Case Study-study Literature based Project
Identify from secondary sources (eg. Financial Times, The Economist, CNN.com etc) a company that interests you that is facing a particular business challenge or opportunity (pathway students should note that this challenge must be within their specialist field). From secondary data sources, build a case study of the company and evaluate the challenge or opportunity they face. From your own experience, previous taught modules, and with a review of past academic and practitioner studies in this area, identify potential solutions and evaluate the feasibility of these solutions.
You should consider a number of criteria when evaluating and planning your Independent Research Project:
• Is your proposed topic a management issue of importance to a contemporary industrial/commercial/public sector or organisation?
• What information will you require?
• What contacts will you need, and will they provide the information/data you need?
• Is the project feasible in the time available?
Some MSc Independent Research Projects will involve collecting some kind of primary data. For example, you may need to interview consumers or practitioners, or you may need some specific financial data from company reports. If you choose to write your report on a particular company, and hope to obtain primary data, then you should establish at an early stage the appropriate points of contact in the company. Be realistic about the contacts you intend to establish and take into account feasibility in terms of time and resources.
In your contacts with organisations, you are expected to ensure that your conduct is of the highest professional standard. You should bear in mind that
• Visits to organisations should only be made by prior mutual arrangement.
• You should be thoroughly prepared for interviews.
• Make sure that your respondents know that you are going to keep their identity confidential. If very sensitive data is involved, the university can establish a three-year ban on public access to your Independent Research Project.
• You should not tape record interviews without the explicit agreement of interviewees. If you explain that recording is a convenient form of note-taking for your own use, permission will not normally be withheld.
• You are responsible for conducting yourself in a way that ensures the maintenance of your integrity and the enhancement of the School’s reputation.
It is likely that most MSc Management (and pathways) Independent Research Projects will be one of the following types:
(1) Literature based – here, Independent Research Projects are expected to involve some personal contribution from the student. In primary and/or secondary investigations (see below) this is straightforward. It is more difficult in literature based studies and requires the student to undertake an in depth study of a particular body of literature, intelligent summarising of its key aspects, critical reflection on research and an attempt at synthesis and concept development.
(2) Primary and/or secondary research – involves some form of systematic data collection, subsequent analysis, followed by discussion of findings and how this relates to the literature.
The outline given here is a guide, which can be used to help you structure your Independent Research Project.
Title Page See below**
Abstract The dissertation should contain an abstract of up to 350 words. A good abstract represents a brief summary of the results of the dissertation research.
Declarations/Statements See below**
Acknowledgements A brief statement, acknowledging all help received in writing the dissertation.
Contents Page The contents page should list the chapter headings, appendices, references and the pages on which they can be found.
Introduction
The Introduction to the dissertation should set out the background to the research study and address the following areas:
The context in which the research took place
• What is the background, the context, in which the research took place?
• Why is this subject or issue important
• A clear and succinct statement of the aims and objectives that the dissertation is going to address.
•
The reasons why this study was carried out
• Was this study undertaken for example in order to test some aspect of professional or business practice or theory or framework of analysis?
The short final section of the Introduction should tell the reader what topics are going to be discussed in each of the chapters and how the chapters are related to each other. In this way, you are, providing the reader with a ‘road map’ of the work ahead. This chapter may be between 500 to 750 words although in some subjects or topics the justification of the subject and scope may change the length of this chapter.
Literature Review Literature review – to clarify relevant concepts, extent of current understanding by discussing prior theoretical and primary and/or secondary contributions in the area you are investigating.
The main reasons for the inclusion of a literature review section are:
1. To present and to analyze, in a critical manner, the published literature which is relevant to your research topic and which acts as the basis for a fuller understanding of the context in which you are conducting your research.
2. To show that your knowledge of the area of interest is detailed enough that you are able to identify gaps in the coverage of the topic; thus justifying the reason(s) for your research.
3. To show that you know what the key variables, trends and ‘actors’ are in the environment of your study, i.e. you show that you know what the important issues are that need to be investigated.
Published material may be drawn from all, or a combination of, textbooks, journal articles, conference papers, reports, case studies, the Internet, magazine features or newspaper articles. It should be remembered, however, that the most important source of academic literature are journal articles and you should ensure that you are familiar with the most recent publications in journals relevant to your subject area.
Remember that your literature review should lead and justify the research objectives and questions of your dissertation. Your literature review should not just be a list of authors, frameworks and ideas but should attempt to introduce a critical evaluation of those authors work.
The literature review will be around 3,000 to 4,000 words
Methodology You should begin the Research Methodology chapter by stating, again, the research objectives of the project. This will enable the reader to make an assessment as to the validity of your chosen research methodology.
This chapter is that part of the project where you have the opportunity to justify to the reader the process by which the research questions, which were derived by an analysis of the relevant literature, were answered. The chapter on research methodology must, painstakingly argue for, and justify each, decision that is taken when arriving at the way in which the research is to be organised. Every time that you, the researcher, have to make a choice from a number of options, you must state what each of these are, why you made the choice you did, and why you rejected those not used.
The conclusion of this chapter should provide a summary of the main points that have been covered and how the contents of this chapter link in with the contents of the next chapter, your findings. This chapter will be usually be between 1,000 and 2,000 words.
Findings/Results/Data Analysis This chapter presents the evidence and/or results of the research that you have undertaken. The main part of the chapter is the presentation of the data that you obtained. This data must be organised in a logical and coherently ordered so that your thought processes and interpretation are clear to the reader. Depending upon your subject area this can be in the form of detailed quantitative models, hypothesis testing to some basic analysis using basic descriptive statistics or qualitative techniques dealing with structured content analysis, textual analysis, to case study descriptions.
Graphs, diagrams, pie-charts etc. are all useful ways of presenting research results; they are an imaginative way of ‘breaking up’ solid blocks of text. Keep your review to those items which are relevant to your research question and not just everything you found out.
The analysis of qualitative data should be based on the research questions and issues that you explored during your research. You should avoid lengthy quotations, unless they are of critical importance. However, short excerpts enrich the reader’s understanding of the issues and provide you with the opportunity to shed a clearer insight on the topic.
In the case of company projects you may need to include an outline about the company and its activities. Again keep these comments focused on the topic area and not just a broad and general description of everything you know about the organisation.
This chapter will be usually be between 2,000 and 3,000 words.
Discussion The introduction of this chapter reminds the reader what, exactly, were the research objectives. Your analysis of the data that you have collected from your research should provide answers to these questions. You should, focus attention on data that is directly relevant to the research questions. The introduction should also explain how the results are to be presented.
This is the heart of the Independent Research Project and must be more than descriptive. This chapter develops analytic and critical thinking on primary results and analysis with reference to theoretical arguments grounded in the literature review. You should try to highlight where there are major differences and similarities from the literature or between different groups. Where a model or framework of analysis has been used or is being developed you should highlight the main relationships as well as explaining the reason and significance behind features or decisions being discussed.
This chapter will be usually be between 2,000 and 3,000 words.
Conclusions
(and Recommendations if applicable) • Draw together the main findings.
• Highlight any shortcomings in the project
• Indicate any future work which could be done
Here you will bring together the work of the dissertation by showing how the initial research plan has been addressed in such a way that conclusions may be formed from the evidence of the dissertation. No new material or references should be placed here. The conclusions should make a statement on the extent to which each of the aims and objectives has been met.
If you are undertaking a company project based around a business issue do not confuse recommendations for the company with conclusions. If you want to include a list of recommendations then do so in a separate section. The conclusions address the wider understanding of the issue you have been studying.
You should include a short sub section on any suggestions for further research for colleagues who might wish to undertake research in this area in the future. There should also be a short statement of the limitations of the research.
This chapter will be usually be between 2,000 and 3,000 words.
Appendices Provide full details of any primary investigation, including transcripts of interviews, questionnaires or other documentation. Remove names or other identifiers.
Bibliography Fully referenced list of authors in alphabetical order.
Distinguishing the Sections
First page – Title Page
The title page must contain the following information, suitably spaced:
The title and any subtitle
The full name of the candidate
Submitted to Swansea University in fulfillment of the requirements
for the Degree of (Master) of Arts (etc.)
Swansea University, 2016
Second page – Abstract
A brief description of the work: its aims, methods and conclusions. Not more than three hundred words, using single line spacing.
Third page – Declarations and Statements
A standard statement and the required declarations.
DECLARATION
This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree.
Signed Date
STATEMENT 1
This Independent Research Project is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended.
Signed Date
STATEMENT 2
I hereby give my consent for my Independent Research Project, if relevant and accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations.
Signed Date
Please Note: Candidates on whose behalf a bar on access has been approved by the University (see Bar on Access above), should use the following version of Statement 2:
I hereby give my consent for my Independent Research Project, if relevant and accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by the University.
Signed Date
Fourth page – Completed & signed Procedure for the Ethical Approval Form
Insert completed and signed form – (Blank form available in Appendix B)
Fifth page – Completed & signed Record of Supervision Form
Insert completed and signed form – (Blank form available in Appendix A)
Sixth page – Contents
The division of the Independent Research Project, with page numbers.
The Main Text
the main text into parts, chapters and sections.
