British clientele at an Indian cuisine restaurant.

AssessmentActivityFrontSheet

 

 

Thisfrontsheet mustbe completed bythelearnerand includedwith thework submitted for assessment.

 

Learner Name:		Assessor Name: Emmanuel Murasiranwa IV name : Anne Williams
Date Issued:22/09/2014	HandinDates: Proposal 13/10/14 Actual 09/03/15		Submittedon 09/03/2015
Qualification Level5EdexcelBTEC HigherNationalDiplomainHospitalityManagement
Unit 4:ResearchProject –20 credits

 

Pleasesubmitthe main research project assignmentelectronically through the MyPage portal.

 

The submission date for your RESEARCH PROPOSAL (LO1) will be: 13^th October 2014 as a paper copy to your tutor and on My Page

 

The submission for the COMPLETED PROJECT will be 09^nd March 2015.  You will be given a year to carry out this project – as 20 credit unit, you will be given 80 Guided Learning Hours ( as per Scheme of Work ) and then you are to continue this project, building on your proposal, working with your Research Mentor, who will guide you and support you through the whole of your Research Project work.

 

Once you have your RESEARCH PROPOSAL in place, then you can be allocated a mentor that best suits your topic.

 

This is your opportunity to look at all the knowledge you have gained so far and start to gain a deeper level, through a want to find out more and to be able to enjoy pulling all the areas of research together, in one rewarding project.

 

This is preparing you for University dissertation skills and a potential topic to develop in your top-up year, and also a valuable tool to show to potential employers.

 

 

Learner’sDeclaration

 

Icertifythatthework submittedfor this assignmentismyown.

 

Learner signature:                                                                       Date:

 

 

 

 

Level5EdexcelBTEC HigherNationalDiplomainHospitalityManagement

 

 

Assignment Brief

 

This modulewillbeassessedbyaresearchreportproducedbyyouonabusiness or managementtopicof yourchoice.However,itisimportantthatyourchoice oftopic meetsthefollowingcriteriaifit is to getagoodmark:

 

1. Theresearchmustbefocusedonabusinessormanagementproblem/issue (oropportunity)foraspecificorganisation. Theintroductiontotheresearch report needsto presentsomegoodsupporting evidenceofthis(e.g. ifthe researchisaboutstaff absenteeism,whatistheabsenteeismratein thechosen organisation?how doesitcomparewiththesectoraverage?hasitbeen increasing?what problems/costshaveresulted?).
2. Theresearchreport mustincludeprimary data(i.e.datathatyouhavecollected andanalysed). Itisstrongly recommendedthatyouuseeither aquestionnaire survey orsemi-structuredinterview Ifcarryingoutaquestionnairesurvey,the minimumnumberofcompletedquestionnairestobeanalysedshouldbe20,but itwouldbepreferabletocollect more– 40- 60wouldbegood. Ifdoingsemi- structured interviews,theresearchshouldbe based on atleastfourinterviews, eachlastingaround15-20minutes.Primary datacanbecollectedfromstaff and/ormanagerswithinanorganisation,ifyouhaveaccess,orfromcustomers ofanorganisation(asurveydoesnotrequiretheorganisation’spermissionifit is carried outonthepavementoutsidethepremises).
3. Thereshouldbeenoughacademicliteratureonthechosensubjecttoallowyou to produceagoodliterature review.
4. 4. Thetopicshould beonethatisrealistictocompletewithinthetimeavailabAs ageneralrule,itisbettertochooseatopicthatlooksnarrowratherthanone thatlooks very broad. Youshould also avoidcombiningtwo differentsubjects in onepiece ofresearch.

 

 

Furtheradvicewillbeprovidedinclass,alongwithanopportunity todiscussyour proposedtopicwithfellowstudents.IMPORTANT: You should also agreethetopicandbroad approachwith themoduletutor beforecommencingyour research.

PART ONE – THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

 

 

You can’t go straight into starting a research project, without first having thought about what you want to research, you need to carry out a RESEARCH PROPOSAL.

 

A good proposal will demonstrate that you have a clear vision of what you want to investigate, why is this an interesting topic? How will you approach the research question? what are the expected outcomes?

The research proposal is an important document and if well designed can be valuable in forming an outline of your research project. It is the starting point for your proposed research and is an important way to focus and define your research plans

You will work on this with your tutor, in class, and as part of your own, independent study. You will use the attached template, which guides you through the key areas of what is expected within your research proposal.

 

Your tutor will help you in class and also help each other to think of areas of study.

 

You will be given all the theory in class, and then you will be given the individual time, in class, to start to work on the Research Proposal, looking at as many potential ideas that you can.

 

This is such an important part of your work, and this will be placed in the APPENDIX of your main research project report, to support your reasons WHY you chose this topic.

 

The recommended word count for this is on your template and this needs to be

submittedby the 13^th October2014 as a paper copy to your tutor and on My Page

 

The sooner you get your proposal approved, then the sooner you can start to work with your mentor and act on the work you have completed in your proposal. 13^thOctober 2014 is the DEADLINE date for this to be submitted in PERSON to your tutor, who will then go through it andsit with you to make changes/look at alternatives and/or approve it for you to start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PART TWO – THE RESEARCH REPORT

 

Format and indicative contentof theresearch report

 

 

 

Research reportsgenerallyfollowa standardformat, witheachchapter having a specific purpose. Youare expectedtofollowthis approach:

 

1Introduction–thischaptershouldintroducetheproblem,issueoropportunity thatisthefocusoftheresearch. Itneedstoprovidesomeevidencetoshow whythis topic has beenchosenandwhytheresearchis potentially goingto help the organisation. Backgroundonthechosenorganisationshould bekept short, relevantandfactual. Youshouldindicatehow theresearchwasplannedand annex tothereporta tableshowing howyoubrokethework downintostages and thekey considerationsrelevanttoeachstage. Thechaptershouldendwith

aresearch aim,objectives or researchquestions.

 

[LO 1:AC 1.1, 1.2, 1.4&1.5]

 

 

 

2. 2. Literaturereview–thischaptershouldincludeareview ofrelevantbooksand articlesonthesubject. Itisnotnecessary tolookatawiderangeofsources; relevanceandademonstrationthatyouunderstandthe material aremore importan

Theliterature reviewhas twomainpurposes:

 

 

 

1. a) tofind outwhatother peoplehavewrittenonthesubjectthatis directlyrelevant inaddressingyourresearchtopic(e.g. goodpracticeideas forreducing absenteeism atwork);
2. b) togiveyouideasabouthowtoconductyourprimaryresearch,includingthe mainquestionstoask(e.g.byidentifyingamodelusedinpreviousresearch thatcouldbeused,perhaps withsomemodifications,inyour primaryresearch).

[LO2:AC1.3, 2.2 and LO3:AC 3.1&3.2]

 

 

 

3.Methodology–thischaptershouldbrieflyexplainwhyyouchoseyourprimarydata collection method and then outline the main stages you went through incollectingandanalysingthedata.

 

[LO2:AC 2.1]

 

 

 

4.Results–thischapter needstosetouttheresultsandalsoanalysethem. The approach takenwilldependonwhethertheprimary researchuses aquantitative or qualitativemethod. Analysing quantitativedatadoesnotrequire youtouse complex statisticaltechniques,althoughyouwillneedto be abletouse percentages andcreate andinterpretcharts,cross-tabulationsetc.

[LO2:AC2.2&2.3 and LO3:AC 3.1&3.2]

 

 

 

5. Conclusions andrecommendations–theconclusions needtoset outwhat you foundinyour research,comparedwiththe originalresearch aim, objectives, questions e Therecommendations follow onfromthis andshouldsetout2-4 specificideasfortheorganisationtoconsider,basedontheevidenceyouhave

collectedfrom theliteratureandyour primaryresearch.

 

[LO3:AC 3.3]

 

 

 

PART THREE

 

This part is the presentation of ALL your results and workand will form the final part of this unit’s Learning outcome 4,  basedontheoverallstructureandcoherenceoftheresearch report, includingreferencing ofsources usingtheHarvard referencingsystem.

[LO4:AC 4.1]

 

DEADLINE FOR THE RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT:  An electronic copy by the 09^th March2015  VIA MYPAGE PORTAL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXTRA Student Guidelines:

 

There isnomaximum or minimumword limit,butas anindicationtheresearchreport is expectedto be around5,000wordslong,excludingannexes andthelist ofreferences.

Thismightbe broken down asfollows:

 

1. Introduction:800Words
2. LiteratureReview: 1000 words
3. Methods: 1,000words
4. Results:1,200words(longer if usingsemi-structuredinterviews)
5. Conclusionsandrecommendations: 1,000words

Appendixshouldbeusedfor necessarysupportinginformation. Theseshouldinclude theprojectplan anda blank copyofthequestionnaire or semi-structuredquestions (These will NOT be counted as part of the Word Count). There isnoneedforan executivesummary.

 

 

• Use diagramsandtablesoffigureswhereappropriateandreference theirsource

 

• Wordprocesstheassignmentandjustifythemargins

 

• Use 12pointonTimesNewRomanor Arial script

 

• UseJustified:1.5linespacing

 

• UsetheHarvard referencingsystem

 

• Completethetitlepage andsign thestatementof authenticity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BREAKDOWN OF THE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR THIS UNIT: