DBA

This is the starting point for your final research project. It allows you to reflect on your own professional practice and explore emerging trends within your sector/industry. You will examine the area you intend to study from the practitioner perspective, analysing existing levels of practice, looking at the problem definition from the perspective of those within the sector/industry, and exploring new developments in your field. You will then develop initial research question(s) and objectives to guide you to the relevant extant literature.

You will explore the theoretical underpinnings of your chosen area of research. It will involve undertaking a structured, thematic, analysis of your literature and explores the theory/practice nexus that underpins your DBA. You will also be introduced to how you conceptualise the issue you are researching and draw out key relationship to be analysed, which will allow you to refine your research question(s) and objectives and act as a guide to your methodological approach.

This module will introduce you to the theoretical underpinnings of research methodology. It looks at the epistemology and ontology of knowledge generation, different research philosophies, alternative research paradigms, strategies, methodologies and methods. You will critically examine the approaches that are appropriate to your research question(s)/objectives in terms of reliability, validity and generalisability. It will also explore the ethical issues surrounding your research, especially in relation to the insider-researcher problem.

Through modules 1-3, you will have developed and refined your research question(s)/objectives, related these to extant literature and developed the overall methodological approach that is appropriate for your research project. You will now be in a position to operationalise your research. Through a pilot study, this module will allow you to test your research instruments, explore how you analyse and present data and form the basis of your main research study.