Module Handbook 2023-2024

MSc Program Oct 2023 Intake

Module Code: BU7002

Module Title: Management Research Methods

Module Leaders: Dr Farid Ullah and Abdul Muqeem

 BU7002 Management Research Methods 2023/24

Contents
Module Information.............................................................................................................................3
Module Intentions...............................................................................................................................3
Learning outcomes.............................................................................................................................3
Module Schedule................................................................................................................................4
Teaching and Learning Methods......................................................................................................5
Assessment information.....................................................................................................................6
Reading List.........................................................................................................................................7
Approaches to Writing........................................................................................................................8
Changes to module from previous year...........................................................................................9
Good practice standards....................................................................................................................9

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Module Information

Module Leaders: Farid Ullah and Abdul Muqeem

Office: Bridge House, Second Floor, Room CBH219
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0) 1244 513 158
University Queen’s Park Campus, Chester CH4 7AD
Address:
University Phone: 01244 511800

Administration Office:

Office: Bridge House, Second Floor

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01244 511064

Module Intentions

Aims

The aim of this module is to enable learners to:

1. Understand and critically evaluate the findings of management research

2. Design and implement a management research project using methodologies
and methods appropriate to research questions and objectives
3. Analyse and report management research findings meeting academic and
practitioner needs

Learning outcomes

1. To understand the nature of management knowledge and research through

an appreciation of various research philosophical orientations
2. To identify and critically evaluate a range of research strategies and research
designs
3. To understand and evaluate management research designs and methods for
the chosen research project
4. To understand the ethical conduct of management research

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Module Schedule

The module is delivered face-to-face/online in block teaching. Thirteen sessions in total,

with three-hour each session will be delivered over Six days (please see your timetable for
dates and times). The following table shows indicative contents (subject to amendments).

Please note that week numbers correlate to the delivery of sessions in blocks; for example,
week one refers to block one stretched over two days. Week one, has four sessions spread
across two days. Each day, there is a three-hour morning (AM) session and a three-hour
afternoon (PM) session. We will give 12 hours of lectures in week-one and week two. Week
three and four will have 6 hours; the last week, we will have only a two-hour Turnitin support
session—a total of 36 hours of teaching in a five-week period. Please refer to the BU7002
Module Descriptor for information on the class contact hours and independent study hours
required for this module.

Block of Topic
teaching
Week 1 Morning Session (AM): Introduction

Day One  Introduction to the module

 Expectations and Overview
 Assignment Introduction (please see Assessment Brief on
Moodle)
 Theoretical Perspectives and Research Methodologies in
Business

Afternoon Session (PM): Ethics

 Business Research Ethics

Morning Session (AM): Proposal

Day Two  Selecting and Planning Business Research Proposals and

Projects

Afternoon Session (PM): Literature Review

 Searching, Critically Reviewing and Using the Literature in

Business

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Week 2 Morning Session (AM): Research Methodology/Design

Day One  Philosophy / Philosophical approaches

 Business Research Design:
 Qualitative Methods
 Quantitative Methods
 Mixed Methods

Afternoon Session (PM): Data Collection and Sampling

 Data collection methods

 Sampling Strategies in Business
 Designing Descriptive
 Designing Case Studies for Business

Day Two Morning Session (AM): Quantitative Data Analysis

 Analysing and Presenting Quantitative Data

 Quantitative Software

Afternoon Session (PM): Qualitative Data Analysis

 Analysing and Presenting Qualitative Data

 Qualitative software

Week 3 Morning Session (AM):

 Practising Ethics form and related documents

Afternoon Session (PM):

 How to write a good research proposal

Week 4 Morning Session (AM):

 Learn more about quantitative data analysis

Afternoon Session (PM):

 Learn more about qualitative data analysis.

Week 5 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM

Turnitin Support Session

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Teaching and Learning Methods

All students should attend eight teaching and learning sessions during weeks 1 and
2, as shown in the above schedule and on your timetable. We will be offering
assignment support in week 3 and 4. There is a scheduled session for Turnitrun
Support in week 5 as above. This will be the last session we meet in class for the
BU7002 module. However, if you have any further questions, you may contact us
through MS Teams/e-mail, and we will do our best to address them.

If you have any questions during class contact time, please do not hesitate to ask
them and we will do our best to answer them immediately. However, given the
nature of the delivery, namely, block teaching and the large number of students
enrolled on this module, this may be difficult due to time constraints and the need to
cover all relevant contents in a limited amount of time. BU7002 and BU7001 are
distinct from other MSc modules in the way that they are self-contained and driven
by students, i.e. it is your choice and responsibility to develop a research topic,
design project, aim/s and objectives, research question/s, data collection, analysis,
and ethical approval. You are responsible for completing these two critical modules
successfully and on time. BU7002 (20 Credits) and BU7001 (60 Credits) account for
over one-third of your degree. As a result, more effort and diligence are necessary in
these modules.

Please refer to the programme handbook for further guidance and information on
your MSc Pathway.

Assessment information

The assessment seeks to test the understanding and application of relevant

knowledge.

1. The assessment for BU7002 is an individually written Research Proposal for

the management research project. (Assessing ALL Learning Outcomes 1-4)
(3,000 words,+ 10%, -10%; 100% weighting).

Submission Procedure

The 3,000 words individually written Research Proposal assessment will be

submitted electronically via Turnitin and will be subject to originality checks through
the Turnitin software. Further information and guidance about Turnitin and step-by-

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step instructions on submission procedures are provided in the Student Guide to
Online Submission.

Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that you keep both a hard and/or
soft copies of your work. All submissions will be expected to be submitted before
the mentioned time on the assessment brief on the submission date; early
submission is permissible. Please note if you submit after the due date and time, this
will be subject to a late penalty. It is strongly advised to submit well before the time in
case of any issues that may be experienced so you have time to rectify them in time
to submit.

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Presentation

 Please include a title page with the title of your work, number of words, the
module title and number, the name of your module tutor and your assessment
number.

 All references and bibliographies should be constructed using the APA 7 System.
A handout on this system is available from Learning Resources.

Reading List

The following are key texts which will be frequently referenced throughout the
module.

Core Text:

 Bell, E., Bryman, A., & Harley, B. (2019). Business research methods (5th
ed.). Oxford University Press.
 Denzin, N. K., Lincoln, Y. S., Giardina, M. D., & Cannella, G. S. (2023). The
SAGE handbook of qualitative research (Sixth). SAGE.
 Gray, D. E. (2019). Doing research in the business world (2nd ed.). SAGE.
 Saunders, M., Thornhill, A., & Lewis, P. (2019). Research methods for
business students (8th ed.). Pearson.

Additional Texts

 Bell, J., & Waters, S. (2018). Doing your research project: a guide for first-
time researchers (7th ed.). Open University Press.
 Denscombe, M. (2021). The good research guide: research methods for
small-scale social research projects (7th ed.). Open University Press.
 Easterby-Smith, M., Jaspersen, L. J., Thorpe, R., & Valizade, D.
(2021). Management and business research (7th ed.). SAGE.
 Punch, K. (2014). Introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative
approaches (3rd ed.). SAGE.
 Robson, C., & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research: A resource for
users of social research methods in applied settings (4th ed.). John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
 Silverman, D. (2022). Doing qualitative research (6th ed.). SAGE.

An extended reading list is available on Moodle here.

Module Resources – Academic

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See extended reading list

Module Resources – Professional

See extended reading list

Approaches to Writing

Academic integrity

It is unethical and unacceptable to pass off someone else's work, either published or
unpublished, as your own. This is known as plagiarism. This, and other forms of
academic integrity, include directly copying text from another source, or just
changing a few words, without referencing the source; colluding with another student
to jointly produce a piece of work you are claiming your own; commissioning
someone else to write your assignment or part of your assignment for you; or making
up data or references. If you wish to refer to work other than your own, you must
acknowledge it in your work.

You should be aware that if you are found guilty of any academic integrity you risk
being penalised. This could range from failing an assessment or a module, to being
required to leave your course or having a degree withdrawn.

Please refer to the following web-link for full details of what is considered to be
academic integrity: Guidance for students.

Full details as to what is expected in your assessments will be included in all

assessment briefings.

Standard English

It is expected that your writing will conform to Standard English in terms of spelling,
syntax and grammar.

If you have difficulties with written English, because it is not your first language or for
some other reason e.g. dyslexia, there is a range of help available from the
university. Please contact The International Office (international students) or
Student Support and Development for details.

Assessment Criteria

The Level 7 marking criteria (Appendix N) shall be used as generic guidelines to promote
marking consistency across the University. They are not intended to indicate a mechanistic
marking process, but rather to enable refined judgements to be made. Level 7 programmes
shall design assessment criteria linked to the stated learning outcomes.

Reassessment

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Students requiring reassessment will be notified in writing and provided with the
appropriate information after the meetings of the Awards Assessment Boards (AAB).

Reassessments Turnitin Links and date of submission will be communicated to

students in writing by the [email protected]. Please regularly check your
University of Chester e-mail (not your personal email ID) as all important information
will be sent to your university e-mail account.

Further information can be obtained on Moodle at Handbook F - The Assessment of

Students

Principles and Regulation can be found at Principles and Regulations

Changes to module from previous year

The Level 7 marking criteria has changed the pass rate from 40% to 50%. All
postgraduate modules pass mark is now 50%. There have been slight changes to
the content of the assessments and slight changes to module content to update the
module. For BU7002, there is only ONE 3,000 words individually written
assessment.

The 2019/20 version of Handbook A applies to assessments where students have

commenced a new module on or after 1st August 2019 and will be assessed on the
new marking criteria with a pass rate at 50%.

For students who are reassessing in modules that started before this date, the
2018/19 version applies with the old pass rate of 40%.

Good practice standards

Written feedback on coursework (other than for final-year dissertations) shall

normally be available to students in good time to be of assistance in preparation for
the next assignment (where applicable) and within four term-time working weeks of
the submission deadline. Feedback shall show the agreed internal mark following
the second-marking process. In cases where, for good reason, the four-week
schedule cannot be adhered to, students shall be notified by the relevant Subject
Department with an accompanying rationale and a revised schedule.

Extracted from Handbook F to accompany the Principles and Regulations: The

Assessment of Students at levels 4, 5, 6 and 7.

At the University of Chester all academic departments work particularly hard to manage
student expectations at all levels and in all aspects of their academic experience. Good
communication and the application of the following good practice standards are among
the ways in which a high quality student experience is ensured.

The good practice standards do not supplant the University’s formal Principles and
Regulations and the accompanying Quality and Standards Handbooks, but are intended

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to compliment these publications. The Good Practice Standards cannot be used by a
student as the basis of a complaint or an academic appeal.

Standards in Assessment and Feedback

At the University of Chester:

1. All departments review assessment methods and timings across each programme
on an annual basis prior to the production of module handbooks, in order to try and
minimise assessment bunching for students within the department.
2. Staffs communicate with students at an early stage in the academic year
information about their programme including their assessments and the timing of
these assessments, in order to raise awareness of assessment requirements and
to assist students in planning ahead.
3. Departments provide to students both the hand-in dates for assessments and the
dates when feedback on assessments will be made available. Departments will
provide feedback to students within four term-time weeks, in accordance with the
published term dates of the University.
4. If in exceptional circumstances work is not to be returned to students within the
prescribed four term-time weeks then students are notified at the earliest
opportunity and given an explanation and a revised date when they will receive
feedback.
5. Students receive feedback on an item of formative or summative assessment
before the end of the autumn term.
6. Feedback is appropriately detailed and clear so that students can understand how
they have performed, the strengths of their work and how it might be improved.
Tutors make themselves available to students in order to discuss feedback.

Standards in Organisation and Management

At the University of Chester

7. Programme information is provided to all students at the start of each year.

Staffs indicate to students the importance of such information and highlight
key issues to students.
8. Module handbooks are provided to all students at the start of the module
and this will include clear and appropriate information and give details of the
timings and nature of assessments.
9. All students are made aware of the location of the department office (or
equivalent) and the names of the departmental staff.
10. Students are informed about how best to contact their tutors, including how
to arrange appointments. Tutors advertise office hours, when they are
available to deal with student queries.
11. Departments provide clear and timely feedback to students on actions taken
in response to evaluations.
12. Departments have robust processes for Staff-Student Liaison Meetings, to
ensure that communication of issues is maximised. Feedback to students
on actions taken in response to meetings is communicated back to students
in a timely manner.
13. When occasional temporary room changes have to be made this is
communicated quickly and clearly to students. Departments take all
reasonable steps to make students aware of any changes including, for

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example: the tutor giving advanced notice whenever possible; an email
being sent to all students affected by any change; notices being posted in
the relevant buildings and on doors; the relevant administrative staff being
fully briefed about the change.

Approved by Senate 9th Dec 09

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