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M1/2 Intro to Research

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Unit Aims and Objectives

This programme  is designed to help you with ALL aspects of undertaking research, whether it be for an in-course assignment or (as will be upon you far sooner than you think!) your Placement Project Report in M2.

 Introduction

 

It may seem that I am going to go into unnecessary detail given you have barely started M1, but trust me, when we did this in M2 everyone said: « Why didn’t you do this in M1 – it would have helped us there too?! »   So bear with me – I am going to try to teach you a logic for research of all types which will stand you in good stead… and virtually ALL of your assignments will involve a problem to solve, a question to answer or an hypothesis to test, and in dealing with each one of these you need (as the Americans among us would say): a ‘game plan’! This is your game plan then to help you attack all the work you do (which is essentially research if you think about it: ‘research’ is focused learning in an area about which you don’t know’!) and especially the more in-depth things you will eventually do in M2 and on placement. All I can tell you is that it works!  In fact, two MICAI students who graduated a few years ago both won the ‘Best Placement Report in Alsace‘ competition (and earned / won 1500 Euros in the process and got themselves on the Alsace 20 TV channel!   So what I am trying to ‘sell‘ you amounts to a recipe you can’t get wrong. It’s step-by-step and you can’t get lost as Céline Finger (one of these two successful students) proved most admirably…. and she offers you her Top Ten Tips advice on Tonyversity under the ‘Stagiaires‘ tab too!

But it will only work for you if you work at it!

Here we go!  Hold on tight now!

Unit Specification

Duration :    10 hours Objectives :

  • To immerse students in the inexorable and logical process of academic and professional research.
  • To establish the characteristics of a well-considered title which is feasible and viable in terms of the operative constraints.
  • To understand how to articulate aims and objectives in such a way as to reflect the requirements of the title: no more, no less.
  • To understand the critical role of secondary research / the literature review
  • To enable students to identify from the synthesis of secondary research the ‘research gap’ which will become the menu of targets for the primary research
  • To establish the principles and articulation of a solid, well-justified methodology and to assist in the selection options for the most appropriate methodology given the nature of the ‘research gap’ and the operative constraints.
  • To understand how data presentation, interpretation, analysis and synthesis might best be achieved.
  • To learn how to draw legitimate conclusions and recommendations from the above
  • To appreciate the role of such aspects as citation & attribution, references/bibliography and appendices.
  • To enable students to see the above as a ‘driven process’ in which they are ‘in the driving seat’ and by means of which they cannot get ‘lost’.

Programme :

  • By virtue of a lecture programme, to take you through all of the above steps in the process of research delivery.
  • To enable students to apply the above principles and processes in assessed work which will give the opportunity to outline a research proposal down to the level of methodology in order to prepare for the production of an academic or professional Research Report and to assist you with researching other M1/M2 coursework projects.

Bibliography : The tutor will make learning materials and links to bibliographic and other resources available via his learning and teaching website : ‘Tonyversity’ at : www.tonyversity.com/students  (NB. The site is open – there is no login or password for students to remember).  

Lecturer : Tony JOLLEY   You may not know that I was formerly Head of Research and Development  for the Regional Tourism Board covering Southern England [Responsible for the research, analysis and evaluation of major development projects and their suitability for public sector grant and loan-aid funding]. I have been Dissertations / Placement Reports and Theses Manager for various academic programmes since 1988 and have personally supervised in excess of 550 Project / Placement Reports and assessed a similar number of research projects as ‘second reader’ at first degree and Master’s level and beyond in both France and the UK.  In addition, I am the author of a number of commercial and applied research projects in subjects as varied as:

  • Use of internet technologies by local government
  • Analysis and evaluation of timeshare accommodation development opportunities in the UK
  • Analyses and evaluations of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of local government tourism expenditures.
  • Hotel development site identification and comparative analyses
  • Regional and sub-regional training needs analyses of small to medium-sized tourism businesses

Our programme will consist of essentially six elements as shown hereunder.

Please note:   These links are to pages on or linked to my website.   Normally I would ‘talk to‘ these in the classroom, but in academic years 19/20 and 20/21 the unit had to cope with CoVid confinement and working at distance and I developed ten videos of 10 – 20 minutes’ duration. I would suggest viewing certain of the videos and then looking at the files linked below for further detail.  This will act as a back-up / replay opportunity for what we will do in class together.

All the videos for this unit are on a dedicated Tonyversity page called: Video Lectures for Intro to Research.  They are also linked within each bullet point below.

  • The ‘Driven Process’ , [Video] whereby I will attempt (and intend to succeed!)  in getting the rationale for and process of research under your skin so that it becomes second nature – you won’t have to look it up or refer back to your notes, rather you will implicitly understand.   It’s no east task to achieve, so if you can help me by asking any questions about the slightest thing you do not understand, I will be eternally grateful.
  • Research N°1 paper on Titles and Aims & Objectives.   [Videos: Choosing the Title and Articulating A&O] Some project titles are complete disaster areas: as tutors we look at the cover and think: « What the heck IS this? ».  Believe me it happens!  If we are confused by the title, then it usually gets worse when (if!!??) the aims and objectives are articulated and we become convinced that the writer is not sure what he is doing or where he is heading.  By that point the writer would have a devil of a job to redeem himself and before we have started reading we are pretty sure we have a dramatic failure on our hands unless some miracle happens.  You MUST NOT let this happen to you.  There are types of titles that work and others that never will: I intend to show you the what and the why of this and to lead you towards the how to avoid such a disaster.  Remember, in your final workplace project (as indeed in some of your coursework where you are offered some degree of choice as to focus and title), YOU are effectively giving us the means of measuring your success: do you deliver to your own title and aims and objectives???
  • Research paper N°2 on the Literature Review (also called ‘Secondary Research‘) Research Gap, Methodology etc…….[Video] Your first question is bound to be: ‘So what is already known on the subject?‘  Where do we find that? Obviously in textbooks, journals, articles in the professional literature etc.  But then you are very unlikely to find out everything you need to know, so you need to do a simple subtraction: What I need to know MINUS what I have found in existing, published material.  The result, is, if you like, a ‘gap‘: extra stuff you need to find out.  What exactly are these things? Who has such material?  In what form is it? How might I access it?????   How do I deal with all this within the constraints of time, money, support etc?  This represents a methodology…. and, of course, there are myriad ways you can approach it: but which one is’ best‘ (i.e. likely to deliver the most complete, viable and reliable results)?
  • Research paper N°3 on Data Presentation, Analysis, Evaluation etc.  [Videos: Methodology,  Data Presentation, Analysis & Evaluation and Conclusions & Recommendations.]     Mmmm, perhaps the largest chapter (you might even have to divide it into a number of chapters).  You need to report upon how the data collection went (let me tell you it NEVER goes 100% as planned!) and then think about how to deal with the data: present it; explain / interpret it; evaluate it, synthesise it etc….  Then, of course, we come to the drawing of conclusions: what conclusions are you entitled to draw (they might not be the ones you expected or were hoping for).  On the basis of these you MUST think about making recommendations to improve something (otherwise what is the point of the research?).  If you don’t, it is like carrying a baby for 9 months and never actually delivering it!  As the placement/internship and ‘rapport’ write-up can take nearly 9 months, it’s not a bad analogy actually!
  • How to draw legitimate conclusions from the evidence and dare to make appropriate receommendations to your employer to improve some aspect of business performance. [Video: Conclusions & Recommendations]
  • Other issues, such as the role of appendices, citation & attribution, figures and tables, bibliographies / references etc…….

Recently, I have added to the above-linked videos, so you might find it helpful to have the ‘at-a-glance’ updated list which was launched with those delivering their ‘rapports’ in 2022-23. Here they are in chronological / process order:

  1. Research Introduced: the what, the why and the how.  https://youtu.be/bf4A66pUmj0
  2. Gathering ideas:   https://youtu.be/GsLpWLkpV1s
  3. Title and A&O and why they are of critical importance:  https://youtu.be/f1R76qRmB8Y
  4. Measurement and its significance:  https://youtu.be/Ki3yeWrZO88
  5. Introduction  – setting it all up ‘right‘:  https://youtu.be/t3LNDdnl6Ik
  6. Literature Review/ Secondary Research and the ‘Research Gap’: https://youtu.be/WYDSXqyp41E
  7. Primary Research Methodology:  https://youtu.be/-9wNg4LMfLM
  8. Questionnaires & Interviews:   https://youtu.be/j1CJe9M97ws
  9. Data Presentation, Interpretation, Analysis, Evaluation and synthesis:  https://youtu.be/a0pVodcj_0E
  10. Drawing Conclusions:  https://youtu.be/PFZ4sVBqnMU
  11. Making Recommendations:  https://youtu.be/lX7PSbFQswM
  12. Final Check & Submission:    https://youtu.be/cuvXil-3Phc
  13. Submission and assessment of the Placement Report:  https://youtu.be/Hmt7JLkujUQ
  14. Delivering your  Soutenance / ‘viva-voce’:  https://youtu.be/Al6541WqEKk

When you come to do your report on placement in M2, you might do well to refresh your memory as regards your research at each stage of the process….

Further Advice and Instructions.

A. The Handbook: use it!

I know you may feel that this is all a bit over-the-top, a bit too detailed etc…. but it WORKS!   As I said above, one of your predecessors, and one of my tutees, Céline Finger (MICAI M2 2012 / 2013,) had her ‘Rapport’ voted the best in the whole of Alsace (yes, including Strasbourg University and all their many thousands more students!  She also offers you her Top Ten Tips on getting it right. … It is a case of QUALITY not QUANTITY!).  She would be the first to say: “If I can do it – you can do it”….  so DO READ the files and watch the videos linked in the bullet list above and DO READ and RE-READ the project handbook when you receive it and comply – they are designed to help YOU achieve YOUR OBJECTIVES.   Yes, project reports are different: no longer is it your teachers giving you a title and telling you what they expect: now the choice of title and aims and objectives is all yours and we will measure you by how well you deliver to your own title and aims and objectives.

 

B. Getting Started: The Introduction: Set-up is absolutely critical.

OK, so you’ve been reading source materials until you are sick to the back teeth and you are now ready to actually begin.  Well how to begin?  Remember that your title, aims & objectives, rationale and outline approach (the contents of the Introduction) are the barometer by which we will measure you.  These first couple of/few pages determine a lot: they show us your vision of where you are going, why and how you are intending to get there. Your reader needs to be absolutely, 100% clear on this – so you need to be likewise.  A poor Introduction is more than likely to lead to a poorer report and poorer mark.  It is by no means easy to get ‘right’.   A few years ago, a MICAI M2 student, Charlotte Chauffaille, wrote what I consider to be an excellent Introduction – she set herself and the reader up well for the journey she was going to take the reader on.  Now, clearly (with what I am saying about plagiarism hereunder), you must NOT copy her verbatim, but you should take on board the clarity of direction, structure and approach that she succeeded in achieving and try to be as definitive in your work. Do have a good read at it.  As a marker, I can tell you that by the time we have read an Introduction, we markers have already formed a clear idea of just how good or bad a report is going to be.  In all honesty, I would say that it is difficult to change that marking perception later on in the reading, though we are open to doing so – the subsequent main body of the report almost always confirms the impression formed by the Introduction…. so be very aware of this fact: the Introduction is not something to be rushed through to get to the ‘meat’ of the research!

 

C. Plagiarism: definition, risks and consequences and (most importantly) how to avoid it.

Just so we are clear about this,:

PLAGIARISM = CITATION WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

Essentially, this means that you can’t just ‘borrow‘ things from other sources and use them as if they were ‘your thoughts and words’ – those sources need to be shown clearly in the text whether you are quoting or paraphrasing or using someone else’s ideas.  (I prefer indenting, italicising and quoting, by the way, because you are showing off something impressive you have found and you won’t forget to attribute it to the source). Normally in the text, with the quotation or paraphrase or idea used we need the author and the date.  In a footnote and/or a bibliography/references listing you will have to provide all the details necessary so that the reader can go online or to the library/bookshop and actually find and check out the source. You need to make sure that each citation can easily be identified by using a consistent referencing system like Harvard or MLA.

Let’s call it what it is: plagiarism is cheating.  And, trust me, we are catching more and more students ‘red-handed‘.  Plagiarisms discovered are up 500% year on year on courses upon which I teach and the penalties have been dramatic: yes, including failures of courses with no offer of re-sit and blacklisting from studying elsewhere!  You have been warned!  At least cheating by plagiarism was varied this year …  but we still caught a hell of a lot of it:

  • students who used concealed telephones in exams to raid the internet for single and multiple online sources
  • an individual who falsified a letter of recommendation from his placement company
  • a student who had relatives and a friend do a piece of work for him and they copied online sources on his behalf
  • students who copied word-for-word, ‘wholesale’ from online sources for a covering letter claiming this was not plagiarism but ‘inspiration‘
  • a student who copied a significant proportion of the placement report of a student predecessor at her placement company
  • 5 students in a class of 21 who submitted individual pieces of  work all of which were virtually verbatim copies of a Minister’s presentation.  Some re-arranged the order, some translated it into poor English, some just left it in its natural state…. and … all the students concerned sat together so that when I collected in the work, all five reports were one after another on my marking pile.  I couldn’t miss them!!!
  • Students who were found to have submitted totally or substantially AI-produced assignment work and presented it as their own. They were mostly unceremoniosly shown the ‘exit door‘.

Do read these plagiarism articles:

D. Social Sciences Research Resource – helps you with methodologies and sampling…. how many respondents do I need in a given situation?  Here’s your answer….

E. A Research Project Proposition Form: the things you will need to think through in order to give your tutor enough material to approve your project.  (NB, it is on slideshare and will take you off my site – don’t be surprised!).   DO USE THIS…. unless a tutor has this level of detail he/she will find it very difficult to advise you on the potential ‘do-ability’ of your idea and you may end up wasting untold time and effort for very little return on your investment.

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Final Comment

So, hang with me on this and ask if you don’t understand.  It really will be vital for your assignment work (and especially for your Rapport de Stage) that you don’t just have some notes of my course ‘in a file somewhere’, but you really understand what research is about and how it flows, quite naturally and logically from beginning to end.  If you can capture and retain this, it will make things clearer, more logical, more analytical & evaluative and more thorough … which should have an obvious payoff in terms of marks right through your academic career and on into employment.  The Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain says these words after he finishes up his annual Budget Speech: ‘I commend it (the contents of the speech) to the House’… I am effectively saying it to you right now….. and hoping that you receive, understand and support the proposals I am making.    And…. if ever you forget all I’ve said and we’ve done on this course, I’ve made a précis of the most important things so you can refresh your memory when you are on your placement…   HERE IT IS!

NB. I have also given a copy of the videos I have made on the subject to the rest of the course team: don’t be surprised if your eventual Prof.Ref. for your internship refers you back to them!