BU504F: MAKING SENSE OF RESEARCH (2023-2024)

In the final block of the MBA (Global) programme, you are going to further develop and refine your skills to become a “scholarly practitioner”. As you bridge the realms of organisational practice and scholarly research, you need the skills to transfer your learning from an academic context to your professional environment.

The next three courses will teach you to plan, design and undertake research, as they build chronologically, walking you through the stages of developing a research project. We will start with Making Sense of Research, where we shall explore how to identify a viable research topic, before we progress to create a research proposal in Research in Practice. The MBA (Global) programme will then end with Developing Business Solutions in which you will execute the research project you have planned in the previous two courses.

This final block of your MBA (Global) has been developed to allow you to systematically explore the academic foundations that you will later apply practically, to enhance your professional role and performance, as part of your final research project. By directly connecting theory to your own practices and organisation, you will significantly improve your capacity to succeed in the business world.

We will start by “Making Sense of Research”, developing a shared understanding of master’s level research and building the skills necessary to effectively understand, critique and utilise research conducted by others. This course will then prompt you to consider how you might conduct research within your own organisational and professional context.

This course will focus on six main themes:

• Identifying the Research Problem
• Appraising scholarly literature – themes and patterns
• The cautionary exploration of quantitative data
• Making sense of words and an introduction to qualitative data
• The viability of secondary data
• Writing a critical literature review

By exploring the fundamental elements of research, you shall increase your ability to think critically and reflectively, preparing you to carry out your own research.

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

More Information about Week Numbers

There are no assessments for this course.