Slides from our 2013 online dissertation awareness day session from 09/05/13 for Econsultancy MSc DMC and IR students

1. Dissertation Awareness Day
David Edmundson-Bird & Michelle
Gledhill (Dissertation Leader)
MMU Business School

2. Dissertation Awareness Day
Agenda
– For MSc DMC & MSc IR
– Introductions
– Purpose of the day
– Agenda
– Some individual discussions on ideas
– Finish “when we finish”
• At the end of DPP discussion day 2 (Saturday), there will
be a chance to talk to David and Michelle from 16:00 –
18:00

3. Agenda
• Timetabling of Events
• The Role of the Supervisor
• The Project Process
• Areas of Concern
• Individual Project Issues

4. Timetabling of the elements
• Submission of a “rough subject area” during DPP
– Allows us to allot a supervisor
– You must hand this in with your DPP submission at the end of July
• Dissertation training Day 1 with Ruth and team in September
• Your first “supervision experience”
• Dissertation training Day 2 with Ruth and team in October
• Proposal submission beginning of November
– To the usual @mmu address
• Proposal return beginning of December
• Subsequent “supervision experiences”
• Your first full draft
• The final submission beginning of April
• Results notification late June
• Graduation

5. The Role of the Supervisor
• You drive the process
• The Coach/The Caddy/The Non-Specialist
Generalist/The Expert in Research
• Negotiation
• Drafts
• Time management
• Dealing with the process via telephone and
email, Skype and visits

6. The Project Process
• Proposal
– Study area
– Context
– The proposed objectives and outcomes of the work
– The beginnings of the philosophical basis behind research
– Broad underpinning literature in the “technical” area
– Broad academic, theoretical and commercial
underpinnings of consultancy
– Proposed methodology for consulting intervention or
empirical study

7. 7
Types of Project
• The Classic Empirical Study
• The Consultancy Intervention
• The Action-Learning Programme (very
rare, linked to Consultancy)
• The Classic “Data Collection” Exercise

8. The Project Process
• The project layout
– Study area
– Context
– The agreed objectives and outcomes of the work
– Philosophical basis behind research
– Underpinning literature in the “technical” area
– Academic, theoretical and commercial underpinnings of consultancy or
empiricism
– Methodology for consulting intervention or empirical study
– The reporting of results
– The interpretation of results
– Comparison with theory and expected outcomes
– Development of recommendations for the victims/beneficiaries of your
study
– Critique of the approach used and recommendations for future study

9. Areas of Concern and Question
• Defining the study area
• Agreeing objectives and outcomes of the work
• What’s the difference between an objective and an outcome?
• Understanding the philosophical basis behind research
• Knowing yourself and where you stand
• Developing a critical approach to literature
– And encountering academic literature
• The development of a reporting style
• Being critical of what you discover
• Drawing links between literature and results
• Reproducibility

10. Individual proposal discussion
• Quick statement of ideas
• Quick statement of research philosophy
• Quick statement of objectives and outcomes
• Discussion of commercial and technical issues raised
by project
• From a commercial perspective
• From other students’ perspective
• From Course Director’s perspective
• AOB