Empirical Finance and Accounting Research

Assignment - A comparison of business and financial performance of CBRE Group PLC and Jnes Lang Lasalle Inc1. Introduction to the module

All students are required to have passed M001LON Business and Management Research Methods before beginning the dissertation. The Research Proposal forms the basis and the starting point of your dissertation.

Aims

The dissertation builds on the research proposal developed in M001LON- Business and Management Research and provides an opportunity for students to develop their interests in a specific subject area and to demonstrate an ability to undertake independent research, which is of relevance not only to the workplace but also for students considering doctoral level research. The module will culminate in a written dissertation of 12,000 words, which meets the academic standards of Coventry University London.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module the student should be able to:

1. Independently develop a research problem guided by gaps in existing knowledge and an organisational issue, and determine appropriate research strategies

2. Demonstrate critical rigour in analysis of literature and data by making effective use of multiple and critical sources of data/information/knowledge

3. Derive new insights based on critical review of the literature and findings of management and organisational practice

4. Operate at the interface between theory and practice to derive valid and reliable conclusions

5. Demonstrate skills depending on research methods chosen but these can include: interviewing, questionnaire design and administration, focus group management (including diary management), project management, information search, text analysis, content analysis, statistical techniques

6. Communicate the research outcomes in a manner that demonstrates clarity of organisational thinking, logical argument and practical recommendations for further research and for practiceDetails of the task

Dissertation:

You are required to write a 12,000 words scholarly piece of work that demonstrates your skills as an independent learner and provides clear evidence of a very good grasp of a specific subject area and an ability to synthesise primary and/or secondary data to arrive at a conclusion and a set of recommendations.

The structure should include:
1. Non-anonymous cover sheet
2. Acknowledgement
3. Abstract
4. Table of content
5. List of tables (if relevant)
6. List of abbreviations (if relevant)
7. Introduction
8. Literature review
9. Methodology
10. Findings
11. Discussion
12. Conclusion and recommendations
13. Reference list in alphabetical order
14. Appendices (questionnaire and/or interview guide, sample of interview transcripts, ethics certificate, meeting diary etc)

Presentation:

You are required to deliver a 20 minutes presentation of your dissertation. Your supervisor will have 10 minutes to ask you questions.

The objectives of your presentation are to demonstrate:

1. Your experience as an independent learner and the research and work you have carried out to produce your Dissertation.

2. Your research aim and objectives, a summary of your literature, your analysis, findings and conclusions of the work you have carried out and how you have evidenced this in your Dissertation.

3. Your ability to answer questions from your supervisor on the content, facts or figures used in your Dissertation.

Structure
You have been asked to produce a dissertation. The dissertation should include the following:

1. Title page - Please use the non-anonymous cover page on moodle

2. Acknowledgement - This is your opportunity to thank people that supported you on the course.

3. Abstract - This should not be more than 1 page. Your abstract should provide a summary of your dissertation and should include a description of your research, how the research was conducted, the main findings of the research and the overall implications of your research findings

4. Table of Content - In addition to including all chapters, sections, sub-sections, it should also include the list of figures, tables and abbreviations if any

5. Introduction chapter -This should include research question and your research aims and objectives. In addition, this should include a clear justification of your research in the context of the literature. You should clearly answer the question, Why is it important to conduct the research? The justification should be clearly argued on the bases of theory (the literature) and business.

6. Literature review chapter - This should be a critical and very comprehensive review of relevant, current literature with a focus on your research aim and objectives. This will inform the questions in your questionnaire and interview guide.

7. Methodology chapter (refer to Research Onion in Saunders et al, 2016) - Research design relates to the research opinion (philosophies, approaches, strategies, choices, time horizon). You are expected to make strong justifications in support of your chosen research design. Data collection relates to the last phase of the research onion (techniques and procedures). Identify how specifically the data will be collected (i.e. questionnaire, focus group, etc...). You are expected to provide the advantages and disadvantages of the various data collection methods and select the most appropriate data collection method(s). Your chosen method Research design and Data collection must be clearly align to research aim and objectives. If secondary data collection is used: where it is collected, a description of variables (sample) used in the analysis and the econometric model if any, needs to be clearly discussed and justified with supporting references. Where primary data is conducted, a copy your questionnaire or semi/unstructured interview questions should be presented as part of the appendices. Your ethics certificate should also be added to the appendices. Your sample needs to be clearly justified with supporting references.

8. Findings chapter - This chapter presents the results of the analyses, usually in order by research question, and any results of further analyses (that is, analyses that were not proposed but which were carried out).The data should be clearly presented in tables and charts if it's a quantitative study and direct quotes if it's a qualitative study.

9. Discussion chapter - this is why the findings should be clearly discussed in the context of the literature review and research objectives. Discuss the implications of the results by aligning your results with supportingtheoretical arguments and very relevant current literature findings. You should clearly answer the question, did your findings provide support or vary from existing theoretical arguments. In addition, recommendations and the limitations of the research and implications for further researchmay be discussed.

10. Reference list - Make sure you follow the CU Harvard Style

11. Appendices - This should include the research instruments like questionnaire and interview guide. It also include your ethics certificate and meeting diary. In some cases a sample of your interview transcript might be needed