MBA 2005/2006

INTEGRATIVE BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT GUIDELINES

Candidates for the Masters of Business Administration Degree (MBA) are required to undertake and document research in partial fulfilment of the degree. In order to complete this process, students will have to select a suitable topic, prepare a research proposal, carry out independent research and write up the research project according to a defined format. A research project is a formal investigation conducted independently over a number of months in a focused area addressing a clear question or defined problem.

The purpose of the research project is to give the student an opportunity to demonstrate that s/he can self-manage a problem solving/knowledge-creation exercise on a complex business topic of their choice within a limited time frame. They must demonstrate that they can design, execute, analyse and report on such work to specified standards. They must show that they can do this in a logical and coherent way and meet the standards for applied research in an academic environment, as required for a post-graduate degree. The research project provides an opportunity for students to integrate the theory and concepts learned on the whole MBA across a range of subjects and apply them to a specific problem. It is estimated that students will spend approximately 350 hours on their research projects.

A SELECTING A RESEARCH TOPIC

The choice of topic for research should depend on a number of factors: The selected topic should be in a field in which there is real need for the research. The research outcomes must be useful. Although research into practical problems experienced in the workplace is encouraged, students may not undertake market research which would advantage a specific company. The research has to be of academic relevance. All university research is within the public domain and hence no research project can be treated as confidential. The student should be realistic about the scale of the task to be undertaken and its scope. The research must be achievable within a defined time and budget. The topic should be amenable to methods of research. It is important to align the students interests, abilities and career plans. Access to the data must be ensured before the proposal is written. A topic could well be selected to be relevant to both the student and their company.

B RESEARCH METHODLOGY COURSE

During the research methodology course, students will be asked to hand in two assignments the marks from these assignments will contribute 10% to the final research project mark.

C WRITING THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Students need to submit a research proposal to the MBA Programme Manager by 8h00 on 1st of June. The proposal will count 15% towards the final research project mark. The research proposal should be approximately ten pages in length. The proposal is later expanded into the final research

project. The proposal must demonstrate familiarity with the prescribed research methodology textbook

Format of the Proposal The following guidelines are designed to cover the essential elements of a proposal:

Title Page The title should be concise, but descriptive. Ideally a title should be less than ten words. It is advisable to avoid catchy titles and words such as A study of or An investigation into are redundant and should be avoided. Titles should not be in a question format. The students name, contact details and student number must be shown on this page.

Definition of Problem The research problem or question must be clearly and simply stated at the start of the proposal. concise sentence. The student should distil the problem into a short,

A brief background to the problem, together with a

rationale for conducting the research is required. Ensure that the scope of the research is specified. The following questions should be addressed: Why was this problem selected? What evidence verifies the identification of the problem? What is the relevance of this topic to business in SA?

At least three references should be used in this section indicating the need for the research.

Theory and Literature Review A brief description of the relevant theory base should be reported and related to the research problem. It is important to note that the emphasis should be on the application of the theory to the research problem rather than merely on a description of the theory. The theory should be critically reviewed. This is also the opportunity to assess what other work has been done in the field of

your research. A full literature review is not necessary at the proposal stage, but key references should be identified and discussed. You should indicate the major headings you will use in the literature review. At least ten

references must be used and correctly referenced both in the body of the research proposal and in the reference list. References must be current and focused on the specific research problem. At the end of the literature review you must restate your research problem in terms of hypotheses or propositions or research questions.

Proposed Research Methods It is crucial to define clearly what method will be used during the study e.g. documentary research, survey by face to face interviews. The methodology must be appropriate to the research objective and questions / propositions / hypotheses. You need to indicate why your chosen methodology is suitable for your research problem, i.e. you need to demonstrate congruence throughout the research process. A well-selected and clearly justified methodology at proposal stage will assist in ensuring the production of a successful research project. After specifying and defending the choice of

methodology, details must be given of the proposed unit of analysis, population, sampling method and size, data gathering process and analysis approach. If you intend to use a questionnaire in your research, a draft questionnaire must be included. An indication of the research limitations must be given. The text book for the research course should be used and referenced to defend the research details in this section.

Time-Line The proposed time-line for the various phases of the planned research process should be given.

References It is important that the work undertaken by other researchers and writers is formally acknowledged. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of published

materials. Plagiarism is unacceptable and will not be condoned and if found will lead to disciplinary procedures.

The method of referencing shown at the end of this document must be adopted and applied consistently throughout the proposal and the research project. References are used to enable readers to consult the original sources for further reading and to acknowledge the authors from which the information was taken. This is done by clearly identifying the sources and precisely stating where the information was found. Essential components of a reference are: author, year of publication, title of book or article and journal; edition, place of publication, publisher, numbering, and pagination. Referencing systems are the bane of research students lives, but the onus rests on the student to master the system.

Literary Style Writing good formal English is an important business skill. Both the proposal and the research project must be written in a formal academic literary style in the third person. British and not American conventions of spelling should be followed (in Word this is signified by the English (U.K.) setting). Slang and colloquialisms should be avoided at all times; the rules of grammar should be followed. The proposal should be written in the future tense, the report should be written in the past tense and the literature review in the present tense (i.e. the author states). Do not begin sentences with numerals. All words that are in a language other than English should be typed in italics e.g. et al. The first person should not be used, i.e. you may not say I conducted 15 interviews you need to say Fifteen interviews were conducted. Supervisors should indicate to students whether professional assistance with editing and/or proof reading is advisable for the final report. The use of footnotes is discouraged.

Tables and Figures All tables and figures must be numbered in numerical order and must have the table and figure number and heading at the top. Tables are usually presented in single spacing. Figures take the form of models and graphs.

Consistency Matrix You must complete a consistency matrix as given in Appendix 1 of this document as the last page of your proposal. This table enables you and the supervisor to check for consistency, i.e. are the research problem, the literature, the research methodology and the proposed method of analysis all aligned, i.e. will the data, if analysed in the proposed way, answer the research problem and is there a theoretical basis for the research problem.

Submission of the Proposal Once a proposal has been completed, it must be submitted by June 1st 2006, 17h00, to the MBA Programme Manager. A supervisor will then be allocated by the Academic Committee based on faculty members areas of expertise. The supervisor will mark the proposal according to the guidelines below. The mark will count 15% toward the final research project mark. Students should consult their supervisor to receive feedback.

If the proposal is approved, the Academic Administration office will record the title and the name of the supervisor. Only in exceptional circumstances are either of these changed.

Students should not proceed with the research project until the proposal has been approved.

Where a proposal requires revision, the appointed supervisor will notify the student. The areas of the proposal, which require revision, will be discussed with the supervisor and a revised proposal must be submitted. A maximum period of two weeks will be granted for revision. The original mark will, however, be used for mark purposes.

Suggested marking guidelines for research proposal Student Name: Proposed Title: Problem Formulation Comments: 20%

Theory Base/Literature Review Comments:

20%

Methodology

40%

Defence of methods Comments:

Unit of Analysis/Population/Sampling

Comments:

Procedure/Data collection/Instrument Comments:

Data Analysis Comments:

Project Time-Line Comments:

Referencing Comments:

10%

Literary style Comments:

10%

Overall Mark:

(NB This counts 15% of the final Research Project)

/100

Decision:
(please tick relevant option)

Proceed Re-submit ( by ...)

Supervisors Name Signed:.. Date:.

D NATURE AND EXTENT OF SUPERVISION

Once appointed, supervisors will be required to interact with their designated students approximately three times. The student may expect guidance with regard to the planning, execution and compilation of the project. The supervisor should be available to the student within two weeks of a meeting being requested, if at all possible. Finding sources and references is the responsibility of the student and not that of the supervisor. A supervisor will be responsible for pointing out poorly substantiated or poorly expressed statements, but the student is responsible for correcting these.

A supervisor is not responsible for the correction of language, spelling or grammatical errors, but should point out to the student that there are such errors in his/her work. The student is responsible for the language editing of his/her project. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to provide guidance on sections of work which require revision. The meetings should be initiated by the student, who would usually submit the draft document to the supervisor at least a week before the meeting.

A schedule of meetings with a supervisor should be set up by the student as follows: First meeting: Following the submission of the proposal the student should meet with the supervisor to receive feedback on the proposal. At this meeting the final methodology should be agreed on. This meeting should occur in June.

Second meeting: Once the project is underway, but before the data is collected and processed, the supervisor should receive a draft of the first half of the research project, i.e. up to and including chapter 4 and should provide feedback to the student on it. The details of the proposed data collection and analysis methods should also be agreed on. This meeting should occur by mid of August. Third meeting: This meeting should take place when the data has been processed and chapters 5 and 6 written in draft form and submitted to the supervisor. This meeting should occur by mid October. The student and the supervisor should record the number of meetings held and the nature of the discussions. If the student is having great difficulty in setting up meetings with their supervisor they may contact the head of MBA research to discuss the way forward.

Data Collection Should the student plan to interview respondents or send out questionnaires the MBA Programme Manager will provide them with an official generic letter stating that they are bona fide students and that assistance with their research project would be appreciated.

E LAYOUT AND REQUIREMENTS OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

The body of the report should be between 75 and 80 pages of text 15 000 to 18 000 words (this excludes any appendices, table of contents, references, etc).

The report should be printed in A4 format on one side only, on good quality paper with double spacing and a left margin of 35 mm and a right margin of 25 mm. The font choice and size should facilitate easy reading, e.g. Arial 12. The text should be justified, i.e. aligned left and right, as is this document. A

good quality printer should be utilised for the final print. The colour of the ink for the text should be black. Colour may be used in figures.

The report should include the following:

1. Title page The title page should include the title [as approved in the research proposal] followed by the authors name, the statement below and the date.

The statement should be worded as follows:

A research project submitted to the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements Administration. for the degree of Master of Business

The date should be the month and year of completion of the project. (e.g. November 2006)

2. Abstract The abstract should appear on the next page and should be limited to 200 words. The abstract should start with a sentence that describes the major theme of the research. The purpose and methodology of the research and the outcome should then be briefly described.

3. Declaration The following declaration should appear on a separate page:

I declare that this research project is my own work.

It is

submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria. It has not been
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submitted before for any degree or examination in any other University.

The name and signature of the student and the date should follow the declaration.

4. Acknowledgements It is a convention to acknowledge the role of a supervisor and other persons and/or organisations instrumental in the

completion of the research.

5. Table of Contents Under the heading Contents, this will include the starting page numbers of the preliminary material, chapter and section headings, references and any appendices. Generally the first page of the text would be numbered 1. Any preliminary pages would be given numbers in small roman numbers (i.e. i, ii, etc)

6. Text of research project The text of the conventional research report is divided into logical chapters. On reading the whole report the process of logical reasoning of the whole research process must be made apparent. A typical layout would be:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Problem. This chapter indicates clearly the need for the research and what the research objectives are. The relationship between the research problem and the research objectives must be explained and the scope of the research defined. This is where the context of the research is made clear and the choice of the topic is defended, with reference being made to literature.

Chapter 2: Literature Review. The literature review presents an argument within academic literature to show the need for
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your research. You must show that your research is situated within the relevant, current, academic literature and that you understand the debates. Your task is to show how the academic literature sheds light on your topic. The purpose of the literature review is to refine the statement of the research problem or question, not to offer a tutorial on the topic. Hence you must review the pertinent literature, not repeat large passages from a text. This chapter must make use of subheadings which indicate your flow of logic. The subheadings usually divide the literature into a number of major areas and then each area begins with the more generic theory bases and ends with closely focused literature on your topic. It is envisaged that not less than thirty references will be used, all of which must be highly relevant to your topic, at least half of which must be post 2000 and nearly all of which must be from accredited academic texts. You will need to source at least five references from peer reviewed academic journals. Every paragraph should contain at least one reference. The conclusion to the literature review must indicate the need for your specific research.

Chapter 3: Research Questions/ Propositions/ Hypotheses. In this chapter, usually no more than a page or two, the precise purpose of the research is defined. Research questions are used where the literature does not provide likely solutions to the research objectives. Propositions are used when the researcher proposes what the findings are likely to be. Hypotheses are used when the student intends to use statistical hypothesis testing procedures. The research questions / hypotheses / propositions must be numbered and stated in such a way that they are testable or answerable?

Chapter 4: Research Methodology. This chapter must give details of and defence of, the methodology used, the definition of the unit of analysis, the population, the sample size and
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sampling method, the research instrument used, the details of how the data was collected and the process of data analysis. The limitations of the research must be specified. Research methodology references must be used. This chapter must be written in the past tense.

Chapter 5: Results. Here the results of your research are presented clearly and concisely with only sparse commentary. Tables and figures must be correctly presented as discussed above. This chapter is usually presented with the data being clustered around the research questions / propositions / hypotheses.

Chapter 6: Discussion of Results. Here the results are discussed in terms of the research questions, propositions or hypotheses and in terms of the literature i.e. the relationship between this chapter and chapters one, two and three must be clear to the examiners and other readers. This chapter should use the research questions/ propositions/ hypotheses as major headings within the chapter. This chapter should show depth of insight into your findings in terms of both the context of the study and in light of the theory base. The chapter must indicate that the research objectives have been met.

Chapter 7: Conclusion. This chapter highlights the main findings of the research, pulling the results together into a cohesive set of findings; includes recommendations to

stakeholders based directly on the findings; and gives recommendations for future research.

7. Reference List As detailed below.

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8. Appendices Appendices should be numbered and titled. Each appendix

should be presented both in numerical order and in the order in which it is encountered in the text of the project. Examples of what should be included in appendices are a copy of a questionnaire (if used), data bases, list of respondents etc.

A very approximate guideline to the number of pages for each chapter is as follows:

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7

7 15 2 8 20 20 6

F SUBMISSION PROCESS

Students are to submit by 17h00 on 14 November to the MBA Programme Manager two ring bound reports, one unbound copy, and an emailed version of the whole document, in one file, to the Info Centre at ichelp@gibs.co.za .

Students must sign the declaration page on all three copies after printing but before handing in.

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No extensions will be granted to this deadline. A mark penalty of 5% per day or part thereof will be applied. The reports will be forwarded to the respective supervisors and the external examiner. The supervisors will then mark the project within a few weeks. The unbound copy of the report will be given to the Information Centre. If the report receives a mark of 65% or more the Information Centre will have the report bound and placed on the shelves.

Should the project not be deemed to be of an acceptable standard to pass, and should the supervisor know that some minor adjustments will allow the project to pass; this feedback will be conveyed to the student by the supervisor. A two week period for amendments will be set for final submission. Failure to satisfy the recommendations will result in the candidate failing to satisfy the requirements for the degree. Students who have to

resubmit their research reports for re-examination will not receive a mark higher than a D symbol. Should a research report fail to an extent where more than minor adjustments need to be made, the student will have to repeat the research methodology course, resubmit their proposal and redo the research project in the following year.

G CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

25% of the mark will come from the research methodology course assignments and the proposal.

The table below shows the suggested marking schedule for the report.

1. Motivation for Research Quality of analysis of business problem

[25%]

Relevance and coverage of related research literature Appropriateness of alternative solutions offered and considered

Clear statement of need for the research (relevance to theory and/or practice) Formulation of research propositions/hypotheses or questions and scope of the research project. Comments:
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2. Method and Procedure

[25%]

Rationale for choice of methodology (e.g. qualitative vs. quantitative; theoretical) Research design (clarity, logic and appropriateness of choices made) Implementation of research (accuracy, thoroughness of procedures) Information gathering (sampling; data collection; quality controls)

Comments:

3. Analysis and Interpretation of Findings

[25%]

Data analysis and presentation (grasp of techniques used; clarity of presentation) Interpretation and evaluation of results (accuracy; validity of inferences; alternatives considered); discussion of findings Conclusions drawn within context of the study, relevance to objectives; limitations noted on generalization Comments:

4. Summary and Recommendations

[15%]

Relevance of recommendations to business problem and knowledge accumulation Quality of summary of project and of the Abstract Future Research recommendations

Comments:

5. Presentation

[10%]

Overall impression (writing quality and style, organisation and flow, editing, references) Comments:

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Mark for Research Project

The minimum pass mark for the research project is 50%. All MBA students must pass the research project. The minimum mark required for a distinction is 75%. A research project being granted a distinction would meet all of the requirements above and display originality of thought and depth of critical insight. Results are usually published late in December. The research project counts for 20% of the students final MBA mark.

H Candidates who fail to submit research project reports Candidates who do not submit their research project on time may apply in writing, before January 10th of the following year, for permission to re-register. Should this be permitted the student will have to pay additional fees and will not graduate with their class. They will have to re-attend the research methodology lectures, submit the assignments and resubmit their proposal for approval. A supervisor will then be allocated. They will not be allocated a mark higher than a C for their final mark. They will have to complete the research during this subsequent year, failure to do so will constitute a failure of the MBA programme.

I REFERENCING SYSTEM

The referencing style guide specified below is based on the Harvard system and must be used in research reporting both within the text and in the reference list. This set of guidelines is an edited version of the full version of Harvard Referencing and is adapted from Price, J. and Turner, C. (1991) Study Skills. Bath: College of Higher Education.

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REFERENCING WITHIN THE TEXT Each time a reference is given within a text, the authors surname and the year of publication is quoted. If the surname is a natural part of the sentence, the year only is given in brackets. If the surname is not a natural part of the sentence, then both the surname and year are in brackets. e.g. Simmons (1989) quotes data to show..... It has recently been stated (Grandjean, 1988) that..... When there are two authors the surnames of both should be quoted e.g. Holly and Southworth (1989) When there are 3 authors or more, then the first surname is quoted followed by et al, but only after the first mention which should include all the authors. e.g. Bradley, Jones and Smith (1983); thereafter, Bradley et al. (1983) A corporate author may be used when appropriate. e.g. Open University (1999) When there is more than one reference to the same author and year of publication, i.e. the author has published a few items in one year, each entry is distinguished by a b c etc. following the year. e.g. (1989a) (1989b)

If direct quotations are being used in the text, the quotations must be given in inverted commas and the relevant page number(s) must be given. e.g. Documents must be presented in a visually appealing format (Flack, 1981, p. 74)

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AN EXAMPLE OF REFERENCING WITHIN THE TEXT FOLLOWS The world economy has progressed from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy (Pine and Gilmore, 1998; Dibble, 2004). With knowledge being viewed as a major contributing factor to organisational success, the purveyors of this knowledge in organisations deserve to be focused on. Drucker (1974) first used the term knowledge worker; he described these individuals as employees who carry knowledge as a powerful resource which they, rather than the organisation, own. Drucker (1989, p. 175) states Knowledge workers know that their knowledge. gives them freedom to move since everyones knowledge has a multitude of applications in the information or knowledge age. A few years later Drucker

(2002, p. 76) wrote that knowledge workers have become the major creator of wealth and jobs and increasingly the success and even the survival of every business will depend on the performance of its knowledge workforce. He goes on to say that the knowledge economy will increasingly depend on higher levels of education. Harrigan and Dalmia (1991) define

knowledge workers as key employees who create intangible value-adding assets, and who often transport those assets in their heads when they change employers.

Please note, as in the first sentence, that the reference goes in brackets before the full stop.

REFERENCING IN THE REFERENCE LIST The list of references is given at the end of the text. (Note, a bibliography containing everything you read is not required, only a reference list of books and articles that you have referred to in your research report). The link from the text to the list is the authors surname and year of publication, so the list is arranged in alphabetical order by authors, and within authors in ascending
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date order. It is finally sorted alphabetically by a b c (see example below) if this device has been necessary. The reference list should not be sectioned into books, journals etc. Please note that the name of the book or journal is in italics. Examples: Hargreaves, D.H. (1972) Interpersonal Relations and Education. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Hargreaves, D.H. (1979a) A phenomenological approach to classroom decision-making. In Eggleston, J. (ed.) Teacher Decision-making in the Classroom. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Hargreaves, D.H. (1979b) The proper study of educational psychology. New Universities Quarterly, 33, 155 -165. Holly, P. and Southworth, G. (1989) The Developing School. London: Falmer Press. Referencing Books The information required is: Author. Year of publication. Title (this must be in italics). Place of publication: Publisher. e.g. Minton, D. (1997) Teaching Skills in Further and Adult Education. London: City & Guilds / Macmillan. For two authors, both names are given, e.g. Huddleston, P. and Unwin, L. (1997) Teaching and Learning in Further Education. London: Routledge. For three or more authors, all names are quoted, e.g. Gray, D. Griffin, C. and Nasta, T. (2000) Training to Teach in Further and Adult Education. Cheltenham: Stanley Thorne.

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An author may be an editor, so this detail is included after the name, e.g. Rose, D. (ed.) (1988) Social Stratification and Economic Change. London: Hutchinson. An author may be a corporate body in which case this is used as the author, e.g. Open University (1981) Polymer Production. 2nd ed. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. When relevant, an edition statement should be included after the title, and the year of publication quoted is the year of the particular edition, e.g. Grandjean, E. (1988) Fitting the Tasks to the Man: A text book of occupational ergonomics. 4th ed. London: Taylor & Francis. Certain classic books may be reprinted, the year of publication is the original year, with the reprint date added if it is of importance, e.g. Darwin, C. R. (1882, reprinted 1928) The Origin of Species. 6th ed. London: Dent. Where a reference is to a chapter in an edited book or a compilation, and the authors are different, the listing would be, e.g. Green, A. (1995) The European challenge to British vocational education and training, in Hodkinson & Issit (eds.) The Challenge of Competence: Professionalism through Vocational Education and Training. London: Cassell. Referencing Reports Reports follow the guidelines as given for books, with the additional item of the report number(s). Author(s). Year of publication. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher. Report number(s).

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e.g. Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) (2000) Student Success Rates In Post- 16 qualifications - data from the England and Wales youth cohort study. London: DfEE. Referencing Journal Articles The information required is Author of article. Year of publication. Title of article. Title of periodical (this must be in italics). Volume and number . Page number(s) of article. e.g. Psacharopoulos, G. (1997) Vocational education and training today: challenges and responses. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 49(3), 21-36. Referencing Conferences These references follow the guidelines for either books or journals depending on how the conference proceedings are published. If it is printed as a one-off, then it will follow the guidelines for books. If the conference is one of a series that regularly publishes its papers, then follow the guidelines for journals. Referencing e-Journals and Website Sources The information required is: Author/editor, Year "Title" [online]. (Edition). Place of publication: Publisher (if ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed Date]. e.g. Hillage P. (2000) Adult learning in England, a Review, London: Institute of Education Studies Report 369. Summary at http://www.employmentstudies.co.uk/summary/summary.php?id=369 (accessed 24/6/03). Referencing where there is no author or publisher In this case use the title of the publication where the authors name would usually be found.

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e.g. Guide to Authors (1998) South African Journal of Business.

AN EXAMPLE OF A REFERENCE LIST FOLLOWS Please note it is in alphabetical order and not numbered. Armstrong, M. and Murlis, H. (1998) Reward Management. London: Biddles.

Baron, J. N., Hannan, M.T. and Burton, M.D. (2001) Labor pains: change in organisational models and employee turnover in young, high-tech firms. American Journal of Sociology, 106(4), 960 -1010.

Bartlett, C. and Ghosal, S. Capital. Book in progress.

(2000)

Competing on Human

http://www.linezine.com/4.2/articles/chsghebip.htm 12/02/03)

(accessed

Bennett, J. (2003) Employers have their work cut out. Sunday Times. Business Times. March 16. Johannesburg, 1.

Branch, S. (1998) You hired em. But can you keep em? Fortune Magazine, November 9, 101-104.

Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (1996) Organisational learning and communities-of-practice. In: Cohen, M.D. and Sproull, L.S. (eds). Organisational Learning. Los Angeles: Sage.

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APPENDIX 1

CONSISTENCY MATRIX

TITLE__________________________________________________________________ PROPOSITIONS/ QUESTIONS/ HYPOTHESES 1 LITERATURE REVIEW DATA COLLECTION TOOL ANALYSIS

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CONSISTENCY MATRIX EXAMPLE TITLE: Methodologies used by stockmarket analysts and fund managers to evaluate the management of companies PROPOSITIONS/ QUESTIONS/ HYPOTHESES
Research question 1 Do fund managers and analysts take into account the competence of a companys management in taking decisions on investments? Research question 2 What criteria do fund managers and analysts apply to this assessment? Research question 3 How do analysts and fund managers incorporate judgements on the management of companies into their overall assessment of a company? Research question 4 What methodologies do analysts use to gather information on the management of companies?

LITERATURE REVIEW

DATA COLLECTION TOOL

Question 2 in questionnaire

ANALYSIS

Dobbs,1998 Hequet, 2004

Frequency analysis on closedended question, to give proportions of weightings Frequency analysis on fixed sum scale to determine categories and rank order them

Booth, 1999 Day & Fahey, 2003

Questions 3 & 4

Booth, 1999 Serwer, 2005

Questions 5&6

Content analysis on open ended questions, to determine range of options and how they are used

Stewart, 2003 Magnus, 2001

Question 7.

Content analysis to uncover types of communication channels

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