In this coursework, you need to choose a research topic and then develop two research proposals (that are both based on the same topic). Then you should develop a critical evaluation in order to propose the most suitable approach (which might be quantitative or qualitative, or indeed a combination (ie. mixed methods) depending on what you feel is most suitable).

Choosing a research topic for your coursework

Clearly, you are soon approaching the stage of needing to think about your dissertation. You may therefore base this coursework on your forthcoming dissertation topic. However, if you have not yet chosen a dissertation topic (and that is not a problem in terms of MANG6129), then you should use the following topic for this coursework:

“An investigation into post-graduate student satisfaction within the University of Southampton’s Business School”

For this coursework, the actual choice of topic is rather arbitrary – the most important thing is to show us how much you have learnt about a range of possible approaches for conducting research (rather than insights into the actual topic itself). So, the choice of research topic for this coursework is yours and yours alone. If you have any questions or doubts about which topic to choose, then please just use the one stated above. We are not able to discuss the suitability of possible topics for your dissertation; you will be discussing this with your dissertation supervisor later on in the year.

Having chosen a single research topic, you should complete the following parts:

Part 1 – Introduction (this should be common to both proposals and so only need be presented once)

Provide a title 
Background: a brief overview of the topic or problem, draw on some key pieces of topic-related literature, explain why researching the topic or problem is important. Overall research question(s), aim(s) and objective(s): these should be clear, succinct and specific.

Part 2 – A ‘quantitative’ research proposal

Design a succinct research proposal for your chosen topic using a survey. See the marking guidelines for more details.

Part 3 – A ‘qualitative’ research proposal

Design a succinct research proposal for the same topic, but this time using a 'qualitative', inductive approach. See the marking guidelines for more details.

Part 4 – Critical evaluation

Going down through each layer of Saunders et al.’s (2016 or earlier) ‘Research Onion’, write a critical evaluation of your two research proposals developed in parts 2 and 3 (drawing on a wide range of research methodology literature). As a result, you should conclude by stating what would be, based on your critique, the most suitable approach for your chosen research topic and why. This may be the quantitative or qualitative approach, or indeed a mixture of the two – you must decide and defend your choice.

Wordcount limit = 3,000 words.

Important note: you do not actually have to collect or analyse any data for this coursework – this is just the proposal stage. Your report must though refer to the relevant concepts and literature covered during the lectures and your background reading.

You are strongly advised to read the notes below that give you some helpful hints on writing and structuring your coursework. The general guidelines for marking this piece are also given below – this will give you an indication of the weighting applied to each part (which will also guide you in terms of the word count for each part).

There are penalties for late submission. In the extremely rare event of an extension being required (for certified medical reasons for instance), you should follow the extension/special considerations process – your MANG6129 lecturers are not able to grant extensions.