ONCAMPUS Assignment Brief Academic Year 2021-22
Please read this document carefully. It includes the learning outcomes, assignment task, information
about plagiarism and marking criteria. Please speak to your tutor if you have any questions.
Programme
Undergraduate Foundation Programme: Business
Module
UFPB3 – Skills for Business
Assessment title
Research Project
Deadline date
To be confirmed by your tutor
Weighting
This assessment counts for 60% of your overall grade for this module.
Pass mark
40% *please note your University may require a higher grade for progression.
Assignment summary
To write an individual report investigating the following:
The perception and experiences of international students when studying
in the UK.
Submission of work
http://www.turnitinuk.com
Feedback
http://www.turnitinuk.com
Feedback will also be communicated back to you via your tutor. They will
confirm the timescale in which you will receive your feedback.
Important details
Unless instructed otherwise by your tutor, please follow the below instructions:
Word count 1,500 words File type Word processed Font 12 pitch font – Arial or Times New Roman Format Double spaced and justified Referencing Harvard system Notes Your assignment must include page numbers and word count.
You will receive a 10% penalty for this assignment if you go over the word
count by more than 10%. If your assignment is significantly under the word count, you may not have answered the question in full and will be
reflected in your overall mark.
The word count does not include contents, end of text references or
appendices.
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Module learning outcomes: On successful completion of this assessment, you will have met the following module learning
outcomes: Knowledge based outcomes:
LO1. Collect, analyse and present relevant research and data to support a chosen project LO2. Present information effectively to meet audience needs
Skills based outcomes:
• Gathering data and information from a variety of secondary and sources • Communicating relevant information in a variety of forms • Analysing information and make reasoned judgements
Assessment criteria: In order to successfully complete this assessment and meet the above learning outcomes, you must
satisfy the following criteria:
AC1.1 Evidence relevant primary and secondary research carried out to support their work AC2.1 Produce a well-structured research paper with clear findings to support a chosen project AC3.1 Interpret and present the data using appropriate methods to inform others and support
own ideas
AC4.1 Demonstrate proficient use of Harvard-style referencing (subject to progression university)
Assignment instructions: To successfully complete this assignment, you must conduct a piece of research using a questionnaire
or interviews to investigate the perception and experiences of international students studying in the
UK. Your participants will be your classmates or other ONCAMPUS students.
Examples of the topics you might wish to investigate are:
• Homesickness • Life abroad • Work/life balance • Culture shock
These are just ideas – you can include anything you find of interest but please check the suitability
with your tutor first.
You will then write your findings as a research paper. The research paper is written in third person
formal English, such as you would find in a journal article. It will be treated as a scientific report,
therefore it must be factual, objective and logical in structure and content. You will be given more
information about how to structure your report later in this document. Task 1: Literature review and report introduction Part A: Literature review
• Decide what topic areas you might like to research. • Conduct a literature review to discover what previous research has taken place on your chosen
topic(s).
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Part B: Report introduction Write the introduction to your report.
Use the following guidance to help you:
• The introduction includes the literature review which is a description of the background literature related to the study. This provides the reader with some background information
relevant to your investigation.
• You should refer to at least 1 piece of previous research in this area. • Remember to use Harvard referencing in the body text when mentioning other studies.
Task 2: Research aim and designing a questionnaire or interview. Part A: Research Aim Write the aim of your investigation.
Use the following guidance to help you:
• Once you have completed Task 1, you will have an idea of what exactly you would like to investigate about students’ perceptions or experiences of education in the UK. This will
become the aim of the study.
• The aim of the study is a statement about what is being investigated and what is expected. Since this is not an experiment, there is no hypothesis; just a reason for doing the study.
• Your aim should be 1 or 2 sentences in length. Part B: Design a questionnaire or interview. Use the following guidance to help you:
• To investigate your aim further, you must devise a questionnaire or a set of interview questions to ask your fellow students about their perceptions and experiences.
• Consider what types of questions you will use, e.g., open or closed or a mixture of both. If you are using closed questioning, what form will this take, e.g., multiple choice, forced choice, or
Likert-type scale?
• Your questions must be chosen carefully to give you the answers you need that will meet the aim of your study.
Task 3: Conduct the research and Research Method
Part A: Conduct the research Before you actually conduct your research, there are some things that you must consider.
Use the following guidance to help you:
• Decide who your participants will be. E.g., will they be only your classmates, or will you use other OnCampus students or friends too?
• Decide how and when you will distribute your questionnaires and how you will collect them back in again. E.g., will you give them out during break time and collect them back in when you
return to class?
• If you are conducting interviews, you must schedule appointments with individuals. • Consider what type of sampling you are using, e.g., random sample, opportunity sample. • Remember to collect information about your participants such as age, gender if you think that
might be important based on previous research, country of origin, length of time studying in
the UK, existing level of qualifications, or any other relevant information. This information will
be needed when you write your Method section. Part B: Method Section
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This section is where you describe how you designed and carried out your investigation. Precision and
clarity are necessary in this section as this is where you demonstrate your understanding of
quantitative research methodology. This section is divided into 3 separate parts.
Use the following guidance to help you:
Participants • Give details of the number of participants together with details such as age, country of origin,
or the fact that all the participants were students. Include any characteristics of participants
that could be replicated, if someone else wanted to repeat this investigation.
Materials • This section is for the materials used for this investigation and can simply be listed with an
appendix reference for each one. (Example – Appendix 1: Informed consent form, Appendix 2:
Copy of interview questions. Procedure
• Carefully and accurately describe how the investigation was carried out. This should be done in a chronological step-by-step order. Enough details should be provided so that another
researcher could replicate the investigation.
• Include reference to any ethical issues that were addressed (for example when informed consent was carried out).
• Example: Participants were asked for their consent and gave it (Appendix 1). Questionnaires were handed out in class to participants. They were given 30 minutes to
complete the questionnaires before the researcher collected them in (Appendix 2).
Students were debriefed and advised that they could withdraw from participation in the
investigation at any time. Task 4: Results Present the results of your investigation.
Use the following guidance to help you:
• Collect the figures from your investigation, e.g., averages or percentages, etc. • Present the data in numerical and graphical forms, explaining briefly what the numbers are
saying (no conclusions here though!).
• Put the raw data into an Appendix at the end of the report. Task 5: Discussion Interpret your results in the light of previous research (you are comparing what is found in your
investigation to what was found in the studies you talked about in the introduction).
Use the following guidance to help you:
• Discuss the results of your investigation and how they link to the studies referred to in the introduction. Were your results similar or different to previous findings?
• The strengths and limitations of your research. • Any relevant modifications and areas of further investigation based on your results. Did you
have any problems when you carried out your study? Would you do anything differently if you
could do it again?
• An informed conclusion.
Important: Do not introduce any further studies in this section.
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Task 6: References, Report Abstract, and Appendices Part A: References References for all studies that appear in the introduction should be in standard Harvard format as you
have been instructed in your Skills lessons.
Part B: Report Abstract Write your abstract.
Use the following guidance to help you:
• The abstract contains a summary of important information about the study. It allows the reader to understand quickly how the study was carried out, the results and the conclusions
drawn.
• The abstract is the last section of the report to be written but appears at the beginning of your report.
• It should contain fewer than 200 words.
Part C Appendices Appendices (plural of appendix):
• Include copies of supplementary material, e.g., a copy of the questionnaire or interview questions, plus any other material you may have used as part of your investigation, such as
images or soundbites given to your students as part of the interview, etc. This section provides
all the materials necessary to allow a similar investigation to be replicated.
• Number them Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc. Further information Once you have completed all of these tasks and received feedback from your tutor, you will need to
assemble your report for final submission. Make sure you assemble it in the following order:
Abstract
• Summary of aims • Summary of methods • Summary of results • Conclusion
Introduction
• Aim • Literature review
Method
• Method of data collection: interviews and/or questionnaires. • Participants: characteristics of target population. • Materials: list of materials used, reference to copies in appendices. • Procedures: itemised in sufficient detail to allow full replication.
Results • Descriptive statistics. • Graphical representation to show key data.
Discussion • Discussion of results. • Link results to studies mentioned in the literature review. • Identification of strengths and limitations of research.
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• Suggestions for modification and further research
References • Works cited within the report must follow Harvard style referencing.
Appendices • Copies of supplementary documents.
Plagiarism We expect all submitted work to be your own words (apart from in-text quotations), written in a style
that reflects your English language level. If you copy other people’s work and present it as your own,
this is called plagiarism and is a serious academic offence.
The full details of our policy on academic misconduct can be found at the back of the Programme
Handbook.
You must complete a coursework submission sheet and attach this to the front of your assignment. Submissions without this sheet may be rejected and may result in a mark of 0 being awarded for this assignment.
Marking criteria – Research Project Up to 60 marks are available for your Research Project as follows:
Incomplete / Not
Attempted
Unsatisfactory
Competent
Strong
Exceptional
Total Marks (max.
60) 0 – 1 marks 2 – 3 marks 4 – 5 marks 6 – 7 marks 8 – 10 marks Literature review & introduction. (AC1.1, (10 marks)
• Work is incomplete and / or bears no / little resemblance to the task.
• Limited evidence of a literature review having taken place / literature review was inappropriate or ineffectual. • The introduction fails to describe the previous research in appropriate detail / it is unclear how the previous research relates to the topic under investigation.
• There is some evidence of a literature review having taken place. • The introduction adequately describes the previous research which is related to the topic under investigation. • Reference is made to at least one piece of appropriate research which may be from a reliable / unreliable source.
• Clear evidence of a literature review having taken place. • The introduction effectively describes the previous research which is clearly and directly linked to the topic under investigation. • Previous research is clearly explained and mentioned throughout the introduction. • Reference is made to one or more relevant pieces of research which are from reliable sources.
• Evidence of an in-depth and highly relevant literature review having taken place. • The introduction flows showing a high level of understanding of previous research in the area under investigation. • Detailed reference is made to one major piece of research, although others may be mentioned alongside. • All research mentioned comes from highly reliable sources.
Research aim & questionnaire / interview design. (AC1.3) (10 marks)
• Work is incomplete and / or bears no / little resemblance to the task.
• The aim is absent / inappropriate / does not relate to the prior research contained in the introduction. • Questions devised are severely limited in number / ineffectual in relation to the aim / inappropriate.
• The aim of the study is clearly stated and linked to the previous research contained in the introduction. • Questions devised are appropriate in number, style, and relevance. • A mix of open and closed questions are used, although not necessarily in equal numbers.
• The aim of the study is clear. It is obviously linked to the previous research and relevant for the topic under investigation. • Questions are sufficient in number to address the task in hand and are very pertinent. • Questionnaire contains a good selection of open and closed questions.
• The aim of the study is highly relevant to the research contained in the introduction and is very succinctly stated. • Questions are well-conceived to specifically address the aim of the study which is exceptionally relevant to the topic under investigation. • An appropriate number of open and closed questions are used competently to gather very specific data to address the aim.
Research & research method. (AC1.1, AC1.3) (10 marks)
• No evidence of research having taken place. • Work is incomplete / bears
• Research may be ineffectual (e.g., inappropriate number of participants / did not manage to collect majority of questionnaires / do not have enough time to conduct sufficient number of interviews).
• There is evidence that some research has taken place (small number of participants / small number of completed questionnaires / interviews).
• Research has clearly taken place as evidenced by adequate numbers of completed questionnaires/interviews / adequate number of participants.
• Research has obviously taken place as evidence by a good number of participants and an appropriate number of completed questionnaires / interviews.
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no resemblance to the task.
• Method section is absent / severely lacking in detail with parts missing completely (e.g., participants / method / materials, etc).
• Method section is adequate with all individual sections being addressed.
• Method section is completed in its entirety with enough detail for the study to be replicated.
• Method section is completed with a high level of detail that would easily allow for replication.
Results. (AC1.3) (10 marks)
• Work is incomplete / bears no resemblance to the task.
• Results are partially incomplete / inappropriately presented. • No graphical representation.
• Results section is complete. • An attempt has been made at providing some descriptive statistics but may contain errors. • A graphical representation of the data is provided and clearly labelled. • There is a basic level of description of the statistics presented, but not necessarily comprehensive.
• Descriptive statistics are well presented in a table with an appropriate title. • Graphical representation of the data is appropriate for the data collected and is clearly labelled and titled. • There is a clear description of what the data shows.
• Results are extremely well presented with attention to detail in the presentation including appropriate labels and thoughtful titles. • Descriptive statistics are appropriately chosen to highlight the aim of the study. • The description demonstrates clear understanding of what the data shows.
Discussion. (AC1.2) (10 marks)
• Work is incomplete / bears no resemblance to the task.
• Discussion of results is extremely limited or incomplete. • There may be an attempt to link the results of this study to that mentioned in the introduction although the link may not be clear. • There is no attempt to identify strengths and/or limitations / suggestions are inappropriate. • There is no attempt to suggest a modification and/or future research / the suggestion is inappropriate.
• Discussion of results is limited but appropriate. • There is an attempt to link the results of this study to the study/studies mentioned in the introduction. • Identification of strengths and/or limitations of this study are tentative/limited. • There is an attempt to suggest a modification and/or future research.
• Discussion of results is appropriate and clearly linked to the research mentioned in the introduction. • Identification of strengths and limitations of this study are appropriate and demonstrate reasonable understanding of how research progresses knowledge. • There are appropriate suggestions for modification and/or further research.
• Discussion of results is highly relevant. • The discussion flows, with clear links made between the results of the current study to studies mentioned in the introduction. • Identification of strengths and limitations of this study are highly appropriate and show an excellent level of understanding of research and how it progresses knowledge. • Suggestions for modification and further research are extremely pertinent.
References, abstract, and appendices. (AC1.2, AC1.4) (10 marks)
• Work is incomplete / bears no resemblance to the task.
• References are incomplete / do not follow standard Harvard format. • Abstract is absent / incoherent / incomplete. • Appendices are non-existent.
• References appear in standard Harvard format for all the studies mentioned in the introduction. • The abstract contains most of the appropriate information but may not be succinct. • All appendices are appended to the research, but may not be appropriately labelled.
• References appear in a reference list at the end of the report in standard Harvard format. • All references contained within the introduction appear in the reference list and are correctly referenced in the main body of the introduction. • There may be occasional referencing errors. • The abstract contains all of the appropriate detail and is written in a reasonably succinct style.
• All references in the introduction are referenced in correct standard Harvard format. They also all appear correctly in the reference list at the end of the document. • The abstract is very well written containing all the relevant information and is written extremely succinctly.
