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MSc International Marketing
CONTENTS
Introduction 3 The requirements of an International Marketing Dissertation 4 Topic selection 5 Supervision arrangements 5 Presentation 6 Suggestions on structure 7 Evaluation Criteria 13 Research Ethics 16 Core Texts, further reading and references 18
Appendix B: System of referencing 20 Appendix C: Reviewing the literature 24 The central objective of the M.Sc. programme is to offer candidates for the degree the opportunity to enhance their personal and professional development by exploring in some depth, through independent study, an area that is relevant to the field of International Marketing. We have tried to avoid being too prescriptive about the precise focus of the dissertation, but we do encourage research work that enables candidates to critically assess and analyse the options for managing people in a given context. Equally, we would welcome research topics that are focused upon the impact of organisational and societal change, or those that concentrate upon the strategic options and implications of implementing marketing. Above all, the dissertation is an individually prepared piece of work, which needs to be of a high standard conceptually and presented in good English. There are many different ways in which the dissertation might be satisfactorily researched and presented. What must be remembered, however, is that research is a process of enquiry and investigation, which is systematic and methodical, such that it increases knowledge (Hussey & Hussey, 1997). The notes presented in this handbook are for guidance as there is no single best way to conduct and present dissertation research. Indeed, there is certainly no intention to penalise creative approaches just because they do not follow some of the advice given here. However, there are some aspects, which arise from the regulations, which are not negotiable. #p#分页标题#e# The present method of assessment is by publication of a 15,000 to 20,000 word dissertation, which should be either issue or problem centred. Experience suggests that dissertations often suffer from volume drift and our advice is to see 15,000 words, excluding appendices, as an upper rather than a lower limit. Excessive length is often a symptom of vague focus and http://www.ukassignment.org/Marketing/attempts to disguise inadequate content by increasing the weight of the dissertation. This will be penalised by the examiners, so you should try to adhere to the recommended word length, ensuring your work is relevant and focused on the issues being investigated. The dissertation could discuss International Marketing issues from an theoretical perspective or from a perspective of concern to organisations. The dissertation should be concerned with informing practice with theory. The dissertation will need to show a critical understanding and examination of the literature and research relevant to: the chosen issue and the field work and research methodologies yielding the primary data. A successful dissertation will demonstrate critical awareness. Analysis rather than description is of prime importance. The dissertation should be presented in a form appropriate to the conventions for masters’ dissertations (see sections on Presentation and Suggestions for structure). Basically, the dissertation is an academic piece of work, not a consultant’s report. However, appropriate use of headings, lists, figures, tables, etc., is encouraged so long as the overall effect is to add to the scholarly thoroughness of the work. Note: Your dissertation becomes a public document once submitted. If material within the dissertation is commercially sensitive you must alert the programme co-ordinator in order that the document is not lodged in the library.
Your investigations need to be thorough, rigorous and well organised and will involve undertaking systematic research to discover and learn about human resource management Your research will, therefore, involve using appropriate methods to systematically collect and analyse the data. It will argue why the results obtained are meaningful, and explain any limitations that are associated with them (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 1997). It is envisaged that a successful dissertation will give greater weight to critically examining the relevant literature and research than that on the Diploma Management Project. In a number of respects, however, a successful dissertation will possess some of the characteristics of a good diploma project. Both for example, would demonstrate the candidate's capacity for rigorous analysis, perceptive observation and critical assessment. Further, both would display qualities of clear and coherent expression, discussion and presentation. Finally, both would provide evidence of the student’s ability to engage in independent study and thought.#p#分页标题#e# Specifically, the dissertation should: 1. Analyse and develop an issue associated with the field of International Marketing.
Topic Selection Until a topic for the research is identified the work cannot of course start and what seems an obvious point is made to emphasise that so much research, particularly research for masters degrees, founders because students do not take a systematic approach to topic selection early enough. Towards the end of the spring term you will be asked to indicate your thoughts on topic and likely supervisor. However, we strongly suggest that you start to explore possible topics for your dissertation from the outset of the International Marketing course. We cannot emphasise enough how important it is not to leave such thinking until the last minute, as in our experience this leads to unnecessary pressure and problems. Supervision Arrangements As early as possible in the process, you will be allocated a supervisor who will provide guidance throughout the execution of the dissertation project. Supervisors act as a point of reference throughout the dissertation period, advise on content aspects and generally give you feedback o your progress. The responsibility for keeping contact with your supervisor is yours not the supervisor’s. In addition it is not the job of the supervisor to write the dissertation for you. Experience suggests that students who ignore their supervisor until the last minute, when they provide a draft of their report days before the deadline are often unsuccessful. Specifically, you should contact your supervisor within one week of allocation and arrange to see her/him. The purpose of this meeting is to initiate discussions aimed at finalising agreement on the dissertation proposal, its substance, structure and the planned activity through to conclusion.#p#分页标题#e# All further meetings with your supervisor should, if possible, be planned in advance. Once the dissertation is underway, written material for discussion at such meetings should be sent to your supervisor in advance so that the meetings can be as useful as possible to you the student.
Presentation The following conventions should be used in presenting the dissertation and are non-negotiable. The exact layout of the dissertation will differ according to the nature of the investigation but all dissertations must include: 1. A front page, showing title, name and year (in the appropriate position to show through the box in the required covers – see point (I) below).
There are many ways to present the results of your dissertation and our advice to you is to always construct the project document in the format, which makes most sense of the work you have done. Other than the specific requirements listed in section 5 (Presentation) we have no standard requirement. However, we are often asked for ideas about format and the following summarises some features, which have been found of use in the past. The first thing to remember is that whilst everything is clear in your head, the reader is coming to the work with no prior understanding of the project at all. More than this, your dissertation may be read at a time of the year when there are other competing claims on the reader's time in the form of other reports and dissertations, assignments and examination scripts. You, therefore, need to lead your reader "gently by the hand" or risk losing her or him to other clearer pieces of work ... and, of course, risk losing a favourable assessment. This does not mean being simplistic, but rather treating the reader as your client, starting where she/he is, rather than where you are, and anticipating the questions which she/he has in approaching your dissertation. What follows uses a selection of these questions as one way of structuring the project document. Firstly, the reader will want to know the title of the project and also the writer. So on a title page give a relevant, informative and reasonably concise title along with your name. Next the Preface is used primarily to mention matters of background necessary for an understanding of the dissertation that do not fit logically into the text. Items such as the following may also be mentioned unless they are more extensively covered in the body of the text: reason for the selection of the subject and its limitations; the nature and scope of the investigation; difficulties encountered, etc.... Also if you wish to make acknowledgements to individuals who have assisted you in your project you may do so at the foot of the title page. Alternatively a separate page may be used for this purpose. An important question for any reader is: "in a nutshell, what is the whole thing about?" This means that at the beginning of your dissertation you need to provide a synopsis. A synopsis tells the whole story, including the principal findings, in about a page and a half (200-500 words). You may feel that this "gives the game away" leaving nothing to develop in the report proper. Your job is not to keep your reader guessing until the final page. A dissertation is not a whodunit. Rather, your job is to succinctly communicate the findings of a piece of research and use the body of the document to provide the evidence which stops the reader asking, "why should I believe this?".#p#分页标题#e# The next thing, which is useful to the reader, is a list of contents so that they are able to find their way around the document. You need to ensure that there is consistency between the list of contents and the headings and subheadings used in the document. All headings in the Table of Contents should correspond exactly in wording, arrangement, punctuation and capitalisation with the headings as they appear in the body of the text. An example of a contents page is given in Appendix A. In the list of headings, typing-treatment should indicate clearly whether a main heading, subheading or tertiary subheading is intended; setting in can provide clarity, as can using different formats, e.g. use of bold type, and italics and different font sizes for different levels of heading. Another useful way of structuring the chapters and sections of the document, which many past students have utilised, is to use a hierarchical decimal system, e.g. 1. Title - for chapter 1 main heading
Having dealt with the structure of the prefaces to the dissertation, what follows presents some ideas and features which have been found useful regarding the structure of the main body of the document:
The first chapter (introduction) of the dissertation needs to answer three questions: 1. What is the issue/problem? In more than two or three words, but probably not more than two or three pages, you need to define the subject of your dissertation and draw some boundaries round it. What it is and what it isn't. As ever, the message needs to be clear to your reader, but probably even more crucial it needs to be clear that you fully understand the nature and parameters of what you are about. In addition, to answering these questions, this chapter should also give the reader some indication of the structure of the dissertation, and the way you set about researching the issues.
Chapter two would normally consist of your analysis of the literature. In effect you are trying to answer the question: “what is already known about this issue/problem?”. There needs to be enough of a literature review to show that useful data already in existence has informed your efforts. One feature might be to show how your understanding of this secondary data has helped you to formulate questions you have used in your primary data collection. Another, not necessarily competing, approach might be to use some “model” as a way of organising the data. Models may be already in existence as expressions of a particular theory which you are using to underpin your work, or they may be created by you as a way of helping the reader to better understand what you have done. In general, showing that you understand the existing literature relevant to your research topic is a vital aspect of your dissertation. Remember you are writing a dissertation and so you need to show the breadth and depth of the literature search which has informed your research and the academic debate surrounding the issues considered. Some further thoughts on reviewing the literature are presented in Appendix C. Having set out a theoretical framework through a discussion of the relevant literature, the next logical question is "how might this problem be researched?". Chapter Three Chapter three is, therefore, a critical evaluation of research methodologies and methods. The discussion should also consider those rejected as well as those adopted. The aim is to persuade the reader that your approach and the methods chosen are appropriate for the task. You should also be aware of the weaknesses of the methods chosen and be able to comment upon the limitations this may cause. Normally, you will be concerned with two main types of data. "Secondary data" is information already in existence (often in books and journals) and your analysis of this shows that you understand what is already known about the issue. It is not the concern of this chapter to present the secondary data, but rather to explain your rationale for making the selection that you do from the universe of literature available. Most methods of research are grounded in particular views of what organisations are, in general, about. You will strengthen your argument by showing that you understand the dominant paradigm which underpins your approach. You also need to discuss the limitations of your methods. All methods are flawed to some extent and you need to show that you are aware of the degree to which the conclusions you reach using your chosen method(s) can be relied upon.#p#分页标题#e# You will also need to discuss the method of data collection including, the sample or respondents used to gather the data from, and how you intend to analyse and make sense of the data. For example, what statistical techniques will you employ to make sense of quantitative survey data, and/or how will do you intend to analyse qualitative data from interviews or observations in order to demonstrate rigour and validity in your analyses. Having established what contribution the literature has to make to the solution of the problem/issue and the appropriate research methodologies to use to enable you to answer your specific research questions, the next question is: "just what is it that you have uniquely discovered?"
Chapter Four, therefore, sets out the results or the findings from your fieldwork. This is likely to be the most significant part of your dissertation. Try to avoid merely listing your results. Your reader will rapidly become bored, and consequently miss the point of your argument, unless you arrange your data in a meaningful way. Grouping like responses together, using charts, contrasting responses from different strata of your sample are just some of the things you might do. Basically, try and be imaginative without distorting the data. In this chapter (or if appropriate for the structure a subsequent chapter) you will also need present a discussion of your results drawing out links to the literature presented in chapter two. The next question is really: "so what?" You have displayed your understanding of the literature and the results of your fieldwork, but do they mean anything? What contribution, if any, do the various findings make to the clarification of the issue? If you cannot show the reader that all her/his effort in following the story so far now pays off with conclusions which directly arise from the data, you're in trouble.
Chapter 5 deals with conclusions and recommendations and needs to show what can be legitimately deduced from the work you have done, what confidence we can have in those conclusions, and what action (if any is appropriate) should be taken as a consequence. An optional, but sometimes appropriate, final chapter might be some form of review and perhaps a look to the future. You may wish to show that you are able to reflect on the progress you have been through and consider aspects which you would change if you were to repeat the exercise, and suggest avenues for future research. It is stated this is an optional chapter. But even if you do not present it as such, it is suggested that you discuss the problems with your study and suggestions for how things could have been differently, etc. in appropriate sections of the document, for example the discussion and conclusion chapters. It is important that the reader is able to follow up any publications you reference in your dissertation. Within the main text of your dissertation a reference is indicated by entering the authors name followed by the date of publication, e.g. in the form 'Drucker (1967) ....' or 'a number of authorities (Burns & Stalker 1961, Davenport 1950, Herzberg 1968) indicate that ....#p#分页标题#e# All quotations must be clearly acknowledged. If you are merely quoting a phrase or a few words, it is sufficient to indicate this by using inverted commas in the main text, with the source in brackets e.g., As Spinelli (1989, p5) claims "Phenomenologists deny the possibility of correct interpretations . . . ". If the quotation is longer, indent it and use single spacing e.g., As Terry concludes " . . . since 1979, far from using their greater power to destroy or ignore shop steward organisation, management have continued to influence both the shape of that organisation and the role it performs . . . managers remain wedded to the principle of the `collectivised' workforce . . . to facilitate the handling of relationships between management and workers". (Terry, 1983 p57) There are a number of methods for providing reference details. We would advise you to use the Harvard method of referencing which avoids footnotes and interrupting the flow of your writing. Whatever referencing system you decide upon be sure to be consistent in the method used. Appendix B shows an accepted method for referencing material. An optional and last section before the appendices is a bibliography - this is distinct from the reference section. In the bibliography you may include any publications you have read in the preparation of your dissertation. This may include publications you have referred to directly. You do not need to give page numbers but otherwise stick to the same method for giving publication details as used in the references section. The last part of the document is the appendices. Appendices should contain material which is relevant to the development of the arguments featured in the body of the text, but would dislocate the flow if included in earlier chapters. Examples of material suitable for appendix inclusion are questionnaires with covering letters, the data on which the findings derived from the field work are based, and quasi-legal documents such as agreements/contracts. Reference to appendices should always be made in the body of the dissertation. Appendices should not be used to pad out the dissertation with extraneous material which has only tangential relevance to the work as a whole. As indicated at the beginning of this section, there is nothing obligatory about this approach. For instance, it doesn't necessarily fit well with dissertations which are more like case studies where a narration and analysis of events as they unfold are probably required. However, whatever approach is chosen, you really have one overriding task and that is to be convincing. Conviction is usually helped by clarity. Each chapter or major sub-section might, therefore, begin with an introductory paragraph, which does two jobs - a synopsis of what the chapter is all about, and a justification for why it's there at all. If you can't write such an introduction, then the chapter probably shouldn't be there! In a similar manner, each major section might be ended with a brief summary of what has been discussed and be used a link to the next section, showing where the discussion/analysis is leading.#p#分页标题#e# Conviction is also assisted by an emphasis on analysis rather than description. The most consistent cause of poor dissertation results is a lack of critical analysis - accepting normative statements from the ‘pop’ management literature without question, not recognising connections or lack of connections in the data you present being unaware of the limitations of what you are proposing, etc. In summary, this approach to structuring the dissertation might produce a "model" contents page as given in appendix A, although the actual words you will use will reflect the specific content of your dissertation.
The pass mark for the dissertation is 40%. The overall criterion for a successful dissertation is that it should result in a treatment of the chosen topic in depth, structured around a set of arguments which hang together throughout and be concerned with analysis rather than description. Overall the dissertation should reflect a balance between description and critical evaluation, to make the critical evaluation meaningful and sufficiently critical to demonstrate both context and theory. In particular the examiners will be influenced by the degree to which the dissertation: 1. Takes into account differing research traditions, states and justifies clear and meaningful intentions/purposes for the dissertation. The following extracts from examiners' reports illustrate how the presence or absences of the above are critical to the assessment process: "A very clear and strong account. The beginnings - synopsis, aims, background etc - are concisely and logically laid out. It's very easy to get into the thesis and understand both what she attempted and how she went about it. It is also well limited in its scope and resists the temptation, which is particularly common in complex issues, of ranging too widely and diffusely." "The literature is particularly thoroughly reviewed and he develops a useful model of appraisal dimensions as a result. One possible drawback at this stage is that in trying to make sure that he is sufficiently comprehensive, there is a tendency to list rather than analyse some of his source material." "The conclusions go on too long and lack the focus and tightness which conclusions should have. At times, the presentation is characterised by some curious uses of English which tend to cloud the analysis". "The dissertation lacks a strong structure and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the literature survey, the case study of the writer's own organisation and the wider fieldwork. Perhaps as a result, the findings are in places repetitious and unquestioned". "His choice of literature is appropriate, but rather narrow. The case studies contribute a useful comparative dimension, but perhaps increase the descriptive feel of the work. Whilst not detracting from the dissertation as a communication document, there are enough spelling/grammatical errors to be a little irritating." "It would also have been useful to have assembled the findings in other than a straight narrative and, at times, wearying way. Perhaps diagrammatic summaries of how the various factors linked together with regard to different work groups would have made reading the findings less of a grind". "On the down-side, we are less impressed with the overall impact of the dissertation. In particular the literature was rather "listy" and at times not well integrated into the work as a whole, and her conclusions were a little weak." "She surveys the literature well and adopts an appropriate methodology within the limitations discussed above. The chapters are well linked together and she establishes a convincing rationale for what she is doing. However, she never completely delivers in terms of linking cause and effect which means that a potentially high level of performance turns out in the end to be good but not outstanding".#p#分页标题#e# "However, his determination not to omit relevant material gives the document a feeling of interminability which becomes wearing in the end. Clearly, his choice of dissertation topic arises out of a keen personal interest which helps to provide the energy for the undertaking, but also tends to produce the occasional "axe-grind" which pushes at the limits of objectivity". "There is ample evidence of effort in terms of accumulating data, but no clarity in terms of research methods, and certainly no justification for the approach taken. Perspiration alone at this level is just not enough". As a guide to overall standards, we expect that the better dissertations should be of a level which would provide the basis for publication.
If the dissertation is felt to contain confidential information, which the author does not wish to be accessed by, others please indicate this clearly on both copies of the dissertation before handing them in. This form is designed to help students and staff completes an ethical scrutiny of their proposed research. It also enables the University and Faculty to keep a record of research conducted that has been subjected to ethical scrutiny. Name of student or principal investigator Name of supervisor (if applicable) Title of research proposal
If the research proposal requires submission to the FREC please refer to the Faculty Research Ethics Policy, or contact a member of the committee for more information. Approval awaited applies until the proposal has been considered by the FREC. ETHICAL APPROVAL (please tick): □ (Standard approval) This project does not require specific ethical approval. □ (Category approval) In my opinion this work falls within the category □ (Approval awaited) This project should be referred to the FREC for individual I can confirm that I have read the Sheffield Hallam University Research Ethics Policy and Procedures document and agree to abide by its principles (please tick). □ Signed.......................................... Name............................... Date......................... Signed.......................................... Name............................... Date......................... Note: University Research Ethics policy available from the following web link:
If the research has a number of distinctive phases where the full methodology or research subjects are not clear at the outset, a separate ethical approval may needed for each phase. In this case, the outline of methodology should make clear if approval is only being sought for an initial phase of work. Normally this requirement would only relate to Doctoral Students at the RF1 and RF2 stages of their research.
Wisker, G. (2001) The Postgraduate Research Handbook, Palgrave, UK Further Reading and References
Campbell, J.P., Daft, R.L. & Hulin, C.L. (1982) What to Study: Generating and Developing Research Questions, Sage, London. Cooper, H. M. (1989) Integrating Research: A Guide to Literature Reviews, 2nd Edition, Applied Social Research Methods Series, Sage, London. Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. & Lowe, A. (2002) Management Research: An Introduction , Sage, London. Gill, J. & Johnson, P. (2002) Research Methods for Managers (3rd Ed.), Paul Chapman, London. Howard, K., & Sharp, J. A. (1983) The Management of a Student Research Project, Gower, London. Hakim, C. (2000) Research Design; Successful Designs for Social and Economic Research, Routledge, London. 2nd Ed. Hussey, J. & Hussey, R. (2003) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Macmillan, London. 2nd Ed. Locke, L., Spiriduso, W.W. & Silverman, S.J. (2000) Proposals That Work: A Rose, J. (2001) The Mature Students Guide to Writing, Palgrave, UK Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students, Pitman Publishing, London 3rd Ed.
APPENDIX A
PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SYNOPSIS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. TITLE OF FIRST CHAPTER 1.1 Title of First Major Subheading 1.3.1 Title of First Subsidiary Subheading 1.4 Title of Fourth Major Subheading 2. TITLE OF SECOND CHAPTER #p#分页标题#e# 2.1 Title of First Major Subheading 3. TITLE OF THIRD CHAPTER 4. TITLE OF FOURTH CHAPTER 5. TITLE OF FIFTH CHAPTER 6. TITLE OF FINAL CHAPTER 6.1 Title of First Major Subheading
BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX A: TITLE OF FIRST APPENDIX APPENDIX B: TITLE OF SECOND APPENDIX Appendix B: System of referencing For the dissertation, and indeed any piece of work at the postgraduate level, it is essential that you reference any work you are citing properly. An acknowledgement, within the document, of the source of any material you have used to obtain information is termed a citation. All sources cited in the text must be properly referenced, where a reference is a detailed description of the source of the information you have used. References can be listed as footnotes on the page on which they occur, but we would suggest you adopt the convention of listing all references at the end of the document. For the purposes of the dissertation it is worth noting, perhaps, the difference http://www.ukassignment.org/Marketing/between the terms references and bibliography. References are a detailed list of the sources, which have been cited in the text of the document. A bibliography is a list of publications which have been consulted and are relevant to your work, but which have not been directly cited in the text. Accurate citations and references are important for three reasons (Hussey & Hussey, 1997: 103): They help the reader to distinguish between your own ideas and findings, and those gleaned from the literature. They help your arguments by showing the extent to which independent theoretical and empirical sources support them, although this depends on the quality and appropriateness of these sources. They enable readers to refer to the original sources for themselves. Credit must be given when quoting or citing other peoples’ work. Adequate information must be provided in the bibliography to enable a reader to locate the references. Referencing should be as consistent as possible. There are several ways of listing references and making citations but the preferred way for the dissertation is based on the Harvard System of Referencing, which is the most commonly used method in the social sciences. All systems of referencing contain the same information but often display it differently. Basically, the reference should contain the following information: 1. Author(s)’s surname and initials It is suggested you use the following rules for citations and references:
The preferred system of referencing is based on the Harvard system, and uses the author’s name and date of publication, to identify references cited in the text of the document. For example: Quoting a single author: Morgan (1986) argues that… or, It has been shown that… (Morgan, 1989); Referring to joint authors: (Gill & Johnson, 1991) or Gill & Johnson (1991) state that…. When there are more than two authors, the first time they are cited in the document show all names, e.g. (Mayer, Davis & Schoorman, 1995); for subsequent citations use (Mayer et al, 1995). If referring to work by different authors on the subject, show their names in alphabetical order, e.g. The nature of trust in organisations has been investigated by a number of authors (e.g. Butler, 1991; Gabarro, 1978; Jennings, 1971; Scott, 1980). When referencing different publications by the same author the publications should be ordered by date, e.g. Rotter (1967, 1971) studied the role of …… If including direct quotations of an author’s work, then the reference is extended to include the page number where the quotation can be found (the quotation should be placed in inverted commas) e.g. as Hanson (1958, p. 7) claims…. Or alternatively, as Hanson (1958:7) claims ‘there is more to seeing than meets the eyeball’. For longer quotes it is acceptable to place the page number at the end of the quote, e.g. Kidder & Judd (1986) claim that ‘social scientists look for biases and pitfalls in the processes used to support and validate hypotheses and submit there conclusions to the scrutiny of other scientists who attempt to find biases that were overlooked’ (p. 18 ) When citing publications with no obvious author, e.g. specialist reports or (trade) journals use e.g. (Pensions News, 1995). If the work is the product of an organisation, without a named author, the organisations name can be used e.g., National Health Service (1970)#p#分页标题#e# To reference an author referred to by another author: (Benyon, 1973, cited by Gilmarketing assignment l & Johnson, 1991). Both the citing authors’ and the original author’s work should be properly referenced in the reference list. Listing references in the reference sections In the reference section (and optional bibliography), references are listed alphabetically by author(s)’s name and initials. If there is more than one work by the same author(s) these are listed in chronological order. An example of a book reference: Gill, J., & Johnson, P. (1991) Research Methods for Managers (2nd Ed.), London: Paul Chapman Publishing. A reference to a particular chapter in an edited book: Hartley, J.F. (1994) ‘Case studies in organisational research’, in Cassell, C., & Symon, G. (Eds.) Qualitative Methods in Organisational Research: A Practical Guide, London: Sage, pp.208-229. An example of a journal article reference: Clark, M.C., & Payne, R.L. (1997) ‘The nature and structure of workers’ trust in management’, Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 18(3), 205-224. A reference to a dissertation: Crookes, D.J. (1993) Organisational change: How organisational strategies could be redesigned to cope with varying rates of environmental change, Unpublished MBA Dissertation, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK. An example of a reference with no obvious author: DHSS (1973) ‘HRC (73) 7 Operation and development of services: Organisation for personnel management’, London: Department of Health and Social Services. REVIEWING THE LITERATURE Any research project whatever its scale will necessitate reading what has been written on the subject and gathering it together in the form of a critical review which demonstrates some awareness of the current state of knowledge on the subject, its limitations, and the way the proposed research aims to add to what is known. Indeed one of the criteria for any research degree is to demonstrate a critical awareness of background studies and matters relating to the thesis. Whilst literature searches and reviews take place early in the research sequence keeping up to date with the literature on the topic of course continues throughout the period of the research. At this stage it is appropriate to make three important cautionary points. First, it is not uncommon for researchers to become bogged down in reading the literature so that it not only becomes a means of avoiding the tough process of writing, but also often seems to become unhelpful in advancing original ideas, by the student becoming submerged in those of other people. Accordingly the state of the literature search needs to be kept under close review in consultation with the learning set so that becoming overly concerned with other researchers' work at the expense of creativity is avoided.#p#分页标题#e# Secondly, writing literature reviews can be a demanding exercise for a critical review should provide the reader with a statement of the state of the art and major questions and issues in the field under consideration. Often they simply seem to be uncritical catalogues of all that has been found which vaguely relates to the topic regardless of the merits of the work. What is instead required is an insightful and critical evaluation of what is known which leads naturally to a clarification of the gaps in the field and the way in which the proposed research is intended to fill them. Hence you need to develop an organising framework or model to enable you to select, order and evaluate the relevant literature. Thirdly, it is most important when embarking on a literature search to ensure that everything that is read is noted systematically at the time. After quite a short period the likelihood of remembering is remote and much time may accordingly be wasted at later stages of the research, for example, in locating a precise reference if it has not been recorded when read. Most usefully such records are best kept on a card index or even better on a computerised file so that they can be searched, added to, and sorted in multiple ways as required. Once a system is decided upon it is advisable to stick to it. Useful guides to conducting literature searches and reviews may be found in Hussey & Hussey (1997) and Saunders et al (1997). Smith, (1975) offers a guide to the information network to researchers in Business and Management Studies in Britain and the article, despite its date, is still useful. It is structured in thirteen sections; General Sources; Economics; Statistical Data; Company Information; Marketing; Accountancy; Behavioural Sciences; Industrial Relations; Personnel Management; Computers; Quantitative Methods and OR; Production Management; Mechanics of Research and Publication. There are a range of CD ROM abstracts including ANBAR, Institute of Management and Journal CD ROM Indexes such as Personnel review and Journal of Management Development also available in the University Library. Each of these sections then contains subsections on bibliographies, such as British Books in Print; indexes, such as the Social Sciences Citation Index; abstracts, such as the ANBAR Marketing and Distribution Abstracts and the International Abstracts in Operations Research; research registers, such as the BLLD Announcement Bulletin which as well as listing reports and translations produced by British Government organisations, industry and academic institutions, also lists most doctoral theses produced at British Universities. Finally some specialist libraries are listed such as the members' reference library of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Production Engineering Research Association Library. In summary it is necessary in order to make a start on a research topic to identify the broad area in which the work will be conducted and then to focus down into a manageable topic? The next step is to make a plan by which stages in the research will be achieved. Alongside these early activities it will be necessary to search the literature relating to the field under study to look for gaps in the broad area and to get an early appreciation of work already completed or underway.#p#分页标题#e#
1. The material contained in this dissertation is the end result of my own work and that due acknowledgement has been given in the bibliography and references to ALL sources, be they printed, electronic or personal. 2. Unless this dissertation has been confirmed as confidential, I agree to an entire copy, or sections of the work, being held in the University library if deemed appropriate, or being placed on to the course Blackboard site in order to allow future students to see examples of past dissertations. 3. I agree to my dissertation being submitted to a plagiarism detection service, where it will be stored in a database and compared to work submitted from this or any other Faculty within the university, or from other institutions using the service. In the event of the service detecting a high degree of similarity of content with existing work, the dissertation's supervisor and second marker will be informed and may decide to undertake further investigation. This may lead to disciplinary action should instances of plagiarism be detected.#p#分页标题#e# 4. I have read the Research Ethics guidelines issued by Sheffield Hallam University's Faculty of Organisation and Management and I declare that ethical issues have been considered, evaluated and appropriately addressed in this research.
Please remember to sign this declaration and include it before submitting your dissertation for binding.
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