BSc. Business Management


ORGANISATIONAL RESEARCH METHODS
PART 2 (SMN240)

Spring Term 2018

Deadline: 10am Tuesday 24th April 2017

Word Count: 3500 words
Coursework Assignment
Important note: this is a different assignment from last year. Please read the assignment carefully
and follow the steps required in this document.

For this coursework you must undertake a small-scale ethnographic research project. The aims of
this exercise are to assess your abilities to:
1. undertake a qualitative study using ethnographic techniques;
2. develop a preliminary analysis of your data;
3. discuss the methodological issues that arise in selecting particular research methods and
in undertaking qualitative research.

To successfully accomplish the coursework you will:
• identify a setting in which to undertake your research;
• undertake fieldwork in that setting; that is undertake detailed observation
• where relevant and appropriate gather supplementary data for example take photographs,
recordings, and/or informal interviews
• make detailed field notes about the setting and the activities you observe;
• identify two or three key themes or issues;
• organise your observations or findings with respect to these themes or issues;
• support the observations or findings with evidence from your field notes (and where other
data you have collected);
• discuss the implications of your findings for future research and practice.


We do not wish to restrict the kinds of activity you may study. Therefore, you can choose to
observe any organisation or social setting. This may be one with which you are familiar or one you
are interested in. In previous years students have undertaken studies in a diverse range of settings
including those in workplaces, public places and the home. It is also up to you to identify an aspect
of social behaviour on which to focus. In the past examples of what students have focussed on
include: informal interaction in an office; the work of security staff in an accommodation block;
how receptionists greet customers; the ways customers justify returning goods they have bought;
customer behaviour in show rooms for luxury goods; conversations with hairdressers, waiting
behaviour in stations; how street performers maintain an audience; how visitors to a museum
inspect exhibits together; the etiquette of a nightclub queue, how customers in a busy café manage
to secure a table to sit at and how people co-ordinate the order in which they go through revolving
doors. Although the choice is up to you, you cannot choose a setting that you have used for
coursework in a different module.

We suggest one of three kinds of setting
1. a workplace (e.g. a place where you, a friend or a member of your family work);
2. a public service (e.g. a form of transportation, a help, advice or reception service)
3. a public setting (e.g. a museum or gallery, a shopping mall, a tourist venue)

Note: This is not an assessment in quantitative data analysis so do not include in your analysis
any statistics, counts or measures.

Note: There are three tutorials that will be dedicated to discussing issues related to your
coursework. In the first tutorial we will give you examples of settings where students have
undertaken their study in previous years. This will guide you on your choice of topics and
methods. In the tutorial before the reading week you will provide a brief written update on
your coursework and be prepared to discuss your progress. In the final weeks of term there
will be group coursework sessions where you can discuss your coursework.

Coursework Timetable
All studies should begin data collection by undertaking a period of fieldwork. The following is a
suggested timetable for data collection.

Weeks 1 - 4 ​Identify a setting in which you will undertake your case study
Weeks 5 - 7 ​Undertake initial fieldwork: submit preliminary description of study
Weeks 8 - 11 ​Undertake preliminary analysis of your data, undertake further fieldwork and,
if necessary collect other kinds of qualitative data
Weeks 12 – 14 ​Undertake further analysis and finalise report
​

THE REPORT
The report should include five key sections. The word counts for each section are only guidelines.
You are free to organise your report in any way you feel would help present your study. You can
include images and figures in the main text of the report. You need to provide an appendix to
provide evidence of data gathered.

1. Introduction (500 words)
A general introduction to the case study. This should include a discussion of why
you chose to undertake the study of the particular area or field in question. It
would also be useful, where relevant, to discuss any relevant academic studies
that bore on your choice of setting or field to study.

2. Method and Approach (300 words)
A description of the research process you have undertaken including:
o how you gained access to the settings, engaged participants, collected
materials;
o that nature of the material you gathered, for example the number of times
you undertook fieldwork observation, when and where you gathered your
data;
o any additional data you gathered;
o how you addressed the ethical issues raised by your study;
o any specific problems you needed to solve to gain access and/or collect
data.

3. Analysis (1500 words)
(This should form the greater part of the coursework and will be awarded most of
the marks)
You need to focus on one or two key activities and analyse them in depth. You need
to identify one or two key themes or issues from your analysis to help to structure the
analysis and support your analysis with specific data extracts. You need to show
evidence of how you developed these themes from the data you gathered. You also
should show how examples from the data you have collected contributes to the
analysis.
The tutorials will provide guidance on how you develop analyses from
qualitative data.

4. Methodological Discussion (800 words)
Discuss the methodological issues and challenges that arose in undertaking your case
study. For example, what were the benefits and challenges from collecting data in
the way you did, analysing these data and presenting them. Discuss whether there
are additional kinds of data that could be collected and whether you have any
suggestions for future research that arise out of your study. Critically assess you own
data collection and analysis, its weaknesses and strengths and how, in retrospect, you
might have undertaken the case study differently.

5. Academic and Practical Implications (400 words)
Briefly consider the potential implications of your study for academic research in
this or related fields. Discuss how your findings relate to relevant academic studies
of work, organisations or social behaviour. Considering the issue(s) mentioned in
your introduction, describe the contributions of your study, for example how it
provides a better understanding of the critical issue, helps refine an existing concept
or theory, suggests a critique of a concept or model in the literature or implies some
innovation required to understand your topic. You should support your discussion
with references to the academic literature.

Briefly discuss any implications your case study has for the setting you have
considered. This could, for example, concern guidelines for better performance of an
activity, a change in practice or the introduction of a new technology.


Appendices (optional and not included in word count)
Examples from your data should be included in the main report but you can use an
appendix to provide additional evidence of data you have gathered. Do not need to
include all your fieldnotes, only additional examples. An appendix could include:
(i) further details of the periods of field observations (ii) field notes from a period of
observation (iii) additional vignettes for presenting your observations or (iv) analytic
notes arising from your observations. If you have collected other materials you could
include a transcription of a short period of talk (not more than 20 seconds); for video
2 or 3 still frames taken from the video (with a description of when and where this
was recorded); for documents, you could include scanned images of documents or
part of a documents; and for images, you could include be 2 or 3 examples. Please
note an appendix is optional.


Please note that:
• The coursework should be no longer than 3500 words. References and appendices are not
included in the word count. There are penalties for exceeding the stated word limit (see the
Undergraduate Handbook for further details).
• The coursework must be submitted before 10.00 am on Tuesday 24th April 2017. However,
if you feel that you have legitimate reasons for submitting your coursework late, you should
follow the procedures set out in the Undergraduate Handbook.
• Plagiarism is not tolerated in this School - the rules again are outlined in the Undergraduate
Handbook.
• This coursework represents 90% of the overall mark for the Qualitative part of the
Organisational Research Methods Module. The remaining 10% is for Participation in the
tutorials.
Neil Lambert, Paul Luff and Christian Heath