This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
BUS B950
Business Research
BUS B950 Business Research is a 20-credit compulsory course within the Master of Business in Research Methods programme. The course provides students with advanced-level training in research methods. While this course is particularly relevant to students who want to pursue a higher degree in research, it is also of value to those wanting to work in a commercial or professional environment where research forms a significant part of the work. The course is adopted from two UKOU courses designed for students intended to pursue a PhD degree: B852 Management and Business Research and DT840 Introduction to Research: Basic Skills and Survey Methods. Mirroring the path of studies from UKOU, BUS B950 is organized into two modules: Module 1 is Research in Business Management adopted from B852 of UKOU whereas Module 2 is Introduction to Research, adopted from DT840 of UKOU.
This course aims to help students develop their knowledge about management and business research methods and will aid in preparation for the thesis in a higher degree in research. It aims to introduce some of the essential practical and conceptual skills for research and give an opportunity to students to practise them as well as to introduce the survey analysis as a particular example of research methodology.
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:
| Topic | Study hours |
| Module 1 Research in Business Management | |
| 1 Introduction to research in business management | 10 |
| 2 Philosophy underpinning management research | 30 |
| Module 2 Introduction to Research | |
| 3 Basic methodological choice | 20 |
| 4 Validity and reliability | 20 |
| 5 Conceptualizing and refining the research topic | 30 |
| 6 The state-of-the-art (literature review) | 40 |
| 7 Quantitative research – sampling, questionnaire design and data collection | 40 |
| 8 Quantitative research – key characteristics | 30 |
| 9 Quantitative research – data analysis | 40 |
| 10 Writing research reports | 30 |
| 11Ethics and politics in research | 10 |
| TOTAL: | 300 |
Alignment of outcomes and contents
The outcomes are related to the study units as follows:
| Learning outcome | Topic |
Outcome 1 | Topics 1–2 and 5–6 |
Outcome 2 | Topics 2–4 and 7–9 |
Outcome 3 | Topics 2–10 |
Outcome 4 | Topics 4–11 |
This course is mainly conducted through students' self-study of the course materials with guidance from the tutor. The tutor will regularly meet with the students (around once every month and at least 24 hours in total throughout the course). In addition, two workshops each lasting for four hours are arranged for students in which they learn how to use different data analysis software programmes. Apart from live online tutorials, students can keep contact with their tutor through other means such as telephone conversation, email, or fax. As both the tutor and students have access to computers, email would be a preferable means for communication.
Course assessment includes continuous assessment (OCAS) only, as outlined below.
Continuous Assessment: 100% (3 assignments + oral presentation)
Continuous Assessment (weighting 100%)
Continuous assessment consists of the following components:
Assignment 1 (weighting 25%)
This assignment requires students to identify a real-life research problem, review a number of relevant scholarly research publications, and write up a report that provides details about the identified research question and plausible explanations and solutions. This assignment aims to assess Learning Outcome 1.
Assignment 2 (weighting 25%)
This assignment is a continuation of Assignment 1. Students are required to deepen their research on the research question identified in Assignment 1 and suggest and compare alternative research strategies. This assignment aims to assess Learning Outcomes 1 and 2.
Assignment 3 (weighting 30%)
This assignment requires students to develop a proposal for a piece of research on a problem in an area of their own choosing. This assignment aims to assess Learning Outcomes 1 to 4.
Assignment 4 Oral Presentation (Compulsory Assignment)(weighting 20%)
The oral presentation in the compulsory Assignment 4 aims to verify and confirm that the assignments (Assignments 1, 2, and 3) were prepared by the student him/herself. If the examiner judges through the oral presentation that the assignments were not the student's own work, he/she will give a fail grade to the student.
To pass the course, students must pass the compulsory Assignment and the continuous assessment. If a student fails in any, the student will fail the course. As there is no supplementary examination in this course, if a student fails the course, he/she has to retake the course.
There are no set books for this course.
Reference textbooks for this course are:
The tutor will assign relevant journal articles for students to read and discuss in live online tutorials. The journal articles are selected to help students better understand the topics to be covered in live online tutorials and work on their assignments.
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