Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T1 2022
Unit Code HI6008
Unit Title Business Research Project
Assessment Type 3. Group* Report on Research Design and Methodology
Assessment Title Business Research Design and Methodology
Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping) The purpose of this assessment is to ensure each student is able to demonstrate their ability to apply relevant business research methodology, including proposed sample frame, data collection, analysis and interpretation.
This assignment builds on and extends the topic selected in assignment 1 and researched more thoroughly in assignment 2.
A presentation may be requested by your lecturer, tutor, or unit coordinator.
Matches to Unit Learning Outcomes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Weight 30 % of the total assessments
Total Marks 30
Word limit 2500 words, plus or minus 10%
Due Date Before midnight on the Friday of Week 10, i.e. 27 May
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Submission Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard by 12 midnight on the due date, with a completed Assignment Cover Page as one single document. [If no cover page your mark may be reduced -10%; Late submissions attract penalties at the rate of -5% per day]
• The group members’ names and student numbers listed on the Cover Page must align with the members officially registered in your group. [any errors or omissions may affect your grade and there is no guarantee of any adjustment]
• The assignment must be in MS Word format, single spacing, 12-pt Arial font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings, paragraphing, and page numbers.
• Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list, all using Holmes adapted Harvard referencing style.
• Include as an Appendix, your group statement of ‘who wrote which sections’)
Holmes Adapted Harvard Referencing
Holmes has now implemented a Holmes adapted Harvard approach to referencing:
1. Reference sources in assignments are limited to sources which provide full text access to the source’s content for lecturers and markers.
2. Your Reference list is to be located on a separate page at the end of the essay and titled: References.
3. It should include the details of all the in-text citations, arranged alphabetically A-Z by author surname. In addition, it MUST include a hyperlink to the full text of the cited reference source.
For example;
Hawking, P., McCarthy, B. and Stein, A. 2004. Second Wave ERP Education, Journal of Information Systems Education, Fall, http://jise.org/Volume15/n3/JISEv15n3p327.pdf
4. All assignments will require additional in-text reference details which will consist of the surname of the author/authors or name of the authoring body, year of publication, page number of content, paragraph where the content can be found.
For example;
“The company decided to implement an enterprise wide data warehouse business intelligence strategy (Hawking et al, 2004, p3(4)).”
Adherence to Referencing Guidelines is Mandatory
If students do not follow the above guidelines:
1. Students who submit assignments which do not comply with the guidelines will incur penalties.
2. Students whose citations are fake will be reported for academic misconduct.
* Note: Students will already be officially registered into small assignment groups, which remain the same for this assignment
Assignment 3 Specifications
Purpose:
This unit aims to give you an opportunity to combine many facets of your acquired MBA skills into the production of a high-quality research report.
Assignment 3 - the Research Design and Methodology - is to ensure each student is able to contribute to the construction of a written report demonstrating their understanding of the business research paradigm, appropriate methodology, and the plan they would follow regarding primary data, i.e. data collection, analysis and interpretation (which would normally be required post-literature review in order to complete a project).
[Note that you are NOT required or permitted to actually go out and collect primary data].
This assessment builds upon your Literature Review (assessment 2) in that you should now be aware of what additional data is needed to lead you to the answer to your research question (RQ). Rather than search for additional secondary data, this methodology report requires you to specify what primary data you would plan to collect and analyse. [Note that you are NOT required or permitted to actually go out and collect primary data].
In this assessment you will document what you have decided is the most appropriate methodology, including whether qualitative or quantitative methods. If you choose a quantitative approach, you will state your hypothesis, how you intend to verify it, what data you need, how it can be collected and analysed. If you choose a qualitative approach, you will decide which method is appropriate, how you would design the questionnaire and state how you would collate and interpret your data. [Note that you are NOT required or permitted to actually obtain primary data].
Your tutor will FACILITATE you through the process, week by week, in the tutorials. The learning will be progressive, so for best results you will need to be in weekly attendance at tutorials and be willing to interact with your peers in practising key research skills and peer-reviewing others’ work.
This submission requires an appendix in which it is stated which members of the group wrote which sections of the Business Research Design and Methodology.
Assignment Structure should be as the following:
1. Introduction, including your research question (RQ).
2. A detailed research methodology addressing the Research Design (see Marking Rubric row 2) proposed research sample (see Marking Rubric row 3), questionnaire design (see Marking Rubric row 4), envisaged data collection method, and envisaged analysis method (see Marking Rubric row 5), and a conclusion (see Marking Rubric row 6)
[Note that you are NOT required or permitted to actually obtain primary data]
3. List of references in Holmes adapted Harvard style (for all sources used in this report)
4. Append a statement stating ‘Who Wrote What’ (unless you worked as a solo group)

HI6008 Assignment 3 – Research Design and Methodology - Marking Rubric
Excellent
[5 marks] Very Good
[4 marks] Good
[3 Marks] Questionable
[2 marks] Unsatisfactory
[0-1 mark]
Report Layout and Flow
(max 5) Report creates an excellent overall impression Report creates a very good overall impression Report creates a good overall impression Report creates a questionable overall impression Unprofessional or confusing
Research Design
(max 5) Ample evidence of advanced understanding regarding research design Evidence of very good understanding regarding research design Evidence of good understanding regarding research design Questionable understanding regarding research design Missing or confusing
Research Sample (max 5) Sampling approach, sample frame, sample size excellently explained and justified Sampling approach, sample frame, sample size well-explained and justified Sampling approach, sample frame, sample size explained and justified Sampling approach, sample frame, sample size questionably explained or justified Missing or confusing
Questionnaire
(max 5) Questionnaire is excellent in all respects Questionnaire is very good, with a varied range of purposeful questions Questionnaire is good, with a range of questions Questionnaire is of questionable quality Missing or confusing
Envisaged Data Collection and Analysis
(max 5) Excellent understanding of data collection and analysis relevant to RQ Very good understanding of data collection and analysis relevant to RQ Good understanding of data collection and analysis relevant to RQ Questionable understanding of data collection and analysis relevant to RQ Missing or confusing
Conclusion
(max 5) Excellent ‘closing of the loop’ relevant to original intention of the project and resolution of the Research Problem Very good ‘closing of the loop’ relevant to original intention of the project and resolution of the Research Problem Good ‘closing of the loop’ relevant to original intention of the project and resolution of the Research Problem Questionable ‘closing of the loop’ relevant to original intention of the project and resolution of the Research Problem Missing or confusing
Less Penalties Late submission: …………. Days @ -5% per day = ………………….
No cover sheet / incorrect / inaccurate / not single document @-10%
Non-compliant referencing @-10%
No statement of who wrote what -10%
/30