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.
Page 2 of 8
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.
Page 5 of 8
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.
Page 8 of 8
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.

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