Business Research

There are two components to the assessment for the module: A Learning Log An Assignment essay. The overall mark for the module will comprise 50% from each of these components. The Learning Log is a write-up of directed activities and tasks that you will be set in units 3, 5 and 8. Marks will be awarded for correctness and completeness. It is particularly important that you provide, where appropriate, references and citations to sources that may have been used to inform you or to reinforce your arguments. All direct quotes or materials imported from elsewhere are required to be suitably acknowledged. The written document should NOT exceed 1750 words in length. The assignment essay will be a critique of a paper published in a quality journal that reports research that has been undertaken. You are given a choice of the paper to critique from a list of five, taken from the main subject areas in management that you will be studying on the MBA programme. In this, you will be required to describe the approach and rationale in general, and to explain why this is appropriate. You will further need to describe the background and context of the identified study and, where appropriate, comment on the data collection method or methods used and provide a justification of the findings. The critique should be no longer than 1750 words in length, excluding any Reference section you may wish to include for cited articles used to justify your comments and conclusions, or any Appendices present, should these prove necessary. A Learning Log is a journal which evidences your own learning and skills development. In this case you are asked to show that you have completed several tasks and this should be the starting point. However a good Learning Log provides a record of what you have learnt, attempted and some critical evaluation of what you have achieved and how it might shape subsequent activity (such as an MBA Project) For example if in your Learning Log you include details of what you did or how you did something then consider asking yourself questions such as: · Did it go well? Why? What did I learn? · Did it go badly? Why? What did I learn? · How can I improve for next time? A Learning Log contains your record of learning experiences and can include: thoughts, feelings and reflections. See my generic notes about critical thinking and the ability to synthesise ideas. I acknowledge that the word limit is quite demanding, but try to show that you have done more than simply completed the tasks requested and try to evidence what you have learnt. Is there a ‘best’ or ‘correct’ way of producing a Learning Log? Not really, the log should be relevant to you and the activities. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of producing a Learning Log. Perhaps the three key questions when engaging in the process of producing a Learning Log are to ask · Have I explained what I did? · Have I identified what I learnt from the process? · Have I identified the implications of what I have learnt (if there are any)? Tip The learning log is limited to 1750 words, but not all the activities need to be allocated a third of the words. Some of the activities require very few words and instead require you to show results from the activities. Remember the work in Unit 8; quantitative analysis can be presented graphically using pictures and there are virtually no words associated with something like a bar chart or pie chart. So be creative, use the words available to you as effectively as possible so that you can show what you have learnt from the module.