The effect of education acts on the marketing of schools

INTRODUCTION 1

Learning outcomes 1

1. 2. What is academic literature used for 4

   3. Doing a literature review 5
   4. 2. Using hard copy journals 7

   5. Literature searching 8

2.2 Empirical dissertations using primary data 13

1. Collecting data with a questionnaire 13

2.3 Conceptual (Theoretical) dissertations 15

2.3.1 ‘Cause and effect’ dissertations 15

1. Contents 20

2. Presentation hints 22

Recommended reading 26

Dissertation proposal – guidance notes 28

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

Contextualise their research topic in the literature.

Select appropriate methods of data collection and analysis.

Skills

Produce a substantial narrative consistent with the conventions in their chosen field of study.

Dissertation Strategies

• Empirical – based on primary (and also secondary data)

Shared responsibilities

1. arrange meetings with your supervisor

2. prepare draft chapters or other discussion documents for the meetings in advance of supervisory meetings

Too many students fail to grasp what a literature review requires. There are a number of texts devoted to the writing of a literature review and these can be helpful. Some of these are listed in the Bibliography. If you want to read a good review of literature in your subject area, consult the best journal in your field and read the reviews of literature in any of the articles printed in a recent volume. Sometimes you can find a comprehensive review of the literature in a given field which constitutes a journal article in itself.

1. 1 WHAT IS ”THE LITERATURE”?

The ‘literature’ is the collective writing about a subject. The main sources are academic journals followed by monographs, research textbooks, teaching textbooks and then journals for practising managers.

The problem with practitioner literature is that it is largely journalism - very often pure opinion - and as academics we must be very careful how we handle it. The key difference between academic and practitioner literature is that academic literature attempts to understand things through interpreting research results as a way of pushing forward knowledge.

The literature is contained in the journals section of academic libraries, although not all of it. Although some libraries are bigger than others, few university libraries contain more than a small fraction of the academic literature available. You can search it through databases like Emerald and and these are excellent short-cuts. But you then need to follow-up to get the full text either by referring to the actual journal or getting the article via inter-library loan. Do not rely solely on electronic sources. If you cannot find journal articles in the library you can request copies of these (free of charge) through the Inter Library Loan service. This also applies to books. Consult your librarian.

1.2 WHAT IS ACADEMIC LITERATURE USED FOR?

So where's the problem? The problem was that the student had not identified the underlying theoretical problem which was about the psychology of giving. Once this had been identified, she was able to see what it said, and make connections to the practical problem of the lottery and charities. This led to explanations for the apparent phenomenon of lower donations.

Hence a little pathway/model emerges:

1.3 DOING A LITERATURE REVIEW

1.3.1 What a literature review is not!

There is no point whatsoever in just listing and/or summarising what your tutor already knows or can easily read in a textbook. The key word here is REVIEW, not summary, not listing, but REVIEW. There is no point in just writing everything you know about the topic. You need to explore key themes in the literature which are relevant to the particular topic. It is important that you demonstrate your understanding of these themes and that you have covered the work of the main authors in your chosen field.

A review means that you evaluate the literature. In the first place you have to identify it and make extracts from what you think are relevant articles or books - but don't simply hand them in. This is just an initial stage in how you evaluate the literature. When you have made notes on what you think is relevant you can begin to draft a more complete version but this is still not ready to be read by your supervisor. Read through what you have written and try to organise it into themes before you show it to your supervisor. You cannot expect your supervisor to give you guidance until you have begun to understand the literature you have chosen and you demonstrate this understanding by writing a first draft which you have begun to develop beyond just a description. We want your synthesis of the topic and your evaluation of the literature itself. (This applies to assignments and to dissertations). You can see examples of how to review literature in articles written in good journals. By ‘good’ we mean journals which are subject to peer review and the library/your supervisor can help you identify them.

Teleworking Example

1.4 LITERATURE SOURCES

1.4.1 The Internet

Journals & Indexes

ABI

Infotrac (Health)

LEXIS

Databases containing abstracts, rather than full text, should always be used but beware of two common outcomes:

• you appear not to find anything on your topic; or

1.4.2 Using Hard Copy Journals

The internet should alert you to some good articles that cover your topic. If any of these journals are held at the University of Northampton, then a manual search through the contents pages of past issues will often turn-up articles on the same topic.

1.5.1 Examples

Example 1

Outline a topic that you might pursue for a dissertation. In doing so, generate the key words and phrases that could be used to describe the topic. For instance, a student wanted to explore whether management training actually has any impact on the performance of trainees. All sorts of search terms come to mind, one group concerns training and the other group concerns measuring training effectiveness. So, a search strategy could be:

Most databases will give each search a number, e.g. the first might be #1 or S1. These sets, as they are called, can also be combined, e.g.

'Management Development' = S1 = 987 hits

(S1 or S2) and (S3 or S4) = 65 hits

Some databases use #1 rather than S1 to denote search set 1 but they are combined in the same way, e.g.

Example 2

This leads to thousands of hits in some databases and it is impractical to read all of them to find the critical literature. This was solved by combining sets 1 and 2 above with other search sets that contained relevant words that might appear in the title or abstract, e.g.

#3 (criticism or critique or evaluation or pitfalls or limitations)

#1 ( marketing and mix)

#2 (empirical or research)

Searching for individual words and combining them usually works, e.g.

#1 (total and quality and management)

• a short date range, e.g. 1998-2001.

Most databases allow limiting in one way or another and, if you find some relevant recent papers, then they should contain references to important earlier papers.

#1 (information and technology)

#2 networks

Secondary data are data that have already been collected and, maybe, published. Examples include, financial and economic statistics, labour force statistics and news reports of company activities. It can also include data collected by a company you are studying about what goes on in that company, for example, data onlabour turnover. Secondary research offers many advantages to students, including:

• there is the potential to do some really high quality research

The effects of bad publicity on corporate performance

This ‘cause and effect’ dissertation would use secondary data rather than just rely upon the literature. A possible structure would be:

• literature review to show examples of how organisations get poor publicity leading to the development of several research questions

Here, the literature review is one part of the whole dissertation that fits at the beginning and is revisited at the end.

Jilted Mergers

A student wanted to research the reasons why some mergers between companies do not work out well. There are problems with doing this using primary data:

• review the problems of managing successful mergers

• develop research questions around proposed mergers that are called-off

• the reasons why acquisitions happen;

• the types and sizes or organisations involved;

This is the commonest form of post graduate dissertation as many degrees stipulate that students must collect primary data. Students should refer to texts on research methods for the details of the many methods of data collection and analysis that exist. Here are some examples of dissertations that show the variety of options available.

2.2.1 Collecting data with a questionnaire

A university was faced with high drop-out rates on the first year of its courses. The researcher, whose job involved meeting students who were withdrawing, designed a questionnaire to capture the reasons why students were withdrawing. A large sample was collected (about 300) and the reasons for withdrawal were analysed and compared to previous work on this problem.

2.2.2 Interviews

A student was interested in the notion of ‘extra-ordinary’ management and the factors that enable it to happen. He conducted a set of interviews in a particular sector to help him understand what extra-ordinary management meant.

A manager in a charity wanted to explore how charitable organisations developed their strategies and to see how relevant classical models of strategic management, developed for profit-seeking firms, are to not-for-profit organisations. She undertook a series of interviews to explore this question.

2.2.3 Combinations of Questionnaires and Interviews

2.2.3 Observation

Students who are in work or on a work placement often have the opportunity to add observation to their range of methods. Where observers are part of the situation (as in a work setting) this is referred to as participant observation and this is a recognised research method, although it has its problems (see for example Flick, 2002). Observations can be added to interview and questionnaire data and used to support findings from other sources.

2.2.4 Research Design - Case Studies or Surveys

Some research questions call for detailed study of a few organisations or groups. One student wanted to understand the factors that help create successful IS/IT projects in local government. He found three examples of successful projects in different councils and, using interviews and documents, wrote-up case studies of why each had been successful. From the cases he was able to identify some of the common factors that explain successful projects.

2.3 CONCEPTUAL (THEORETICAL) DISSERTATIONS

Conceptual dissertations rely only on the literature and the writer's creative ability. They are not a popular choice for post-graduate students but sometimes used for practical reasons, among undergraduates. They contain no fresh data, not even secondary data, they are very hard to undertake and should not be undertaken lightly. Basically, they involve:

• reaching conclusions about the narrow area that are logically derived from what the literature is saying.

I see two types of conceptual dissertation:

2.3.1 Cause and Effect dissertations

The effect of Education Acts on the marketing of schools

1. Summarise the Acts but draw out the implications for the management of schools.

2. Summarise macro and micro trends in education e.g. numbers of pupils, numbers of schools. Paint a picture of school education in the UK drawing out the big issues. Combining 1 & 2 should lead to a statement of problems facing school managers.

Cashless society and organisations

• Introduction outlining recent press stories about a cashless society and the changes it will bring - this is used to justify the research.

• Brief history of the origins of money (setting the scene)

-Banks and Financial Services Organisations

-Multi national companies

• brief outline of why this is an important topic, e.g. figures on stress related illnesses, working days lost, effects of stress on personal relations.

• origins of stress as a concept

• definition of technology for the purpose of the dissertation

• linking technology and stress

-What is motivation?

To do this type, a student has to get literature on the topic and reappraise it from a particular angle. A good angle to take is simply that the human resources climate in organisations is much different now to what is was when much of the theory about organisations and people was developed. Using knowledge of a sector, students can do some good work evaluating what the textbooks say about a topic in light on the way society is today. One real example is the meaning of ‘professionalism’. A student might:

• consider how the concept has changed due to changes in business organisation

• draw out implications for organisations that need to maintain high levels of professionalism among their workforce.

3.1 ASSESSMENT OF THE DISSERTATION

The normal word length for a dissertation (excluding appendices and references) is around 15,000 words. Students who pursue a wholly qualitative survey may need to exceed this amount and students who pursue a largely quantitative survey may require slightly less, perhaps around 12,500 words. Dissertations, excluding appendices and references, should not exceed 20,000 words.

The dissertation contains evidence of significant critical analysis.

The narrative is logical and developmental.

All dissertations will be assessed by two tutors, one of whom will be the supervisor.

3.2 DISSERTATION STRUCTURE

Title page

Contents pages (to include the following)

Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction

An introduction to the topic, explaining what the study is about, why the study is important, indicating some of the theoretical underpinning which is to be employed and showing how the dissertation is structured. You may wish to delineate your aims in carrying out the research here (briefly).

Chapter 4: Results/Findings

This chapter contains the results of your research which might be; tables of quantitative data, mini-cases of organisations or summaries of interviews. Concentrate on presenting your data here, resist the temptation to begin interpreting the implications of the data until the next chapter. Make sure that the way results are presented clearly links to and informs the research questions or hypotheses being examined.

Chapter 5: Discussion of results

Discuss and interpret the results. Relate your findings to the literature review. Make sure that your discussion links clearly to your research questions or hypotheses. If your research has been highly qualitative, it may be necessary to combine the presentation of results and a discussion of them into one chapter.

Chapter 6: Conclusions

Appendices

Use numbered appendices to contain material that would have clogged-up the main chapters but only include material that truly adds to the dissertation. Do not include any old papers just because it took you a long time to find them! Appendices might include some very detailed results or descriptions of organisational processes. They can also include questionnaires and examples of interview transcriptions. It is not necessary to include all the data you have collected (by whatever means).

References

References are placed last in a dissertation and the Harvard referencing system should be used. The references must include all references cited in the narrative and they should not contain any references that are not cited.

3.2.2 Presentation Hints

Section numbering (as used in this guide) is not essential. You may wish to use a more free flowing narrative without numbering paragraphs and to differentiate between sections by using headings. If you do use section numbering, use a clear hierarchical system to group your ideas, such as,

1. UPPER CASE BOLD

Do not simply copy models from textbooks into your dissertation without applying them to the sector or topic that you are researching. There simply isn’t any point.

3.3 DISSERTATION PRESENTATION - THINGS TO AVOID

4. Poor presentation of results. This affects both qualitative and quantitative research and students must remember that their findings and conclusions are only as strong as the results that are presented.

5. Lack of attention to spelling and grammar. If a student has not bothered to correct simple mistakes then the supervisor may well come to doubt the reliability of the results and conclusions drawn from them. The cumulative effect on the examiner of consistent bad presentation can be very damaging.

3.4 SUBMITTING YOUR DISSERTATION

The following requirements apply.

1. Dissertations must be word processed on A4 paper with only one side of the paper used.

6. Two copies of the dissertation must be submitted. A temporary binding (e.g. spiral or heat binding) may be used in order to avoid delays near the submission deadline. At least one copy of the dissertation must be subsequently hard bound and passed to the supervising tutor or course leader.

The recommended colour for hard binding is red (scarlet)

APPENDIX 1: KEY TERMS

Causal relationships, causality

Conceptualisation

Epistemology

Error (sampling error, measurement error)

Interpretative research

Longitudinal research

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Triangulation

Validity (construct, internal, external)

Flick, U. (2002) An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Sage:London.

Robson, C. (1993). Real World Research, Blackwell: Oxford.

Bell, J. (1993). Doing Your Research Project, 2nd Ed, OU Press.

Cassell, C and Symon, G. (Eds.) (1994) Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research, SAGE.

May, T. (1994) Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process, OU Press.

Silverman, D. (1994) Interpreting Qualitative Data,, SAGE.

Academy of Management Review

Accounting, Organizations and Society

Journal of Applied Psychology

Journal of Management Development

New Technology Work and Employment

Service Industries Journal

Proposal submitted by : Date:

1. What is the general area that you are interested in?

6. Specify the sources of primary and secondary data and the sampling frame for gathering the data and information that you intend to use. (These may be documentary sources such as economic & financial data and/or a particular group of people that you intend to sample).

7.. Summarise the research methods that you will use to gather data and information from the sources in 6.

11. What alternative methods of primary data collection have you considered and discounted?

Dissertation Proposal - Worked Example

3. What are the aims and objectives of the Dissertation?

To:

4. What specific research questions or hypotheses do you intend to examine?

1. What factors are causally linked to job satisfaction in a LGO?

I intend to negotiate access to a sample of employees in the LGO so that I can conduct a series of interviews. This sample will take account of job grade, sex and other key variables but its exact make-up cannot be specified any further at this stage. I aim to carry out about 10-12 interviews.

If a small sample group in one LGO can be obtained then this will act as a 'case study' and will help to eliminate the differences in causes of satisfaction that might arise if 10-12 people were interviewed from say 10-12 different organisations. This approach to interviewing small groups is supported by Torvill and Dean (1983).

I intend to use QR-NUDIST to analyse interview transcripts and to identify the themes within the data. The questionnaire will be analysed using simple correlational analysis.

9. Review and summarise the main bodies of theory that underpin your dissertation. (This review must include citations to research literature - passing reference to 'motivation', 'culture' or 'business planning' will not do).

I am depending upon Midshires to co-operate in order to carry out enough interviews. Even if this is not possible though, I will be able to construct a questionnaire from the literature and send it to a sample of HR managers in LGOs. These can easily be identified from directories like the Municipal Yearbook.

11. What alternative methods of primary data collection have you considered by rejected?