HIGHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES

Academic Year 2024: January – June

Formative Assessment 1: Applied Research Methods
(HAPR300-1)
NQF Level, Credits: 6, 14
Weighting: 40%
Assessment Type: Essay Type Questions
Educator: Fatiema Benjamin
Examiner: Fatiema Benjamin
Due Date: 28 March 2024

Total: 100 Marks

Instructions:

• This paper consists of five (5) questions.

• It is based on Units 1 – 4 of your study guide/textbook.
• All questions are compulsory.
• Your assessment must be typed using:
o Font: Arial
o Font size: 12
o Line spacing: 1.5
• A Copyleaks Report will be issued via ColCampus once the assignment is
submitted. Please ensure that you follow the correct steps when uploading your
assignment, to ensure that the Copyleaks Report is correctly issued. If the
incorrect document is uploaded, or if no Copyleaks Report is issued, a mark of
zero (0) will be awarded. If the Copyleaks Report indicates that a 30% similarity
rating has been exceeded, 25% of the assessment total will be deducted from
the final grade. Where a Copyleaks Cheat Detection Report is issued, your
submission will automatically be treated as if you received a similarity rating in

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 excess of 30% and 25% of the assessment total will be deducted from the final
grade.

The following learning outcomes are assessed:

Unit 1:
• Define research and identify its importance.
• Discuss the core characteristics of applied research; and distinguish between
primary and secondary research.
Unit 2:
• Discuss the benefits and disadvantages of insourcing versus outsourcing.
• Discuss the key areas that inform the kind of research that can be conducted
in an organisation.
Unit 3:
• Identify key characteristics of a well-written literature review.
Unit 4:
• Describe how inclusion criteria and sampling strategies are selected and
developed.
• Assess the usefulness of social media as a data collection tool.

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Question 1 (17 marks)

Read the fictitious scenario below and answer the questions that follow:
An experienced organisational researcher, Nawaal Prins, has been assigned to
assess the impact of a newly implemented working-from-home policy on employee
productivity and satisfaction within a large corporation in the Western Cape. As part
of her research study, Nawaal met with her research team and discussed the study's
eligibility criteria. They concluded that the study would recruit full-time employees that
the company has employed for at least six months. Thus, the study will not include
part-time employees, contract workers, and staff employed for less than 6 months to
ensure consistency in working conditions. To ensure that participants have
experienced the policy change and can provide relevant feedback, the participants
must have transitioned to working from home due to the policy change. The research
team also concluded that employees from various job roles and departments will be
included to capture a diverse range of perspectives and that participants must have a
proficient command of the language in which data will be collected, mainly English,
Afrikaans, or isiXhosa since these are three of the most prominent languages spoken
in the Western Cape, South Africa. Because of the policy change, participants who
have not transitioned from in-office to home-based work and who do not speak
English, Afrikaans, or isiXhosa will not be recruited. Nawaal and her research team
anticipate several challenges related to the eligibility criteria identified. These include
the limited pool of eligible participants, which could impact sample size and
generalizability; lack of employee participation; and potential sampling bias if a
particular department within the company is overrepresented or underrepresented.
fictitious scenario*

1.1 Identify and briefly discuss the two (2) types of criteria portrayed in the fictitious
scenario above. (8 marks)

1.2 Based on the information in the fictitious scenario outlined above, extract
examples that align with the outlined eligibility criteria identified in question 1.1.
(9 marks)

Question 2 (12 marks)

Imagine Boston City Campus has just hired you to coordinate the research faculty at
the institution. A part of your responsibilities is to provide lectures on the different

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viewpoints available to researchers to help them identify which perspective is most
appropriate for their research journey.

Required:
Identify and critically discuss the different perspectives a researcher can choose to
work from when conducting research.

Question 3 (31 marks)

3.1 Imagine you are an academic and quality manager at the Boston City Campus.
You have recently been tasked with the responsibility of researching educators'
satisfaction and perceptions of management at the Boston City Campus.
However, before beginning the research process, you have to decide between
insourcing or outsourcing to conduct this research.

Required:
Assess the advantages and disadvantages of insourcing and outsourcing research in
an organisational setting. (18 marks)

3.2 Discuss the relevance and validity of conducting a literature review for academic
research. (13 marks)

Question 4 (20 marks)

Experimental research involves the manipulation of an independent variable and the
subsequent measurement of its effects on the dependent variable. In organisational
research, experimental studies aim to analyse variations between different groups or
within the same group across different timeframes or situations.

4.1 To facilitate your understanding of experimental research in the context of

organisational research, identify and discuss the two fundamental forms of
experimental design. (16 marks)

4.2 In recent years, social media has become increasingly popular for researchers to
collect data. List the things researchers should do when using social media as a
data collection tool. (4 marks)

Question 5 (20 marks)

Read the case study below and answer the questions that follow:

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Janet Roland is a researcher at a Midwest University, where she is the lead researcher
within the university’s agricultural research department. In recent years, local farmers
have been increasingly concerned about the substantial decline in corn crop yields.
The farmers approached the university’s agricultural research department to assist in
finding practical solutions to address this issue and to improve the overall health and
productivity of corn crops. In collaboration with the local farmers, Janet and her
research team decided to conduct a research study to address this problem. Their
primary objectives were to identify the specific factors contributing to the decline in
corn crop yields in the region and to develop practical and sustainable solutions that
local farmers can implement to improve corn crop yields. To achieve these objectives,
Janet and her research team began data collection. This included analysing historical
crop yield data, soil quality reports, and pest population trends. They also conducted
surveys and interviews with local farms to gather insights into their farming practices
and challenges.
Upon completing data collection, Janet and her team analysed the available data and
discovered that the soil quality in the region has been declining due to overuse of
certain fertilisers, leading to nutrient imbalances; that pesticide resistance has been
increasing among local pest populations, and that adjusting planting and harvesting
schedules to align with climate patterns can improve crop yields. Upon these findings,
Janet and her research team made varying recommendations to assist local farmers
in addressing soil management, pest management, and climate-informed farming
practices.

5.1 Evaluate the type of research design used in the scenario presented above. In
your answer, discuss the goals and advantages of using this type of research
design in practice. (8 marks)

5.2 There are various ways in which researchers can collect data for their research
study. Using the information in the case study presented above, identify and
discuss the types of research used by Janet and her research team to collect
data. Include examples from the case study to substantiate your answer. (12
marks)

Total: 100 marks

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