Reference no: EM13669017
Prepare a research on a study on employee retention Strategies
Part 1:
Assignment assesses the learning outcomes of the Research Methods module. To this end, you are asked to devise a research project, to conduct pilot research, and to analyze your results on one of the following topics:
- Issues relating to the "student experience" at the College such as climate survey, reading habits of students, performance rating of students, student preference assessment.
- Students impressions of the University Brand
- A Study of Customer satisfaction with special reference to services of any company set up in Oman
b. Design and implement an effective schedule for a semistructured interview (with five potential questions) to research the question/objective that you specified in Task 1.
Your schedule should contain one (and no more than two) closed question capable of generating quantitative data. Then explain and evaluate the purpose of at least two non-trivial questions.
Comment briefly on what you expect to discover from a' semi: structured interview that you could not discover from a questionnaire. (Your maximum ilot sample size should be 6 respondents.)
Analyze your results in relation to your research objective/question and attach the raw data collected in an appendix (350 words).
a. Analyze the qualitative data from your pilot research. Briefly summaries and analyze the key themes and issues arising from your responses.
b. Analyze the quantitative data from your pilot research. Give a summary and brief analysis of the results for each question.
Evaluate your research in terms of the lessons learnt from the pilot, appropriateness of the research instrument in relation to the research strategy outlined in Task 3, the reliability and validity of your results, etc. (200 words).
Part -2
COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SEVEN TASKS:
1. Give your research a title and develop one research question or research objective. (50 words)
2. Undertake a shortfiterafure review Summarise any theory and evidence relevant to your research q'uestion/objective. (350 words)
3. Briefly explain your research philosophy, approach and strategy. In L.A.0 particular, comment on what makes your research positivist, phenomenological or a7iybrid of both. (250 words)
4. Complete the Faculty ethical approval process for your proposed research using the fast track ethical approval form. The research must be approved by one of the module tutors before undertaking any primary research. Attach the approved form (and mandatory additional documents) to the assignment as an appendix. Briefly reflect on the ethical implications of your research. (100 words).
5. Answer either part (a) or part (b). (300 words plus questionnaireAnterview schedule))
a. Design and implement an effective questionnaire (no more than five questions) to research the question/objective that you specified in
Task 1. Your questionnaire should contain one (and no more than two) open-ended questions capable of generating qualitative data. Then explain and evaluate the purpose and design of at least two non-trivial questions. (Your maximumOat, sample size should be 10 respondents.) Attach a blank copy of your questionnaire as an Appendix.
Task 2 is less concerned with content (i.e., your knowledge of the particular topic) and more concerned with the process of a critical literature review (i.e., that you know how to synthesize different sources, relate your project to debates and disagreements, and identify knowledge gaps that provide a rationale for your research objective/question). For this task, you are required to do enough additional readings to identify four or five relevant nontrivial references for use in the literature review (try to include a mix of newspaper/magazine articles, web sites, and academic journals).
Task 3 tests your ability to explain your research strategy and methodology in terms of an appropriate selection from the range of concepts introduced in the lecture course: e.g., positivist/phenomenological research; deductive/inductive approaches; theory-testing/theory-building; quantitative/qualitative data; research sample frame / sample size and so forth.
You will need to think carefully about both your research question/objective and your research philosophy/strategy/approach, as these will influence your choice of research technique in Task 5.
Task 4 ensures that you understand and have learned how to comply with Staffordshire University's procedures for ensuring that proposed research complies with prevailing ethidal standards.
Task 5 tests your ability to design a research instrument to implement your chosen research methodology and so answer your question/meet your objective.
Five questions are sufficient to demonstrate that you understand how to design a survey questionnaire or a schedule for a semi-structured interview. However, it is not feasible for you to implement the full-scale project. Accordingly, you are required to implement only the pilot research with a small pilot sample size of 10 (for a questionnaire) or 6 (for an interview). The purpose of a pilot is to ensure that your research instrument is capable of generating valid data, and that the collection and analysis systems are appropriate, before embarking on the full research.