RESEARCH METHODS - 2024/5

Module Overview

The Research Methods module aims to help students to develop an understanding of the research process and prepare students to undertake research leading to successful completion of their dissertation. It enables students to conduct research independently and also provides them with the knowledge, skills and understanding required to develop their proposal for their dissertation. Students are required to identify an area of research and develop research questions to be answered or hypotheses to be tested in the industry context relevant to their course of study. The module covers ideas, techniques, and methods relevant to different stages of the research process, stressing the interdependence of each stage in conducting effective, coherent and rigorous research.  

Module provider

Surrey Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

SKINNER Jonathan (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

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

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Introduction to research


• Formulating research aims and objectives


• Critically reviewing the literature


• Developing a conceptual framework


• Hypothesis development


• Sampling strategies


• Measurement and scaling; questionnaire design


• Collecting primary data


• Quantitative statistical analysis


• Analysing qualitative data


• Obtaining secondary data


• Negotiating access and ethical issues in research


• Developing a research proposal 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

None

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their breadth and depth of understanding of both the theory of research methods and its application to research problems. The assessment strategy consists of formative and summative assessments. Only the summative assessment contributes towards the final grade of each student for this module. The formative and summative assessments are specifically designed to develop skills for employability; to contribute to students’ resourcefulness and resilience and to develop digital capabilities linked to the topics covered. 

 Summative assessment

The summative assessment for this module consists of two components:

Individual Research Sketch 

Students are required to submit a research idea sketch, which includes the research title, research questions, research aims and objectives, the research methods and target population that will be used to answer the research questions. Students should also justify the research questions by stating the research background, the research gaps, and the expected theoretical contributions and practical implications of this study. Students may choose any topic which is relevant to their study programme. Students will get feedback on how to improve their research idea and research design through this assessment, which helps build up their research proposal.

 

Individual Research Proposal 

Students are required to submit an individual research proposal at the end of the semester, which includes an introduction, a literature review and a methodology section. This research proposal may be used as the basis for their programme dissertation, but this is not essential i.e. a student can choose a different topic for their dissertation. No data collection is required or envisaged within this module. Late submissions will be subject to a penalty for each day after the submission deadline as outlined in the PGT Handbook.

Formative assessment

A series of formative tasks and activities through lectures, seminars, IT lab sessions or Surrey Learn to test students’ understanding and provide feedback to the module team. Such tasks and activities could be individual or group ones and may be completed before, during or after a given session. Formative task and activity feedback will allow students to identify areas for further development where more study is required to meet the module learning outcomes.

Module aims

• Introduce the fundamentals of the research process
• Enable students to effectively define their research problem
• Compose a detailed research proposal on a topic relevant to your Programme
• Identify your research approach within the general framework of research methodology
• Locate information from a variety of secondary sources
• Write a critical literature review that deals effectively with relevant concepts/theories/models
• Provide students with an introduction to qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Explain the differences between quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and analysis procedures
• Provide students with hands-on experience with basic data collection and data analysis
• Stress the ethical aspects of research and how to embed them into research practice
• Compose a detailed research proposal on a topic relevant to students' Programme
• To contribute to resourcefulness and resilience; to develop digital capabilities linked to the topics covered, and to develop skills relevant for employability

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to provide students with an overview of fundamental elements of research methods. This theoretical overview will be supplemented with exercises, practical project, and continuous improvement methods so as to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to critically evaluate research work and independently conduct primary research on a topic relevant to students’ programme.

 

The learning and teaching methods include:

• theoretical lectures with supporting materials from a range of academic research readings and empirical studies in hospitality to provide students with a holistic framework of knowledge


• exercises, practical examples, and research scenarios to put theory into application and transform the acquired knowledge into practice 


• a research proposal in which students will identify their area of research, develop research questions to be answered or hypotheses to be tested, conduct literature review, and select the appropriate research methods to answer the research questions.


• supporting guest lecture sessions


• formative feedback sessions


• independent learning, including guided self-study, reading, preview and review of learning materials

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: MANM386

Other information

This module adopts the University curriculum framework, which aims to develop learners with strong capabilities in Digital Capabilities, Employability, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the development of the following capabilities: 

Digital Capabilities: This module focuses on developing students’ capabilities in research methods. They will learn how to collect secondary data from various online sources and how to use various software to analyse qualitative and quantitative data. Students will use the virtual learning environment,¿SurreyLearn, and data analysis software, i.e. SPSS and Nvivo to facilitate learning. 

Employability: The assessments in this module help students to gain knowledge and skills about how to do applied research, i.e. how to solve a real business problem using rigorous research methods, how to collect data and analyse data to facilitate business decision-making. This will increase students' employability when they work in the industry.   

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Students will learn how to identify important research problems that are relevant to the tourism, hospitality or event industry, and these problems can be related to consumer behaviors, organisational behaviors and strategic decision-making. Students need to pay attention to the study contexts of their research problems, and strive to understand the influences of sectoral, national, regional and cultural differences on the focal research topic. 

Sustainability: Students will learn how to reflect on how to conduct research to support sustainability in the tourism, hospitality and event industry. 

Resourcefulness and Resilience: Students will be required to use a range of sources to identify and justify research problems, conduct a critical literature review, develop rigorous research design, identify primary and secondary data sources, and analyse the data to answer the research questions. Finding solutions during the research process is the key learning aspect of this module that will develop students’ resourcefulness and resilience.   

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 2024/5 academic year.