MSc Human Resource Management 2023/ 2024Matlab

Java Python Preparing a Masters Dissertation

MSc Management

MSc International Business

MSc Marketing

MSc Human Resource Management

2023/ 2024

PREPARING A MASTERS DISSERTATION

All students completing a Masters programme are required to undertake a major project and present a written document before they can be considered for the award of the degree. These guidelines explain what is required and also provide general information on preparing and submitting your dissertation.

Before submission of your final manuscript. you should ensure that you have presented the document in the required format before submitting through Canvas Turnitin (further details are available later on in this document).

If there are any parts of this document which you do not understand, please speak to your dissertation supervisor or Programme Director and they will be happy to clarify.

1. Essential Requirements

To be able to progress to the dissertation component of your degree programme, you should normally have successfully completed all of your taught modules. In some cases, the specific degree programme regulations permit a student to progress to the dissertation as long as he/she has successfully completed modules to the value of 100 CATS points which must include the appropriate research methods module. The student must successfully complete and pass the outstanding module/s during the supplementary examining period in August. If you are in any doubt as to whether you can progress to your dissertation module, please contact your Programme Director.

All students who are not able to progress to the dissertation module will or have been contacted by the PGT Office and/or invited to student support meeting.

If you have any additional concerns about whether you can progress to dissertation or how to manage your workload over the summer, please discuss your situation with your Programme Director.

The dissertation module forms one-third of the overall assessment for the degree (i.e. 60 of the 180 CATS points) and is thus a significant undertaking.

Supervision

You have already completed a research methods module as part of your programmes This module should provide you with a strong foundation from which to build your dissertation, but you may wish to develop or deviate from your initial ideas after discussing your proposal with your assigned supervisor.

As you work on your dissertation, you are entitled to two face to face or online individual meetings, normally over the summer months. Support and guidance is also available by email. It is your responsibility to contact your supervisor to arrange these meetings, bearing in mind that supervisors will be on holiday for at least part of the time.

Students are expected to take a proactive approach to all meetings and they should submit material or ‘issues’/ questions to be discussed rather than expect the supervisor to say what should be done next.

Feedback will also be offered by supervisors on a maximum of two dissertation chapters. You can select the chapters on which they will provide feedback and you can choose when to seek this feedback. Normally, students seek feedback on the literature review and methodology chapters. However, draft chapters provided within the last two weeks prior to the submission date will not ordinarily be read or commented on. There would not be sufficient time to allow the supervisor to read thoroughly or for you to make changes and improvements to the chapter before final submission.

Please remember that the dissertation is your independent piece of work. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your ability to conduct independent research and to write it up into a dissertation, presenting a coherent, well organised analysis and evaluation to a clearly defined problem or question relating to some aspect of Management/ Marketing/ International Business/ Human Resource Management.

Full detail in relation to the supervision process is outlined in part 6 of this document.

Word Length

The dissertation should be between 15,000 to 17,000 words, or equivalent, including footnotes but excluding the reference list and any appendices. The word count should be clearly stated on the front cover of the dissertation.

It is permissible to exceed the word limit by 10% only. Once the word limit has been exceeded by 10%, a penalty of 10 marks deducted from the mark awarded will be imposed.

Students who do not include a word count on their dissertations will normally be penalised by the deduction of 10 marks from the mark awarded.

Submission Details

The dissertation must be submitted via CANVAS on or before 23.59pm on Friday 13^th September 2024. The submission setup in Canvas means that your work will automatically be passed through Turnitin (see appendix 6). Please include the completed dissertation checklist as an appendix (see appendix 3).

Extensions

Extensions for dissertation submissions will only be granted on the basis of extenuating circumstances, as outlined in the General Regulations: University Calendar for Postgraduate Students. The duration of any extension approved should be proportional to the impact of the extenuating circumstances.

If you wish to be considered for an extension, you must complete the online form. in line with the School’s PGT exceptional circumstances process and University Regulations and submit this for consideration well in advance of the submission deadline. No ‘informal’ extensions to dissertation submission dates will be given, neither will there be any retrospective approvals for extensions after the Dissertation submission deadline has passed.

Please apply to exceptional circumstances to be considered here: EC submission portal

More details on how to submit via this portal are available on the programme MGT7200 Canvas here: https://canvas.qub.ac.uk/courses/24976/files/4592239?module_item_id=1175339

For further general information on exceptional circumstances please visit here 

Any student who is granted an extension, regardless of the length of the extension or revised submission date, may not have their Dissertation considered and mark confirmed until the January Exam Board. 

If your circumstances change and you think you may be unable to meet the dissertation deadline, please communicate this to your supervisor as soon as possible and get in touch with your Programme Director to discuss the options for completing your programme and the implications for your graduation date. Unless extensions are approved, dissertations submitted after the deadline will be subject to the normal University penalties for late submission and there may be fees implications if you do not adhere to this guidance

Non-submission of dissertations

Students who do not submit their dissertations by the stated deadline and who do not have any approved extenuating circumstances will fall under the regulations for late submission of coursework.

If a student fails the dissertation, as a result of late or non-submission and is permitted by the Board of Examiners to re-submit, he/she will be re-enrolled on a part-time basis and will be required to pay the appropriate module fee. Dissertations must be re-submitted by the deadline set by the School and when re-sitting/ resubmitting (when no exceptional circumstances apply) marks may be capped at 50%. This will be clearly communicated to the student.

Failed dissertations

Students who fail the dissertation module at the first attempt may be permitted by the Board of Examiners to re-submit the dissertation for a maximum mark of 50%.

Students who are required to re-sit the Dissertation module will be re- enrolled on a part-time basis and will be required to pay the appropriate fee. Re-sit dissertations will normally require the student to work on a new piece of work that is different to the initial submission and must be re-submitted by the deadline set by the School. Where students fail their first submission only marginally, they may have the opportunity to complete a ‘rapid resubmission’ which involves improving and responding to the feedback from their first submission so that it reaches the appropriate quality. Conditions for re-sitting or resubmitting dissertations will be clearly communicated to the student at the student support meetings at the end of November.

If a student does not wish to resubmit the dissertation, he/say may elect to exit their programme with a Postgraduate Diploma. This would then be confirmed at the next Board of Examiners meeting. 

2. What is a Dissertation?

A dissertation is an original and substantial piece of written work, in which a problem, hypothesis or question of importance is subjected to analysis and elucidation using an explicit method or methods. Conclusions are drawn on the problem and perhaps about the method(s) chosen and the contextual value of the findings.

The originality of the dissertation lies in it being the new work of an individual author tackling an issue of practical and/or academic significance. The dissertation is expected to contribute to knowledge. This means that your research must be linked satisfactorily to what is already known about the topic. This requires a thorough review of the literature that already exists about the topic. Such a review should normally appear as an early chapter in the dissertation. In addition, you must demonstrate expert knowledge of, and insight into, your chosen topic. The dissertation project normally entails the collection of primary data and you are required to include a detailed discussion of your research methodology in a separate chapter.

3. Acceptable Dissertation Topics

The requirement to make a contribution to knowledge means that deciding on your topic is a key issue. You need to consider questions such as:

· Why is this issue relevant?

· What has already been written about the topic?

· Is there a gap in the existing body of knowledge?

· Can the gap be filled by my research?

· Is the research feasible within the restrictions of a Masters dissertation?

Once you have identified a possible topic, you must consider the evidence or data you need to access.

· What kind of evidence or data do you need?

· What kind of data collection method(s) appears most appropriate?

· How can you go about collecting the evidence or data?

· What difficulties are you likely to encounter

Some potential topics may have to be rejected because the sources are difficult to access and/or there are other problems relating to data collection; you need to identify such difficulties as early as possible. Feasibility of the project is vitally important.

You should pay full attention to the feedback and advice offered throughout the Research Methods module and by your supervisor in assisting you in identifying and clarifying an appropriate dissertation topic.

4. Formulating your Topic

Arguably, identification and selection of your topic is the most difficult part of the whole dissertation process. It is also true that the perfect topic does not exist, so you will need to define a researchable topic and work on it, rather than wasting time trying to determine the unattainable perfect topic. However, a good dissertation usually has a clear and relatively narrow focus, an interesting, perhaps even novel approach, and is executed in a logical and informed manner. Therefore, it is worth expending effort on the preparatory and often uncomfortable processes of:

· identifying a prime focus which interests you;

· considering various alternative or complementary ways of tackling the issues;

· developing your ideas and arguments in a comprehensible way (i.e. comprehensible to someone other than you).

It is important that you put sufficient effort into this formulation stage. Some factors which you should take into account when determining what a reasonable topic is include:-

Timing

Your dissertation must be completed within a pre-determined time limit. You can  determine a work schedule if you work back from the stipulated submission date and consider tasks such as: typing up the dissertation; writing various drafts and providing time for your supervisor to read these and respond; analysing the data; carrying out the research (collecting primary data often brings challenges and takes longer than envisaged so plan accordingly); and conducting the literature review.

Access to information

A major problem facing any researcher is gaining access to information and people. Managers and other participants are often unavailable when you need to contact them and it can be complicated and time-consuming trying to arrange interviews at mutually suitable times. Data collection will inevitably take much longer than estimated. Also, given additional pressures on organisations, gaining access for data collection and conducting research may be more challenging.

You should consider whether conducting research in a face-to-face setting is needed or not. You may consider other means of online data collection. It is expected that many students will rely on secondary data sources when undertaking the dissertation project.

Access to a range of academic and practitioner databases is available through the University’s Library and from research projects carried out by academic staff. These are essential starting points when considering what data you might need to collect.

Ethical Approval

As part of the research process, due consideration should be given to ethical issues surrounding your research. For example, some information may be commercially confidential or personally sensitive, or you may need to pay greater attention to the needs and requirements of participants. Research participants should be given clear explanations of how confidentiality will be preserved and be aware of their right not to participate should they so decide. Usually it is inappropriate to name organisations and respondents in the dissertation unless prior permission has been sought and given.

Please note: Research Ethics approval must be sought before the commencement of any data collection. You must seek approval from your supervisor first and ensure your form. is signed by your supervisor. Please submit your ethical approval form. via Canvas by Friday 5^th July 2024.

If you are still considering the suitability and appropriateness of conducting primary data collection etc and need more time to complete the Ethics Approval Form, then please speak to your supervisor to arrange an extension. Your supervisor will then review your form. and once they grant approval, you can submit your form. as soon as reasonably possible.

An Ethics Approval Form should be submitted for ALL dissertations, even if you are focusing solely on publicly available data.

Failure to adhere to the ethics approval process may lead to a fail grade being awarded and to further actions in relation to student misconduct.

You should refer to Appendix 2 for additional information.

The first meeting with your supervisor is especially useful in establishing and/or confirming the boundaries of your research and how you propose to collect relevant information (see section 6 for details on the supervision process).

5. Common Pitfalls

Planning and completing any major project, such as a dissertation, is not without its challenges. Listed below are some common problems which you need to be aware of and try to address.

· You may attempt to research a topic that is too general and wide in scope which cannot be c MSc Human Resource Management 2023/ 2024Matlab ompleted in sufficient depth within the time allowed and within the word limit imposed.

· You start collecting data or writing up before you think carefully about your subject or before you have fully reviewed relevant literature. You then either collect data which is insufficiently focused and possibly unusable or you have to rewrite an entire chapter.

· You do not properly grasp or comprehend what is required before you start your independent research. To help you understand what is required, you may consult past Masters dissertations.

· You do not plan ahead or keep to your plan. You should work through a series of self-imposed targets which you discipline yourself to achieve.

· You exceed the word limit; you must present your work concisely. Dissertations should be between 15,000 to 17,000 words, or equivalent, including footnotes but excluding the reference list and appendices. Exceeding the word limit may cost you marks.

6. Supervision

Role of Supervisor: 

Your supervisor’s responsibility is to give advice on the process of undertaking the dissertation and on the methodology and will help guide you to relevant literature needed to complete a good dissertation. It is however NOT the supervisor’s responsibility to advise on the actual content nor to provide you with a comprehensive reading list etc. Your dissertation is your responsibility and is the way in which you show your personal ability to independently complete a major piece of research work with minimum supervision.

Frequency of Contact:

You are entitled to two individual-based meetings during Semester 3 (the Summer Semester) before the submission of the dissertation in September. Please also ensure that you have discussed with your supervisor any ethical concerns about your intended research and that have submitted a completed ethics form. for your supervisor to approve before you collect any primary or non-publicly available data.

It is your responsibility to request the two meetings during Semester 3. It is best if you request these meetings when they may benefit you the most. However, you need to be aware that your supervisor will take annual leave during the summer and therefore you need to plan accordingly. It is recommended that you discuss your supervisor’s availability at the earliest opportunity. It is your responsibility to keep in regular contact with your supervisor and ensure they are kept aware of your progress. Meetings can be conducted online using MS teams or face to face depending what is convenient for you and your supervisor.

Meetings with your supervisor will usually take place during business hours (9am-5pm). Some supervisors may be willing to accommodate meetings outside of these times, but it is entirely at their discretion.

Reading of Draft Chapters: Your supervisor will read and provide feedback on a maximum of two draft chapters. It is your choice as to which two chapters. Whilst supervisors will endeavour to provide feedback within a reasonable timeframe, you should ensure that you give your supervisor sufficient prior notice when sending a chapter for them to comment on.

Given the submission deadline, supervisors will not read or provide feedback on any work that is submitted in the two-week period before the submission date.

Supervisor Advice: Your supervisor can provide advice on:-

· The identification, selection and definition of an appropriate and achievable topic

· Approaches to the literature review

· Methodology including, where appropriate, advice on accessing secondary data sources, methods such as interviews, surveys etc.

· Analysis and discussion of the findings

· Linking up and connecting the chapters of the dissertation

· Presentation of meaningful conclusions and recommendations 

Writing Style: The standard of English, style and overall presentation of the dissertation is your responsibility. If appropriate, ask someone to proof-read your dissertation and remember to use the spell-checker when you are typing it, otherwise you could lose marks. Ensuring a high standard of English grammar and spelling is not your supervisor’s responsibility.

7. Planning, Timetable and Milestones

Discuss and agree a timetable with your supervisor. This should include a series of milestones against which your supervisor can monitor your progress and help you stay on track. The timetable or schedule of work you adopt will depend on your topic, how you intend to collect your data and information etc. Your success in managing the whole process will also depend on how well you plan the work and monitor progress against your plan.

Many student problems concerning dissertation completion arise due to poor time management rather than a lack of ability to write the dissertation.

8. Literature Review

The first, and one of the most important stages in the dissertation process, is to undertake a literature review. The literature review helps you establish current knowledge in your broad research area, and to identify potential gaps to be addressed by your research. You should be systematic in your approach. It may be sensible to start with the best-known articles and books in your chosen field.

It is advisable to conduct a thorough literature search using various keywords and online databases, including, for example, ABI Inform, Business Source Premier, ISI Web of Knowledge). Please visit the Management Subject Library Webpages for further guidance on how to design a search strategy and how best to use the available databases. Your supervisor may also be able to provide guidance on relevant/important literature.

If you need some additional support in terms of using the databases to source appropriate information, you can arrange an online meeting with our Subject Librarian, Norma Menabney, [email protected] 

9. Methodology

The choice of an appropriate research method(s) is central to the success of your dissertation. Common questions raised by students beginning to think about the dissertation include which method of gathering data is most appropriate. You can gain some insight into this and the standard required, by looking at past Masters dissertations (available QMS7000 Canvas site), and of course you will have gained key understanding on this during the taught research methods module. Past dissertations demonstrate the many different approaches to research and data collection which have been adopted by past students. Please note that these are however not viewed as best practice examples.

You should ensure that you know and have considered the advantages and disadvantages of different data collection methods. You will be expected to utilise method(s) appropriate to your topic. You will be expected, also, to demonstrate knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the method(s) you choose to use.

The method(s) you use to collect data must be appropriate to the questions you want to answer. You should discuss methods with your supervisor and consult them about the specific research approaches and method(s) you propose to use. 

When it comes to collecting data, the scale of the operation needs to be appropriate to the advanced level of the Masters. This is not just a question of doing a lot of work, but also a question of the rigour and robustness of your research. Given the range of possible topics, it is impossible to be prescriptive but you must discuss this with your supervisor.

10. Thesis Structure and Guidance on Content

The layout of your dissertation should typically follow this basic structure:-

· Title page

· Dissertation checklist

· Declaration

· Acknowledgements (optional)

· Abstract

· Table of Contents

· Introduction, including background to the research problem, context of the research and consideration its applied nature to management and business practice.

· Literature Review

· Methodology

· Findings

· Discussion of Findings (this is where you relate your findings back to the review of literature)

· Conclusions

· Recommendations 

· Reference list

· Appendices (optional)

Your dissertation must conform to the style requirements (Appendix 1).

Guidance on content: Additional relevant details are provided in the appendices:

Title Page: you should use the prescribed format (Appendix 4)

Declaration: A signed declaration page certifying your work. (Appendix 5)

Acknowledgements: It is polite to acknowledge help given by others at the beginning of the dissertation in an Acknowledgements section. This could include the supervisor and/or individuals and organisations that have supplied specific assistance and should be limited to no more than a single page.

Abstract: An abstract describing the contents of the dissertation. This must be short (probably in the region of about 300 words) providing details of the problem addressed, main arguments, brief details of research design, conclusions and recommendations of the dissertation. It must be designed to be read independently of the rest of the dissertation and references to the dissertation and other literature will not normally be included.

Table of Contents: Your Table of Contents should include, as a minimum, a list of chapter numbers, chapter titles and page numbers for each chapter, together with details of any appendices you may be including. You may, if you wish, expand the detail given to provide information on sections within chapters, but you must not obscure the clarity of the Table of Contents with this additional material.

You should also normally include a list of the figures and tables in your dissertation (unless you have only a small number of tables and figures).

Main Text and Chapter Organisation: The actual ordering of chapters will depend upon the topic and your approach, but will normally be as suggested below:-

i. Introduction - Clearly state the problem you are tackling, your research question, aims and objectives, and why the research is important and relevant to the studyof the related discipline (eg HRM, Management, International Business, Marketing etc). Outline how your dissertation is structured. Background and context are normally included in the Introduction. For some topics it may be important to outline the specific context for your research in some detail (e.g. in a case study design).

ii. Literature Review – This reveals what has already been found by previous researchers in the subject area and/or the industry or sector. This chapter must include comparison, synthesis and critical analysis as appropriate, together with a summary of what has been learned, gaps in the literature, ambiguities, conflicting theoretical perspectives etc. The literature review is not mere description or overview of other authors’ work; you must exercise critical judgment and attempt to draw knowledge and learning from the literature. The form. and content of the Literature Review is your responsibility; your supervisor will give guidance but cannot write the review for you.

iii. Methodology – Explain in detail the design of your study and the methods employed to gather data/information, so that the reader can evaluate the validity of your findings, conclusions and recommendations. Please note that methods and findings chapters are usually written in the past tense.

The following is a possible format for the chapter:-

o Restate the problem you are investigating and your research question(s), aims and objectives.

o Explain and justify the paradigm (ontology and epistemology).

o Leading from the definition of the problem, explain your data requirements, what you would need ideally to address the research question, aims and objectives and what was practically possible

o Explain how you carried out your data collection, e.g. how and why you chose your sample and/or conducted your interviews etc. Perhaps you collated data from a range of already published surveys etc.

o Explain how you analysed your data.

o Discuss the ethical considerations and the limitations of the research design and methods you employed.

iv. Findings - Detail the main arguments or results obtained from your research. Where the results are quantitative, consider tabular or graphical presentation, either in the body of the dissertation, or in a separate appendix. Where the findings are qualitative in nature, remember to cite participants’ responses as directly and accurately as possible.

v. Discussion of Findings – Demonstrate the significance of your arguments or results and make appropriate linkages between your findings and the review of literature.

vi. Conclusions– Briefly summarise what you have written from problem definition to results and discussion. Indicate the extent to which the research question has been answered and the research objectives met. Discuss how the investigation has contributed to the advancement of management theory and practice.

vii. Recommendations – Consider the limitations of your research and make suggestions for future investigations. In terms of recommendations, what action should be taken based on your findings, by whom and when? Your recommendations must be consistent with, and supported by, the evidence and arguments contained in your dissertation. Normally you should make recommendations for both future research and management practice.

viii. Reference List – Please follow Harvard referencing style – conventions set out in Appendix 8.

11. Assessment

The dissertation is assessed on its academic merit and intellectual content, including the thoroughness and quality of the review of literature and other relevant reading (on research philosophy, design and methods), the choice and use of research methods, the robustness of the analysis and the discussion and interpretation of results. The quality of the presentation is also important. Good work is informative, thoughtful and well organized. Outstanding work is usually distinguished by great thoroughness, insight and/or originality and substantial depth of analysis.

All dissertations are read and assessed independently by your supervisor and are further moderated following the School’s internal moderation process. Dissertations are marked against the University’s postgraduate conceptual equivalents scale. This scale and full details of the assessment criteria can be found in Appendix 7. The actual mark sheet employed, which has been informed by the University’s conceptual equivalents scale PG is also provided in the appendix. When preparing your final document, it would be helpful to review the assessment criteria and the information in Section 10 above to ensure that you address all the criteria and produce an excellent piece of work. Your supervisor can also give you additional guidance in relation to this.

The External Examiner also reads and comments on a number of dissertations. In cases where agreeing marks through the internal moderation process is more difficult, the dissertation will be part of the sample sent to the External Examiner