Task Three: Methodology, Data Collection and Data Analysis 20% Week 9

Task Instructions
You are required to conduct primary and secondary research and collect relevant data to
support your research issue or challenge, analyze the data and present the findings of your
research.
Data Collection
Primary Research will include preparing and distributing a questionnaire or interviewing
people with a prepared set of questions. You should conduct between 5 and 20 interviews.
Your survey should target a sample of between 30 and 50 people. All primary research must
be approved by your instructor before you commence your interviews, surveys, etc. You must
get your teacher’s approval for the research interview questions. You must also get your
teacher’s approval for the research survey questions and the minimum number of surveys
to be conducted.

Secondary Research will involve collecting additional data within the organisation and
other online resources in support of your research topic.
Data Analysis
A major part of the grade for the final report will be based on the accuracy and
relevance of your primary and secondary data collection. You will also be graded on how
well you understand the data you collected and how you present that data in relation to your
research objectives. Good graphs and charts are excellent ways to summarize data for your
readers and to illustrate trends. However, you must also be able to explain your analysis in
concise terms.
Whenever possible, relate these results to your knowledge of the business theory you are
studying. You can discuss how your results compare with what you expected based on the
theory. It is not necessarily true that your results will always fit into the theory. If they do not,
explain why you think that is so.
All the data you collect should be collated and presented in a relevant and attractive
format and then analysed using the statistical methods that you have learned during the BAS
programme. This is where you turn data (i.e. raw numbers and results from questionnaires,
interviews and/or focus groups) into information on which a decision and recommendations are
made. This section should include visual aids (graphs, charts, tables) intended to clarify,
emphasize or summarize the report. The results of your analysis should be clearly explained.

Note: You also need to justify your choice of data collection methods, which methods
you used and why they were relevant, and provide a full description of your methodology
explaining exactly what you did.

The Data Collection and Research Analysis should be written in HCT report format and
fully referenced using APA format. All charts, table or graphs should be clearly labeled. You
should also submit the document to Safe Assign on Black Board Learn.

This task should be 2000 – 3000 words and should be completed by the end of Week 9.
You will resubmit this task in Week 15 as part of the Final Research Paper (10%) and you are
encouraged to make improvements based on feedback received.
See separate marking rubric