What factors contribute to IFP students choosing to study abroad?

This is a research report about the factors that influence students' choice to study abroad. Literature review (700words-minimum), acquisition and Discussion (750 words), Limitations and further research (250 words), Conclusion (200words) and Reference list should be covered. The literature review part and the Reference List should be cited according to harvard standard. The research and survey method adopts the form of online anonymous questionnaire survey. The questionnaire data have been collected in the following files. The report should be analyzed according to the collected questionnaire and compared with the literature review. Specific requirements will continue to be shown in the following documents. Very urgent, need to finish in 24 hours, thank you very much!

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Warwick International Foundation Programme:

Research Project

Inquiry and Research Skills for Business

1.      The Task

You will plan, design and carry out your own research project linked to your area of study.

2.      What does it involve?

The Research Project carries 65% of your module mark for Inquiry and Research Skills. In total this is comprised of 2000 word Research Report, a poster presentation to present the outcomes of your studies and a reflective e-log.  

Although each part is weighted differently, each aspect is linked.

• E.g.: The strength of your presentation will be dependent on the quality of your research. To conduct good research, you need to make good decisions, which is logged in the reflective log.
• The logbook is designed to ensure your entire project is carefully considered.

2.      Support

Each student will be supported by a supervisor, who is likely to be your IRS teacher. They are there for you to speak to, sign off your project and help to keep you on track.

In lessons in Term 2 you will be given all the skills/ tools you need for completing the project and be taught HOW to do ‘research’. The IRS moodle page contains lots of information about the different aspects of the project.

Our subject librarian, Ross Noon, is also available for you. They can consult you on how to go about with your literature searching. The contact details for Ross are:

[email protected]
Telephone: 024 765 73192

work with others.

3.Research Stages

Your project will follow a series of steps, which you will need to follow.

3.      Expectations of Students

This is an independent, self-led research project so it is up to you to sort and undertake your research in time. Students are expected to make their own decisions, ask for help/ guidance if they feel that they need it and carry out their own research. Your supervisor/ IRS teacher is there to offer guidance, but they will not tell you what to do, or find the resources you need for you. 

4.      Time Management - This is not a project you can leave to the last week!

This project has a number of different elements to it. This will require you to take a systematic approach to your studies and balance this project with the needs of your other modules.

This is your opportunity to grow in managing your time effectively and stick to your own deadlines. There are a number of apps/ websites e.g. asana / trello that can help you to manage your time and

5.      Topics

To choose a topic, consider the following questions:

1. what you are planning to study next year for undergraduate degree
2. your areas of interest. 

You may use any of the questions below or adapt them to suit your own interests. You may propose your own question if you wish, but it MUST be (loosely) related to business AND it MUST be approved by the department.

Research questions:

• Do different generations value different Pay & Reward benefits from their employers?
• Do Generation Y/Z challenge or confirm traditional motivation/leadership theory?
• How do business students imagine their future self as leader?
• What factors contribute to students choosing to study abroad?
• are students who choose to study abroad also more likely to desire international careers?
• What makes an international foundations programme ‘international’?
• Do international students develop a global mindset as a result of studying abroad?
• What role do education agents play in prospective students’ process choosing a university for undergraduate/foundation studies?
• What role do education agents play in globalisation?
• How do the careers of parents influence degree and job choices of students?
• How is ‘happiness’ challenging GDP as the measure of a country’s health?
• Has joining WTO been a positive force for China’s economic development?
• Is multilingualism good for economic growth?
• How much do changes in the Chinese economy affect global growth?
• In what ways do multinational companies adapt their advertisements to local cultures?
• Is the promoted value of fairtrade reduced in society when businesses use fairtrade as a commercial tool to increase sale?
• How do product recommendations affect the online shopping behaviour of Generation Y?
• To what extent do people’s concern for climate change affect their purchasing choices?
• How do product recommendations affect the online shopping behaviour of undergraduate university students?
• What advertisement theories do social influencers seek to appeal to their audience?

All question must be submitted by Monday 13^th January, at 12 noon.

6.      The Reflective Log

Reflecting on what you are doing is important as it helps you to make better decisions. As part of the research project, you will be expected to submit a reflective log on OneNote. This log will keep a record of what you are doing and why.

It is expected that after any discussion with your supervisor that you note down what was discussed and what you will do as a result and why.

Your log is worth 15 of the 65% of the Research Project marks. You will find the mark scheme for it on the IRS moodle page. We will award marks for showing evidence of detailed planning, acting on advice and for thinking through WHY you are doing what you are.

The methodology section of the logbook (c.200 words)

In your methodology section you describe how you conducted your research and why. For every choice that you make with regards to your research, you have to explain why you made that decision.

You should talk about how you are collecting, whether you use primary / secondary data in your study and why. Consider:

• Was it a qualitative / quantitative / mixed-methods study, why?
• What methods you used to collect your data, why?
• What is the population you investigated and how did you choose your sample?
•  

7.      Research Project Report (2000 words)

The research report includes the following sections:

• Literature Review
• Findings & Discussion
• limitations
• Conclusion

Format:

Download the Research Project template from the research section on Moodle. You are expected to submit your work using this template, only including your student ID, NOT your name.  

Please follow the guidelines below in how to format your research proposal: 

• •        Page heading: Research Title and Student ID 
• •        Font: Calibri  
• •        Font Size: 12 point 
• •        Line Spacing: 1.15 
• •        Page footer: Page Numbers in bottom right corner

Students’ guidance for each part of the Research Project

The word count stated for each section is an indicative number. You are free to change this as you see fit, but the indicative word count should give you a general idea of the size of each section.

You will find more information/ advice about HOW to write each of these sections both through your IRS seminars and on the moodle.

!Please note the word limit is 2000 words (+/- 10%)!! The allocation below leaves you 100 words to allocate where you feel fit

(1)    Literature Review (700 words - minimum)

This is the section where you present your understanding of the topic in relation to your initial research questions and should:

• Summarise important research on the topic to demonstrate depth of understanding of the topic.
• Demonstrate your ability to synthesise the breadth of literature you have read

You should start reading broadly around the topic and then narrow your searches as you become more clear on your specific interests. Look for inspiration to research something you feel has not been addressed yet. For examples, this could be running a study that someone else has done but with a different group of people to see if you get the same results.

You can use the Warwick University Library Search tool, Google scholar, or any of the other literature searching tools we have covered to find your books and articles. Your literature review should involve no more than 50% websites and MUST include academic information. Wikipedia is not acceptable.

The review should refer to research studies and not just general ideas. Reference should be made to who did the study, when, what, how they discovered their findings. For example in reviewing quantitative research we would expect to see that sentences like “ in x person’s study in 2004, 35% of participants…….”

If your literature review does not include research studies then it is not a literature review. You will be expected to do in-text citations and to include a reference list.

(2)    Findings and Discussion (circa.750 words)

In this section you should include both a descriptive account of what you found, offering appropriate analysis of the data/ information alongside discussion of what you think the data/ information is telling you.

The basic structure here is:

• Findings – what did you discover?
• Evidence – what graphs/ tables/interview quotes prove your finding [this is descriptive]?
• Explain – what does the evidence tell you? Can the data be triangulated? Do other studies get similar outcomes and why? How does it relate to your literature review? [this is analytical]
• Link – how does this link to the Research Question or is it something unexpected?

(3)    Limitations and Further Research (c. 250 words)

Thinking carefully and without bias, what are the limitations of your study and how might this affect your conclusion? You should also identify what researchers should look at next/ in more depth as a result of your study.

(4)    Conclusion (c.200 words)

This is where you go back to your original research question and give a detailed answer. Taking all of the findings together, what can you conclude? Why? Can you conclude anything? Why? Make sure you account for your limitations – can you give a definite answer, does your answer need to be more limited? 

The project report is worth 30 of the 65%. You will find the mark scheme, plus some annotated examples to look at, on the IRS moodle page. 

8.      The Poster Presentation

A lot of academic research is presented before publication at an academic conference. This is where the researcher creates a poster detailing their research and what they found and then discusses the poster/ research with others. As student researchers you will also be doing this. The Conference will take place in the week beginning 11^th May 2019. You will need to submit your poster by Monday 27^th, 12 noon. Further details on what is required will be given in lessons and are on the moodle.

The poster and presentation together are worth 20 of the 65% of the research project. You will find the assessment criteria and annotated sample of posters on the IRS moodle pages.

9.      Key Dates