Introductory description

This module is designed to familiarise you with current issues in researching culture and
communication in business and professional contexts, introduce you to a range of data collection
methods and analytical options relevant to this, and help you develop relevant skills in data collection
and analysis. You will also be introduced to ethical issues in research and provided with guidance on
how to design, plan and manage your dissertation. The module is designed to prepare
you to begin work on your dissertation at the end of Term 2 and comprises two parts. The first part will focus on quantitative research methods, while the second part introduces qualitative research methods. Both parts will cover a range of core topics dedicated to introducing you to relevant data collection and analysis methods, and research ethics will be discussed throughout.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Term 1:

• What is research?
• What is quantitative research and how does it differ from other approaches?
• Reliability and Validity (especially in cross-cultural, multicultural contexts)
• Construct validity and internal/external validity
• Questionnaire design
• Measuring social phenomena quantitatively
• Correlation (theory)
• Chi-square test (theory)
• Comparing groups (theory)
• Linear & Hierarchical Regression (theory)
• Mixed methods

Term 2:

• The research process (including ethics)
• Introducing qualitative research
• Planning and conducting interviews and focus groups
• Transcribing and analysing interviews
• Collecting spoken data and doing observations: audio/video recording actual interactions and role plays
• Collecting and working with online data
• Planning, designing and executing your dissertation research

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• By the end of the module students should be able to: Specify the minimum criteria for adequate research. · Identify different approaches to research and the paradigmatic orientations underlying these. · State the criteria, considerations and procedures necessary to ensure that ethical requirements are met. · Identify and describe a range of relevant methods for collecting data in business, professional and intercultural contexts. · Describe relevant procedures for analysing data quantitatively and qualitatively, and using mixed methods. · Identify the different elements in a research proposal and understand how these relate to one another. · Read and critically respond to relevant academic articles and books. · Use relevant analytical tools and programmes (e.g. SPSS). · Participate in group tasks and discussions · Observe workplace/professional settings and draw inferences from these. · Appreciate the ethical dimension in research and respond appropriately to ethical challenges. · Formulate precisely focused, answerable questions. · Identify relationships between questions and procedures designed to provide responses to them. · Perform basic calculations and follow specifiable analytical procedures in order to develop responses to specific questions. · Recognise cultural and organisational patterns and signals in written and spoken texts · Identify and respond to a professional/intercultural issue or situation requiring further investigation. · Negotiate, design and plan a research project. · Fill in the relevant ethics form for their own dissertation research project.

Indicative reading list

Bargiela-Chiappini, F. (ed.) (2010). The Handbook of Business Discourse. Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press.
Bell, J. (2010). Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education,
Health and Social Sciences (5th edn). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Bitchner, J. (2010). Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation. Basingstoke: Paigrave
Macmillan.
Blommaert, J. and Jie, D. (2010) Ethnographic Fieldwork. A Beginner's Guide. Bristol: Multilingual
Matters.
Bryman, A. and Cramer, D. (2008). Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS 14, 15 & 16. A Guide for
Social Scientists. Hove: Psychology Press.
Creswell, J. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches
(3rd edn). Los Angeles: Sage.
Grbich, C. (2007). Qualitative Data Analysis. An Introduction. London: Sage.
Kvale, S. (2008). Doing Interviews. London: Sage.
Lofland, J. and Lofland, L. H. (1995). Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation
and Analysis (Third Edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Oliver, P. (2003). The Student's Guide to Research Ethics. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Robson, C. (2002). Real World Research. A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-
Researchers. Second Edition. Oxford: Blackwell.

Research element

Students are asked to design and plan their dissertation research and to think about the ethical implications.

International

This module equips students with the skills to research and work in workplaces around the world and think critically about the role of culture. It thereby also contributes to the development of their intercultural competence.

Subject specific skills

• Negotiate, design and plan a research project.
• Give a short presentation of their planned research project
• Write an abstract of their planned research
• Present an appropriately structured, clearly articulated ethics form.

Transferable skills

• Formulate precisely focused, answerable questions.
• Identify relationships between questions and procedures designed to provide responses to them.
• Perform basic calculations and follow specifiable analytical procedures in order to develop responses to specific questions.
• Design and plan a research project