NX0480 - The Newcastle Business School Masters Dissertation

You will learn through a combination of one-to-one supervision with a member of academic staff, supervisor directed study and independent study.
Directed learning will centre upon a range of activities including pre-reading and preparation for supervision meetings. Independent learning will centre upon you identifying and pursuing areas of interest in relation to your subject area. Critical reflection on knowledge, experience and practice underpins the learning and teaching philosophy along with the explicit development of competence.

Your supervisor will be an appropriate academic member of staff will be appointed during the semester 2 preresquisite module BM9718 - Research Methods and Analytics for Business Practice. Whilst the aim of the dissertation is to encourage your ownership of the dissertation, the supervisor will provide on-going support by guiding you through the process.

You will be supported by your supervisor in addition to the module tutor.

A comprehensive eLP site will store all the appropriate materials needed to support the development of your dissertation work. There is an electronic reading list indicating which texts, academic reports, conference papers and journal articles should be consulted as the module progresses.

You will be supplied with formative feedback on your performance by your supervisor, who will help you develop your dissertation work. You may also receive formative feedback from other relevant staff. It should be noted that your supervisor will provide formative feedback on one full chapter of your dissertation and also give feedback on other chapter outlines but your supervisor will not read full drafts of the dissertation.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of innovative and contemporary research on the business and management community. [MLO1]

• Acquire, interpret and apply specialist functional or generalist business knowledge in relation to your programme of study (specialist programmes only). [MLO2]

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

• Plan and complete a major research project on a contemporary business, financial, management or leadership topic and organise the findings into a comprehensive and explicit structure that is critically assessed and is linked to the conclusions drawn. [MLO3]
• Demonstrate skills of analysis and synthesis in the selection and application of appropriate research methodology and method(s) to your chosen research topic. [MLO4]

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

• Critically reflect on the processes involved in the research, including reflection upon your own ethical values and the contribution of the research to the topic area. [MLO5]

Summative assessment is by Dissertation (100% of the total marks, 15000 words).

You will receive summative feedback followed by written comments on the submitted proposal which will indicate areas for improvement. Formative feedback will continue via supervision meetings and summative feedback will be provided following the marking of the dissertation.

Feedback sheets are used for both the proposal and the dissertation, blank versions of which will be available from the eLP. The Module Learning Outcomes are addressed through the dissertation component.

Standard university principles regarding word length will be applied dissertation. These principles will be available from the eLP site.

The dissertation will cover MLO1-5 inclusive.

BM9718 - Research Methods and Analytics for Business

None

You will design a research project, assessed through the prerequisite 20-credit module BM9718 Research Methods and Analytics for Business Practice a proposal, and will then work under the supervision of a member of academic staff who will give you appropriate guidance and support throughout the dissertation process whilst encouraging learner autonomy: this is your dissertation and you will have responsibility for decision making as the dissertation proceeds.

On completion of this module, you will be able to conduct research and organise the findings into a comprehensive and explicit structure that is critically assessed and is linked to the conclusions drawn. You will demonstrate this by identifying a topic, critically selecting and applying an appropriate research methodology and data collection method(s), demonstrating a rigorous understanding of the relevant theory and literature and showing how these link to the research method(s). You will also critically reflect on how your research contributes to the understanding of the topic area.