BRM211 – Research Methods I
Final Assignment
Purpose of the Assignment: The assignment consists of two parts (Part 1 and Part 2) and is
designed to provide students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to develop a well-
structured abstract with the inclusion of appropriate sources and develop an understanding
on how you will need to work on and develop various dissertation chapters.
Part 1 – Abstract
Your task is: Please prepare and upload your proposed abstract. Please follow the suggested
structure – Good abstract samples are available on Moodle – week 8.
An abstract is a concise summary of a research paper or entire thesis. It is an original work,
not an excerpted passage. An abstract must be fully self-contained and make sense by itself,
without further reference to outside sources or to the actual paper. It highlights key content
areas, your research purpose, the relevance or importance of your work, and the main
outcomes. It is a well-developed single paragraph of approximately 250 – 300 words in
length. The function of the abstract is to outline briefly all parts of the thesis.
Word Limit: 500
Part 2 – Mind Map
Your task is: The second part of the assignment aims to assist you to develop an
understanding on how you will need to work on and develop various dissertation chapters.
You can use the outcome of this assignment to develop your research proposal at a later
stage. Please remember you can always change your topic at a later stage.
Please produce a document to describe how you intend to structure your dissertation. Your
document should include a brief description (synopsis) of your chapters. Your synopsis
should include the following:
1. Introduction: Your suggested topic with your suggested Research Question(s) and
Research Objectives. Any current trends that are relevant to your selected topic. Please also
comment on the significance of your study.
2. Literature Review: Please list any sources / studies that you feel are relevant to your
selected topic. Moreover, please mention any theories / models that you intend to use and
you feel that will add value to your work. please briefly discuss the gap in the current
literature and ideally link it to your research question(s).
3. Methodology: Briefly mention your suggested methodology (Quantitative / Qualitative
/ Mixed). How you intend to collect and analyse your data? Are there any limitations? You
do not need to be very extensive here as we are going to talk more about different
approaches and research philosophies during Research Methods II.
4. Findings: Here you need to mention briefly your expected / desired findings. How your
findings will add value to the current literature? Who will be interested in your findings?
Briefly identify any stakeholders.
5. Conclusion. Briefly mention whether you expect that your findings can be generalised
(based on the size of your desired / expected sample). Would you think about any future
areas of research?
Word Limit: 1000
Assessment Weighting (Part 1 and Part 2): 60% of your Total Mark
Total Word count: 1500
Please submit both parts in one single document.
Deadline: 17 January 2021 at 23:59 CEST
Suitable Reference System: Harvard
Assessment Criteria:
1. Library/Internet based research. Try to use a mixture of resources – books, articles as well
as the internet.
2. Understanding of the issues raised by the questions.
3. Concise and clear presentation. Acknowledge any quotes, ideas or arguments that are not
your own using the Harvard system. Include a list of references.
4. Originality and a critical and questioning approach. It is important to be objective and to
support statements with evidence.
5. A logical structure.
Good Luck!
