Strategic Analysis and Research Methods Management Essay

Meet the requirements

STO302 PROJECT PLAN – PRE-SUBMISSION COHORT FEEDBACK

FEEDBACK ON COMMON ERRORS AND TIPS FOR SUCCESS

Ahead of your STO302 ‘Project Plan’ deadline on December 17^th 2020, we thought it would be helpful to share some feedback on ‘common errors’ to avoid as well as a few ‘top tips’ for success.

We have been really impressed by your progress so far and hope that the below feedback – based on many years of experience marking Project Plans – will help you to achieve a good grade!

Common Errors to Avoid:

-          References only in the literature review, with none or too few on aspects such as methodology and research ethics.

• Use references from research methods textbooks to help you explain your methodological choices (e.g. why you have used a survey; why you have used a particular sampling approach) and show your understanding of good practice in research methods.
• We expect to see a range of references from different sources in your methods sections – Saunders et al is a good starting point and there are plenty of other texts in the library.

-          Poor quality references

• Try to use journal articles and books as your key sources for the literature review – use PRIMO to search for good quality articles on your topic.
• You will almost certainly need to use some industry / business sources too (e.g. company reports, industry reports, newspaper reports, trade magazines). This is fine, so long as you are also using books and journals. In other words, try to strike a balance between academic and industry sources.
• Be wary of blogs and unattributed material on websites – and steer well clear of cheat sites (Student Essays etc)!

-          Weak justification

• You need to explain why your research is useful or important. A good place to do this is towards the end of the literature review, just before you outline your aim and research objectives.
• Good justifications draw on the existing literature to explain (1) how your research will fill gaps in the existing literature (2) why the research is important and valuable (and to who – e.g. consumers, businesses in a particular industry, policy makers in government). Try to support your justification with evidence and references where possible.

-          Aim and objectives too broad

• Don’t be too ambitious – remember that we don’t expect your project to change the world and you don’t have unlimited time and resources to collect data at a national / global level! Let what is feasible for you shape your objectives.
• Normally, 3 or 4 objectives is plenty.
• Try to structure objectives in a way that shows logical progression and flows nicely – e.g. (1) to identify students’ choice of bank (2) to analyse the factors affecting students’ choice of bank (3) to evaluate the implications of the study findings for the retail banking industry

-          Objectives not focused on the purpose of the research

• Sometimes students write research objectives like ‘to do a literature review’, ‘to undertake a survey’ etc – these are NOT research objectives as they are about the process you will be following. Research objectives should relate to the aim / purpose of your primary research – see the above example on student bank choice.
• You should cover the process you will use in your methodology, not in the objectives.

-          Confusion about limitations and delimitations

• ‘Delimitations’ is just a different word for scope (the boundaries of your project – what industry you are focusing on, what geographical area, what consumer group etc)
• Limitations refer to the problems you might encounter and the issues that may limit the usefulness of your study (e.g. having a low response rate to your survey; not having a representative sample; not having access to the right people for interviews)
• It is a GOOD THING to identify limitations. All projects (even those by professional researchers) have limitations.  By identifying them, it shows that you have a good understanding of the research process. You won’t lose marks – on the contrary, you will gain marks by showing a clear understanding of your project limitations. Even better if you can suggest ways to avoid potential limitations.

-          Not much detail on ethics

• Think about the ethical issues that are relevant for your study – it will help you greatly to refer to the ‘University Ethics Statement’ and the ‘PBS Ethics Form’ posted to the STO302 Moodle page.
• For most projects, at least ‘Right to Withdraw’ and ‘Confidentiality’ are important considerations. Explain how you will address these – e.g. by informing participants of their right to withdraw before an interview.

-          Time plan issues

• Remember, the time plan should go up to mid-May (i.e. when STO310 students submit their final project)
• Include all important activities – don’t miss out important things like data analysis. If you have more than one data collection method (e.g. survey + interview), show both as separate activities
• Show start and end dates for each activity in the style of a Gantt chart (no need to use fancy software, but it should cover these basics). It is normal for some activities to overlap / run concurrently for periods.

-          Presentation not of a good standard

• Label any graphs and figures you use
• Reference and cite correctly – Harvard style is recommended. There are links to resources in the Module Outline if you are unsure about referencing. The reference list should be presented in alphabetical order by surname.

Finally, our Top Tips for Success:

-          Make sure that you are familiar with the feedback / marking scheme. This shows the areas that we will be considering when marking your Project Plan.

-          Be clear on what should be covered in the Project Plan – check Mohamed’s lecture if you are unsure

-          Make use of the recommended text book – Saunders et al is an excellent guide and provides good advice on all aspects of planning a project. It is free to access via PRIMO.

-          Remember, we are here to advise and give feedback if you get stuck!

WE HOPE THIS FEEDBACK IS USEFUL –

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROJECT PLAN!