1. Research Methods: Final Year Project Toolkit - Level 6 Laura Lake

2. The story so far... Developing research questions Conducting literature reviews Designing research projects Approaches – primary or secondary research (or both) Quantitative, qualitative and mixed data collection methods Now...resourcing issues in research projects. The Research Toolkit

3. All research requires resources. Key factor in choice of research design and method. What are resources? Labour Materials Time Resources and Research

4. Labour costs are the biggest cost of research. Costs include: Research supervision Researchers Interviewers Clerical/ administrative support Resources: Labour

5. Different research project are more ‘material heavy’ than others. Typically materials are items such as: Computers Software Stationery Printing Room hire Travel and subsistence ‘Sundries’ Resources: Materials

6. Time is finite. Projects have to start and end on time. Calculating how long something will realistically take is an essential skill. Time can be ‘bought’ to some extent through using more of other resources but sometimes time cannot be compressed through increasing resources. All research is resource competitive. Resources: Time

7. We need to think about: Research period Budget Design Methods Timetable Costs How do we cost for resources?

8. Project An evaluation of a work programme to support people who are long-term unemployed into work. Research period: August 2010 to May 2011 (interim & final evaluation) Budget: £25,000 Design ? Methods ? Timetable ? Costs ? And it looks like....

9. Design & Methods Work Plan Phase One: Interim Evaluation Task One: Meeting to agree evaluation requirements Task Two: Development of evaluation framework Task Three: Desk research & programme review Task Four: Analysis of monitoring data Task Five: Programme partner interviews Task Six: Interim report of findings Phase Two: Final Evaluation Task One: Meeting to agree scope for final phase Task Two: Beneficiary survey Task Three: Beneficiary focus group Task Four: Programme partner interviews Task Five: Update of desk research & programme review Task Six: Update of analysis of monitoring data Task Seven: Final analysis and reporting

10. Timetable 20102011 AugSeptOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMay Phase One: Interim Evaluation Task One: Evaluation meeting Task Two: Development of evaluation framework Task Three: Desk research & programme review Task Four: Analysis of monitoring data Task Five: Stakeholder & partner interviews Task Six: Interim report of findings Phase Two: Final Evaluation Task One: Meeting to agree scope for final phase Task Two: Beneficiary survey Task Three: Beneficiary focus group Task Four: Stakeholder & partner interviews Task Five: Desk research & programme review Task Six: Analysis of monitoring data Task Seven: Final analysis and reporting

11. Costs Outputs Project Director Project ManagerResearcher Total Days Day Rates (£)£xx Phase One: Interim Evaluation (Aug-Sept10) Task One: Inception0.511.5 Task Two: Development of evaluation framework112 Task Three: Desk research review224 Task Four: Analysis of monitoring data112 Task Five: Programme partner interviews0.522.5 Task Six: Interim report of findings0.5325.5 Phase Two: Final Evaluation (Sept10-May11) Task One: Meeting0.5 1 Task Two: Beneficiary survey0.555.5 Task Three: Beneficiary focus group0.511.5 Task Four: Programme partner interviews0.522.5 Task Five: Update desk research review11 Task Six: Update analysis of monitoring data112 Task Seven: Final analysis and reporting0.5314.5 Total no. of days215.513535.5 Total cost of Staff£xx Expenses: travel & subsistance£xx Production of 800 glossy reports and 2000 summaries including design£xx Total (excluding VAT) Total (including VAT) £xx

12. Worked Example A Market Research company has been hired to investigate the following: A bus company is thinking of buying 10 new dual entrance buses, for use on its busiest routes. It has hired one ‘demonstrator’ bus to see if this will speed up loading/ unloading and increase passenger satisfaction.

13. Study period = 1 month Budget= maximum £8,000 Design = ? Methods = ? Timetable=? Costs=? Worked Example

14. Study period = 1 month Budget= maximum £8K Design = Quasi experimental Methods = 1. Observations and timings of loading/ unloading on single and dual entrance buses on the same routes. 2. Comparative passenger satisfaction survey. Worked Example: Possible Solution

15. Outputs Project ManagerResearcher Total Days Day Rates (£)£400£250£175 Task One: Inception meeting11 Task Two: Development of research tools112 Task Three: Observations22 Task Four: Survey (200 interviews @ 20 per day)11011 Task Five: Analysis1315 Task Six: Reporting314 Task Seven: Final reporting meeting1 Total no. of days781125 Total cost of Staff£2,800£2,000£1,925£6,725 Expenses: travel & subsistance£0 Production of report£200 Total (excluding VAT)£6,725 Total (including VAT) £7,902

16. Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods. 3 rd Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. David, M. and Sutton, C. (2011) Social Research : An Introduction. 2nd ed. London: Sage. References

17. This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/).http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. 2.The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Author Laura Lake Research Assistant InstituteUniversity of Plymouth Title Final Year Research Project Toolkit Description Mixed methods Date Created July 2011 Educational Level Undergraduate (Level 6) Keywords UKOER, Learning from WOeRK, LFWOER, UOPCPDRM, Work-Based Learning, WBL, Continuous Professional Development, CPD, Posivitism, interpretivism, paradigm. Creative Commons License Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved