Business Research Assignment: Reflective Journal on Development of Business Project
Question
Task: Purpose of business research assignment: The Individual Reflective Journal - is to ensure each student is able to contribute to document a critical reflection of their personal learning process, as experienced during this unit. It will be best to build your journal progressively, by making notes each week, starting at week 1 and going through to week 12. Your notes will serve as a reminder of which sections you personally contributed to, what you learnt, and how you experienced the learning process.
A significant aspect of the learning journal will be your reflections on how well your team co-operated in the various phases of the Business Research Project, i.e. Topic Approval, Literature Review, and Methodology.
Assignment Structure should be as the following:
1. My personal contribution to the topic selection, problem definition, research question, writing of topic approval submission, and team charter. How I experienced this and what I learnt from it.
2. My personal contribution to the literature review report, i.e. search process, summarising of relevant articles, designing the outline/argument/structure of the literature review, writing up the literature review. How I experienced this and what I learnt from it.
3. My personal contribution to the research methodology report, i.e. my role in discussions about methods, sampling, questionnaire design, data collection, analysis and interpretation. How I experienced this and what I learnt from it.
4. My reflections on the research experience, insights I gained, and any issues, struggles, challenges, synergies I experienced, individually and in the teamwork
5. My statement indicating which sections of this research project I personally wrote and what I learned from this experience.
Answer
Introduction
The reflective journal presented in the business research assignmentcan be regarded as individual entries regarding the learning experience of specific works (Reilly, T.M. and Jones III, R., 2017, p.190). The present reflective journal summarizes the learning experiences starting from week 1 to week 12 wherein I have participated in a business research project.
1. Personal contributions in topic selection, problem definition, research question, writing of topic approval submission, and team charter
From studying the lecture notes of Week 1, I have gained knowledge regarding the methods of selection and approval of the topic. As per the guidelines mentioned in the notes, our team has selected 3 topics for the business research project. During the selection of topics, our team has shared ideas through blackboard and through effective communication, we had sorted 2 topics and mailed our professor for final selection. Based on the finally selected topic, our team has distributed some task among the team members. I was provided with the task to develop the research question based on the defined problem by another team member. Research questions are of different types and the nature of the research questions is related to the overall design and methods of a research project (Al-Hashimiet al., 2019, p.44). While developing a research question I have ensured that the causes and consequences of a phenomenon can be described with the questions (Romero et al., 2019, p.18). On the other hand, I have followed the problem definition significantly so that the problems can be embedded in the research questions. I have communicated the research questions to all the team members, which helped others in developing the topic-approval submissionform. As per the guidelines in Week 1 and Week 2 lecture notes, all the members of our team had ensured to avoid following team charter to develop a research project honestly and consistently.
2. Reflection on the literature review report
According to Basias and Pollalis (2018, p.97), the literature review is the summary or survey of the past research papers having a similar subject area with a recent research project. While developing a business research project, our team members have followed the guidelines regarding the development of a literature review from the lecture notes provided on Week 1 and Week 2. The lecture notes of Week 1 have helped me to identify the different stages to develop a literature review. While searching for literature on different themes relating to the topic, every team members were responsible to develop keywords properly relating to the theme. I have used the keywords to search for literature on online literature search databases like Google Scholar and EBSCO. Although I have collected a number of articles, I have sorted a few articles based on their relevance to the topic and the availability of the full article. The literature review included 50 journal articles among which I have reviewed and summarized 15 research articles. While developing a literature review, I have investigated the existing information regarding the topic and identified the theories and models that are applied by the researchers on the topic. Apart from that, I have also communicated my findings to the other members of the group, so that they can carry out a further survey on literature in different themes relating to the topic. Active cooperation among the team members has helped in structuring and designing the literature review. From the literature review experience, I have learnt that it is very important to review recent articles in case of business research for enhancing the validity of the research and find out the literature gap appropriately (Melton et al., 2019, p.227).
3. Reflection on the research methodology report
From Week 6 notes, I have learned a number of aspects of data collection modes such as observation, interviewing and focus groups. Moreover, Week 12 materials have helped me in understanding the importance of mixed-method in research. From the Week 10 materials, I have understood the ways in which observations can be recorded. I have studied regarding primary and secondary data collection and analysis methods form the lectures provided in Week 9. Research ethics is one of the most important parts of the research methodology (Do Ba et al., 2017, p.940). The lecture notes provided in week 3 has helped me in identifying the ethical issues and dilemmas in business research projects. I have identified that the incorporation of both quantitative and qualitative data is very useful in business research (Lundgren and Jansson, 2016, p.350). According to class lessons from week 12, the quantitative method would help in exploring the static changes in the variables being examined while the qualitative processes helps in uncovering the dynamic changes. Therefore, I made a recommendation to the team to use a mixed method of data collection, which would allow us to accrue the benefits of both qualitative as well as quantitative data collection and analysis .Based on this understanding I have recommended my team regarding the approaches of ethical considerations. Based on these understandings gained from different weeks, I have effectively participated in the decision making regarding the methodological choice for the business research project of our team. I have made recommendations regarding appropriate ways to use the sampling techniques for the business research project. During the development of questionnaires for collective primary data in the business research, I have discussed with the team members regarding the importance of incorporating open-ended questions along with the usage of Likert scale questions.
4. My reflections on the research experience
My insights have been significantly changed with participation in the business research project. I have gained in depth knowledge regarding the process of conducting business research in a professional way. My experience in relation to the research process was quite positive. However, I have experienced some negative aspects of teamwork. The positive experience that I have gained relates to the lessons regarding the review of literature, methodological choice-making, analysis of data, and interpretation of results. During the discussion of the aspects of research among the team members I have identified strong conflict acting among the team members. I have learnt that communication is an effective way is very important in the success of any teamwork (Snyder, 2019, p. 337). In relation to the research experience I have struggled a lot while collecting data from the primary sources. However, I have tried to use formal language and the principle of human dignity while collecting data from individuals. During the research, I also found that discussing problems with the younger professors were easier than with older teachers, since they had somewhat different ways of approaching and solving a problem, which hardly matched with us.
5. My statement regarding the sections I personally wrote and lessons and experiences I gained
I have framed the research questions for this particular business project based on the problem statement developed by another team member. Apart from that I have also reviewed 10 research papers in the section of literature review and written on two different themes relating to the problem statement. Apart from that, I have also written in the discussion section of this business research project. Based on the findings of the research I have provided an overall recommendation in the business research project. By participating in this project I have experienced regarding the usage of professional language in research. Apart from that, I have also learnt regarding academic writing methods.
Conclusion
From the above reflection on the development of a business project, it can be explained that reflection plays a critical role in the identification of strengths and weaknesses. By reflecting on the business research project, I have identified my own contribution to the team. Moreover, I have also gained knowledge regarding the importance of co-operation in teamwork.
References
Al-Hashimi, M., Al-Sartawi, A.M.M., AnjumRazzaque, S.M., Reyad, R. and Hamdan, A., 2019, June. Students’ Perceptions of Knowledge Gained from Business Research Methods Course. In 18th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies (p. 44).
Basias, N. and Pollalis, Y., 2018. Quantitative and qualitative research in business & technology: Justifying a suitable research methodology. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 7, pp.91-105.
Do Ba, K., Do Ba, K., Lam, Q.D., Le, D.T.B.A., Nguyen, P.L., Nguyen, P.Q. and Pham, Q.L., 2017. Student plagiarism in higher education in Vietnam: An empirical study. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(5), pp.934-946.
Lundgren, M. and Jansson, H., 2016. Developing international business knowledge through an appreciative inquiry learning network: Proposing a methodology for collaborative research. Business research assignmentInternational Business Review, 25(1), pp.346-355.
Melton, D., Beyer, G., Moldenhauer, L. and Londt, C., 2019, June. Linking Business and Academic Research: A South African Case Study. In 18th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies (p. 227).
Reilly, T.M. and Jones III, R., 2017. Mixed methodology in family business research: Past accomplishments and perspectives for the future.Journal of Family Business Strategy, 8(3), pp.185-195.
Romero, D.M., Uzzi, B. and Kleinberg, J., 2019. Social networks under stress: Specialized team roles and their communication structure. ACM Transactions on the Web (TWEB), 13(1), pp.1-24.
Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104, pp.333-339.
