module specification

This module introduces the student to the theoretical and practical foundations of empirical research design and how these may be applied to practice-based contexts. It includes core interdisciplinary principles of research design that span methodological traditions and explore contemporary methodologies relevant for the practice-based nature of a DBA research project. You will learn how the research designs that you use ultimately depend upon the nature of the research questions you are asking and the type and kinds of evidence that are available. You will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of a range of research designs and the inevitable trade-offs that occur in the research design decisions that must be made in undertaking practice-related research and learn how to evaluate research in terms of rigour and robustness. This will include reflections on the role as practitioner researcher, the complexities of practical problem-solving and inquiry and how research may inform evidence-based decision-making in practice.

• Introduction to Practice-based Research: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research, the Research Paradigms, Evaluation of Research Rigour, Research ethics and the role of the Practitioner Researcher (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Defining Your Research: Applying Literature Reviews, Writing Research Questions, Conceptual & Theoretical Frameworks (LO1)
• Quantitative Research Designs 1: Description vs. Inference, Experimental Designs, Observational Designs (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Quantitative Research Designs 2: Natural Experiments, Adjustment Designs, Exploratory Designs (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Qualitative Research Designs: Case Studies, Ethnography, Action Research (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Sampling: Population Inference, Sample Size, Probability Sampling, Non-probability Sampling (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Quantitative Data Collection: Measurement, Threats to Measurement, Questionnaire Design (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Qualitative Data Collection: In-depth Interviews, Focus Groups, Observations and Informal Interviews, Documents and Creative, Visual Methods (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Statistics 1: Descriptive vs. Inferential Statistics, Statistical Significance (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Statistics 2: Comparison of Two Means, Comparison of Multiple Means, Linear Regression (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Qualitative Data Analysis 1: Thematic Analysis, Introduction to NVivo (LO2, LO3, LO4)
• Qualitative Data Analysis 2: Ethnographic Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Visual Analysis (LO2, LO3, LO4)

This module shall be taught over two days per week:

Day 1 (3 hours) Lectures & Workshops: Bite-size lectures interspersed with discussions and workshop activities. Students will be expected to have undertaken readings of relevant chapters from their core text books in preparation.

Day 2 (3 hours) GSBL Research Showcase & Seminar: Each week two topic-relevant GSBL studies shall be presented by their GSBL authors, which will be followed by a seminar to discuss and compare the studies. Students will be expected to have read the two articles and made notes in response to the seminar questions, which will be provided in advance of class.

For every hour of scheduled learning and teaching (72 hours), students are expected to undertake two hours of preparation, including assigned readings and preparation for seminar discussions (144 hours).

Remaining learning hours to be dedicated to assessment preparation and one-to-one tutorials supporting assessments (184 hours).

1. To be able to write feasible and practically important research questions.
2. To discuss and critically evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of empirical research designs for practice-related, applied research.
3. To be able to critically evaluate the rigour, robustness and suitability of research designs.
4. To undertake research design decisions, considering the trade-offs involved.

Article Review and Critique (Individual, 2,000 words, 30% of module grade, due week 10): Students to be provided with three articles (but also given the option to choose an article for themselves with approval from the module leader), from which they choose one article and act as a reviewer. Their review should compliment the author(s) on the strengths of their work and identify weaknesses/limitations from which they should make recommendations to the author(s) as to how they can improve their research.

Designing Research (Individual, 4,000 words, 70% of module grade, due week 14): Students to be provided with three topic case studies, from which they choose one case study for which they must propose a research design, including a background to the topic, preliminary literature review, research question(s), practical importance, research design, sampling strategy, data collection methods and data analysis techniques.

Talis reading list: https://rl.talis.com/3/londonmet/lists/9DA1C557-CAED-284B-B51E-59CA27D9D7E4.html?lang=en-GB&login=1

Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B. (2019), Business Research Methods, 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bradbury, H. ed. (2015), The Sage Handbook of Action Research, 3rd ed. London: Sage.
Coghlan, D. (2019), Doing Action Research in Your Own Organisation, 5th ed. California: Sage.
Costley, C. Elliot, G. and Gibbs, P. (2010), Doing Work Based Research: Approaches to Enquiry for Insider-Researchers. London: Sage.
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R., Jackson, P. and Valizade, D. (2021).  Management & Business Research. 7th ed.  London: Sage.
Field, A. (2017), Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics, 5th edition, London: Sage Publications.
Hallebone, E.  and Priest, J. (2009), Business and Management Research: paradigms and practices. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Mannay, D. (2016), Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods.  Abingdon: Routledge Publications.
Robson, C., & McCartan, K. (2016), Real world research. 4th ed. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. 
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A. (2019), Research methods for business students. 8th ed.  Harlow: Pearson.

Weekly articles

The teaching team will provide 24 topic-relevant research articles (2 per week) published by GSBL researchers for focussed reading.