Module Directory

This module is designed to build on your knowledge and understanding of research in management, marketing, accounting and organization studies and to develop your skills in studying organizational life.

This module's aim is to draw together insights from the philosophy of the social sciences, methodology and advanced qualitative research methods in order to develop an informed and reflexive understanding of research design and practice.

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to the ways in which social scientific research is underpinned by particular philosophical assumptions.


• To present students with a range of methods used to collect and analyse qualitative data.


• To equip students with the techniques, skills and confidence to undertake advanced qualitative organizational research.


• To enable students to be able to explain and reflexively evaluate connections between ontological, epistemological and methodological considerations, and their chosen approaches to data collection and analysis.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Offer an account of relevant philosophical approaches to accounting and management research and explain their relevance for the formulation and investigation of research problems.


2. Critically evaluate methods used in the collection and analysis of qualitative data.


3. Demonstrate a considered and practised understanding of advanced qualitative research methods used in accounting and management research.


4. Design a research methodology that demonstrates a reflexive and considered understanding of the empirical, analytical and ethical processes underpinning accounting and management research.

Skills for your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)

By the end of this module, students should have developed the following transferable skills:

1. Critical thinking.


2. Analytical reasoning.


3. Data collection and organisation.


4. Data prestation and evaluation.

A key part of your learning process on this module will developing your ability to connect an informed understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of organizational research with your planned methodological approach and methods of data collection and analysis.

With this in mind, the first part of the module focuses on the ontological and epistemological principles underpinning methodological choices, and the second considers how these principles and choices inform the methods of data collection and analysis that we use.

On successful completion of the module you should be able to in a strong position to produce a draft methodology section of your dissertation or draft chapter of your thesis.

Underpinning the module is an understanding of the research process not as a unidirectional, linear trajectory but as a complex and multi-dimensional back and forth process through which ideas evolve that coalesce into a research design that is specific to particular research projects and researchers and which enables those projects to proceed ethically and credibly.

The module will draw heavily on recent/current research and will encourage you to bring 'live' questions and problems, including issues relating to reflexivity and research ethics, to the weekly discussions.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 3-hour session per week.

Each session will consist of an interactive workshop-style environment that will provide a space for you to understand the theoretical material covered each week, and to develop practical skills in research design, and in data collection and analysis. Due to the interactive nature of the sessions, it is vital that you undertake any recommended reading or other preparation prior to the session in order to gain as much as possible from the discussions and practical exercises.

Outside of the weekly sessions you will need to spend time on private study undertaking guided reading and preparation for the sessions, as well as preparation of the coursework assignments. The module and assessment are designed to make sure that, as far as possible, this module complements the work that you will be doing more widely to prepare the methodology section of your dissertation, or relevant chapter(s) of your thesis and (for PhD students) to meet expected milestones.