PSB6013CL Assignment Brief

Coursework 1: An individual written Business Research Project (5,000 words)

Overview of the Module

The Business Research Project module is designed to provide students with the opportunity to undertake a relevant piece of written work on a topic appropriate to the field of study. The aim is to provide students with an opportunity to undertake a piece of research, integrating research skills development and extending their knowledge and experience to a specialist area. The topic may arise from literature relating to course of study or a practical business or management problem. Alternatively, it may relate it to current/past work experience. Students may be able to use the research topic that was developed in the Research Methods module. Students will need to think carefully about the exact focus of the Business Research Project topic. The chosen topic needs to be initiated by the student and needs to be of interest, as students will need to spend around 200 hours of work on it. The topic can be further developed through discussion with the Business Research Project Supervisor. The topic selected will need to be appropriate to the course of study, logistically feasible, adequately resourced and will adequately address ethics, safety and any required permissions. Therefore, students and supervisors will need to invest some time in thinking about the chosen area and topic for research.

Throughout the entire process, students will be supported by a supervisor who will guide them through the process. Supervisors will normally meet with their students once every two weeks to review the progress of their work and to advise on changes and improvements. The meetings will normally take place face-to-face and are intended to give students support and provide formative feedback. Students will be able to develop a meaningful study demonstrating and applying skills gained during the course of their studies at PSB Academy.

Intended Module Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the module, a student will be able to:

1. Defend the choice of the research problem relevant to the field of study for research with clearly developed research aims and objectives.
2. Compose a critical review of the existing literature that is informing their research topic and demonstrate understanding of areas of literature relevant to the research topic.
3. Select, justify and use appropriate research methods to investigate their research topic.
4. Appraise the use of research tools and techniques to analyse the data relevant to their topic.
5. Generalise their findings and draw relevant conclusions and recommendations that can increase the performance of a firm, sector or an economy.

Final Complete Project: 5,000 words (+-10%)

Submission: Submission of your project will be online via Turnitin on the module web, full details are given below.

Note that Ethics Application for your research study need to be submitted by 1st June 2026. Without Ethics approval, you will not be able to start data collection for your research study

Credits/Weighting:

This assessment contributes 100% to total module mark.

The Brief:

Your final complete project should include the following sections:

• Executive Summary (no more than 1 page, not incl. in word count)
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Methodology
• Analysis/ Results
• Conclusions
• References (not incl. in word count)
• Appendices (not incl. in word count)

More detailed descriptions of each chapter are provided below.

Executive Summary

This is a brief overview of what your project is about and a summary of the findings of your entire report.

The introduction

This section should provide a lead into your project including the background or issue you are researching, the problem, research question and research objectives.

Literature Review

The literature review should include a thorough review of past literature relating to your research study and should provide a framework for your methodological design and analysis..Typically it includes the following:

• Have only 4 independent variables and 1 dependent variable
• What does the previous literature find on the topic and about your hypotheses
• Develop hypotheses and conceptual framework for the research
• The project title should reflect the content of this chapter.

Methodology

Your methodology should outline your research design, sampling approach, research instrument (e.g. questionnaire, interview questions), any ethical considerations, and the validity, reliability and generalisability aspects.

Analysis/Results (SPSS)

Your findings/analysis/results/discussion can be structured in a number of ways depending on what works best for your particular project. Quantitative and qualitative analysis chapters will tend to differ quite significantly from each other. You can get ideas by looking at some of the journal articles that you reviewed in your literature review.

Conclusions

The conclusion should be selective and pull out the most important and significant aspects of your findings. You should also make recommendations (and discuss implications) for marketing managers, academics and researchers. You should discuss limitations of your study (e.g. small sample) and make recommendations for future research.

References

Your project should be fully and accurately referenced in APA Referencing Style.

Appendices

Be selective here. Do not include everything just in case. Consider whether each item is really necessary. Ensure that all references are referred to somewhere in the main body of the report, otherwise there is no point. Ensure that you do include:

• Research instrument e.g. blank questionnaire, interview questions (discussion guide)
• Ethics documentation (available on Blackboard)
  • Participant info, informed consent form, etc
  • Proof of ethics approval

(You do not need to include completed questionnaires or interview transcripts)

Formatting Requirements

• Double/ 1½ line spaced
• Arial/Times New Roman font size 12
• Referenced in APA referencing style
• Include Cover sheet (Appendix 1), Submission Form (Appendix 2) and Ethics Approval Certificate plus associated documents
• Include Contents page
• Include page numbers on every page

Note:

Please make sure that your ID number and the module number appear on the actual coursework assignment as well as on your cover sheet.

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Grading Guidelines