APPLIED RESEARCH DISSERTATION - 2022/3

Module Overview

An applied research dissertation is a core part of all MSc programmes, and represents the final aspect of the programme, in which students develop an independent piece of work that is in an area that is particularly interesting to them, supervised by a member of faculty.

This module descriptor covers the applied research dissertation for MSc Occupational and Organizational Psychology, and MSc Human Resource Management.

For all students on these programmes, the dissertation must comprise:

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  An academic dissertation: identifying an applied topic of interest, identifying a gap in the literature and developing and carrying our research to investigate or examine that gap.
  


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  Primary research: data collection and analysis (use of secondary data or other sources of data must be approved by you supervisors).
  


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  Fieldwork: research carried out in an organizational setting
  


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  Practically relevant implications: addressing either a research gap that has clear implications for management practice
  

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

VISOCKAITE Gintare (SBS)

Number of Credits: 60

ECTS Credits: 30

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

For Occupational and Organizational Psychology MSc - MANM383 Research Methods for Applied Psychology For Human Resource Management MSc – MANM382 Methods and Analytics For HR Research

Module content

The applied research dissertation is completed through semester two and the summer period, with bulk of the work on the dissertation being completed during the summer after Semester 2 exam period.

In Semester 1 faculty in the People and Organizations Department will present areas of research interests to students. There will then be a period in which students may consider and select topics for their dissertation projects.

By Week 11 in Semester 1 students must submit their first-choice project ideas and preferred supervisor’s name. Students will then be allocated to supervisors. Effort will be made to accommodate first-choices wherever possible.

Students are advised to arrange their first supervision meeting in Weeks 1 and 2 of Semester 2. A total of up to 4 supervision meetings will be available to students. It is the students’ responsibility to take advantage of these meetings.

Students should submit their project proposal on Week 8 in Semester 2 via SurreyLearn, which is to include clearly established research aims and questions/hypotheses, key arguments of literature review, outline of methodology and participant selection criteria. This is a formative assessment and supervisors will provide developmental feedback (written or verbal) to support students’ progress.

Students are required to have completed ethics review for their projects by the end of Week 13 in Semester 2. This includes obtaining approval letter in response to Ethics and Governance Application (EGA) if required. After this date, significant changes to research topic or aims will not be supported.

Supervisors may read one complete draft of the dissertation to provide further formative feedback if it is agreed in advance and submitted at least three weeks prior to the submission deadline.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

Evidence of ability to work as an independent, critical and competent evidence-based practitioner

Ability to carry out primary applied research

Ability to report findings of applied research in writing clearly and effectively

 

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

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  10,000-word applied research dissertation, which should include 1,000-words of recommendations for organisations 
  

• 
  Research project proposal
  

Module aims

• Enable students to develop a major piece of original independent work under the supervision of a member of faculty.
• Guide students in applying research methods training from their MSc programme to conduct research in an organizational setting.
• Provide students with experience of conceptualizing research problems, designing research studies, and conducting primary research work ethically and effectively.
• Allow students to specialise their learning in an area that is relevant and interesting to them.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Enable students to develop as independent and competent evidence-based practitioners.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• 
  One-to-one supervision and feedback
  


• 
  Independent written-work preparation
  


• Fieldwork

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM357

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2022/3 academic year.