Moodle

Module Outline
The Research Project module builds further on the knowledge and understanding of research philosophy, design and data analysis students gained in BE231 Business Research Methods as it gives an opportunity to the final year students to carry out an independent research project to focus on a topic of their choice in relation to the degree course.
Undergraduate students at Essex Business School (Southend Campus) are expected to complete a research project in the final year of their degree. The project can take a variety of forms but unlike other assignments it involves you conducting and writing-up a piece of original research. This final research project will be supported by the knowledge and understanding of research methods gained in BE231 Business Research Methods.
The undergraduate Research Project is the equivalent of one term module in your degree course and is expected to be about 4000 to 5000 words in length. The project runs in parallel with your other third year modules, you will need to apply and be granted ethical approval by the University in order to undertake primary data collection (details and information on Ethical Approval process are available on Moodle).
The supervisor must be assigned by the Group. Once the project has been accepted, the student is advised to meet with their supervisor on a regularly basis. The student must undertake a considerable part of the basic research for the project during the spring term. In the autumn term by week 6, students must decide their research project topic.
The project can take a variety of forms, ranging from empirical research using methods such as surveys, questionnaires, interviews and content analysis to library based theoretical work. The students will find that this can be a most worthwhile learning experience, and a good project is a useful reference for postgraduate study as well as outside employment.

Module Aims
The aim of this module is to give students an opportunity to manage a research project from beginning to end under the guidance of an individual supervisor.
In developing the research project students will be using the framework for research skills and the boundaries of their research identified in Business Research Methods module. Students will be expected to draw on appropriate literature to construct a research framework and theoretical context, explain the logic of research methodology, data collection and draw relevant empirical findings.