The course is being presented in Intensive mode with seminars, workshops, and group discussion. All activities will be streamed and recorded for the benefit of students that are studying remotely.

1. Apply an advanced understanding of business research design options, methodologies and analysis methods (both qualitative and quantitative), including respective terms, definitions and applications to the design, implementation and evaluation of a research project.
2. Distil an identified business problem into a succinct research problem (or problems) and articulate this into a comprehensive research brief for investigation by a research team locally or internationally.
   • This brief will include a statement of the resulting research problem and the objectives that need to be achieved to provide the information necessary to tackle the business problem and the decisions that need to be made respective to it.
3. Complete, from the brief created, a research proposal for implementation at either a local or international level.
   • This will include (but not be restricted to), a literature summary at the necessary level of depth to ensure a thorough understanding of what is already known about the problem to be addressed, the proposed research design, data collection, sampling, analysis methods to be employed along with an indicative time frame for each stage of the research proposed and budget.
4. Apply a broad understanding of issues specific to undertaking business research across international boundaries, including cultural, geographical, language and cost related challenges and respective strategies and approaches that may be employed to solve them to the design, implementation and evaluation of a research project.
5. Recognise, and take account of, the importance of ethical conduct in undertaking research, including potential implications for business relationships, effects on potential respondents and sensitivity to cultural differences and honesty and integrity in analysis and reporting in the design, implementation and evaluation of a research project.

ONLINE LEARNING

In order to perform well in this course, students must have a strong command of the relevant research theories and concepts covered in preparation and in class and successfully apply them in their assessment and project. Therefore, students are expected to have completed all the preparation and engagement work every week (including non-seminar weeks) and be fully prepared. In addition, there is a strong assumption that students will engage in seminar discussions in an informed way. The communication skills developed in seminars by regularly and actively participating in discussions are considered to be most important by the School and are highly regarded by employers and professional bodies.

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that, for this course, you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for private study (i.e., the study time outside of your regular classes). Students are required to attend all class sessions.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES SUMMARY

This course is taught in intensive mode fortnightly (6 sessions in total). Each intensive session will incorporate revision, lecture, group and individual discussion and Q&A. Topics presented in each intensive session are structured as below:

SPECIFIC COURSE REQUIREMENTS
This course is preparatory to the culminating Research Project. Each School and Discipline has specific Research Project criteria, so students undertaking the Business Research Methods course must prepare for their Research Project specific to their home Discipline’s criteria rather than in a uniform manner across the course.

SMALL GROUP DISCOVERY EXPERIENCE
This course is inherently conducted for development of individual Research Projects. Teamwork and small group discovery may be part of the class activities, but all assessment and primary focus is on individual accomplishment.

• Active engagement in discussion forum are required.
• The assessment activities contribute significantly to your actual research project. 
  Therefore:
  
  • be timely - meet deadlines
  • but be sane - when you can only do it by half-killing yourself - negotiate
  • collaborate (note: acknowledged collaboration is a powerful professional and academic strength; UNacknowledged collaboration is called 'collusion' and is seen as cheating)
  • have fun (if you don't learn to enjoy it now, it will be 'unpleasantly hard work')
  • know that it DOES get easier - every piece you do makes the next one easier; every impossible-to-understand article you read makes the next one more possible and more readable - and your blogs will help you scale that wall faster and more easily than you can expect... the discussion board collaboration with your peers will make a world of difference. Therefore, your feedback to one another is critical!

Assessment task 1: Engagement and Participation

Assessment task 2: Literature Review and Research Brief

This assessment is the stage 1 for your final research proposal. Students are required to submit a research brief with a specific section on the literature review that summarises a problem requiring specific information for managers to solve a business challenge/issue/dilemma.

 Your paper should be organized as follows (2500 words +/- 10%):

•  Chapter 1: Introduction (800 words +/- 10%):

In this chapter, you are going to briefly highlight the research context, research question, and why this research is particularly needed. The topic MUST be related to your area of study (e.g. marketing, management, etc.)

•  Chapter 2: Literature Review and Hypotheses (1700 words +/- 10%):

In this chapter, you are expected to introduce the theoretical framework of your study and your hypotheses. If you choose to adopt a qualitative approach, you will need to make a strong case why the inductive approach is needed.

Other requirements: 

• This assignment (minimum 15 references) is limited to 2500 (±10%) words (excluding appendices, references, and figures). 

• Remember that your Word document should be in Times New Roman style, 12-point type and double-spaced. 

• There is a requirement of minimum 15 references where at least 12 of them are from ACADEMIC sources. You are required to use APA 7.0 throughout your assessment and include an accurate reference list.

Assessment task 3: Proposal Presentation

Students are required to RECORD a 5-minute PowerPoint presentation outlining the key parts of their research proposal and upload it.

 In the presentation, students need to explain: 

• Research Novelty: Why is this study needed? What is the problem this study intends to address/solve? How this study is different from previous research?
• Research Impact: Who are the major beneficiaries of this study? Which aspect of literature that this study intends to advance?
• Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses
• Proposed Research Methods

Assessment task 4: Research Proposal

This assessment marks Stage 2 of your final research proposal. Here, students are tasked with integrating the feedback provided in Assessments 2 and 3 into their final research proposal. Essentially, your proposal serves as an expansion of your initial research brief assignment, but with a more comprehensive approach, particularly in the methodology section. I will assess your progress by comparing your initial submission with this proposal, and evaluating how effectively you've addressed the key points raised in the previous assignments.

 Your paper should be organized as follows (4000 words +/- 10%): 

• Abstract: Please write a one-page abstract (not included in the work counts). At the end of the abstract, please provide 4 to 6 research keywords. 

• Chapter 1: Introduction (800 words +/- 10%):
  • Explain the purpose of the study and the research problem or issue it will address, defining key terms where appropriate;
  • Describe the background to the study and explain why it is important and/or of interest, and to whom;
  • State the aims, objectives and context of the proposed study; and
  • Briefly describe the structure of the remainder of the proposal

• Chapter 2: Literature Review and Hypotheses (1700 words +/- 10%):
  • Majority of the literature should be drawn from academic publications.
  • Your review should be a critical analysis of previous research and other relevant academic/business literature on the topic of your research. 
  • Main theories and models that are relevant to your research should be identified.
  • Clearly show where your research fits into the literature and state your research questions.
  • Develop a conceptual framework and hypotheses at the end of the literature review, if your research is quantitative. 

• Chapter 3: Research Methods (1200 words +/- 10%)
  • Explain your choice of methodology for selecting a sample or cases, and for collecting and analysing your research data.
  • Justify your choice with evidence (references) as to why this is the best way to address your research question.
  • Explain the scope/delimitations of the research (eg the particular group of people, organizations, industry, geographical sector, and period).
  • Discuss any limitations and how you will address ethical issues.

• Chapter 4: Workplan and Timetable (300 words +/- 10%)

In this section, you should provide a schedule for the completion of your research with proposed deadlines for each major chapter and for submission. Often a Gantt chart outlining the work plan and timetable is useful in this section.