School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2009/10 |
MN50166: Methods of management research |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Masters |
| Period: | Semester 2 |
| Assessment:
| CW 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description: | Aims: To help students as potential managers to appreciate the value of management research in decision making, to judge the value of other persons' research efforts, and to plan and execute their own research. To introduce the research methods necessary to successfully undertake an advanced level management research project. Its specific focus is the MSc dissertation project: from topic and methods selection, through the research process (e.g. how to combine what is already known with novel primary data), to writing up the results. Learning Outcomes: By the end of the unit students will be able to: * define a clear purpose for their dissertation; develop and defend an interesting or novel set of questions to guide it and an appropriate set of methods; * make judgements about what to include/exclude in producing a critical literature review; * demonstrate awareness of the potentially contradictory methodological and theoretical frameworks that can be selected; * understand the practical challenges of collecting and analysing data using different methods, (including reflection on any ethical issues raised); * use a referencing system (e.g. Harvard) with consistency and accuracy. Skills: * Comprehensive and scholarly written communication (e.g. essays) (Taught/Facilitated). * Ability to select, summarise and synthesise written information from multiple sources (T/F/A). * Ability to formulate a research question (T/F/A). * Ability to analyse quantitative and qualitative data (T/F/A). * Ability to produce work to agreed specifications and deadlines (T/F). Content: The nature and scope of management research, selecting research questions, supervision, secondary data, structured literature reviews, primary data collection techniques, the questionnaire, the purpose of qualitative research, qualitative techniques, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the presentation of research findings. In addition to teaching key methodological concepts and ideas, the course is deliberately designed to offer contact with a broad range of School of Management staff active in management research. 'Master classes', together with a poster session where representatives from allteaching areas in the school will be available to give feedback on initial ideas for the assignment (ie. the dissertation topic) and discuss possible supervision, are intended to both improve the learning experience and increase the quality of subsequent dissertation work. |