Bachelor of Science (Honours) Safety, Health and Environmental Man.docx

Bachelor of Science (Honours) Safety, Health and
Environmental Management
Module: Understanding the Research Process (UTRP)
Proposed Research Topic:
“STUDY OF SAFETY CULTURE IMPLEMENTATION: CASE
STUDY OF SAFETY CONSULTANCY PROSAFE PTE. LTD.”
Submitted By :
Fin No : G7228033X
Student ID : 77189773
Batch : BSHE21702A
(UNDERSTANDING THE RESEARCH
PROCESS_UTRP)
Lecture(s) :

Abstract
The aim behind this research is to understand the safety culture
in the construction and field. The purpose is to understand the
extent of successful infusion of culture versus outcome. We
need to understand how the research can assist with future
implementation and intervention with regards to this industry.
Acknowledgements
This research will be having participation from the management
and organization staffs. A big thank you to our safety worker
Mr. Aksarul, safety supervisor Mr. Sheak and Safety Training
Manager Mr. Faizul, who was involved in the process of
research for their invaluable input, which was necessary for the
successful completion of this project. Especially thank for Mr.
Rosman Abdul Halek for assistance with the lectures on
Understanding the Research Process (UTRP) and for the
comments that greatly improved the research.

Table of content
Abstract
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction
a. Background
b. Current problem
c. Research question
d. Research objective(s)
e.Research hypotheses
f. Definition of terms
g. Past related research articles (at least 20)
g.1 table of past research articles / journals
(use table with columns of title of article, publication
number & publication date, description of
article, difference between your research and article) (20
articles)
h. Rationale of research and research ethics
Chapter 2: Literature Review
a. Concept of Safety Culture
b. Statistics of Injuries on Safety Culture
c. Effects of Working With Poor Safety Culture
d. Types of Safety Cultural Injuries
e. Types of measurements on Safety Culture
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
a. Types of Research Method
b. Respondents Analysis
c. Technique of Data Collection
d. Technique of Data Analysis
Chapter 4: Project Costing & Timeline
a. Project Costing
b. Project Schedule

Chapter 5: Study Two
Chapter 6: Study Three
Chapter 7: Conclusion & Recommendation
a. Conclusion
b. Recommendation
Bibliography
Appendixes
Chapter 1: Introduction
Here in this chapter, we will discuss the introductory phase and
look at the background to occupational safety and health. This
will include the application of the processes to the direct
reduction in incidents and accidents. Thereafter, we will tackle
the research aims and objectives.
a. Background
Hundreds and perhaps even thousands of people suffer from
injuries both minor and major throughout all industries. These
effect not only the person involved but the company as well in
terms of the reputation for their business, economically and as
well as their goodwill. It also affects people around the
particular individual that has been affected.
b. Current problem
Incidents and accidents at the workplace are a constant reminder
to us of the increased efforts needed by us to prevent such
tragedies. Every year fatalities are recorded despite the increase
in training, compliance, investigative, follow-up and other
efforts. It is due to this reason that this research was started, so
as to better understand the gap between the theoretical and
practical aspect to the occupational safety and health
programme. We need to question our current efforts, actual
effectiveness and the gaps we overlook.
c. Research question
REDUCING WORKPLACE SAFETY INCIDENTS: BRIDGING

THE GAP BETWEEN SAFETY CULTURE THEORY AND
PRACTICE. What can be done?
d. Research objective(s)
The objective will be to observe the safety culture in
construction companies and understanding the gaps present with
regards to integration of what is being preached versus what is
happening in practice. Our objectives include:
1) Understand clearly how the culture of safety is applied as
compared to how it is really understood.
2) Check across different companies and organizations on the
perceptions of workforce with regards to safety culture.
3) Investigate extra factors influencing relationship and the
relationship between examination of behaviour safety and
cultural safety.
4) Translation of our findings from research for the purpose of
bringing positive improvement to cultural safety to the various
sectors throughout the industry via applied recommendations.
It is through empirical study that the research program has met
their aim and objective. Every study will answer one or more
than one objective, with specific queries towards the research in
chapter 2 upon literature review.
e. Research hypotheses
The research hypotheses has been done via 3 studies addressing
the aim and objective of the said research. The design is based
upon underlying framework from theory that has been obtained
from literature review and research.
H0: Accidents at workplace are caused by poor safety culture.
H1: Accidents at workplace are not caused by poor safety
culture.
f. Definition of terms
Definition of terms - 1
The definition of safety culture is not unanimous, even for its

existence of thirty years (S Gadd, 2002). This caused confusion
and thus the need for safety culture models, as well as safety
culture and climate review. Definitions will have to consider
operations and their respective anticipated results
measurements. The lack of clarity causes difficulty in
implementation. These will be addressed.
g. Past related research articles (at least 20)
g.1 table of past research articles / journals
(use table with columns of title of article, publication number &
publication date, description of article, difference between your
research and article) (20 articles)
No.
Title of Articles / Journals
Publication Date and ISBN
Abstract / Description
Key Differences
1The nature of safety culture: a review of theory and research
(F.WGuldenmund, 2000).
Volume 34, Issues 1–3, February 2000, Pages 215-257.
Application of research customary to organisational traditions.
Applicatory methods.
2Critical Success Factors for Behaviour-Based Safety: A Study
of Twenty Industry-wide Applications (Jason P, 1999).
Volume 30, Issue 4, Winter 1999, Pages 237-249.
One-on-one interviews and focus group meetings.
Organizational inputs.
3
Safety culture assessment: a tool for improving.. safety (V F
Nieva, 2003).
2003
Organizations becoming more aware of the importance of safety
culture.
Awareness methods.
4Implementing and Validating a Comprehensive Unit-
Based Safety Program (Pronovost, et al., 2005).

March 2005, volume 1, issue 1, p 33-40
Safety program implementation.
Methods of implementation.
5
The Quantitative Measurement of Organizational Culture..
(Marshall, 2003).
23 May 2003, p 923-945
Measuring organization culture quantitatively.
Methods of measurement.
6Promoting a Culture of Safety as a.. Safety Strategy: A
Systematic Review (Sallie J. Weaver, Lisa H. Lubomksi, Renee
F. Wilson, Elizabeth R. Pfoh, Kathryn A. Martinez, & Sydney
M. Dy, 2013).5 MARCH 2013
Methods of promoting safety culture.
The methods invloved in promoting a safety culture.
7Predictors and outcomes of.. safety culture in hospitals (Hani
Dimassi, 2011).
· 24 February 2011
Predicting organizational safety culture.
Methods and view to predictions to safety culture at workplace.
8Implementation of a.. safety incident management system..
(Joanne F. Travaglia, 2009).
May 1, 2009
Implementation of safety system.
Method of implementation of safety system.
9
The culture of safety: results of an organization-wide survey..
(S J Singer1, 2003).
01 Apr 2003
Understanding culture through survey.
Understanding survey results depicting safety culture.
10How Can We Improve.. Safety Research? (Ron Avi Astor,
2010)
January 1, 2010
Improving safety research.

Method of improving safety research.
11
Understanding the conditions for improvement: research to
discover which context influences affect improvement success
(Øvretveit, 2011).
2011
Conditions for improving safety research.
Understanding the conditions presented for improvement.
12Thirty years of safety.. research: Reflections and future
directions (Zohar, 2010).
Volume 42, Issue 5, September 2010, Pages 1517-1522
Research reflections.
Method of interpretation of research
13Safety culture: Analysis.. (BeatrizFernández-Muñiz, 2007).
Volume 38, Issue 6, 2007, Pages 627-641
Analysing safety culture.
Method of analysis of safety culture.
14The nature of safety culture: A survey of the state-of-the-art
(Rafiq M.Choudhry, 2007).
Volume 45, Issue 10, December 2007, Pages 993-1012
Safety culture survey.
Analysis of safety culture survey.
15Assessing safety culture in offshore environments (S.JCox,
2000).
Volume 34, Issues 1–3, February 2000, Pages 111-129
Assessment of safety culture.
Way to assess safety culture.
16Confirmatory Cross-Cultural Research: Testing the Viability
of a Corporation-Wide Safety Policy (Maddy Janssens, 2017).
30 Nov 2017
Viability of safety policy.
How to assess safety policy.
17
The role of theory in research to develop and evaluate the
implementation of.. safety practices (Robbie Foy, 2011).

2011
Safety practice implementation.
Method of implementation.
18Safety Culture: An Integrative Review (Douglas A.
Wiegmann, 2009).
Pages 117-134
13 Nov 2009
Review of safety culture.
Deductions from review of safety culture.
19Towards a model of safety culture (Ph.D., 2000).
Volume 36, Issue 2, November 2000, Pages 111-136
Safety culture model.
Understanding safety culture model.
20
Measuring.. safety climate: a review of surveys (J B Colla,
2005).
2005
Safety culture measurement.
Method of measurement of safety culture.
h. Rationale of research and research ethics
The field of safety culture remains part thereof fragmented and
misunderstood. This gap needs to be closed via empirical and
applied research, with intention towards future improvements.
Definition of terms - 2
Early research made reference to safety climate (Zohar, 1980),
in management literature. A clearer approach to definition and
implementation will be established (Steven Hecker, 2014).

Chapter 2: Literature Review
In chapter 2, literature will be reviewed with relation to cultural
approach to workplace safety and health. Models will be
reviewed and also their effect on actual site performance. This
chapter will discuss the key gaps and opportunities via
literature review.
a. Concept of Safety Culture
Here the concept will be discussed with integrated information
about application with site personnel and ground efficiency.
b. Statistics of Injuries on Safety Culture
Here we will discuss the statistical data and rates and
percentages of incidents and/or accidents that are related to
safety culture.
c. Effects of Working With Poor Safety Culture
We will discuss what are the effects of working at our
workplace with regards to poor safety culture.
d. Types of Safety Cultural Injuries
The types of injuries sustained via poor safety culture being the
reason will be discussed here.
e. Types of measurements on Safety Culture
We will make a measurement on what are the contributory
factors leading to poor safety culture and their relevant
measurements.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Chapter 3 will touch on theoretical framework that is the
underlying guide to the research program. The subsequent
research design addressing gaps in safety culture will also be
addressed. The method for each study in relation to overall
research design and benefit derived from research application is
also discussed.
a. Types of Research Method
This will include various methods as mentioned below:
Source: (Siegle, 2012).
b. Respondents Analysis
Handling of respondents analysis can be done by:i) Comparing
rate of response from substitute groupsii) Weighing of data
from survey, whenever possibleiii) Comparison between non-
respondents and respondentsThis can be done via: Usage of
external sources, Data collection observations, seeding of
sampleiv) Comparison between "later" and "early"
respondentsv) Conducting of follow up with non-respondents
Source: (See Wang, 2014)
c. Technique of Data Collection

Source: (Minnesota, 2018)
d. Technique of Data Analysis1. association rule learning2.
classification tree analysis3. genetic algorithms4. machine
learning5. regression analysis6. sentiment analysis7. social
network analysis
Source: (Stephenson, 2019), (university, 2012)
Chapter 4: Project Costing & Timeline
Chapter 4 will describe interview with leaders on company
safety in a semi-structured manner. The aim will be to provide
foundational basis to how safety culture is understood by the
organization. Earlier chapter 3 version for publication as peer-
reviewed article include: Biggs, Banks, Davey and Freeman
(2013).
a. Project Costing
b. Project Schedule
Project schedule to be completed using Gantt chart:
Chapter 5: Study Two
In chapter 5 we will approach study 2 involving perception of
the worker via a quantitative method of survey. The study will
use safety climate, safety behaviour of model, which will
measure perception to safety and the value it places on the
organization. It will also see worker behaviour to safety and
self-reporting behaviour of safety. There will be various stages
for change and findings with regards to barriers and factors to
safety culture, which is tied up with and identified in the first
study. The publications published via peer review of:
international Occupational Safety in Transport (OSIT)

conference, Gold Coast, September 2013: Biggs and Banks
(2013) “A comparison of safety climate and safety outcomes
between construction and resource functions in a large case
study organisation”.
Chapter 6: Study Three
Chapter 6 will explore influence to safety motivation by
workers and their supervisors. Semi-structured interviews
helped to understand this further. In addition, reward versus
outcome was also investigated.
Chapter 7: Conclusion & Recommendation
All previous results will be synthesized for all three studies.
Recommendations will be made for future research and industry
applications will also be presented.
a. Conclusion
Here we will summarize the whole project and give a simpler
viewpoint to our research. At once glance, the CEO of any
company can understand how they can benefit from considering
the implementation of our project at their workplace.
b. Recommendation
Here, we will recommend the necessary steps needed to solve
the persistent issue of incidents and accidents occurring at
workplaces.
Bibliography
BeatrizFernández-Muñiz, J. M.-P.-O. (2007). Safety culture:
Analysis of the causal relationships between its key dimensions.
Elsevier.
Douglas A. Wiegmann, H. Z. (2009, November 13). Safety
Culture: An Integrative Review.
F.WGuldenmund. (2000). The nature of safety culture: a review
of theory and research. Elsevier Ltd.
Hani Dimassi, D. J. (2011). Predictors and outcomes of patient

safety culture in hospitals. BMC Health Services Research.
J B Colla, A. C. (2005). Measuring patient safety climate: a
review of surveys.
Jason P, D. E. (1999). Critical Success Factors for Behavior-
Based Safety: A Study of Twenty Industry-wide Applications.
National Safety Council and Elsevier Science Ltd.
Joanne F. Travaglia, M. T. (2009, May 1). Implementation of a
patient safety incident management system as viewed by
doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.
Maddy Janssens, J. M. (2017, November 30). Confirmatory
Cross-Cultural Research: Testing the Viability of a Corporation-
Wide Safety Policy.
Marshall, T. S. (2003, May 23). The Quantitative Measurement
of Organizational Culture in Health Care: A Review of the
Available Instruments. 923-945.
Minnesota, U. o. (2018, January). Data Collection Techniques.
Retrieved August 2, 2018, from https://cyfar.org/data-
collection-techniques
Øvretveit, J. (2011). Understanding the conditions for
improvement: research to discover which context influences
affect improvement success.
Ph.D., M. C. (2000, November). Towards a model of safety
culture. 111-136.
Pronovost, P. M., Weast, B. M., Rosenstein, B. M., Sexton, J.
B., Holzmueller, C. G., Paine, L. M., et al. (2005).
Implementing and Validating a Comprehensive Unit-Based
Safety Program. 33-40.
Rafiq M.Choudhry, D. S. (2007). The nature of safety culture: A
survey of the state-of-the-art. Elsevier.
Robbie Foy, J. O. (2011). The role of theory in research to
develop and evaluate the implementation of patient safety
practices.
Ron Avi Astor, N. G. (2010, January 1). How Can We Improve
School Safety Research?
S Gadd, A. M. (2002). Safety Culture: A Review of the
Literature. (H. &. Laboratory, Ed.) Human Factors Group.

S J Singer1, D. M. (2003, April 1). The culture of safety: results
of an organization-wide survey in 15 California hospitals.
S.JCox, A. (2000). Assessing safety culture in offshore
environments. Elsevier.
Sallie J. Weaver, P., Lisa H. Lubomksi, P., Renee F. Wilson,
M., Elizabeth R. Pfoh, M., Kathryn A. Martinez, P. M., &
Sydney M. Dy, M. M. (2013). Promoting a Culture of Safety as
a Patient Safety Strategy: A Systematic Review. Annals of
Internal Medicine.
See Wang, P. S. (2014, November 19). Stage 3: Analysis.
Retrieved August 3, 2018, from http://www.tpsgc-
pwgsc.gc.ca/rop-por/rapports-reports/telephone/etape-stage-03-
eng.html
Siegle, D. (2012). Educational Research Basics by Del Siegle.
Retrieved August 4, 2018, from
https://researchbasics.education.uconn.edu/types-of-research/
Stephenson, D. (2019, January 18). 7 Big Data Techniques That
Create Business Value. Retrieved August 1, 2018, from
https://www.firmex.com/thedealroom/7-big-data-techniques-
that-create-business-value/
Steven Hecker, L. G. (2014, January). Understanding Safety
Culture and Safety Climate in Construction: Existing Evidence
and a Path Forward.
university, T. o. (2012). 6 methods of data collection and
analysis.
V F Nieva, J. S. (2003). Safety culture assessment: a tool for
improving patient safety in healthcare organizations. Quality
and Safety in Health Care.
Zohar, D. (2010). Thirty years of safety climate research:
Reflections and future directions. Elsevier.
Appendixes
APPENDIX 1
(TOTAL: 1,300 WORDS).

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
BSc Environmental Health
BSc Safety, Health and Environmental Management
Honours Project
Guide

BSc Safety Health and Environmental Management
Honours Project Guide
2
Contents
Contents
......................................................................................... 2
1. Introduction
................................................................................. 3
1.1. Welcome to the Honours Project
module................................ 3
1.2. The process
....................................................................... 4
2. Choosing a topic
...................................................................... 6
3. Planning your research
............................................................. 7
4. The protocol/project proposal
.................................................... 9
4.1. What should the protocol include?
...................................... 10
4.2. Additional documents
........................................................ 12
4.3. What happens to the protocol?

........................................... 14
4.4. Protocol checklist
.............................................................. 15
5. Data collection
....................................................................... 16
6. Managing the research process
................................................ 18
6.1. Managing your time
.......................................................... 18
6.2. Managing your supervisor
.................................................. 19
6.3. Managing your resources
................................................... 20
7. The final report
...................................................................... 21
7.1. Writing the report
............................................................. 21
7.2. How your Honours Project is marked
................................... 23
7.3. Taking it further
............................................................... 24
8. Further advice
....................................................................... 25
9. References
............................................................................ 26
Appendices
.................................................................................... 27
Key dates for 2017-2018
.............................................................. 27
Course team contact details
.......................................................... 27

Protocol Marking Scheme
................................................................ 28
Honours Project Marking Scheme
..................................................... 29
Tutorial Log
................................................................................ 30
Risk Assessment Form
.................................................................... 33
Information for participants
............................................................. 34
This booklet was prepared by Tim South and was last revised in
February
2016.
3
1. Introduction
1.1. Welcome to the Honours Project module
In many ways this module is the culmination of your studies at

Leeds
Beckett. You will want to make a good job of it, and indeed it is
the part of
your course that may survive for many years – on your
bookshelf, at job
interviews and possibly as a study which you build on in future
years. You
will use all the skills which you have learned, re-learned or
discovered in
yourself during the taught parts of the course. And you will
demonstrate to
yourself and others that you can integrate knowledge,
experience and the
critical evaluation of current research in a single piece of work.
We normally distribute this booklet during semester 2 of level
5.
Project during
the following academic year.
Honours
Project during the coming summer for submission in the
autumn.
-time Environmental Health students are
completing the
UTRP module now but will be doing their Honours Project the
year
after next.

-time Environmental Health students may be
planning a
placement year during which they will have opportunities to
start
work on a project for submission two years’ time.
This booklet is intended to guide you through the process of
choosing,
planning, carrying out and reporting on your research project.
Once you are
enrolled on the module, additional guidance will be available
on-line, and
the course tutors will do their best to advise you. The
management of the
whole process, though, is one of the skills on which you are
being assessed
and many of the decisions will come down to you.
The official module description is available on MyBeckett.
Here, to set the
scene, are the aims and the learning outcomes from that
document.
To give students the opportunity to carry out, in considerable
depth, an extended and
advanced piece of academic work on a relevant topic of interest
to them.
To help students develop the capacity for independent work and

critical thought.
By the end of this module the student will be able to:
1. demonstrate the skills necessary for the production of a
coherent and
scholarly piece of work
2. utilise and reflect on research methods appropriate to the
topic
3. develop appropriate research and higher level literature
searching and
information retrieval skills
4. organise and manage a significant programme of independent
study,
including the ability to manage time, materials and ideas
4
The first question that sometimes arises is about the level of
study involved
in the Honours Project; are you expected to do original

research? That
question is easily answered; “No”. The box below contains a
description of
what is involved in study to Honours Degree level. It comes
from a
publication by the Quality Assurance Agency and lists the
qualities normally
expected to be demonstrated in the Honours Project.
So your work is not expected to be completely original, but you
should at
least make reference to recent research in the field you are
studying.
1.2. The process
The process leading up to the acceptance of your Honours
Project will be
described here briefly, more detail on some of the stages
appearing later in
this booklet.
1. Choose a topic
This is a crucial stage which can easily be underrated. If you
make a bad
choice at this stage you will find it much harder to complete a
satisfactory
final submission. At this stage it may be possible to allocate

you to a
dissertation supervisor who will be able to advise you on your
protocol. If
not, the module coordinator will take this role.
2. Prepare a research protocol
Once again, this may be seen as a mere preliminary stage before
the serious
work starts. In fact much of the hard work and difficult
decisions will take
place during this stage. Assuming that it has been successful,
your protocol
will be approved by your supervisor (who will by now be
allocated) and by
a second marker. You can now proceed to…
Bachelor's degrees with honours are awarded to students who
have
demonstrated:
study,
including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at
least some
of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects
of a
discipline

analysis and
enquiry within a discipline
using ideas
and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of a
discipline
icular aspects of current
research,
or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline
knowledge
scholarly
reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research
articles
and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline). (QAA,
2008)

5
3. Collect and analyse data
This is when the hard work that went into the protocol will
seem to be
worthwhile. The important issue now is to keep within the
schedule that
was included within that protocol; there will be enough
unforeseeable
delays without inviting disaster through inadequate planning.
The overall
timescale for completing the dissertation will seem alarmingly
short as the
year progresses.
4. Complete the dissertation
“Complete”, not “start”. Descriptions such as this break the
overall scheme
into a linear series of stages. Real life is much messier and to
leave all the
writing until the end is a recipe for failure. You are strongly
advised to start
writing sections of the final report almost as soon as the
protocol is printed
out. They will certainly need to be added to and revised as the
project
progresses but it means the initial analysis will be carried out
while the data

is recent, rather than reconstructed from rough notes several
weeks later;
this applies as much to literature reviews as to measurement and
survey
data.
5. Submission and assessment
Within the overall plan, you will need to allow time to re-read,
correct, and
complete your text. References will need to be checked,
illustrations
inserted and tables of contents generated. The layout will need
attention
before the final version is printed and bound. All this takes time
and the
submission date is non-negotiable. After submission the
supervisor and
second marker will read your dissertation and independently
allocate a mark.
They will normally agree on the final mark.
Your project supervisor will be allocated at some time during
the period
leading up to the submission of your protocol. Normally this
will be a
member of the course team, but sometimes it may be one of
their
colleagues from elsewhere in the Faculty. So far as possible the
supervisor

will have a specialised knowledge of your topic and they will
certainly have
a genuine interest in the outcome of your work. As well as
being involved
in the marking process your supervisor will advise and make
suggestions
as your work progresses. You will maintain regular contact and
keep a log
of these meetings. However, subject to both health and safety
and ethical
requirements, the key decisions about how your project
progresses will be
made by you. You may be able to improve on your supervisor’s
ideas and,
conversely, following all the suggestions made does not
guarantee you will
produce an acceptable final product.
6
2. Choosing a topic
Your Project could be based on a number of different topic

areas. You will
want to focus on a subject you are interested in rather than
something you
are only studying because you have to do so to get this
particular
qualification. Even so, this could be a very broad area and you
are looking
for a much more focused research project. How do you come up
with a
specific proposal?
1. You may already have a question which has been nagging
away at
you as a result of your work experience or which arose during
the
course. Is this your opportunity to resolve the issue?
2. If you know the broad area you want to concentrate on –
health and
safety, say, then make an appointment with a tutor who
specialises
in that area. They may have a few project ideas waiting for
someone
to take them up. Or as a result of the conversation you may
together
think up a new idea.
3. If you are working in Environmental Health or on placement,
talk to
your boss and your colleagues about possible interesting topics.
They

may come up with some really good proposals. You will need to
be
careful that your boss doesn’t talk you into something totally
unsuitable, though – get a tutor to help extricate you if this
happens.
The advantage of working on an issue that is interesting to your
employer is that they may be very helpful about providing
assistance
ranging from time to financial support.
4. If all else fails, try browsing through professional journals
looking for
interesting papers which draw attention to issues that need
further
research.
As a result of one of the above suggestions you may know
exactly what you
want to study. It would actually be more helpful if you had 2 or
3 different
ideas. The next stage is to put some flesh on the bones, to refine
exactly
what you are going to investigate and to work out what sort of
data you are
going to collect, how much of it, what resources you will need
and so on. At
this stage, one of your ideas may look more and more
unrealistic. Starting
with more than one possible idea gives you a better chance of

ending up
with a viable project.
Before you start writing your research protocol you need to
make some very
specific decisions. Some of those may be forced on you by your
choice of
topic. Others still remain to be decided.
7
3. Planning your research
Having got a fairly narrow area of study you now need to define
absolutely
precisely what your research will aim to establish. This is often
known as
the research question. It doesn’t actually have to be written as a
question,
although often it is. By writing down exactly what you are
trying to find out
you will clarify your own ideas and also check that there really
is a question
to answer. It will avoid the situation where you collect a load of

information
and then try to find out if it means anything. Even if it does
mean something,
you will probably wish you had collected different data once
you find out
which bit of it is interesting.
You may decide you are going to test a particular hypothesis.
Basically this
means writing down a statement that could be either true or
untrue and
then collecting and analysing data that will resolve whether it is
true or not.
It may be more appropriate to set up two or more alternatives
and design
a study which will let you choose between them.
There is distinction between an observational study and an
experimental
one. Despite the use of the word “experiment”, this is not about
the
difference between “hard science” and apparently “softer”
disciplines. An
observational study is one where you collect information about
what is going
on – for example finding out whether employees use personal
protective
equipment correctly. In an experimental study you could

attempt to
influence their behaviour in some way and see how well it
works. For
example you may explain to half the workforce why the
equipment is
provided and how to use it, and then see if their usage improves
compared
to the rest of their colleagues. You need to be clear which
category your
study will come into.
There are various approaches to collecting data. Not all of them
will be
relevant to your topic, but you must be clear whether you are
mainly going
to rely on
f published information
You may be combining two sorts of data collected in different
ways, but if
your answer is “all of the above” you are more likely to mean “I
haven’t

really thought about it”.
If you are collecting information from individuals, you must be
clear who
they will be. Professionals? Service users? People in the street?
There are
different issues to be addressed depending on the background of
your
participants.
8
Whatever your data sources you will need to decide how much
data will be
collected, and where it will come from. Make a realistic
estimate of the time
required and think about issues such as travelling to remote
locations, or
persuading busy people to make time to meet you. You may
need to make
some compromises between your ideal research design and what
can
practically be achieved.

Whatever your data collection approach, it is often worthwhile
to plan a pilot
study. If you were using a questionnaire, for example, this
would mean
printing a few copies and getting them filled in. Even if this is
only done by
some of your family and colleagues they may be able to point
out some
ambiguous questions or give you some misleading replies. It
would be even
more useful if the pilot group were as similar as possible to the
target group
for the final study. Having got some pilot results – and this
applies equally
to types of data collection other than questionnaires – run it
through the
procedure you are planning to use to analyse it. It may be that
you can
collect it in a more useful form if you are aware of problems
that will arise
further down the line.
Researchers sometimes decide to research a problem normally
associated
with one academic discipline by using the methods and
approaches which
are common in another discipline. For example a sociologist
may decide to

demonstrate the superiority of sociological methods by using
them to
analyse a problem in political science. The most predictable
outcome of this
type of research is that it will infuriate most of the sociologists
and all of
the political scientists who read it. It is not impossible to use
this approach;
for example you may decide that a particular environmental
protection issue
is not well managed and would benefit if the risk management
approaches
used in the food hygiene field were applied to it. Whatever the
appearances,
this is not an easy way to do research and should only be
attempted if – in
this example – you are an expert in food hygiene and also very
knowledgeable about environmental protection. However if you
are going
to analyse a familiar problem from an unusual perspective you
will need to
make this clear in your protocol.

9
4. The protocol/project proposal
In most cases, the research protocol will be submitted during
the level 5
research methods module, and will be one of the assignments
for that
module. You are not obliged to continue with this proposal,
though. So long
as you don’t mind repeating some of the work involved, and so
long as your
proposed project can be completed in the reduced time
available, you can
start a new project from scratch. In that case you will need to
produce a
new protocol by the 3rd week of October (the precise dates are
at the back
of this booklet). This new protocol must be agreed by your
project
supervisor before you start collecting data. The same deadline
applies if you
are making more modest changes to the protocol you submitted
in level 5.
The aim of the protocol is to demonstrate that you have planned
your
research project rigorously enough to ensure that it is viable in
the sense

that;
se co-operation is required has
confirmed that this co-operation will be forthcoming.
ethical release form can be signed.
control
measures agreed.
overall
scheme are clear.
been
adopted.
Honours Project
and
approaches available and choices made have been justified.
time
available.
such as extreme weather conditions
have

been considered and contingency plans made.
time
to complete each stage of the project and includes provision for
contingencies.
If all this has been done, then the research supervisor will agree
that it can
proceed. This will require all these aspects to have been covered
satisfactorily but, in particular, no data collection can take
place until
the risk assessment and ethics submissions have been approved.
If a protocol is uploaded without any prior consultation it is
unlikely that it
could be approved. It is expected that various aspects will
previously have
been discussed with, and a draft protocol shown to, either the
project
supervisor or the module co-ordinator before it is submitted.
The supervisor

10
may well make some suggestions or query certain aspects of
what is
proposed but will not normally write sections or give explicit
instructions as
to what it should say.
The length of the protocol may depend on a number of factors
but if it runs
over about 1200 words then it is probably too long. You may
have included
too much detail or have gone into matters that do not belong in
the protocol
at all. In some cases it may be possible to deal adequately with
all the
necessary matters in considerably fewer than 1200 words; what
matters is
that you have provided enough information, and the right kind
of
information, for the proposal to be approved.
4.1. What should the protocol include?
It is recommended that the protocol should include the
following sections
Title
Give the working title of your proposed dissertation. Keep it

short!
Aims and Objectives
Identify the main aim or aims, which could if you wish be
phrased as research
questions, followed by any specific objectives needed to meet
the aims.
Background / Literature Review
This should indicate how the proposed study links to the current
state of
knowledge. This can be achieved through an initial literature
review – a brief
review and discussion of relevant publications in journals,
books & internet
reports.
Rationale
Explain why you wish to undertake the study, and give a
reasoned and
justified approach to the proposal. Why, for example, is it of
interest either
to you, the profession or to the fields of Environmental Health
or Health and
Safety generally?
Learning Outcomes
Describe the skills and knowledge you expect to acquire in the
course of this

module. Some of these will be general in nature while others are
specific to
the particular topic you have chosen.
Study Design
Indicate whether you are planning to review published work or
to carry out
an investigative study.
Explain the type of research process you intend to use including
a) Type of study
b) Type of design
c) Type of data
11
Method of Investigation
Explain how your data collection will be carried out, indicating
what methods
of data collection you will be using (e.g. site measurements, on-
line search,

questionnaire, interviews) and the main sources for this
information. For
example if you are using a questionnaire you will need to
explain how you
will choose who it is to be distributed to, how many response
you are aiming
to collect and so on.
Give an indication of how the collected data will be analysed.
Are you
planning statistical tests? Which ones?
Ethics
Identify the main ethical issues involved and explain how they
are to be
dealt with. For example you may be collecting personal
information or data
which would be of interest to an organisation’s commercial
rivals or to
enforcement bodies. You will need to make arrangements to
ensure that
information collected is essential for your purposes, that it will
be stored
securely and destroyed when it is no longer needed, and that
your
dissertation and any other outputs do not breach confidence in
any way.
Although much has been written about research ethics, three key

requirements can be identified;
1. Participants must agree to take part in full knowledge of what
is
involved
2. The researcher must actively prevent the participants being
harmed
in any way by the research
3. The benefits of the knowledge generated must be sufficient to
outweigh any inconvenience to the subjects
If your research would involve subjecting your subjects to
stress, pain,
discomfort or risks to their health, then in principle we would
need to go
through a procedure to ensure that the benefits of your research
would be
sufficient to justify this, and we would need to be absolutely
sure that they
would be giving their informed consent to this. In practice,
though, you
would just be told to find another project that did not involve
any of these
issues.
This section will contain an overview of these issues but a
detailed ethical
submission will be submitted at the same time as your protocol
and is

discussed later.
Risk
This section will identify the main risks to your personal health
and safety
and that of others – participants, collaborators or University
staff – as a
result of the work you are proposing. Occasionally,
consideration of these
issues raises an insurmountable problem and a different project
must be
chosen. More often, a small number of risks are identified along
with ways
12
of managing these risks so that the work can be completed
safely. For
example;
clothing
may be identified

arrange
for another person to accompany you
family
member of where you are going and agree a time by which you
will
phone them to confirm you are on the way home
Because Leeds Beckett University has responsibility for your
safety while
you are working on your dissertation you may need to include
some
apparently mundane items; for example if you will be driving
around you
will be expected to have read the University’s policy on vehicle
use and to
comply with it. On the other hand you should not include highly
improbable
or trivial matters.
As with ethics, the protocol itself deals with the broad view and
a separate
detailed assessment must accompany it.
Resources Required
A brief estimate of resources needed and approximate costs.
Include any
travel costs and the production of your final report. If you are

not going to
pay these costs yourself, you will need to confirm that external
support has
been agreed. If you plan to use Leeds Beckett’s laboratory
facilities, check
with the Laboratory Manager that what you are proposing can
be supported.
Programme Diary
An outline of your work plan with an indication of key dates for
completing
the various stages of the project.
References
A list of the relevant sources which you referred to earlier in
the protocol.
This is likely to be much shorter than the list of references you
will include
in your final report.
4.2. Additional documents
You will include in the protocol itself a brief summary of both
the possible
ethical concerns and the personal risks involved, and how these
are to be
managed. You will also need to submit with the protocol a full
assessment
of both these matters. These will be retained for our records and

for use in
ethical and health and safety auditing. The forms for this are at
the back of
this booklet and will also be available on MyBeckett.
In the case of risk assessments, it will normally be sufficient to
complete
and submit the risk assessment form.
13
The details of the ethical assessment depend on whether or not
your
proposed study involves human participants. Human
participants include
anyone who will be asked to take part in an interview or
complete a
questionnaire.
If you have no human participants, you must complete
relevant sections of the on-line ethics submission

If you are planning to involve human participants, you must
1. Complete all parts of the on-line ethics submission
2. Include a copy of the questionnaire, or a list of the questions
to be asked at interview,
3. Include a detailed explanation of how your participants will
be
selected
4. Include an explanation of how data confidentiality will be
ensured
5. Include a copy of the information you will give to
participants;
normally this will include
a. An explanation of what information you are collecting
and for what purpose
b. A reminder that they take part voluntarily and can ask
later for their information to be withdrawn from the
study.
c. Adequate contact details, so among other things
participants are able to contact you to ask for their
information to be withdrawn
d. You must also include contact details for someone other
than yourself whom participants can contact if they
have any concerns about what you are doing – this is
normally a course tutor or a manager with your

employer.
The participants will keep a copy of this information and will
sign a copy for you to keep as confirmation that they agreed
to take part. There is a template on Blackboard, which you can
edit if you wish to use as an informed consent form.
You must sign the risk and ethics forms before handing in the
protocol. You may already have your supervisor’s signature on
both forms
when they are submitted; if not, it will be signed once it has
been agreed.
If your work depends on the co-operation of any other body –
for example
your employer, or a private company which is allowing you
access to its
employees – then you must also include a letter from a
responsible manager
confirming that this co-operation has been agreed.

14
4.3. What happens to the protocol?
Your protocol will be read by your supervisor and then by
another member
of staff. They will allocate a mark, which will form a small part
of the module
mark. The protocol will be returned to you with written
feedback (you can
of course expect additional advice at your next meeting with
your
supervisor).
If the protocol has any serious failings – ie you got a mark of
less than 40%
– you will need to re-submit it with changes before you start to
collect data.
If there are less serious problems you may be advised that it
would be a
good idea to revise it before starting work.
If the ethics and risk forms are satisfactory your supervisor will
sign and
keep them. This should be the normal outcome if you have
previously
discussed and shown them to him/her. Otherwise you may be
asked to
revise them or the associated documents for re-submission

within a couple
of weeks.
Once the protocol has been accepted, and the risk and ethics
forms have
been signed by you and your supervisor, you can start collecting
data.
The procedures outlined here are not intended to be an
encumbrance. The
forms and the submission dates are there to ensure that every
student has
a good chance of completing a satisfactory dissertation within
the overall
timetable. Sometimes an opportunity arises to start work on a
really good
project which cannot be delayed until the normal protocol
deadline. In that
case you should complete a protocol at least in draft form and –
crucially –
full ethics and risk forms, and discuss them with your
supervisor or the
dissertation co-ordinator. So long as the ethics and risk forms
have been
signed, you will be able to start work; in an emergency another
member of
staff will be able to do this.

15
4.4. Protocol checklist
Before you submit your protocol;
Have you shown
a draft to a
tutor?
Does your
protocol include
all these
sections?
Title
Aims and Objectives

Background / Literature Review
Rationale
Learning Outcomes
Study Design
Method of Investigation
Ethics
Risk
Resources Required
Programme Diary
References
Have you included a completed and signed risk assessment?
Do you need a letter of support from an outside body, and if so
is
it included?
Have you
included a
signed ethics

form? Either;
The Stage 1 form for projects not involving
human participants, or
Both Stage 1 and Stage 2 forms for projects
with human participants
plus details of how your participants will be
selected
plus a copy of your questionnaire or interview
questions
plus a copy of the information to be provided
to participants
16
5. Data collection
You will almost certainly plan to do your data collection in a
controlled,

systematic way and keep your results in an organised,
accessible form. This
is not what will happen in practice, for a number of good and
not-so-good
reasons;
priorities
This is
more important than the clerical work of organising the last lot
of
results
don’t really know what to do with your results yet;
you’ll look
into that later
The shoe box approach to data management involves getting a
large box
and throwing all your results in to sort out later. They will be in
a variety of
forms – scraps of paper, old envelopes, computer printouts etc.
Quite a lot
of your written notes will be legible. Some of your
measurements etc will
have enough information attached to let you work out what they
were about.
The published sources you printed out will need to be read
again because
you have forgotten which of them were useful. And you’ll have

some
computer files which will help so long as you can remember
what you called
them.
The advantage of the shoe box approach is that you will have all
your results
in one place. This will save hours of searching under furniture,
in discarded
files and in the paper recycling container. The disadvantages
should be
obvious.
It is not always possible to keep records at the time of data
collection which
are as detailed as you would like. For example it may be raining
(try writing
on wet paper) or your interviewee may talk much faster than
you can write
down what they say. You may get a rare opportunity to collect
additional
data before you have finished collating your previous notes. All
is not lost
because you will retain quite a lot of information in your
memory – but only
for a limited period. If you go through your record as soon as
possible –
after data collection, at lunchtime or, at worst, at the end of the
day – you

will be able to insert missing details (the weather? Was the
interviewee
male or female?), make things legible, and spot any important
gaps before
it is too late to collect the missing information.
It helps if you planned ahead. It is much easier to tick boxes on
a prepared
survey sheet than to write detailed comments on a blank sheet
of paper. It
will also be easier to collate your results later, and the survey
sheet will
remind you of everything you need to record.
As soon as possible – within days rather than weeks – start
producing tables
summarising your findings. If you are doing any calculations or
statistical
analysis start setting that up as soon as you have any data so
that you can
test your proposed method of analysis while there is still time to
improve

17
the form in which your data is collected. If you are in danger of
running out
of time, the part-analysed data will help you to decide what
further work is
essential and what can safely be left out. Keep your original
data in case
you need to refer back to it, but by the time your data collection
is complete
you should have it all summarised in a much more user-friendly
form.
If your project is based round previously published research,
then reading
and analysing published work is the core of your data
collection, and the
comments above apply to this as to any other data collection.
You will need
to keep records of your search procedures (databases used, key
words, etc)
and you will need to start summarising your findings as soon as
possible.
If your literature search is for background information to inform
your
primary data collection, then you still need to start summarising
and
recording what you have found as the search progresses.
Otherwise, you

will probably have to read and analyse all your sources again
when you
come to write up the final report.
18
6. Managing the research process
6.1. Managing your time
By now you will have put a great deal of planning into your
project and will
be collecting and analysing data. This section reviews some of
the resources
available to help you.
If you put a bit of thought and effort into the protocol it should
be paying
off now in terms of clarity about your objectives, a realistic
programme for
achieving them and a broad understanding of how your project
fits into
existing knowledge about the field. However good your

protocol, things will
not go exactly as planned and it will be much easier to adapt to
unexpected
problems (or, indeed, unexpectedly good events such as a
massive
response to a questionnaire) if you keep an eye on the big
picture.
The submission date is the objective you are aiming towards
which must be
met and you will need to keep checking progress against the
programme
diary in your protocol. You can certainly change this as things
develop – in
fact it is a good idea to keep it up to date with reality. However
if the work
is progressively sliding further behind the programme, and your
revisions
mainly involve squashing the final stages into a shorter and
shorter period
just before hand-in, then you are clearly in difficulty.
It is quite common for your original plans to turn out to be
slightly ambitious
and to need to trim them slightly in the interests of completion.
You may
already have planned into the programme some possible short
cuts. The
trick is to do it such a way that you still end up with a

convincing report.
For example if you were going to spend 6 days on site
collecting data and
this has to come down to 5 days it is unlikely that the overall
quality of the
work will suffer perceptibly. If on the other hand you cut
several types of
data collection down to the extent that none of them are really
adequate, it
would probably have been better to have removed one of them
from the
plan altogether. Minor changes to your original plans are
inevitable, but if
you are faced with cutting out a substantial part of what you
were planning,
or of changing its nature significantly, you will need to discuss
the
possibilities with your supervisor.
The final checking, formatting, printing and binding may take a
couple of
weeks as there will be great demand for the available facilities
at that time,
so make sure you leave time for these stages.

19
6.2. Managing your supervisor
Make sure you speak to your project supervisor a couple of
weeks after the
protocol is handed in to get at least some preliminary feedback
and advice
on when you can start collecting data – it is your responsibility
to arrange
a meeting as the supervisor will not be able to follow up all the
final year
students he/she is supervising.
You will need to discuss progress at least 4 times with your
supervisor
during the module. Particularly if you are studying part-time, it
may be
difficult to fit in this number of face-to-face meetings. It would
be
acceptable in this case for some of them to take the form of an
extended
telephone discussion or of an exchange of material and views
via email.
Your supervisor needs to sign your meetings log as
confirmation that the

discussions took place, in whatever form.
It is up to you to arrange a meeting with your supervisor; the
recommended
times are as follows;
Week Expected stage Comments
First half of October Drafting protocol Final allocation of
supervisors may not have
taken place at this stage
First half of December Collecting data
First half of February Data collection
complete
Full results should be
available
First half of March Analysis/conclusions Sections of the project
complete in draft
By the time you submit your project your supervisor will
probably have seen
some sections of it, at least in draft form. If there are obvious
problems
with what you have done, he or she will point them out. If it

looks OK,
though, the final improvements will be up to you. Even if your
supervisor
agrees to read through the completed project, you will not be
told whether
it is going to pass or fail. This is because the marking process is
a rigorous
one involving two independent markers who will each spend
some time
carefully reading your work before comparing their views and
awarding a
fair mark; no supervisor will have enough time before
submission to do
much more than check for obvious mistakes.
20
6.3. Managing your resources
Apart from your supervisor, the Leeds Beckett University

Library will be one
of your key resources. It is worth spending some time finding
out what is
available, even if you have not managed to do so up to now. If
you have
not found out how to use the resources available via the Library
website do
so straight away. You can download information without charge
from a
number of database; for example all current British Standards,
as well as
papers published in a wide range of academic journals. Several
databases
can be accessed, and different material is available in each of
them so it is
worth searching more than one. Other databases are available
outside
Athens via the library.
Through the Leeds Beckett Library catalogue you can also
search the
catalogues of many other university libraries. Some of these
have reciprocal
arrangements allowing you to work in their libraries and
sometimes also to
borrow material; this is very useful if you live nearer to one of
them than
to Leeds Met. Hard-to-get sources can normally be ordered from
the British
Library in Boston Spa, or to speed things up you can go to

Boston Spa,
having booked ahead the journals you would like to be made
available. All
this information is available on the Library website or the on-
line catalogue.
If it is still not clear what is available, ask at the enquiry desk
or make an
appointment there with our Faculty’s Academic Librarian to
find out more.
The Skills for Learning pages of the Library website contain a
great deal of
useful information about data collection and analysis, academic
writing, the
Harvard referencing system etc. Check regularly to see if there
is any
content relevant to the stage you are at. In particular, you would
be
well advised to download the guide to the Harvard referencing
system “Quote unquote” if you still have any doubts about how
this
should be done.
If your project involves the use of the University’s laboratory
facilities, then
discuss with the Laboratory Manager at an early stage what you
need to do.
You will be able to agree when you can work in the laboratory,
and what

equipment and materials are available.
If you are using facilities provided by an outside body – an
employer, for
example, or a company you agreed to share your findings with,
then make
sure that you have arrangements for the secure storage of data
which you
agreed to keep confidential. Check that any sections of your
final report
dealing with this data have been reliably anonymised. Make
sure that you
destroy the confidential data at the end of the process. If you
agreed to
provide useful information in return for their co-operation –
some kind of
risk assessment for example – it would be wise to get your
supervisor to
check it is correct before you send it to them.
21
7. The final report

7.1. Writing the report
You are expected to hand in two printed copies of your report,
plus a CD
containing all the files it consists of, by the submission date
given. They
should be handed in with an assignment form using the normal
assignment
submission system. If for any reason you cannot meet the
submission
deadline, you should see the course leader and fill in a
mitigation form which
will be considered by a mitigation panel.
Your reports should be word processed on standard office paper
using a
simple font such as Arial. Where necessary, appendix material
which is not
computer generated can be bound in.
You can download a suitable cover from the virtual learning
environment.
Although a number of bindings are acceptable we recommend a
plastic
comb binding since these open flat, which makes them easy to
handle. You
may want to have a cloth bound copy to produce at interviews
etc; if so this

should be an additional copy which you do not hand in.
Style guidance
-8,000 words
Appendices
Arial, or a similar simple font
-12 point size
-level headings but do not use a
very complicated system of numbered headings
hey help to inform the reader,
but
do not include irrelevant appendices to pad it out, or to get
round the word limit
occasion we know who you are, so you should put your name on

the cover below the title
22
There is a great deal of advice available on how to write good,
clear English
for academic and other purposes, and your supervisor will if
necessary
suggest some sources and comment on your drafts.
The long standing convention is that academic reports are
written in
impersonal language. This means that you do not refer directly
to yourself
or any collaborators, either in the first person (I, we) or third
person (the
researcher, the author etc). It can be difficult to observe this
convention at
the same time as writing clearly and simply. For example most
of the verbs
used will turn out to be passive ones and this makes the
sentences more
complicated. For this reason some organisations are now

abandoning this
convention. Until this becomes general practice we will
continue to expect
impersonal forms of language.
Subject to the above, you should try to make your language as
clear and
simple as possible. It is normally easier to write more
complicated
sentences than simple ones, so it is good practice to read
through your
drafts at least once looking for simpler ways of expressing the
same ideas.
If you are using abbreviations, no matter how familiar they are
to you, you
must explain what they mean. Normally the first time they arise
the term
is spelt out in full followed by the abbreviation to be used in
brackets, eg
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)…
If you use a lot of abbreviations, or if they are likely to be
confusing (for
example if you use similar abbreviations with different
meanings) then it
may be helpful to list them all in a glossary. If they only appear
a few times

it may be better to spell them out in full each time; to save time
they can
be added to the autocorrect list of your word processor.
Use graphs, maps, diagrams and photographs as necessary to
clarify and
illustrate the text. A picture can indeed be worth a thousand
words. But
dissertations can also be padded out by repetitive and
uninformative
graphics which make you feel good about your IT skills but do
not add to
the reader’s understanding. Check that each such item really
does improve
the impact of your report. Graphics should be numbered and
have a caption.
Each such illustration should then be referred to in the text so
the reader
knows when to look at it. Small illustrations can be inserted at
the point
where they are relevant, but if they occupy a full page they may
be better
in an appendix
It is important that your referencing is done correctly; we
recommend the
Harvard system and further advice on this is available from the
Leeds
Beckett library. If you use a different system you must know

how to do so
correctly.
23
One reason for getting the referencing right is to avoid not just
plagiarism but also the suspicion of plagiarism. Once again,
further
advice is available on this. A sample of the CD versions
submitted
will be checked for originality using anti-plagiarism software.
We
reserve the right in addition to ask you to submit, with your
dissertation, a plagiarism report from the Leeds Met approved
plagiarism checking software.
7.2. How your Honours Project is marked

Your supervisor and a second marker will independently read
the two copies
you hand in and award an initial mark. If they have awarded
similar marks,
the average will become your mark for the Project. If they
disagree, a third
opinion may be required. This mark is reported for confirmation
to the Board
of Examiners which has the power to decide on module results.
The courses’ external examiners may well read your report too,
but this is
part of a process to ensure that the course team is applying an
appropriate
standard overall rather than being yet another person you have
to satisfy.
Normally agreement is reached very quickly. If your
dissertation goes to a
third marker this is probably not a reflection on its quality;
more often it
just means that the two markers have different perspectives and
different
expectations. In the unlikely event that a pass mark cannot be
awarded
your supervisor will be able to explain what the problems were
and, in most
cases, suggest some improvements that will result in the
probability that it

can be resubmitted with more success.
Failures are much more common among students who have not
maintained
regular contact with their supervisors and have never shown
him/her drafts
of key sections for comment. Even if this has been done, and
however much
guidance and advice has been given, your supervisor will have
stopped
short of telling you what data to collect or what to write in your
report. The
final version really is your responsibility.
In the very rare event that your report fails because of an issue
such as
plagiarism or because of major flaws in what you have done,
you may need
to start again from scratch or accept the award of a non-honours
degree.
You should ask your course leader for advice in this case.

24
7.3. Taking it further
Many final year students do excellent work for their Honours
Project.
Although mainly focused on gaining the qualification, it
deserves to be more
widely known and to influence professional practice outside the
small circle
of your friends and colleagues.
There are various reasons why this often doesn’t happen. With a
freshly
acquired degree you may be starting work with a new employer
or moving
into a more responsible role in your existing employer. You
may have
neglected your family and friends shamelessly while you
worked on the
course and feel you owe them some catch-up time. There is no
particular
hurry, but if your Project was a good one it will help your
career as well as
the profession to make sure everyone knows about it.

If your Project is of the standard referred to, your supervisor
will probably
suggest taking it further and will be able to offer advice and
help.
Unfortunately he or she will also be busy and may not follow
this up. If you
think your Project is good, or if your colleagues have read it
and thought
so, then you should ask for guidance from your supervisor or
another
academic who seems to be interested. The main possibilities are
to;
cademic
conference
the work,
or a related topic, further either full- or part-time.
Please bear in mind that the copyright of all work submitted for
assessment
as part of Leeds Beckett qualification belongs to the University,
so do not
publish it elsewhere without getting permission.

25
8. Further advice
This booklet is intended as a guide to successfully completing a
dissertation,
rather than as a set of detailed instructions. We have assumed
that your
Level 2 research methods module will have equipped you with
an
understanding of the basic methods and approaches used in
research. You
may of course need to consult your notes from that module and
you will
undoubtedly want to look in detail into how these issues are
normally dealt
with in your topic area. Some relevant advice will come from
your
supervisor and other tutors, but the Leeds Met library is the first
port of call
when designing a research project. Here are a few suggestions
for using
the library effectively;
1. Study research journals in your broad area of interest
(“Environmental Protection”, “Health and Safety”) rather than

just
looking for papers about your specific topic. This will help you
to see
the range of research approaches and styles available before it
is too
late to incorporate good ideas into your work.
2. There is a good collection of
books about research
methods. They are pitched at
different levels, written in
different styles and biased
towards a variety of different
subject areas; even books
claiming to cover all types of
research are often biased
towards a particular set of
subjects. The box gives further
details on some of the course
team’s favourite research
guides.
3. http://skillsforlearning.leedsmet.ac.uk/ is the URL for the
Skills for
Learning website. It contains a mass of useful material
including a

whole section on research skills. Other particularly relevant
sections
are those on writing “Academic Communication” and –
depending on
your topic – maths. You should make a point of browsing the
site to
identify which sections will be useful for you.
4. A wide range of research publications are freely available on-
line via
various licensing arrangement. Ask at the enquiry desk if you
have
difficulty finding out from the website exactly what is
available. Many
of the services will require you to log on via Athens, so make
sure
you know how to do this. It would be well to ensure early on
that in
your chosen topic area the relevant publications are easy to
obtain,
either in the library, on-line, or somewhere else that you can
access
without too much difficulty.
Denscombe M (2007) The Good
Research Guide, third edition. Open
University Press
Bell, J. (2005). Doing Your Research

Project: A Guide for First-Time
Researchers in Education, Health
and Social Science (4th Edition).
Open University Press. Buckingham.
Peat, Jennifer (2001) Health Science
Research. A Handbook of
Quantitative Methods. Allen &
Unwin.
http://skillsforlearning.leedsmet.ac.uk/
26
9. References
Quality Assurance Agency (2008). The framework for higher
education
qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. QAA
264 08/08

Denscombe, M (2007) The Good Research Guide, third edition.
Open
University Press
Bell, J. (2005). Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-
Time
Researchers in Education, Health and Social Science (4th
Edition). Open
University Press
Peat, Jennifer (2001) Health Science Research. A Handbook of
Quantitative Methods. Allen & Unwin.
27
Appendices
Key dates for 2017-2018
Date: Activity Submit to:
October 2017 If your protocol has not already
been approved as part of the

Level 5 UTRP module, this is the
last date to submit it along with
the ethics and risk assessment
forms.
If you are carrying out a protocol
which has already been approved
you will need to clear with your
supervisor any changes to your
plans.
Turnitin
Mid-February 2018 By now you should have shown
your results and findings to your
supervisor
Project
Supervisor
Mid-March 2018 By now you should have
discussed your Conclusions and
Recommendations with your
supervisor
Project
Supervisor
April 2018 HAND IN FINAL VERSION Faculty reception

Course team contact details
Jane Arnaud [email protected] 0113 81 25450
Tim Briggs [email protected] 0113 81 23333
Mark Hodgson [email protected] 0113 81 23851
Stephen Mole [email protected] 0113 81 23072
Hayley Robinson-Mitchell [email protected] 0113 81 23847
Tim South (Module co-ordinator) [email protected] 0113 81
23125
Duncan Webb [email protected] 0113 81 25584
mailto:[email protected]
28
Protocol Marking Scheme

Category Mark
Awarded
Comment
Aims, objectives and rationale
Identification of the reasons for carrying out this
research
/20
Initial literature review
Awareness of recent relevant research. Location of
proposal in the context of current knowledge
/20
Research question and research design
Clear articulation of the research question
Justification of appropriate research approach
/20
Data collection strategy and programme

Critical discussion of alternative strategies. Realistic
assessment of time and resources required.
/20
Ethics and health and safety
Clear and appropriate strategies for the management
of these risks. Correctly completed ethics and risk
assessment forms.
/20
/100 = /10
Additional comments;
29
Honours Project Marking Scheme
Marker………………………………… (Supervisor/2nd marker)
Student………………………………………………

Category Mark Awarded Comment
The research question and research design
Clear aims and objectives
An appropriate research strategy to address them
Pitched at a sufficient academic level
/20
Literature review
Identifying and describing key documents, including some
recent research
Evaluation of the quality of sources
Show their relevance to the research
/20
Data collection
Data collection procedures discussed and justified
Detailed description of the procedures used
Clearly presented results
/20
Analysing and drawing conclusions
Data analysis to be justified and explained
A good flow of argument
Conclusions which follow from the data presented
Evaluation of limitations and uncertainties
/20

Following the conventions for academic writing
A well-structured report
Accurate referencing
Use of graphics where they are helpful
Clear, correct and appropriate use of language
/20
Overall
/100 = %
Additional comments;
BSc Public Health-Environmental Health
Honours Project Guide 2017
30
Tutorial Log
Use the log on the following pages to record your meetings with
your supervisor.
Not all the meetings need to be face to face; it may be that
guidance at a critical
point can be given via a telephone conversation or an exchange
of emails. You
may consult someone other than your supervisor if a technical

issue arises which
someone else is better at; include these meetings too.
The log should show that you have completed the key stages in
your dissertation
at the appropriate times.
31
Project Contact Log
STUDENT..................................................
TUTOR......................................
DATE PROGRESS QUESTION & ISSUES ACTION &
COMMENTS TUTOR
’S
SIGNA
TURE

32
Project Contact Log
DATE PROGRESS QUESTION & ISSUES ACTION &
COMMENTS TUTOR’S
SIGNATU
RE
33

Leeds Beckett University - School of Health and Well-being
Risk Assessment Form
Student’s name
Project supervisor
1. In the table below, list all the tasks which may involve risks
to you or others; expand the table as necessary
2. In each case, describe the risks eg personal safety, trip
hazards, RSI
3. Say how that risk will be controlled eg arrange to be
accompanied, wear protective equipment, adjust workstation
correctly
4. Put the risk into one of the four categories A-D. In most
cases it will fall into category C.
Category Description
A Direct supervision required (name the person supervising)
B Work may not be started without Supervisor's advice and
approval
C Extra care must be observed, but it is considered that you are
adequately trained and competent in the procedures involved
D The risks are insignificant and carry no special supervision
considerations

1. Nature and Method of Work 2. What are the hazards and
risks? 3. How will they be controlled? 4. Category
A, B, C or D
Student’s signature Supervisor’s signature
* Indicates delete as necessary XXX means put
relevant information in
34
Leeds Beckett University
Information for participants
My name is XXX and I am a student on the *BSc Environmental
Health /Safety Health and
Environmental Management Course at Leeds Beckett
University. My email address is XXX This
should be your Leeds Met email address.
*I can also be contacted on the following telephone number;
XXX
*My postal address is: XXX

Do not include your home address or personal phone number. If
you are being supported by an
employer or other organisation, you can use work contact
details. Otherwise, if phone contact is
essential, you may need to get a phone or SIM card specifically
for use on the project.
*As part of my course I am studying XXX and it would be
helpful if you would agree to take part
by filling in a short questionnaire.
*As part of my course I am studying XXX and it would be
helpful if you would agree to take part
by answering a few questions.
Delete one of the above, and amend as necessary
*I will be recording our discussion to ensure I have an accurate
record of your replies, after which
the recording will be deleted.
Delete if not relevant
If you agree to take part, your answers will be kept confidential;
will store them in a secure place

be used in a way that would enable anyone to identify
you
Always include this section, amending if necessary
Participation is entirely voluntary. If you change your mind
after answering the questions, you
can email me at the address above within XXX days, in which
case I will remove your replies and
destroy them.
You may need to amend slightly the procedure for withdrawing
from the study
If you have any concerns about this research please raise them
with me. You can also discuss any
issues with the following person; XXX
This could be a manager at work, but normally it is your project
supervisor or another course
team member. A name and either email address or phone
number is sufficient.
If you agree to take part, please sign and return one copy of this
form. Keep the other copy for
your records.

The purpose of this student project has been explained to me
and I agree to take part.
Name…………………………………………………………………
……………
Signature………………………………………………………………
…………
Date………………………………………………….
Number of Pages: 29 (Double Spaced)
Number of sources: 80
Writing Style: Harvard
Type of document: Research Paper
Academic Level:Undergraduate
Category: Education Theories
Language Style: English (U.K.)
Order Instructions:
I WILL PROVIDE FURTHER DETAILS AS NEEDED IN THE
COMMENTS SECTION OF ASSIGNMENT PAGE

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