Module Descriptors
APPLIED BUSINESS RESEARCH
XXEM60121
Key Facts
Faculty of Business, Education and Law
Level 6
30 credits
Contact
Leader: Malcolm Ash
Email: M.Ash@staffs.ac.uk
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 72
Independent Study Hours: 228
Total Learning Hours: 300
Assessment
  • ASSIGNMENT weighted at 80%
  • CLASS-TEST weighted at 20%
Module Details
Module Learning Strategies
This requires student commit to 150 learning hours of this 36 hours will be class contact and 114 of independent self directed study.
24 hours formal lectures/seminars
12 hours tutorial/seminar activity

Lectures will provide the conceptual framework and will direct independent and self directed study as well as contextualising principle within an application framework. Tutorial/seminar activities will centre around case studies, computer laboratory exercises or seminars and will develop awareness, analysis and understanding of application of theory to practice.

Module Resources
Business library
Internet access
E mail
PC with Office Software and appropriate statistical software
Blackboard module website
Companion web sites
Module Texts
Blumberg, Copper and Schindler, 2011, Business Research Methods,3rd ed, McGraw Hill, ISBN 9780077129972

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A, 2009, Research methods for business Students, 5th edition, Financial Times Prentice Hall, ISBN 978-0-272-71686-0

Taylor S, (2007), 3rd ed, Business Statistics, Palgrave
ISBN 978-0-230-50646-6


Module Additional Assessment Details
Individual skills-based assignment utilising primary and/or secondary research to address a significant business issue focused around the major business pathway disciplines of HRM, Marketing, Strategy or Operations management
Words - 2000 (Lo 1, 2, 3 and 4) 80%

A class test length .75 Hours weighted at 20% (Lo 5)

Module Indicative Content
This module provides students with the knowledge and skills to successfully design and implement a valid and reliable business research project within the workplace following graduation

Topics -
- The influence of conceptual issues -
- Critically reviewing literature and secondary sources
- Developing the research design. Defining questions or hypotheses, designing the methodological approach and understanding the limitations imposed by design decisions
- Ethical dimensions of research
- Design of data capture instruments and issues of data collection
- Analysing qualitative data ¿ including univariate and multivariate analysis
- Analysing quantitative data using appropriate statistical software, sampling strategies
- Writing up the project and presentation of quantitative and qualitative data