Research Help - Quantitative - Using SPSS

HTM314SL ASSESSMENT 2 BRIEF

(HEI/Awarding Body:) University of Plymouth

(Qualification & Title:) B.Sc. Events, Tourism & Hospitality Programme

(Module Code & Title:) HTM3I4: Honours Project B.

(Assignment Number:) Assessment 2 (Type:) Dissertation

(Assignment Title:) Honours Project Final Dissertation (Weighting) 70%

(Assessor Name:)

Honours Project B: Assessment 2 Brief ‘Honours Project Final Dissertation’

Honours Project Final Dissertation reports must be prepared according to the format outlined below. Please remember that referencing must be according to the Harvard system. Your work must be presented to a good standard and be word processed, 1.5 spaced, with a minimum of 12 point font

The title of the project, the name of the student and the programme studied must appear on the front cover. You should also retain but not submit a copy of your raw data on floppy disc/CD (e.g. transcripts of raw data or coded data sheets), as a sample of data sets may be selected and inspected after reports have been submitted.

A copy of each project, the project report feedback form (see attached copy) and the mark awarded will be sent to the appropriate external examiner. Copies of these feedback forms together with provisional marks will be made available four weeks after the submission of the report.

NB: Blank copies of the feedback forms referred to above are available on the student portal.

Guidelines for the production and submission of the ‘Honours Project Final Dissertation’

• See below.

• This must include:

1. project title;

2. name of student;

3. programme of study;

4. year.

• Your abstract must be between 110 and 120 words. It should summarise concisely the topic/phenomenon that was investigated, the key results, and the main conclusions reached.

• All acknowledgements, including sources of funding, assistance received from colleagues/supervisor appear immediately after the abstract.

The report should be made up of the following sections: Table of Contents, List(s) of Tables/Figures etc, List of Appendices

Introduction & Aims and Objectives (approximately 500-1,000 words)

The purpose of this section is to set the stage/context for the main discussion. This may be achieved by discussing previous literature and by highlighting the project’s importance and/or value and/or contribution to its related field of study. You should also describe how you have organised the project. This section should incorporate:

• What you are exploring and why?

• Put the project into context

• Why it is important to study this topic?

• Clearly identify your research question

• State what the aims and objectives of the research are?

Literature review (approximately 1,500-2,500 words)

The literature review provides the previous relevant research context of your research study. It identifies and analyses the key literature that has been written on your topic. This might come from textbooks, journal articles and other reports. Please use all your secondary data analysis skill to present a clear section on the previous literature that has been written on the topic. Remember, it is important to look for themes in the literature, not just describe one article after another. Make sure you reference everything clearly and be careful not to plagiarise.

It is expected that the literature review will:

• demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the relevant literature;

• provide a critical assessment of the significant theories, concepts and approaches;

• show the relevance of the literature to the issue in question.

This section should detail how you are going to conduct your research, and why you have chosen these particular methods by reference to the relevant ‘methods’ literature. This will fundamentally come from your earlier research proposal. However, this will have to be adjusted and edited to fit the flow of this report. You will have to clearly justify which qualitative and/or quantitative method you are using and describe how you are using it – the what, when, where, why type questions.

• Introduce the study methodology together with study methods, and refer to the relevant ‘methods’ literature.

• You should discuss ethical issues and justify ethical approaches.

Findings/Results (approximately 1,000-1,500 words)

This is the section where you present your data, the evidence you have collected. You need to show how you have analysed the data. The trick here is to communicate your findings in a clear and interesting way for the client. This can be achieved by using tables, diagrams, quotes from respondents etc. Raw data should be included in the appendices. Statistical data needs to be analysed using appropriate statistical techniques.

• Findings are presented appropriately.

• It is important to consider what should be included in this section so as to focus on the important aspects for your study and to demonstrate the quality of your work.

Discussion (approximately 1,000 words )

This is one of the most important sections. This section is where you add value to your findings; you explain what you have found and why it is important: this would be in light of the Literature Review section.

• The discussion should relate the findings/results back to the literature.

• The discussion also develops the findings to reflect on theoretical and practical applications.

Conclusion (approximately 1,000 words). Total word count 8000 words.

• This section can begin with a restatement of the research problem, followed by a summary of the research conducted and the findings.

• It then proceeds to make concluding remarks, offering insightful comments on the research theme, commenting on the contributions that your study makes to the formation of knowledge in the events/hospitality/tourism field, and may also suggest research themes/challenges in years ahead.

• This section should include critical reflection of research experiences and processes

• To do justice to your project, this section should not be limited to one or two paragraphs. The contribution of your project deserves to be insightfully featured here

• Further, you might recommend a course (or multiple courses) of action (either in terms of future research direction or for organisations/individuals who could benefit from what you have found. However, these recommendations must be informed by your research, not made up in isolation.

Project overview and integration

This is not a section of the report but 5% of Honours Project B (assignment 3) marks will be awarded for the project as a whole incorporating any revisions to the Introduction, Literature Review and Methodology already completed for assignment 2.

• Tables and figures should be numbered and given a brief one-line descriptive title. Example:

Table 1. Tourism graduates 1995-2001

Figure 1. A model of customer care

• Data in tables should be presented in columns with non-significant decimal places omitted.

• All table columns should have brief headings

• Tables should be kept as short as possible (i.e., no more than a single side).

• Important details should be footnoted under each table or figure, using alphabetic superscripts to connect the footnote to the relevant term/figure in the table. References to sources of information should appear at the bottom of the table. Example: Source: Smith (1988: 203).

• Tables and figures generated by the author need not be sourced.

• All illustrations or graphical representations should be referred to as figures.

• It is vitally important that you refer to sources of literature wherever possible. This may be achieved throughout the report’s text and/or in a list of references that appear at the end of the report.

• You should follow the Harvard system of referencing as detailed in the library handouts.

• You should think carefully why appendices are needed. References, copy of questionnaire, interview transcripts are required but do not ‘pad out’.

• Appendices should be numbered, titled and have page numbers that follow from the main text.

• The report must be typed 1.5 spacing, font size 12, on A4 paper, with at least 2.5cm left hand margin and with consecutive page numbers.

• The word limit for this report is 8,000 words not including tables, list of references, contents or appendices.

• Abbreviations/acronyms – should appear in full on first appearance followed by acronym in brackets. If you are only going to use once or twice then only use full name.

• Third person – You entire project must be written in the third person. The only exception is when the usage occurs in direct quotes

• Terms – unfamiliar terms, especially those in foreign languages, should appear in Italics, followed with their meaning in English in parenthesis. Example……modiriat (management)……

• Spelling – ensure you spell check your report using UK spelling.

• Paragraphs –very long or very short paragraphs should be avoided. A paragraph is longer than one sentence. Average length would normally be about 150 words.

• Numbering – You may choose to number chapters, sections and subsections although this is not essential. Do not number each paragraph.