NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS

HIGHER NATIONALS
BTEC HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS (RQF)

Unit Code, Number and Title H/618/5060 – Unit 19: Research Project (Pearson Set)

Semester and Academic Year Semester 2, Academic year 2023-2024

Unit Assessor(s) Nguyen Van Thuy Anh, Duong Van Bay, Le Quang Canh, Nguyen Van
Dai, Ho Hoang Lan, Le Thi Huong Lan, Nguyen Hoai Son, Bach Ngoc
Thang, Phung Minh Thu Thuy, Nguyen Thi Hong Van, Le Thi Thu Mai,
Tran Lan Huong, Tran Cam Tu
Assessment Number and RP A1.1: Individual Assignment (Assessment 1 of 1)
Title
Issue Date March 11th, 2024
Submission Date 10.00 am, Friday, May 31st, 2024
IV Name Nguyen Thi Hong Van

IV Date March 11th, 2024

Student Name

Pearson
NEU Student ID
ID

Plagiarism is a particular form of cheating. Plagiarism must be avoided at all costs and students who
break the rules, however innocently, may be penalised. It is your responsibility to ensure that you
understand correct referencing practices. As a university level student, you are expected to use
appropriate references throughout and keep carefully detailed notes of all your sources of materials for
material you have used in your work, including any material downloaded from the Internet. Please consult
the relevant unit lecturer or your course tutor if you need any further advice.

I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I

Student declaration fully understand the consequences of plagiarism. I understand that
making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.

Student(s) name(s) /
Date:
Signature

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Instruction to The Students:

Assignment 1, which covers all the four Learning Outcomes, is an individual assignment. By the end of the
class, each individual will need to submit a written report and do a presentation (time and room will be
confirmed later).

● Plagiarism is totally unacceptable. Students must cite all sources and input the information by
paraphrasing, summarising or using direct quotes. A Fail Grade is given where Plagiarism is
identified in your work. There are no exceptions.

● Your evidences/findings must be cited using Harvard Referencing Style. Please refer to Reference
guiding posted on Moodle.

● The submission format is in the form of an individual academic report.

● This assignment should be written in a concise, formal business style using font size 12 and single
spacing.

● The word limit of 4,500-6,000 words would be appropriate. However, if you exceed the word limit,
your grade will not be penalised.

● Students MUST complete and submit a softcopy of your work on the due dates stated on
Assignment brief. ALL late work is not allowed to submit. This rule is not waived under any
circumstances. The softcopy must be submitted to Turn-it-in via Moodle.

● Read ALL Instructions on this Page and review the Pass, Distinction, Merit and Referred Criteria
attached to meet the criteria and tasks correctly. Your work should be neatly typed and bonded.
Presentation is important and evidence of quality and business ethics.

Unit Learning Outcomes:

LO1 Examine appropriate research methodologies and methods to identify those appropriate to the
research process
LO2 Develop a research proposal, including a supporting literature review
LO3 Analyse data using appropriate techniques to communicate research findings
LO4 Reflect on the application of research methodologies and process.

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Assessment Brief and Guidance:

Scenario and activity

Set theme - Corporate Social Responsibility.

‘Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and
contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their
families as well as of the local community and society at large.’ (World Business Council for Sustainable
Development).

Businesses worldwide have increasingly embraced the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
as a means to develop and adopt sustainable practices and approaches in their business operations. It is
a multifaceted concept that encompasses many different aspects ranging from philanthropy, ethical
responsibilities and environmental considerations.

Most recently, in response to maximising stakeholder value and expectations, the strategic benefits of
CSR has seen many companies having a competitive advantage. Together with the rise of globalisation,
companies now employ CSR managers, experts and consultants to produce comprehensive CSR policies
and programmes, to give them a competitive edge and build stakeholder trust and loyalty.

Students are to choose their own research topic for this unit. Strong research projects are those with
clear, well focused and defined objectives. A central skill in selecting a research objective is the ability to
select a suitable and focused research objective. One of the best ways to do this is to put it in the form of
a question. Students should be encouraged by tutors to discuss a variety of topics related to the theme
to generate ideas for a good research objective.
The range of topics discussed could cover the following:
- The extent to which company corporate social responsibility programmes align with the
Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations
- Corporate social responsibility and the environment: A case study in the energy sector
- How corporate social responsibility is used to gain a competitive edge
- Stakeholders' perception of CSR initiatives (stakeholders may belong to any of the following
categories - investors, employees, suppliers, consumers etc)
- Impact of CSR programmes on any of the following dimensions -marketplace, workplace,
community, environment
The research objective should allow for students to broaden their understanding and widen their
perspectives by being able to explore, argue, prove, and disprove a particular objective. They should be
feasible, novel, ethical, relevant and ultimately of interest to the student.

Guidance on a report format

In this Assignment, students should produce a final paper after presenting your research project orally
to get comments and feedbacks. A recommended outline for the final paper is as follows:

Research title: Provide your concise research topic. The title should be specific and straight to the main
idea of the research.

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1. Introduction
- Why this topic of research is important? (support your answer with relevant data or reports);
- What is the gap in the extant literature that your research can fill in? (support your answer with relevant
reference);
- What research question(s) your research will help answer?

2. Literature review and analytical framework

- What are the key concepts related to your research?
- What have been done in the extant literature (previous research) related to your research topic?
- What are the gaps that the extant literature has not helped explain?
- What theori(es) or analytical framework(s) can be used to explain your research topic?
- What are the hypotheses (research questions) you can develop to test or explore in your research?

3. Methodology
- What method should be applied to test your hypotheses or to answer your research questions?
- How data should be collected? From whom? By what means?
- What are the questions (or questionnaire) you would use to collect your data?

4. Finding
- How your measures have been tested with reliabilities and validities (if applicable)?
- What have been found from the data collected? Or are your research question(s) supported?
5.
6. Discussion
- Discuss if the data analysis results help answer your research questions?
- What would be the contributions of the research theoretically and practically?
- What are the limitations of your research that can be improved in the future for further research?

7. Conclusion
In the final week, everyone will have to do a final presentation to report on what you have done for
your research project and the key findings from the research. The presentation should be prepared in
PowerPoint and carried out in no more than 15 minutes. Students will receive comments after the
presentation to revise the final paper.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

Pass Merit Distinction

LO1: Examine appropriate research methodologies and methods to LO1 and LO2
identify those appropriate to the research process D1 Justify chosen research
methodologies and processes
P1 Examine alternative research M1 Evaluate alternative research supported by a credible
methodologies. methodologies and data collection academically underpinned
methods and justify choices made literature review.
P2 Explore alternative methods based on philosophical/theoretical
and tools used for the collection frameworks.
of research data that consider

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costs, ethics and access.

LO2: Develop a research proposal, including a supporting literature

review

P3 Produce a research proposal, M2 Evaluate the merits, limitations

including a defined aim and and pitfalls of approaches to data
objectives supported by a collection in compiling the research
literature review. proposal.

P4 Apply appropriate analytical

tools to analyse research findings
and data.

LO3 Communicate the outcomes of a research project to identified LO3 and LO4
stakeholders. D2 Communicate
critical analysis of the
P5 Communicate research M3 Communicate coherently outcomes and make
outcomes in an appropriate outcomes to the intended valid, justified
manner for the intended audience, demonstrating how recommendations.
audience. outcomes meet set research
objectives.

LO4 Reflect on the application of research methodologies and

concepts.

P6 Reflect on the effectiveness M4 Demonstrate reflection and

of research methods applied engagement in the Research
for meeting objectives of the process leading to
business research project. recommended actions for future
improvement.
P7 Consider alternative research
methodologies and lessons
learnt in
view of the outcomes.

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