queens Park Campus:

Introduction

This handbook provides information on the MSc dissertation.

The final assignment of BU7001 requires the submission of a dissertation of approximately 12,000 words.

The aim of this module is to introduce and guide students through the dissertation process. The dissertation will also prepare students for their academic and management careers by providing an appreciation of the collection, analysis and interpretation of research. The effective use of information in order to inform decision-making is a key managerial skill, and this module aims to develop skills in the acquisition, analysis, presentation and management of both qualitative and quantitative information for both academic and professional purposes.

In this handbook criteria for judging an MSc dissertation are reviewed and justification for the report structure is provided. Further guidance is given with reference to academic good practice and a recommended dissertation structure is described in detail.

Module Information

Module Leader: Dr Farid Ullah

Office:Bridge House Building CBH219

E-mail: f.ullah@chester.ac.uk

Telephone: 01244 512871

Programme

AdministratorAngela Lipson

Room Bridge House CBH204

E-Mail CBSADMIN@chester.ac.uk

Extension number01244 513698 or 01244 511064

University phone01244 511000

DeclarationAs the 'owner ' of the research and the dissertation you must assert its originality - in other words you must declare the work as original and that you have not submitted it for any other academic purpose. Similarly, you must declare that the work is yours and that all references to previous work - either by yourself or other authors - are fully referenced.

The following statement, signed and dated, MUST appear at the appropriate place in your dissertation:

This work is original and has not been submitted previously for any academic purpose. All secondary sources are acknowledged.

Signed:_________________________

Date:_________________________

Module Detailstc ".The World Wide Web and Intranets - Principles and Practice<"l

AimsTo provide the opportunity to apply management knowledge, skills and research techniques developed during the programme to the identified area of management interest.

To develop students intellectual ability in terms of problem solving, critical analysis and conceptual thinking.

To provide students with the opportunity, and the enabling mechanisms to support their development towards independent learning.

Learning Outcomes ObjectivesStudents will be able to:

Identify a key area of managerial research and develop clear research aims and objectives providing cogency as to their rationale.

Present and defend a critically analytical review of established theoretical approaches, identifying a suitable theoretical stance for the research.

Develop an appropriate research design showing critical understanding as to its conceptual underpinning, devise and deploy methods for gathering or generating data and use appropriate analytical tools for interpreting the data, demonstrating the validity and generalisability of the findings generated.

Demonstrate an ability to marshal and analyse data and establish a critical argument in relation to the existing academic literature and current management practice. Provide logical conclusions highlighting their significance and identify appropriate management theory-practice links.

Course Content/OutlineThis unit conforms to the conventional requirements for a Masters Dissertation. In general terms, participants will be expected to select a topic, frame a research question, prepare & defend a research proposal, & undertake and write-up a programme of study and research in accordance with established research principles.

During the early stages of this module (BU7002), students will be required to submit and defend a proposal explaining the rationale for the question they intend to investigate, the methodology they intend to use, and the likely outcomes of their endeavours.

A wide range of research topics or questions may provide acceptable bases for participants proposals. Although proposals may relate to real-world situations or problems, the work undertaken for this module must primarily be of an academic nature.

Methods of Learning & TeachingStudents will be assigned an academic supervisor for the module. Meetings will consist of both one-to-one and Learning Support Group sessions (online MS Teams or face to face where possible) as deemed appropriate by the supervisor and student. Students will be expected to make regular progress reports and to accept guidance about the content and conduct of their work.

Methods of AssessmentSubmission of a dissertation of recommended length: 12,000 words (all learning outcomes 1-4) 100%

Methods of ReassessmentThe student will be reassessed only on the component or components, which they have failed within a module i.e. resubmitting the whole dissertation again with improvements made from the previous failed version based on the feedback received on the first attempt. This will be designed to meet the required learning outcomes.

Employer CollaborationWhere appropriate students may undertake this module using any organisation(s), as deemed appropriate by the student and supervisor.

Contact HoursGuided Learning Support Group & one-to-one meetings with supervisor 16 hours

Self-study 384 hours

Total learning 400 hours

Tutor in ChargeDr Farid Ullah

Other Staff InvolvedKey members of MSc teaching team and allocated supervisors.

Purpose of an MSc DissertationThe MSc dissertation is an independent piece of work involving the systematic study of a problem with a suitable theoretical framework. The work requires analysis, design, interpretation and presentation of data, observations, and independent thinking and critique. The quality of the dissertation is influenced by the quality of the selection and formulation of the research question. To assist you in this, we asked you to prepare a 3,000 words Research Proposal for BU7002 module which you have already submitted we will talk about this later at some point.

It is important that the research undertaken can be successfully completed in the time available your supervisor will be able to help you with determining the appropriateness of your chosen topic.

The dissertation should aim to identify new facts or ideas, but will also include much use of secondary data. The dissertation represents an exercise in project management, and requires you to discipline yourself so that the work can be successfully completed in the available time.

Where possible, the research should be undertaken in the students workplace (if you are working now or have worked in the past or can access an organisation which you are interested to be working in future); the aim being to deliver a benefit of strategic importance to the organisation. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that an MSc dissertation is an academic piece of work it is NOT a management report.

Most students find the dissertation to be the most challenging part of their MSc. However, it can also be the most rewarding and satisfying part of your course.

The module will enable students to:

Appreciate the nature of research and the research process in both academic and more practical, applied management contexts;

Be aware of the variety of available information sources, and assess their uses in informing both academic and applied management research;

Understand the distinction between primary and secondary information and develop a critical awareness of research methods and techniques relating to the collection and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data;

Be able to determine the appropriateness of a range of methods for data collection and data analysis to meet research objectives, thereby becoming an informed user of management information;

Evaluate, select, and justify appropriate research methods in a chosen area of study, in order to ensure that the evidence generated, its analysis and conclusions drawn are valid, reliable and ethical.

Timetable for ResearchPlease meet deadlines.

To assist you in time management, you are required to have tutorials with your supervisor (dates, frequency, etc. to be mutually agreed). At the end of each tutorial you should write up a summary of the meeting and your intended action(s) prior to the next tutorial. In this way, you can keep control over your research, and always have one or more goals in the pipeline.

You MUST have at least 5 documented tutorials with your supervisor by the end of the dissertation.

The nominal learning time for your MSc dissertation is approximately 400 hours. You need to be able to manage the time effectively and efficiently to get the most out of the dissertation process.

The dissertation team has several years experience of supervising postgraduates and their suggestions for where you should be, in terms of your research, at a particular time are based on this experience.

What Should I Research?An MSc research project should:

Cover a field, which fascinates the student sufficiently for him or her to endure hard and solitary work;

Build on the student's previous academic studies, and/or work experiences;

Be of strategic importance to the students employer or sponsor;

Be in an area of 'warm' research activity rather than in a 'cold', overworked area or in a 'hot', too-competitive, soon-to-be extinguished area;

Be manageable, producing interesting results and a cohesive report in the available time;

Have accessible sources of data.

An idea for a topic can come from:

Problems directly experienced working with a business (e.g. as a customer, as a software developer, as a part-time sales assistant)

Problems/opportunities that you know are affecting an organisations performance. These might be in areas published in the press or academic literature. e.g. benefits of integrating different quality management systems in SMEs.

An area where you have had a long-standing interest that is relevant to your degree title. e.g. study how social enterprises can effectively use their resources to survive during recession (or current COVID-19), flexible working as alternative working strategy for women.

A research project ideally should be rooted in the real world and as such many research projects come from part time jobs that students hold, or hobbies they are involved in such as travelling or voluntary sector work. A good way to think about organisation-based topics is to use a business with which you are already familiar. Then you can identify any problem area or parts of the business that could be improved or that you want to investigate and find out more.

For projects not based in an organisation you need to identify a topic relevant to your degree title about which you have questions that you want to answer. For example, what is the relevance of new social networking technologies such as Twitter to business organisations? Or, you may be inquisitive about a phenomenon such as globalisation or sustainability. Whatever the topic or its origins, it needs to be a puzzle or something to be investigated in order to understand it better or to solve a problem.

The most common problem in selecting a topic/area for your research is lack of focus. This can be a result of expressing an interest in an area before you have explored the literature and had time to really think about the problem. Instead, you can start with a big idea or topic area and then need to narrow this down, following your literature and your thinking process, to a specific research question.

Supervisory ProcessYou are expected to spend the vast majority of your time (384 hours out of a total of 400) performing independent study. This includes:

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hTime spent searching the literature & reading

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hWriting drafts

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hPlanning & designing

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hPreparing research materials

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hPreparing research instruments

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hNegotiating access

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hLearning procedures

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hPiloting, refining & applying a research instrument

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hProcessing, analysing & interpreting data

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hDeveloping conclusions

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hWriting the dissertation

The supervisory role is principally to:

1.Provide direction on aspects including your research timetable, sources of literature, suitability of methods, data analyses, and the layout of your written dissertation

2.Monitor and make recommendations on your progress

Your supervisor will discuss your research with you and give advice. Whilst a supervisor might also read certain sections in draft form (s)he should not be expected to give detailed feedback or re-write your original work. Moreover, supervisors should:

1.Not take responsibility for project selection and development of the research question

2.Not take responsibility for collecting data

3.Not take responsibility for negotiating access

4.Not give quantitative feedback during the process of your performance

5.Be informed if you intend to seek advice from another member of staff

Supervisory MeetingsAn allocation of hours is available for formal contact with staff including time with your supervisor.

In the early stages the supervisory meetings will be held in learning sets. The benefit of this is that you get to hear other students issues and concerns, and the guidance given to the whole group. We have used learning sets for MSc at Chester, Warrington and at other institutions with successful results. Students generally find the experience more beneficial than one-to-one tutorials. As your research progresses and diversifies from the rest of the learning set then onetoone tutorials may be more beneficial. Often the pattern is that the learning sets work best during the early and latter stages of an MSc dissertation and one-to-one tutorials work best during the field work and analysis stages. Well see how it goes

ResponsibilitiesIt is your responsibility as the researcher to attend learning set meetings and appointments with your supervisor.

It is the supervisor's responsibility to make themselves available (at a mutually agreed time and place) for learning set meetings and/or student tutorials.

You MUST have at least 5 documented tutorials with your supervisor by the end of the dissertation.

As the researcher in charge of your project, you should arrive WELL PREPARED and ready to join in, or even lead, the discussion. Do not expect your supervisor to do all the thinking for you. Keep a record of meetings and on each occasion agree an action plan. The frequency and length of meetings will probably vary this is to be expected.

Remember, it is your responsibility to decide how much of your total time allocation you wish to dedicate to a one-to-one meeting. When organising personal tutorials, let your supervisor know the anticipated length of the meeting well in advance. If you need to postpone or cancel a personal tutorial you should speak to your supervisor at least 24 hours in advance, or leave a message at Business School Reception if your supervisor is unavailable (now on MS Teams). This is just common courtesy, and we expect you to follow this simple rule.

MSc Dissertation Checklist

Use this checklist to assess your own progress over the Dissertation period and ensure that before submitting your Dissertation you are able to tick all the requirements as completed.

when completed Working time-scale

Front cover see example provided. Should include

Your name Research project title Your supervisors name Date (month and year) of submission Title

Is your title meaningful, clear and precise? Abstract Does this provide a clear and brief overview of your research? (maximum one full page) Chapter 1: Introduction Have you provided a clear research question and / or aim? Have you written your research objectives clearly? Is your purpose / rationale for undertaking the research study clear? [i.e. What led to the study? Personal, professional, academic, methodological etc. importance] Have you provided an overview and summary of the rest of the chapters (outline)? Chapter 2: Literature review

Have you identified the key authors in your field of research? Have you checked that the literature you refer to in this chapter has relevance to your findings? Have you presented a logically and clearly structured summary of the main ideas, concepts and theories within the field (analysis) Have you presented a logically structured summary of existing empirical evidence (analysis) Have you presented an overview of the key contrasts and debates (comparative analysis) Have you presented an up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the subject area which has been coherently structured into one single account (synthesis) Have you presented a personal critical review of previous work; theories, research, methodologies and research findings i.e. the S&W (Strengths & Weaknesses) of existing knowledge (evaluation) Have you identified the theoretical limitations (weaknesses in argument) and empirical limitations (missing information) of existing knowledge i.e. gaps in the existing literature? Chapter 3: Methodology

Have you identified your epistemological and ontological perspective? (Research Onion) Have you described and justified your methodology / perspective chosen (e.g.? why qualitative, or case study, or quantitative etc)? Have you indicated how you sampled / selected your case-study and identified the number of participants/respondents? Have you detailed your research methods sufficiently clearly to enable someone else to replicate your study? Have you justified the methods you have employed (i.e. why they are particularly appropriate for the subject under study) Have you explained your methods of data analysis? Have you recognised the limitations of your methodology / methods at the outset? Have you briefly described your research context? Have you discussed ethical issues in collecting, analysing, and presenting your data? Have you made consideration of the research standards? (validity/generalisability/transferability etc.) Chapter 4: Analysis and findings

Has analysis (quantitative and/or qualitative) been undertaken? i.e. this should not be just description of the data Has data been presented effectively in tables, charts, matrices etc. where appropriate? Are graphs, charts, matrices etc. clearly titled? Are graphs, charts, matrices etc. thoroughly explained in the narrative? Is there a logical structure to the data presentation? Chapter 5: Interpretation and conclusions

Do the conclusions clearly flow from the data? Have you explicitly related your findings presented in the preceding chapter to the literature that you examined in Chapter 2? Where are their similarities/differences with previous research findings? What else have you found out? Have conclusions been drawn that address the research aims/objectives and the overall research question? Does this chapter clearly sum up and draw together conclusions to the discussions made throughout the dissertation? (rather than introduce anything new) Does the end fulfil the original aims and objectives? Have you done what you undertook to do in the study? If not, have you explained the reasons for the changes? Have you identified the limitations of your methodology/methods? (critical evaluation) and identified further research? References

Is this a reference list, not a bibliography? Are your references complete and in the required APA format? Appendices Are the appendices appropriate? (relevant and necessary) Other general considerations / requirements

Have you referenced all quotes correctly? Have you checked the word count? Have you checked the layout and page numbering? Has an electronic copy of your dissertation been submitted via portal (Turnitin Link)? Have you checked the tenses used? (Chapters are usually written in the past tense, unless you have discussed with your supervisor otherwise) Is the layout clear? e.g. do all chapters start on a new page? Do the statements made in one place of the dissertation tally with statements in another? Have you proof-read the final document at least three times? Referencing from the LiteratureThe American Psychological Association (APA 7th) style of referencing (which is virtually identical to the Harvard referencing style) has been designated the main referencing style to be used at the University of Chester. It is a precise version of the 'author/date' system, which is simple to use once you understand a few basic principles.

At masters level, your work must demonstrate how it relates to previous research - you can almost invariably find other researchers and experts to back up your ideas. Working at masters level requires you to adopt an academic approach to your work this has been developed during the CMS (Certificate in Management Stages) & DMS (Diploma in Management Stages) stages and will be honed during this final stage. You need to be informed about the topic of your dissertation. In practice you must read and acknowledge what experts have said about the topic, ideally presenting agreement and disagreement. The golden rule is to quote or paraphrase what the expert has said, then give a full reference to the expert's publication.

Noting ReferencesIt is good practice to record all relevant details of a reference that you plan to use as soon as you have read it. This may be done by a traditional method, such as using index cards, or electronically. EndNote, currently available on a number of machines in the Learning Resources Computer Base Seminar Room (Computer Labs), is a sophisticated package developed specially for the purpose. Ask in the library for further details.

Examples of Standard 'List of References' Formats

Printed Documents

BooksThe key elements are: author(s), date, title, edition (if not first), location, and publisher.

ExamplePerkins, A.P., & Jarvis, T.W. (1998). Cattle breeding: a basic guide. (2nd ed.). Bristol: Agricultural Press.

(N.B. All the citations in this hand out were invented, to make the point about the example clearly. They do not refer to real works).

Periodical ArticleThere is some interesting material presented here. The student has used some analytical thinking & writing skills to produce an answer that covers the main elements of the assignment. Quite a long bibliography is included - several of these works are cited in the main body of the report. The key elements are: author(s), date, title of article, title of periodical, volume no., page nos.

ExampleAndrews, A.S., Cooper, D.P., Frost, S.S., Henderson, P., & Wilkinson, J.N.M. (1993). A review of recent research on the physiology of the bat. Animal Research Quarterly , 33, 92-115.

Chapter in a BookThe key elements are: author(s), date, title of chapter, editor(s), title of book, page nos., edition (if not first), location, and publisher.

ExampleHughes, G.W., Lewis, C., & Matthews, I.P. (1997). The geology of Gwynedd. In J.L. Simmons (Ed.), Recent studies in the geology of Wales (pp. 32-52). Cardiff: Cambrian Academic Press.

N.B. Give the surnames and initials of all authors in the heading, regardless of the number of authors of a specific work, and invert the names.

The authors of some publications are associations or institutions, not identified individuals. Use the following formula when referencing these publications:

National Association for One-Parent Families (1999). A guide to benefit law. London: Routledge.

If a publication has no designated author or editor, the title becomes the main heading of the entry. When referencing these publications, use the following formula:

Collins English dictionary (5th ed.). (1997). London: Collins.

There are many other types of traditional printed publications. For guidance on material not covered above, consult the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (1994); it is available at the Enquiries Counter in Learning Resources.

Audio-Visual Media

FilmsThe key elements are: originator(s), date, title, medium, location, and distributor.

ExampleChesney, C. (Producer), & Gibson, M. (Director). (1993). The rules of the game [Film]. Glasgow: Caledonian Film Distributors, Inc.

Television BroadcastThe key elements are: originator(s), precise date, title, location, broadcasting company.

ExampleNicholas, T. (Executive Producer). (1999, July 23). Death of a genius. Manchester: Granada Television.

Musical RecordingThe key elements are: writer(s), date of copyright, title of piece of music, artist, title of album, medium, location, label, date of recording (if different from date of copyright).

ExampleBeethoven, L. van (1990). The moonlight sonata [Recorded by S. Richter]. On Richter plays Beethoven [CD]. London: Heritage Recordings. (1955).

Again, there are numerous other types of audio-visual media. For guidance on material not covered above, consult the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (1994); it is available at the Enquiries Counter in Learning Resources.

Electronic Media

Electronic documents are frequently quite similar to printed documents and can be cited in similar ways. However, references to electronic documents should always include a statement confirming the retrieval date and the source.

Independent Document Retrieved from the WebThe key elements are: author(s), precise date, title, location, publisher, and retrieval statement.

ExampleHopkins, J. (2000, March). Castles of the Welsh Marches. Shrewsbury: Author. Retrieved July 5, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.salophist.org/guides/hopkins.htmlPeriodical Article Retrieved from the World Wide WebThe key elements are: author(s), date, title of article, title of periodical, volume no., page nos., and retrieval statement.

ExampleAndrews, A.S., Cooper, D.P., Frost, S.S., Henderson, P., & Wilkinson, J.N.M. (1993). A review of recent research on the physiology of the bat. Animal Research Quarterly, 33, 92-115. Retrieved August 8, 1998, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ara.org/journals/andrews.htmlIndependent Document Retrieved from a CD-ROMThe key elements are: author(s), precise date, title, location, publisher, and retrieval statement.

ExampleMaguire, N. (1995, April). Elizabethan theatre design. Birmingham: Theatre Facts. Retrieved from TF database (TF Historical Data, CD-ROM, Autumn 1995 release)

Periodical Article Retrieved from an On-Line DatabaseThe key elements are: author(s), date, title of article, title of periodical, volume no., page nos., and retrieval statement.

ExampleAndrews, A.S., Cooper, D.P., Frost, S.S., Henderson, P., & Wilkinson, J.N.M. (1993). A review of recent research on the physiology of the bat. Animal Research Quarterly, 33, 92+. Retrieved November 22, 2000, from ZOOSEARCH on-line database (33 ARQ 92)

The examples above follow revised guidance recently published by the American Psychological Association on their Web site. Further information on the referencing of electronic media may be obtained by consulting this site at: http://www.apa.org/Citing References in the TextIt is very important that the brief references to works that you make in your text link accurately and unambiguously to the fuller references contained in the Bibliography' at the end of your work. In most cases, the surname of the author(s) and the year of publication will be sufficient. However, these details will need to be amplified if there is a possibility that two or more of the works that you have cited might be confused, e.g. if two authors have the same surname. In this case, supply the initials of their forenames as well. Note the use of present tense even if the authors are dead. Their work is still alive; after all you are referring to it!

Example - Single Author"Jones (1993) reports that "

"In 1993, T.S. Jones reports that However, a subsequent study (W.H. Jones, 1996) finds that ".

Example - Two Authors"Research by Brown and Smith (1995) ".

Example - Three, or more Authors "The research by Brown et al. (1998) also discovers that ".

Example - Works by Corporate AuthorsFirst citation - "A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] (1998) ".

Subsequent citations - "In the view of the BBC (1998) ".

Example - Works with No Author"In the early Treatise on frogs (1779) ".

Arranging the BibliographyThe list of references should be listed alphabetically, by the surname of the first-named author, then by the date of the work. The following list gives examples of how to deal with the main additions to this general rule.

Ellis, T.H. (1974). Recollections of a sheep farmer. London: Macmillan.

Ellis, T.H. (1979a). Further recollections of a sheep farmer. London: Macmillan.

Ellis, T.H. (1979b). Sheep may safely graze. Harlow: Longman.

Ellis, T.H., Harris, T.C., & Brown, A. (1967). The encyclopaedia of sheep. London: Routledge.

Ellis, T.H., & Smith, M.T. (1966). Sheep of the South Downs. Brighton: Falmer Press.

Ellis, T.H., Smith, M.T., & Wilson, D. (1965). The nature of wool. London: Chapman & Hall.

Ellis, W.A. (1973). Farming on the Scottish Borders. Edinburgh: Midlothian Press.

Ellison, A. (1972). Agriculture for everyman. London: Faber & Faber.

As with the previous sections, more detailed information on these conventions can be found in the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (1994); it is available at the Enquiries Counter in Learning Resources, or on IBIS.

The MSc Management Research Project typically quantitative

Typical sequence of an MSC Management Research Project within the standard quantitative paradigm:

Front Cover

Title page

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Declaration

Table of contents

List of tables

List of figures

1 Introduction

1.1 Background to the research

1.2 Research question

1.3 Justification for the research

1.4 Outline methodology

1.5 Outline of the chapters

1.6 Definitions

1.7 Summary

2 Literature review

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Parent disciplines/fields

Main theme, analytical models and applicability to research questions

Conceptual model

2.5 Summary

3 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Methodological considerations

3.2.1 Justification for the selected paradigm and methodology

3.2.2 Rejected methodologies and methods

3.3 Research design

3.4 Research methods / procedures

3.5 Ethical considerations

3.6 Summary

4 Analysis and Findings

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Application of methodology

4.3 Findings for each research question discussed in the light of the literature

4.4 Summary

5 Interpretation and Conclusions

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Critical evaluation of adopted methodology

5.3 Conclusions about each research objective (aim)

5.4 Conclusions about the research question/s

Limitations of the study

Opportunities for further research

Recommendations [only in the case of Projects for specific organisations]

Implementation plan

Reference List (APA)

Appendices (these should be kept to a minimum) normally you should try to avoid using appendices, but if necessary, you should not use more than 3, very short (2-3 page), appendices

The MSc Management Research Project typically qualitative

Typical sequence of an MSc Management Research Project within the standard qualitative paradigm (as a guide):

Front Cover

Title page

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Declaration

Table of contents

List of tables

List of figures

1 Introduction

1.1 Background to the research

1.2 Research question

1.3 Justification for the research

1.4 Outline methodology

1.5 Outline of the chapters

1.6 Definitions

1.7 Summary

2 Literature review

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Parent disciplines/fields

Main theme, analytical models and applicability to research questions

Conceptual model

2.5 Summary

3 Methodology

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Methodological considerations

3.2.1 Justification for the selected paradigm and methodology

3.2.2 Rejected methodologies and methods

3.3 Research design

3.4 Research methods / procedures

3.5 Ethical considerations

3.6 Summary

4 Data analysis and Interpretation

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Data analysis potentially analysis of key themes that have emerged from data analysis, perhaps synthesising this analysis with relevant literature

4.3 Findings for each research question discussed in the light of the literature

4.4 Summary

5 Conclusions

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Critical evaluation of adopted methodology

5.3 Conclusions about each research objective (aim)

5.4 Conclusions about the research question/s

Limitations of the study

Opportunities for further research

Recommendations [only in the case of Projects for specific organisations]

Implementation plan

Reference List (APA)

Appendices (these should be kept to a minimum) normally you should try to avoid using appendices, but if necessary, you should not use more than 3, very short (2-3 page), appendices.

An Example of a Basic Structure and Style of Your DissertationA five-chapter structure can be used to effectively present an MSc Dissertation (or sometimes six chapters if there are recommendations).

Chapter 1 introduces the core research problem and then 'sets the scene' and outlines the path, which the examiner will travel towards the report's conclusion. The research itself is described in chapters 2 to 5:

The research problem arising from the body of knowledge developed during previous research (chapter 2),

Adopted approach (methodology), including methods used in this research to collect data about the research question (chapter 3),

Results of applying those methods in this research (chapter 4), and

Analysis of findings & conclusions about the research problem based on the results of chapter 4, including their place in the body of knowledge outlined previously in chapter 2 (chapter 5).

If applicable - recommendations based upon & linked unambiguously to the overall conclusions. This chapter often also includes an implementation plan for the solution to be integrated into the organisation (chapter 6).

Each chapter should stand almost alone. Each chapter (except the first) should have an introductory section linking the chapter to the main idea of the previous chapter and outlining the aim and the organisation of the chapter. Each chapter should also have a concluding summary section, which outlines major themes established in the chapter without introducing new material.

As well as the structure discussed above, examiners also assess matters of style. Within each of the chapters of the MSc dissertation, the spelling, grammar, styles, etc. should be consistent styles from the first draft and throughout the report for processes such as using bold type, italics, indenting quotations, single and double inverted commas, making references, spaces before and after side headings and lists, and gender conventions, etc.

Value judgements and words should not be used in the MSc dissertation. For example, 'it is unfortunate', 'it is interesting', 'it is believed', and 'it is welcome' are inappropriate. Although first person words such as 'I' and 'my' are now acceptable in an MSc dissertation, their use should be kept to a minimum. My recommendation is avoiding their use unless it is absurd not to use them. Discuss this with your supervisor.

Authorities should be used to back up any claim of the researcher, wherever possible. If the examiner wanted to read opinions, he or she could read letters to the editor of a newspaper. Moreover, few if any authorities in the field should be called 'wrong', at the worst they might be called 'misleading'.

The student must always be trying to communicate with the examiners in an easily followed way. This easily followed communication can be achieved by using several principles. Firstly, have sections and sub-sections starting as often as every second page, each with a descriptive heading in bold. Secondly, start each section or subsection with a phrase or sentence linking it with what has gone before. Thirdly, briefly describe the argument or point to be made in the section at its beginning. For example, 'Seven deficiencies in models in the literature are identified'. Fourthly, make each step in the argument easy to identify with a key term in italics or the judicious use of 'firstly', 'secondly', or 'moreover', 'in addition', 'in contrast' and so on. Finally, end each section with a summary, to establish what it has achieved; this summary sentence or paragraph could be flagged by usually beginning it with 'In conclusion, ...' or 'In brief, ...'

Paragraphs should be short; as a rule of thumb, approximately four paragraphs should start on each page if my preferred line spacing of 1.5 and Times Roman 12-point font is used to provide adequate structure and complexity of thought on each page. (A line spacing of 2 and more paragraphs per page makes a MSc dissertation appear disjointed and 'flaky', and a sans serif font is not easy to read.)

The MSc dissertation will have to go through several drafts. The first draft should be started early, and a tentative table of contents of each chapter & sections produced as soon as possible. Once again, discuss this with your supervisor.

Details of Dissertation Chapters and Their SectionsHow should you present the dissertation? By using the structure developed below, you will ensure that your dissertation demonstrates the key requirements.

1 IntroductionThis chapter sets the scene for the whole dissertation.

1.1 Background to the ResearchSection 1.1 outlines the broad field of study and then leads into the focus of the research problem. This section is short and aims to orient the readers and grasp their attention. This section should contain a history to the research problem from both an academic viewpoint and an organisational context.

1.2 Research QuestionSection 1.2 outlines the core or one big idea of the research, starting with the research problem. The research problem is one or two sentences that cannot be answered 'yes' or 'no'; it is the broad problem that the researcher will examine more precisely, and is the problem prompting and placing a boundary around the research without specifying what kind of research is to be done.

After the research problem is presented, a short paragraph should say how the problem is solved in the MSc dissertation. This step is necessary because academic writing should not be a detective story with the solution kept a mystery until the end.

After the research problem and a brief summary of how it will be solved are presented, section 1.2 presents the research question. The research problem above usually refers to decisions; in contrast, the research question usually requires information for its solution. The research question is the specific question that the researcher will gather data about in order to satisfactorily solve the research problem. Ensure you include the Research Question and concomitant Research Aims and/or Objectives these are the key to everything else that follows.

1.3 Justification for the ResearchAn examiner is concerned that the student has not addressed a trivial research area. So, the research problem should be important on several theoretical and practical grounds.

1.4 MethodologySection 1.4 is an introductory overview of the methodology, and is placed here in chapter 1 to satisfy the initial curiosity of the examiner. This section should refer to sections in chapter 2 and 3 where the methodology is justified and described. So, this section first describes the methodology in very general terms only.

1.5 Outline of the MSc DissertationEach chapter is briefly described in this section.

1.6 DefinitionsDefinitions adopted by researchers are often not uniform, so, key and controversial terms are defined to establish positions taken in the project research. Definitions should match the underlying assumptions of the research and students may need to justify some of their definitions.

1.7 SummaryThe final paragraph of each chapter usually summarises the key achievements of the chapter. So, the conclusion of chapter 1 should read something like:

This chapter introduces the research problem and research question. Then the research is justified, definitions are presented, the methodology is briefly described and justified, the report is outlined, and the limitations are given. On these foundations, the dissertation can proceed with a detailed description of the research.

2 Literature ReviewThe second chapter aims to build a theoretical foundation upon which the research is based by reviewing the relevant literature to identify research issues which are worth researching because they are controversial and have not been answered by previous researchers. That is, the literature review is not an end in itself, but is a means to the end of identifying the worthy research issues, which will be listed in the chapter's conclusion and were briefly introduced to the examiner in section 1.2.

This chapter is about knowledge already existing in the literature, so the students own ideas or opinions have no place in this chapter, except where they are used to structure the treatment of the literature and are clearly supported by authorities, evidence or logic.

Chapter 2 reviews the parent and immediate disciplines/fields of the research problem, with the aims of charting the body of knowledge with a summary model or two, showing where the research problem fits into that body of knowledge and then identifying research questions. These will focus the discussion of later chapters on directions where further research is required to answer the research problem, that is, having sections in chapter 3 and 4 explicitly related to the research questions facilitates the 'seamless' characteristic of an effective MSc dissertation.

References in chapter 2 should include some old, relevant references to show that the candidate is aware of the development of the research area, but the chapter must also include recent writings - having only old references generally indicates a worn-out research problem. Old references that have made suggestions, which have not been subsequently researched, might be worth detailed discussion, but why have the suggestions not been researched in the past?

The research questions or hypotheses developed during chapter 2 should be presented throughout the chapter as the literature survey unearths areas which require researching, that is, they should appear to 'grow out' of the review, even though the candidate may have decided on them long before while writing very early drafts of the chapter. Thus, chapter 2 identifies and reviews the conceptual/theoretical dimension and the methodological dimension of the literature and discovers research questions or hypotheses that are worth researching in later chapters.

2.1 Conceptual Model

The final section of chapter 2 is very important. Here, the researcher takes relevant portions of models, theories, etc. introduced and critiqued earlier in the chapter and plugs them together to create the theoretical model that will be used in practice, to answer the research question. It is critical that the process of plugging together is fully explained and justified, so that the reader can easily see how the model has been constructed, and why the researcher feels that this is the most appropriate model to use for their unique research question.

Note: it is acceptable to use an existing model without amendments as a conceptual model but in reality, this almost never happens, as each problem situation is unique, and probably requires some modification to any pre-existing model or construct.

Note: developing a theoretical model does not necessarily require a literal model i.e. a diagram. This may especially be the case if you are undertaking an exploratory form of research. However, you must be able to clearly set out the particular theoretical perspective you are using to frame your data collection and analysis.

3 MethodologyChapter 3 describes the major methodology used to collect the data, which will be used to answer the research question.

It is usual to open the chapter with a brief discussion of Research Philosophy & Principles. The chapter then funnels the reader towards the philosophy (positivist, phenomenological or a combination of the two!) and methods that are deemed appropriate for this particular research.

Whilst chapter 3 usually centres on the major methodology of the research, some considerations might be briefly mentioned when discussing any secondary methodologies.

Chapter 3s section about data collection must be written so that another researcher can replicate the research, and is required whether a qualitative or quantitative research methodology is used. Indeed, a qualitative MSc dissertation may contain even more details than a quantitative one, for a qualitative researcher may influence subjects more. For example, how subjects were chosen, how they answered, and how notes and/or recordings were used. Moreover, the student may wish to use 'I' when describing what he or she actually did in the field, to reflect an awareness that the researcher cannot be independent of the field data, but rather is a participant.

The chapter should have separate sections to cover:

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hOpening discussion of research philosophy & principles

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hDevelopment of selected approach & construction of methodology

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hJustification for the methodology in terms of the research problem and the literature review

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hThe unit of analysis and subjects or sources of data

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hConstruction of instruments or procedures used to collect data, including how the dependent variable was measured

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hDetails of pilot studies and explicit concern about specific procedures used to handle internal and external validity, reliability & triangulation

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hAdministration of instruments or procedures: when, where and who, non-response bias, response rates, dates and protocols of interviews, so that the research is reliable, that is, it could be repeated

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hLimitations of the methodology if they were not explicitly discussed in a previous section

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hAny special or unusual treatments of data before it was analysed (for example, special scoring of answers to a survey question)

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hComputer programs used to analyse the data, with justifications for their use (for example, why chi-square was used) - this may require a brief description of the type of data and some appropriate references where similar procedures had been used in similar circumstances

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hEthical issues

Chapter 3 describes the methodology adopted (for example, a mail survey and a particular need for achievement instrument), in a far more detailed way than in the introductory description of section 1.4. Students will have to provide enough detail to show the examiner that the (s)he knows the body of knowledge about the methodology and its procedures. That is, examiners need to be assured that all critical procedures and processes have been followed.

The student must not only show that he or she knows the appropriate knowledge body of knowledge about procedures, but must also provide evidence that the procedures have been followed. For example, dates of interviews or survey mailings should be provided.

Appendices to the dissertation should contain copies of instruments used and instruments referred to, and some examples of computer printouts; however, well-constructed tables of results (or charts) in chapter 4 should be adequate for the reader to determine correctness of analysis, and so all computer printouts do not need to be in the appendices (although they should be kept by the student just in case the examiner asks for them).

The penultimate section of chapter 3 should cover ethical considerations of the research. In summary, writing chapter 3 is similar to an accountant laying an 'audit trail' - the student should treat the examiner like an accountant treats an auditor, showing he or she knows and can justify the correct procedures and providing evidence that they have been followed.

4 Presentation of FindingsChapter 4 presents patterns of results and assesses them for their relevance to the research questions or hypotheses. Frequent summary tables and figures of results are essential, so that readers can easily see patterns in the mass of data presented in this chapter. This chapter should be clearly organised.

The introduction of chapter 4 may be different from introductions of other chapters because it refers to the following chapter - chapter 5 will discuss the findings of chapter 4 within the context of the literature. Without this warning, an examiner may wonder why some of the implications of the results are not drawn out in chapter 4.

Chapter 4 should be restricted to presentation of the collected data, without drawing general conclusions or comparing results to those of other researchers that were discussed in chapter 2. That is, although chapter 4 may contain references to the literature about methodologies, it should not contain (many!) references to other literature. If the chapter also includes references to other research, the more complete discussion of chapter 5 will be undesirably repetitive and confused.

After the introduction, descriptive data about the subjects is usually provided, for example, their gender or industry in survey research, or a brief description of case study organisations in case study research. This description helps to assure the examiner that the student has a 'good feel' for the data. Then the data for each research question is usually presented, in the same order as they were presented in chapters 2 and 3 and will be in sections 5.2 and 5.3.

In chapter 4, the data should not be merely presented and the examiner expected to analyse it. One way of ensuring adequate presentation is done by the student is to have numbers placed in brackets after some words have presented the analysis. For the same reason, test statistics, degrees of freedom or sample size (to allow the examiner to check figures in tables, if he or she wishes) and p values should be placed in brackets after their meaning has been explained in words that show the student knows what they mean.

All patterns of results in chapter 4 must be supported by the evidence unearthed by the procedures described in chapter 3. That is, a reader should be able to check findings by looking at tables or figures. So, each table or figure should be referred to in the body of the chapter, with the reason for its presence. Thus, a topic should be introduced in words and the main findings presented; then the table or figure referred to and evidence from it should be introduced in one or two sentences; and then the highlights of the table or figure should be discussed more fully, together with a brief description of what the reader will look for in the table or figure when he or she turns to it. In other words, a reader should not be expected to develop the links between the words in chapter 4 and a table or figure by himself or herself. Indeed, the reader should be able to grasp the meaning by reading either the words or the figures without reference to the other.

When figures are used, the table of data used to construct the figure should be in an appendix. All tables and figures should have a number and title at the top and their source at the bottom. If no source is listed, the examiner will assume the researcher's mind is the source.

5 Conclusions and Implications5.1 IntroductionChapter 5 is the most important chapter of the MSc dissertation, for after ensuring the methodology and research processes are sound, the examiners will spend much time studying chapter 5. But the chapter is often marked by fatigue, so the student must discover springs of interest and creativity to make his or her chapter 5 worthy of the rest of the dissertation, and make it clearly show that the research does make some contribution to the body of knowledge. Thus, the research's contributions to knowledge should be the explicit theme of sections 5.2 to 5.4.

A jigsaw puzzle analogy is useful for understanding what chapter 5 is about. Research begins like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle about the research problem. Chapter 2's literature review starts putting the pieces together to uncover a picture, but shows that some pieces are missing and so the complete picture cannot be known. Then chapters 3 and 4 describe the hunt for the missing pieces. The chapter 5 returns to the puzzle, briefly summarising what the picture looked like at the end of chapter 2 and then explaining how the new pieces fit in to make the whole picture clear.

5.2 Critical Evaluation of Adopted MethodologyOnce the research has been completed, the student has an obligation to explain to the reader how successful the chosen research methodology fitted the problem. Inevitably, with hindsight, the student will find areas where his or her selection of research method was perhaps inappropriate, or unsuccessful in some way. This section deals with these issues.

Note that an MSc dissertation that describes the research process as faultless and the findings unquestionable is almost certainly a referral! This demonstrates that the student has not fully understood what a piece of research should achieve.

5.3 Conclusions About the Research Objectives (Aims)Findings for each research objective are summarised from chapter 4 and explained within the context of this and prior research examined in chapter 2; for example, with which of the researchers discussed in chapter 2 does this research agree or disagree, and why?

For each research objective, the agreement or disagreement of the results of a numbered section in chapter 4 with the literature should be made clear and the reason for disagreement thought through. For example, the disagreement might be because some previous research was done in the USA and this research was done in England (or in your country).

Each research objective should have its own subsection, that is, 5.2.1, 5.2.2 and so on, and each section will have a reference to the appropriate section of chapter 4 so that the examiner can clearly see that the conclusions come from the findings in chapter 4. Of course, each section will also have many references to the writers discussed in chapter 2.

5.4 Conclusions About the Research QuestionBased on section 5.2, implications of the research for furthering understanding of the research question are explored. The section goes beyond the mere numbercrunching (if appropriate) of chapter 4 and incorporates qualitative findings about the research problem developed during the research, including those insights discovered during interviews in qualitative research which had never even been considered in the literature reviewed in chapter 2.

You are warned that examiners are careful that conclusions are based on findings alone, and will dispute conclusions not clearly based on the research results. That is, there is a difference between the conclusions of the research findings in sections 5.3 and implications drawn from them later in sections 5.4. For example, if a qualitative methodology is used with limited claims for generalisability, the conclusions must refer specifically to the people interviewed in the past - 'the Chester Tourist Board managers placed small value on advertising' rather than 'Chester Tourist Board managers place small value on price'.

This section may sometimes be quite small if the research objectives dealt with in the previous sections comprehensively cover the area of the research problem. Nevertheless, the section is usually worth including for it provides a conclusion to the whole research effort.

5.5 Overall ConclusionsThis section should summarise the overall analysis of the research & draw together key points & themes. This section also forms the basis for the recommendations section.

5.6 LimitationsSection 1.4 has (hopefully!) previously outlined major limitations of the research that were a deliberate part of the overall plan (for example, industry boundaries to the research problem). This section discusses other limitations that became apparent during the progress of the research, for example, questionnaire results may indicate that age of respondents is a limitation, etc.

5.7 Opportunities for Further ResearchThis final section is written to help, MSc, MPhil, PhD, DBA and other researchers in the selection and design of future research. Further research could refer to both topics and to methodologies or to both. A case study methodology thesis should mention the need for positivist research to generalise the findings. Removing some limitations mentioned in section 1.4 usually provides opportunities for further research, for example, different regions or countries, different industries and different levels of management.

6 RecommendationsWhere the dissertation has been written in collaboration with an organisation to solve an organisational problem, then it will almost certainly be appropriate to include a recommendations section. However, care must be taken to ensure that the recommendations are based solely on the conclusions; it is all too easy to make logical leaps of faith. Be warned, examiners look for and frown upon such activity!

Where the dissertation is of a more theoretical nature then a recommendations chapter will probably not be appropriate. Discuss this with your supervisor when designing the dissertation layout.

6.1 Implementation PlanThis should include timescales and costings in addition to discussion of the managerial and organisational issues involved with the implementation. It is important that you give adequate justification for what you are recommending. A table and/or use of spreadsheet data often helps to clarify things in this section.

How Will I Know If What Ive Written Is Any Good?Your dissertation should:

Make a contribution to a body of knowledge through an investigation or testing of ideas (possibly worthy in part of publication at a conference);

Demonstrate competence in research processes, including an understanding of, and competence in, appropriate research techniques and an ability to report research;

Make effective use of a body of knowledge, including an ability to make critical use of published work and source materials.

Dissertation RegulationsCopies One electronic copy submitted via Turnitin

Front cover Include the project title, your name, the award, the place, and the year of submission 18 point Times New Roman (see next page)

Font 12 point Times New Roman or Arial

Spacing One and a half line spacing

Margins 3cm left & right, 2cm top and bottom

Footnotes At bottom of page

Headers Not required

Footers Page numbers - centred

Abbreviations Defined before use

Writing style Normally present tense, 3rd person singular

Spelling English - not American

Grammar & punctuation Usual rules of English Grammar & punctuation as described in the Oxford English Dictionary

References Standard APA (virtually identical to Harvard)

Example MSc Front Cover

BRANDNG SYSTEMS IMPACT:

A QUALITATIVE STUDY AT CHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL

NAME

CHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL

DATE

Assessment RegulationsYou are reminded that along with all other modules, the MSc dissertation is subject to University regulations regarding late submissions, etc. If unsure about these regulations check on Moodle.

You are normally required to present the following in order to be considered for the award of Master of Business Administration:

The DissertationAll MSc dissertations are first marked by your supervisor and second marked by a knowledgeable second marker. First and second markers' comments and grades are compared by the Module Leader and dealt with as follows:

1.Where the marks differ by <5% the supervisor's grade is recommended

2.Where marks differ by >5% the first and second marker meet with the Module Leader to see if they can agree a jointly acceptable grade

symbol 216 f "Wingdings" s 10 hIf an agreed mark is not possible the Module Leader will send the MSc dissertation to the External Examiner for third marking (along with the first and second markers' comments/grades). The mark of the External Examiner will normally be recommended to the Examination Board.

3.It is Chester Business School policy that ALL dissertations are moderated by at least one External Examiner. Furthermore, the mark recommended by the External Examiner (if different from the supervisor and second marker) will normally be the mark presented to the Examination Board.

Dissertation Marking CriteriaThe following percentages are normally applied to each chapter of your research report; any deviation from these criteria MUST be formally agreed with your supervisor, recorded in writing, and signed by you and your supervisor before submission of the final dissertation:

SEE PAGE 46-48 MARKING CRITERIAReading List

Core Text

Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2015). Business Research Methods, (4th ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Easterby-Smith, M., Jasperson, L. J., Thorpe, R. and Danat, V. (2021). Management and Business Research, (7th ed). Sage

Gray, D. (2017). Doing Your Research in the Real World. 4th ed. Sage Publications

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2019) Research Methods for Business Students (8th ed) Pearson

Stokes, P., and Wall, T. (2014) Research Methods, London, Palgrave.

Additional Reading

Denscombe, M. (2017). The Good Research Guide: for small-scale social research projects, (6th ed). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Gill, J. & Johnson, P. (2010). Research Methods for Managers, (4th ed). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Lee, N. and Lings, I. (2008) Doing Business Research: a guide to theory and practice. Thousand Oaks,California: Sage.

Oliver, P. (2010). The Student's Guide to Research Ethics, (2nr ed). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Punch, K.F. (2013). Introduction to Social Research: quantitative and qualitative approaches, (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Savin-Baden, M. and Howell Major, C. (Eds.) (2010). New Approaches to Qualitative Research. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

Silverman, D. (Ed.) (2013). Doing Qualitative Research: theory, method and practice, (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Yin, R. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods. (4th Ed). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Research process and design

Knight, P. 2001. Small-scale Research. London: Sage

Partington, D (Eds). 2002 Essential Guide for Management Research, SAGE London.

Quantitative methods

Bryman, A. (1988) Quantity and Quality in Social Research, Unwin Hyman, London.

Bryman, A. and Bell., E, (2011) Business Research Methods, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Bryman, A. and Cramer, D. (2008) Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS 14. 15 and 16: A Guide for Social Scientists, Routledge Chapman Hall

Cassell, C., and Symon, G. (Ed) (1994) Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research, Sage Publications. London.

De Vaus, D. (2002) Surveys in Social Research. (5th Ed) Routledge. London

Pallant, J. 2011. SPSS Survival Manual, 4th Edition, Open University Press.

Qualitative Research

Dudwick, N., Kuehnast, K., Jones,V.N. and Woolcock, M. (2006) Analysing Social Capital in Context: A Guide to Using Qualitative Methods and Data, World Bank Institute. Washington.

Prus, R. (1996) Symbolic Interaction and Ethnographic Research, State University of New York Press, Albany.

Remenyi, D., Williams, B., Money, A. and Swartz. E. (1998) Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method. Sage. London

Silverman, D. (1985) Qualitative methodology and sociology: describing the social world. Ashgate Publishing. Aldershot.

Stake, R.E. (2000) Case Studies. In: Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (Ed) Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks: 435-254

Yin, R. K. (2nd Ed) (1994) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks.

Yin, R.K. (2nd Ed) (2003) Application of Case Study Research. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks

Useful websites:

Social Research Methods

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/index.php

IMPORTANT: UNIVERSITY MASTERS THESIS CONSENT FORMNAME:

TITLE OF THESIS:

DEPARTMENT:

Please complete and sign either section A or B. You must have the signed permission of your Dissertation Supervisor before signing section B.

Section A

I give consent for a copy of my thesis to be held in the University library and to be made available within the library for consultation and photocopying (within copyright limits as defined in the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988).

Signed

Date.

Section B

I have obtained the permission of my Dissertation Supervisor for the imposition of an embargo on access to and use of my thesis for year(s) [maximum of 5 years]. My thesis will not be made available for consultation or photocopying and will not be recorded in the University library catalogue until the embargo has expired. When the embargo has expired, my thesis will be made available within the library for consultation and photocopying (within copyright limitations). Please mark your dissertation Private and Confidential on the copy front.

Signed

Date.

Dissertation Supervisor ..

Signature

Date

MSc Dissertation (BU7001) Assessment/Feedback Sheet Assignment One of One

Student Name: Student No.:

Dissertation Title:

First Assessor:

Section Comments Mark

Planning and Design

Clarity and validity of research focus

Clarity and coherence of research design

Relationship between the research question/problem and chosen methodologies

Effectiveness of research methods employed (25%)

Research

Comprehensiveness and relevance of the literature review

Validity and reliability of empirical research methods

Quality and relevance of research data (25%)

Analysis

Application of theoretical

understanding to support analysis

Quality of analysis generated

Coherence in the relationship between the findings, literature

review and objectives (25%)

Cogency and Structure/Organisation

Coherence of the dissertation structure, writing and presentation

Referencing/bibliography (25%)

The extent to which the dissertation logically and coherently examines the subject with sufficient breadth and depth.

Clarity and consistency of the conclusions with the data and original research question.

Recommendations are logical and coherent General Comments (if applicable)

Overall Mark: %

An example of chapter structure, weighting of marks and words per Chapter

N.B. (This is indicative for planning purposes, as it will differ depending on methodologies and projects)

SectionCommentsMark

Introduction Extent to which the student has clearly articulated the research problem (5-9%)

600 1,080 words

Literature Review Extent to which the student has demonstrated critical analysis of relevant extant research (20-26%)

2,400 - 3,120 words

Methodology Extent to which the student has developed & justified a defensible approach to undertaking the research (15-19%)

1,800 2,280 words

Critical Analysis and interpretation Extent to which the student has clearly presented the research findings (25-30%)

3,000 3,600 words

Conclusions and evaluation

Communication and presentation Extent to which the student has analysed the research findings & re-contextualised these in extant research introduced in chapter 2. (14-16%)

1,680 - 1,920 words Total Mark100%

UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER

CHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL

Research Ethics Form

Guidelines for completion

Please note you must not embark on your research until you have ethical approval

Insufficient detail will result in this application being returned to the student for further consideration.

Check your programme/ module guidance for specific issues relating to this process

Please note that your answers must be typed. Please expand the sections below.

Section A: To be completed by student

Section A1 Project outline

Student / researcher name: Student number: Lead supervisor name: Module number: Programme name: Site/partner: Department: Anticipated end date: Title of project: Exploring the effect of digital/social media marketing on specialised medical devices industry in UK during and post Pandemic. A case study of Advanced Medical Solutions Ltd

(AMS).

Main research question:

Q1: What issues were faced by AMS during Covid 19?

Q2: How the medical devices industry in UK and AMS transformed to digital marketing during pandemic?

Q3: What could be the strategic implications for medical devices industry to adopt digital media marketing.

Research aim:

The aim of this research is to explore,

Challenges to adopt the digital marketing by AMS and medical devices.

How digital media marketing impacted medical devices and AMS.

Research objectives:

1: To explore issues faced by AMS to communicate with customers during pandemic.

2: To provide a brief review on the digital media marketing transformation of medical devices and AMS.

3: To propose a digital media framework for specialized medical devices and AMS of strategic importance.

Research methodology

Type(s) of data

Specify the type(s) of data will be used in this research project. (for example Primary data, secondary data or mix of both types of data)

Primary data (Questionnaire)

+

Secondary data

Source(s) of data

Specify the source(s) of the data you intended to collect.

(for example, from online databases, a specified organisation, classmates, etc.)

Secondary data will be collected from published reports. Industry reports will be collected by searching medical devices Journals, published studies e.g. KPMG, MedTech, Springer, Govt data etcJustify why the above source(s) of data fits for your research context.

It will provide most updated information on the research questions and will help to identify the challenges faced by industry.

The secondary data is easy to collect and requires less time and cost. Much information of digital media in health care/ medical devices industry exists in these journals, reports etc. Further it will give broader spectrum of information of the different researchers findings and data on the relevant topic.

Data collection

Describe how your data will be collected. (i.e., your data collection method and relevant activities)

For example: Surveys, interview, focus group, observation, experiment, data downloaded from designated sources or others.

Primary data will be collected by sending online questionnaire

Justify why the above data collection method(s) fits for your research context. If your data collection involves human respondents, describe how prospective participants have been identified and selected for contact regarding potential recruitment. Specify how they will be invited to participate your research project.

(Please also provide a summary on how many participants there are likely to be, where the research will take place) Specify your sample size if applicable (No. of respondents, etc.) 12-18.

Data analysis

Describe how you are going to analyse the collected data.

(i.e. data analysis approach and method. For example, Qualitative (i.e. thematic analysis, content analysis) and Quantitative (i.e. statistical analysis; content analysis etc.))

Qual: content analysis

Quant: statistical analysis

Specify the data analysis tool(s) you planned to use in this study.

For example, SPSS, MS Excel, Nvivo, etc.

MS Excel

Justify your data analysis method and your chosen analysis tools.

.

Data storage and disclosure

Describe in what way(s) you are going to store and secure your collected data during and after the research, including data transfer, sharing, encryption, protection. (see guidance UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR))

.

Describe in what way(s) you are going to protect the identity and privacy of people and /or organisation(s) involved in your research.

Section A2: Supporting documents

Notes to read before you complete this section

It is recommended that you do not conduct research within the NHS given the time that the process can take for approval from the Integrated Research Application System (IRAS). However if you are required to do so on your work-based programme, please seek your tutors and your line managers guidance as to the most effective route for approval.

A2.1 Research outside England

In the event that a student intends to conduct research outside of England, they will be subject to the local ethical review regulations of each country in which they intend to carry out the research. This applies to online research as well. They may also require additional approvals via an appropriate review procedure in each country. It will be the responsibility of the student to ensure that they obtain the necessary authority to conduct research outside of England.

Please select only one of the below items Tick the applicable

This research will not be conducted outside of England. This research will be conducted outside of England. Relevant documents such as approval letter(s) from an authority of each country have been obtained and attached as supporting document for review. A2.2 Research within / for / or about organisation(s)

If you are undertaking any form of research within / for / or about an organisation you will require written permission of that organisation and this should be submitted with this ethics form (e.g. an email from a line manager). The identity of the organisation should normally be anonymised unless the organisation has agreed to this in their written permission.

Please select only one of the below items Tick the applicable

This research will not be conducted within / for / or about organisation(s). This research will be conducted within / for / or about organisation(s). Relevant documents such as signed official letter(s) of the organisation have been obtained and attached as supporting document for review. A2.3 Research involves human participants

No research can be conducted with humans unless University of Chester ethical approval has been granted.

Please select only one of the below items Tick the applicable

This research does not involve human participants. This research involves human participants. The Participant Information Sheet, Consent Form and other relevant documents have been attached as supporting document for review. In addition, I confirm no face-to-face research will be conducted.

Section A3: Action Plan on ethical issue(s)

Please address ethical issue(s) listed below according to your research context and provide a brief description of the potential ethical issue and relevant action(s) that you will put in place to manage the situation. Please put a N/A for the item(s) not applicable in your research.

Potential ethical issue applicable to your research Your description and relevant action(s) to manage the situation

Involves potentially vulnerable participants Safeguarding/child and young adult protection (aged under 18) Risks to participants and/or researchers Dissemination and use of findings The demands on participants: time and travel requirements, monetary costs Collection of recordings such as audio, photographic or video materials Any other potential ethical issue or risk, please specify.

Section A4: Governance

Please give details below on how you plan to deal with any unexpected issues or risks during your project (related to any ethical or other project risk issue). For example, name individuals who you may seek advice or who may be able to offer supporting in managing any issues as they arise. This may also include people who need to be informed of unexpected information related to the Prevent Agenda (see Prevent Agenda).

In the case of any unexpected issues or risks occurring during the project, the allocated Supervisor will be my first point of contact. The Module leader and Programme leader should also be contacted.

Section A5: Declaration and signature

Declaration: I believe the information I have given in this form is correct. I have read the attached guidelines and have consulted an appropriate research textbook/source to help me develop an appropriate action plan to address any relevant issues identified. I also confirm that all data/information will be handled and stored in line with the Data Protection Act and GDPR.

I also confirm that I have included for my supervisor and the Ethics Committee to review the Participant Information Sheet and Consent form, both of which must include the following:

Negligent Harm Statement

The University does not accept liability for harm which does not result from its negligence. In the event that something does go wrong and a participant is harmed during the research and the harm sustained is due to the negligent acts of those undertaking the research, then the participant may have grounds to bring legal action. Anyone bringing such legal action may incur legal costs.

Signed by applicant

Section B: To be completed by Supervisor

Peer review approval or Full review by ethics committee

Section B1: checklist Choose from drown down menu

Expose participants to high levels of risk, or levels of risks beyond those which the participant is likely to encounter in their everyday activities? These risks may be psychological, physical, social, economic, cause legal harm or devalue a persons self-worth. For example, untrained volunteers exposed to high levels of physical exertion; participants purposefully exposed to stressful situations; research where participants are persuaded to reveal information which they would not otherwise disclose in the course of everyday life.

SelectInvolve the administration of drugs, medicines or nutritional supplements as part of the research design? SelectInclude adults who may be classed as vulnerable? For example, adults with learning disabilities or mental illness; drug/substance users; young offenders; prisoners/probationers; those in a dependent relationship with the researcher.

SelectInclude children or young adults (below 18 years of age)? SelectInvolve the discussion or disclosure of topics which participants might find sensitive or distressing? For example, sexual activity; criminal activity; drug use; mental health; previous traumatic experiences; illness; bereavement.

SelectUse questionnaires which focus on highly sensitive areas? For example, illegal activity; criminal activity; disclosure and analysis of findings based on sensitive personal information as defined by Data Protection Act e.g. racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious beliefs; trade union membership; physical or mental health; sexual life. SelectIncorporate interviews or focus groups which involve the discussion of highly sensitive areas? For example, illegal activity; criminal activity; disclosure and analysis of findings based on sensitive personal information as defined by Data Protection Act e.g. racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious beliefs; trade union membership; physical or mental health; sexual life.

SelectInvolve high levels of risks to the researcher?

For example, lone working at night; interviewing in your own or participants homes, observation in potentially volatile or sensitive situations.

SelectInvolve deliberately misleading participants in any way? SelectInvolve the collection and/or use of human tissue from healthy volunteers?

Under these circumstances human tissue is as defined by the Human Tissue Act 2004 - Any, and all, constituent part/s of the human body formed by cells. Research studies involving the use of plasma or serum are not covered by the HTA. SelectFor research accessing and analysing existing datasets: will the dataset include information which would allow the identification of individual participants?

SelectIf you have answered NO to ALL of the above checklist items then the research is eligible for Peer review approval (subjected to a) moderator approval and b) final online checking and confirmation). You can identify any academic colleague in the faculty as a moderator.

Please note that if the assigned reviewer finds that your application has been wrongly submitted for Peer review 1 approval or has not been considered as low risk by the ethics committee through periodic sample review, then the supervisor will be notified, and the application will be forwarded for a full review by the ethics committee. This may cause additional delays to the outcome of the application.

If you have answered YES to ANY of the above checklist items then this application will be assigned to the Ethics Committee for Full Review.

Section B2

Options on Peer review approval or Full review by the ethics committee (select one appropriate option)

Option 1) This application requires a Full review by the ethics committee

I have assessed 1) Section A and Section B1 of this application form and 2) the relevant supporting documents provided by the applicant. I consider this application should be passed on to the ethics committee for review

Name of Supervisor: Signature of Supervisor: Date: Option 2) This application is approved under the Peer review approval route and I confirm this application has been reviewed by a moderator.

The moderator and I both have assessed 1) Section A and Section B1 of this application form and 2) the relevant supporting documents provided by the applicant. I confirm that the below moderator and I have both considered this application as low risk and is approved under the Peer review approval route.

For supervisor to complete

Please list all the attached supporting documents on this application. Name of Supervisor: Signature of Supervisor: Date: For moderator to complete

I confirm the above listed additional supporting documents has been reviewed Name of Moderator: Signature of Moderator: Date: Any comments from supervisor or moderator

Views of social media Use in Healthcare

The goal of this survey is to gain insight regarding the perception of social media and its role in health care. This is a voluntary survey aimed to only Advanced Medical Solutions Ltd. You are being asked to participate in this study because you meet these requirements. Please complete the survey below to all questions that apply to you and your social media use. Thank you for your time.

This survey will not be the part of your appraisal process or professional assessment.

Please enter your name at the end of survey.

Definitions:

Social use of social media: any action related to personal interests/information outside of the healthcare field (e.g. posting pictures from a dinner party, liking posts of movies coming soon).

Educational use of social media: defined as anything regarding the healthcare field that you deem as knowledgeable and useful information for the field (e.g. accessing journal articles, reading drug updates).

1: Your age (years)

25-35 36-46 47-57 58-67

2: What is/are your primary professional role(s) in AMS? (Please select one that apply)

Sales Marketing Clinical Regulatory Other

( Please describe if select others)

3: Which was/were the most common challenge faced in converting to social media during pandemic? (Please select only one or no more than three options at maximum)

Budget

Regulatory approval

IT structure

Training on digital media use

Human resources

Other ( Please describe if select others)

4: Does AMS use social media channels for communicating with customers?

Yes

No

5: Did digital/social media platforms help you communicate better with your customers during Covid and afterward?

Yes

No

6: What is the main reason you use social media for professional purposes?

Education

Socialising

Downloading and uploading videos/content

7: How much improvement in commercial activity has been observed since digital/social media use?

1-10%

11-20%

21-30%

31% or more

No improvement

7: How would you best describe your intended use of social media platforms?

Social Educational Other

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Snapchat Instagram Pinterest TikTok Name: -------------------------