Abdill Career College Chinas Creative and Cultural Industries Management Dissertation The course is about Creative and Cultural Industries Management.I hav

Abdill Career College Chinas Creative and Cultural Industries Management Dissertation The course is about Creative and Cultural Industries Management.I have attached my proposal of my dissertationThe whole dissertation requires 7500words but you only need to finish the part of Introduction today. Please read my proposal very carefullyAll the work must be original Turnitin report is required must Revised
MSc Dissertation
Handbook
2019/2020
MSc Creative and Cultural
Industries Management
effective from 12th May 2020
Introduction
Such has been the rapid pace and reach of coronavirus contagion that I find myself having to rewrite the handbook
issued to you only two months ago. This handbook replaces the one in your possession, so please discard or ignore
the previous ‘MSc Dissertation Project handbook’.
The UK remains in voluntary lock-down and the University continues to follow guidance from the UK Government,
Public Health England and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: the latest advice is available at
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/coronavirus.
I realise the anxiety that the disruption to teaching and learning processes and uncertainty over assessment will
have caused you but the safety and wellbeing of students and colleagues is our prime consideration. You will be
aware from emails sent by sumssupportstudents@sheffield.ac.uk team that the University has adopted a ‘no
detriment’ principle to ease that anxiety and ensure that students are not disadvantaged in any way by the impact
of Covid-19 on their learning. This has meant that the volume of assessments have been reduced and a ‘safety net’
introduced such that your overall grade for this year cannot be any lower than your weighted average grade as it
was on 15 March 2020. The safety net will be applied to assessments from 16th March 2020. The dissertation
module is included in the safety net calculation and your MSc classification will be calculated as outlined in your
programme regulations. Your cumulative weighted average grade will not be below the “safety net grade” as
calculated on assessments prior to the 15th March 2020.
In keeping with the policy of reducing assessment, your dissertation word count will be between 6500-7500 and
whilst the requirements of the dissertation brief will be reduced the expectations of quality are maintained: only
the quantity of content is reduced. Given your progress in research methods study and assessment, it is most
appropriate for your cohort to undertake a dissertation involving:A fully developed Critical Literature Review, containing a deep critique of the literature and exploration
of an appropriate research methodology
It has been decided that as there are still risks associated with the collection of primary data that this approach to
data analysis is removed to ensure your safety. Should you wish to undertake a dissertation or company project
involving primary data, then you do have another option: that is to take Leave of Absence and join the dissertation
process in 2021. Details to apply for a leave of absence can be found here https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/leaveof-absence . Please ensure that you understand this policy when applying for a leave of absence and also any
implications (e.g. visa) should you wish to pursue this. You should discuss this option with your Programme Director.
Please read this revised handbook thoroughly. I have kept the content structure as in the original handbook so that
you can perceive the changes made.
Thank you for your tolerance and perseverance in these challenging times.
Barry Pierce
Dissertation Officer (b.pierce@sheffield.ac.uk)
effective from 12th May 2020
April 2020
Contents
Section
1)
What you have to do
Page No.
4
(i) Requirement
(ii) What makes a good piece of work?
(iii) Planning your time – key dates
2)
Working with your supervisor
6
3)
Structure and contents of the dissertation
8
4)
Presentation and writing style in a dissertation
10
(iv) Font, margins, & indents
(v) Initial sequence of ‘standard’ pages
(vi) Expression in English
(vii) Word count
(viii)
Page numbering
5)
A bibliography on research methodology
12
6)
Research ethics principles and practices
13
Personally-identifiable data & GDPR
7)
Academic integrity
15
8)
Submission
16
9)
Extensions criteria
17
10)
Assessment criteria
18
11)
Examination and results
18
12)
Re-examination in the event of failure
19
13)
Frequently asked question re current circumstances
19
Appendices
20
effective from 12th May 2020
1) What you have to do
(i) Requirement
You may choose the research topic providing it lies within the discipline defined by your masters
degree. For example, if you are registered for the MSc International Management, the topic can be
within the diverse field of management but must have an international dimension. It would be logical
to base your topic on the dissertation proposal that you have already submitted, but you could extend
the proposal that you worked upon during your research methods module if that differed from the
topic submitted to the dissertation proposal database.
CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW
This requires a deep literature review and the development and evaluation of an appropriate a
research design. Since you will not be executing the actual data collection, you can develop a
methodology based on any justified approach. This can involve any approach to data collection
including primary data and case studies or applied company projects.
You are required to : Define your research aim or problem, explaining the motivation for your choice of research topic
and its relevance/importance to management theory and practice. Introduce the research setting:
that is the context in which you envisage the research could take place.
 Undertake a critical review of the literature related to your research topic. This should involve an
extensive reading of the academic theory and empirical studies related to your research topic. The
writing up of this review should demonstrate a critical examination of this literature and the
conclusions that you draw from this critique for your research aim that lead to academically-valid
research questions or hypotheses.
 An explanation and justification of the research methodology and the approach you would have
intended to adopt toward achieving your research aim: this should be considered from both
philosophical and practical perspectives. Explain the data collection and sample constructs and
the form of analysis you would have intended to undertake. Discuss ethical issues relating to the
data, participants, personal safety and research execution and the measures you would have
undertaken to address them.
For qualitative methods: explain your choice of technique (e.g. survey) and include the research
instrument (e.g. questionnaire) you would have intended to use. Link the investigative questions
(to respondents) to the research questions derived from your literature review. Discuss the
trustworthiness and bias in the data and how you would attempt to mitigate these issues.
For quantitative methods: justify and explain your choice of technique, the derivation of the
model, its variables and data sources. Discuss the statistical approach to analysis, validity, and
significance that you would have intended to undertake.
For mixed methods, company projects, and case studies: a relevant combination or extract of the
above.
 Provide a self-reflection of your experience of undertaking the above requirement including, if
you so wish, the personal impact of change in lifestyle caused by Covid-19.
4
(ii) What makes a good piece of work?
The requirement specification above is in much greater detail than normally would be provided for a
dissertation as an independent piece of work. This is to help you in the abnormal situation that faces
us, so examine and re-examine it closely.
You should also consider the balance of content on each of the requirements and what assessors refer
to as the ‘vertical thread’ of logical argument throughout the work.
Section 4 of this handbook will help you with balanced content as it indicates the chapter structure of
a typical dissertation and suggests a split of the 6500-7500 words between various chapters.
The vertical thread refers to the link between chapters and, more significantly, the content within
each chapter. The following thread is relevant:



from research aim
 that through consultation with the literature provides the theory to
turn the aim into academically valid research questions
 that, again through the literature, provide a justification for the methodology that
turns the research question into hypotheses, if quantitative
turns the research question into questionnaires or interview questions, if qualitative.
You are also advised to review the assessment criteria in Section 12 and marking matrix in Appendix
M of this handbook.
(iv) Planning your time
Planning has been and remains difficult because of the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 and the lockdown which remains in place here in the UK. You’ll be aware from ‘student updates’ that a whole
series of decisions have been and continue to be made regarding teaching, learning, and assessment
and it is only recently that the Management School has been able to make decisions regarding
dissertations. The reduced amount of work to be assessed and the removal of the time required for
ethics approval does mean that the commencement of supervision can be delayed from the beginning
of May until after the ‘exam’ period to mid-June.
At this point, knowing the requirement for your dissertation enables you to start planning the work
you need to undertake. One tool that might help you plan your time and spot if you are starting to fall
behind is your Dissertation Planner (See Appendix C). This is for your use. You do not need to bring it
to the SEO or to hand it in with your dissertation although your supervisor might want to have a copy
of it.
Its purpose is to encourage you to plan your activities and interactions with your supervisor, taking
into account your availability and your supervisor’s availability. If you do not work with your supervisor
in planning this, you risk delays in waiting for feedback. This might impact on your overall schedule of
research.
5
Make sure you are aware of key dates in the process and that you build these into your planning.
Key Dates
Early June 2020: notification of your supervisor
15 June 2020: Start of Supervision period
3 August 2020: Extension Request forms become available (See Section 11)
You cannot apply for an extension before 3rd August. Make you sure you complete all
the relevant forms or there may be a delay in getting your extension approved.
28 August 2020: Turnitin becomes available for early submission
8 September 2020: Deadline for submission via Turnitin (see Section 10)
Late penalties will apply unless you have an extension
3) Working with your supervisor
The supervisor’s role is not to provide you with expertise on your topic, but to guide you through the
dissertation process and advise upon academic protocol and the rigour of your work. An educational
rationale underpinning the programme is that students will progressively take charge of their own
learning. However, it is also recognised that the dissertation is probably the most sustained piece of
academic work that you have conducted, so you are advised to make good use of the opportunity to
work with your assigned supervisor. All interactions with your supervisor will have to be by email,
telephone, skype or some other remote arrangement. Typically, you should expect three interactions
and a review of your draft dissertation.
(i)
First connection
You should request a discussion with your supervisor as soon as is convenient to you both once the
allocation has been notified to you. The purpose of this first connection is to present your topic and
the work you have already conducted in relation to it and to mutually agree the form of contact,
availability, and plan for the work. The initial objective will be to get feedback on your work to date.
This may involve deepening the research setting, your exploration of theory, or the strength of your
proposed methodology. You may therefore expect to have to read the literature more extensively,
explore alternative methods, and to generally develop your critical thinking.
Please Note: The UKVI (Visa & Immigration authority) requires the Management School to
monitor and report upon individual student engagement during the dissertation process.
An electronic record will be kept of each of these interactions, as evidence of continued
engagement if required.
6
(ii)
The supervisor’s role
The supervisor’s role is to advise you, not to tell you what to do!
Supervisors would usually expect to review a draft of the whole dissertation or drafts of individual
chapters, but would not normally be expected to read your work more than once. Therefore, if your
supervisor has already read a draft of a chapter, s/he would not read it again. You should not expect
to submit a draft later than two weeks before the submission date. However, because of variations
in the availability and commitments of each supervisor, s/he can agree a different date with you.
You should record this date in your Dissertation Planner and you should anticipate making changes to
your draft based upon the feedback given.
(iii)
Your responsibility
Keep in contact with your supervisor and alert your supervisor if you are having any problems.
Use your supervisor’s time effectively by planning what you want from each interaction and letting
your supervisor know in advance. Allow your supervisor adequate time to read material; do not
assume that everybody will be able to respond to emails immediately.
Remember that supervisors are not allowed to indicate whether your work will pass and, indeed, they
are not the first marker. Your supervisor will advise you where there are obvious weaknesses in your
draft, and help you to identify how to overcome them but it is not the responsibility of your supervisor
to indicate when a dissertation is of a suitable standard.
Please note: Supervisors have other responsibilities (not least their own research projects) and
are entitled to have a holiday. This means that there will commonly be periods of time when
they will be away over the summer. Note these in your Dissertation Planner, and plan your needs
for supervision – i.e. interactions & draft review – around these.
7
4) Structure and content of the dissertation
You do not have to adopt the chapter structure and headings shown below in your work but it may be
helpful if they are used to give a rough indication of the balance of content. With the policy of
reducing the amount of assessment, 7,500 words is the maximum word count and the lower levels in
the following tables indicate that 6,500 words could suffice.
Chapter
Introduction
Words
1000
Critical Review of Literature
3000 to
3500
Research Methodology
2500 to
3000
Self-reflection
Not
included
in word
count
Content (taken from the Requirements)
Research topic and its relevance to management
theory and practice. Motivation for your choice.
Research setting/context.
Research aim or problem.
Various theories and empirical studies relevant to your
research topic.
Academic debate between contrasting theories and
findings – critical analysis
Conclusions drawn and how they inform your research
questions and/or hypotheses.
Research method: philosophical justification and
practical considerations.
Research technique/model and instrument.
Variables/factors/investigative questions.
Data sources and collection; sample construct.
Form of analysis, validity and reliability.
Ethical issues relating to the data, participants,
personal safety and research execution and the
measures you would have undertaken to address
them.
As an appendix (see page 10)
Your self-reflection is an appendix and is excluded from the word count. There is no designated
content but you are encouraged to comment upon the experience of undertaking the work involved
in the context of the global and personal difficulties we face. Self-reflections are not expected to be
objective rationalisations – you can express opinion and feelings. That is why there is no word limit.
Additional notes on a critical literature review
The purpose of a literature review is to provide you with two things: the theory you need to address
your research aims in an academically valid and rigorous manner; and as a potential source to justify
the research method you intend to apply to achieve your research aims. Theory will normally come
from a variety of journal articles in your field of research, as most textbooks don’t have the focused
depth necessary. Methodology will only come from empirical studies in your field of research, again
contained in academic journals. See Appendix E on how to read journal articles quickly.
8
The review will need to critically evaluate what you have read, and therefore you should go beyond
descriptions of general findings. There should be a clear attempt to relate this material to the research
aims of your study, and therefore it might be structured to reflect your aims. It should not be
structured by author or by source.
‘Grey’ literature – that is non-academic but authoritative sources, such as government, regulators,
industry trade bodies, etc as well as academic literature, should be reviewed in this chapter.
The literature review is fundamental to producing an integrated research design. Low marks are
associated with reviews that are purely descriptive or disconnected. The literature review should
convert your research aims in the introductory chapter into three or four research questions or specific
and testable hypotheses (if you are using a quantitative methodology). Pose these
questions/hypotheses either at the end of sub-sections in the literature review aims or draw your
argument together into a conclusion and pose them there.
You may also provide your conclusions on methodological practice from the literature as this logically
leads on to the research methodology chapter and can help you to justify the methods and models
you intend to use.
You may also find the library’s ‘seven steps to producing a literature review’ helpful. See
https://librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/shef-only/research/lit_review/intro.html
References
Your list of references should appear in an alphabetical list (by author name) at the end of the
dissertation but before any appendices, using the Harvard Management School referencing standards.
All sources that have been referred to in the text should be listed in the references – not just academic
sources, but any source; not just theory or opinion, but ‘facts’ as well; not just text, but statistics,
tables, graphs, and images. These should only be the actual sources that you have looked at or listened
to. You should note that: Internet references should also cite the author/organisation, the website address and the date
the website was accessed.
 Fully reference any cut and pasted diagram or text, and put the latter in quotations marks or
fully paraphrase it in your own words – don’t amend the occasional word
 If you read a textbook or article that refers to a previous author you need to reference both
sources. This is called secondary referencing. Make sure you are clear about how to do this.
 Make sure that you self-reference any models, tables, pictures, etc that you have devised
yourself and any previous work that you have done that you refer to in the text.
You should adopt the conventions specified by the Management School using the Harvard System:
https://librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.html
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Appendices
The purpose of appendices is to stop the text from appearing cluttered and broken up by
supplementary or peripheral content.
Appendices are presented immediately after the list of references and must be referred to in the text
if you are to be given credit for them.
If you have designed a questionnaire, you should include a copy in your appendices.
Your self-reflection is an appendix and is excluded from the word count. …
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