Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
PG Dissertation Proposal
As part of your MSc programme you are required to complete a dissertation. This is a
substantial piece of independent work that requires a lot of student effort and good time
management skills. Student’s often underestimated how time consuming and intensive their
dissertation can be. For that reason it is imperative that you identify a subject area that you
would like to investigate and to narrow this down into a specific research question as soon as
possible.
As an independent piece of work, it is the student’s responsibility to identify a subject area
and specific question/issue etc within that area to research. A list of staff research interests is
provided in Appendix 2.
Having established a suitable dissertation topic, you are required to submit a Dissertation
Proposal (See Appendix 1) through the coursework office on Tuesday 13th March Week 10
at 16.00pm.
Please Note: This is an independent piece of work. Your dissertation supervisor will provide
you with guidance on the research project, but will not tell you what to research or what
should be in the main content of your project. The supervisor’s role is solely to provide you
with guidance and advice on the research process.
 The Dissertation Proposal must be themed on a topic appropriate for the student’s degree
programme (e.g. A finance student must make finance a major theme of the dissertation),
as an inappropriately themed dissertation is unlikely to be counted as a qualifying module
for certain badged degrees. The Programme Directors will review all dissertation
proposals to ensure compliance with these requirements, yet it is the student’s
responsibility to ensure this requirement is met.
 The purpose of the Dissertation Proposal is to ensure that the dissertation will be focused
on a realistic objective that is achievable within the time scale available and to act as a
check, at an early stage, on any excessive duplication in relation to other dissertations in
the current or previous years.
 The Dissertation Proposal must be word processed in the format shown in Appendix 1.
 Students are requested to nominate an appropriate member of staff for supervision on the
Dissertation Proposal. Everything will be done to ensure students will be allocated their
preferred choice of supervisor, yet where demand for supervisors cannot be met, or there
is a more suitable supervisor available, the relevant Programme Director has the right to
nominate a supervisor.
 Please Note: Students are NOT permitted to change supervisors. The allocation is
determined by the Programme Director.
 Programme Directors reserve the right to make amendments to the dissertation supervisor
allocation. Changes to the list will be avoided as far as possible but may be necessitated by
staff changes. Should a change occur, this will not disadvantage anyone as it will be at the
start of the dissertation process. I appreciate your cooperation with this, should a change
be necessary.
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
 The Dissertation Proposal will be reviewed by the Dissertation Supervisor. Students must
arrange a meeting with their allocated Dissertation Supervisor during week 12 of semester
two to discuss in detail the Dissertation Proposal – including research methodology and
style of dissertation.
 Students are required to comply with the regulations as set out in the PG Dissertation
Regulations 2011-2012 and to adhere to the set submission dates for all work relating to
the dissertation course.
 The submission date for the completed dissertation on the AEF programmes is: Tuesday
21 August 16.00pm. Please refer to the PG Dissertation regulations for submission
instruction.
 Below is a basic dissertation meeting schedule. It is up to you to agree dates and targets
with your allocated supervisor to track and discuss your progress.
Postgraduate Dissertation Supervision Schedule: 2011-2012
Date
Targets
Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 13th
March Week 10
at 16.00pm
Submission: extended research proposal
(2000 words. See Appendix 1)
1st dissertation Meeting
Agree Date
with your
allocated
supervisor
Agree Date with
your allocated
supervisor
2nd Dissertation Meeting
Agree Date with
your allocated
supervisor
3rd Dissertation Meeting
Agree Date with
your allocated
supervisor
4th Dissertation Meeting
Agree Date with
your allocated
supervisor
5th dissertation meeting
Tuesday 21
August
16.00pm.

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














Feedback on extended proposal
Clarify research topic and agree project.
Discuss literature search, writing & structure.
Discuss research methodology and fieldwork.
Discuss research ethics form.
Discuss your time schedule.
Discuss literature review
Discuss research methodology and fieldwork
developments
Check research ethics form has been submitted.
Review time schedule.
Discuss progress to date with data collection.
Discuss progress of dissertation in general.
Review time schedule
Discuss progress to date with data analysis and
evaluation.
Discuss progress of dissertation in general.
Discuss compilation of research findings.
Discuss finalisation of the dissertation.
Student submits complete dissertation to the coursework office.
Please Note: Students who are conducting their project abroad must get agreement for
email contact with their supervisor to discuss their ongoing progress before leaving the
campus.
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
School of Management and Languages
Postgraduate Dissertation Courses: Regulations and Procedures
Appendix 1: Dissertation Research Proposal
Submission Date 16.00hrs on Tuesday 13th March, Week 10, Semester 2, of Degree
Programme
Student Name and
Matriculation Number:
Degree Title:
Course Codes:
Date:
Preferred Dissertation
Supervisor:
Dissertation Working Title:
Provide a 500 word rationale and outline of your research project (i.e., introduction).
Outline your specific research question(s) and your main aims and objectives (i.e., what do you hope to
establish with your research?) and state the contribution of your project to research in this area.
(500 words).
Provide a detailed description of your chosen research method and design. This should include a
description of how you are going to gather the information and how you are going to analyze it.
(500 words)
Using literature identified provide a 500 word sample of your literature review.
List12 relevant journal, professional publications or policy documents, etc. that will be used within your
project. This should be presented in a reference list format (Harvard style).
Provide a time schedule for the execution of the dissertation from start to finish.
For staff purposes only:
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
MSc Dissertation Getting Started Notes: (Qualitative Research)
One way to do a dissertation (other ways can also produce good work):
1. To get started collect 12 academic research papers (i.e. journal articles) that relate to
your chosen research topic area.
2. You may find that a lot of academic papers are written in jargon that is hard to
understand and uses techniques which are well beyond your comprehension. If in
doubt, read the abstract and the conclusion and try to pick out the main points without
getting bogged down in technicalities.
3. A good starting point is scholar.google.com
4. Read and critically analyse and evaluate these papers.
5. Remember that critical analysis is not just description. It is the ability to reduce a
subject to its key points, to justify the choice on logical and empirical grounds and to
be able to say where the weaknesses are in the current approach and where further
work is needed.
6. Identify the key issues, debates, controversies and so on that appears in the articles.
7. Write them down as bullet points.
8. Write up a review (mini literature review) of these papers.
9. Reflect on what you have uncovered.
 What seemed to you to be the key issues?
 What issues would sustain your interest long enough to write a dissertation on
the subject?
10. From this decide on a research focus, aims and objectives. Write them down.
 Keep these realistic. E.g. can you collect all the information you need on time?
 Also, try to be specific and avoid vagueness. There’s nothing wrong with
keeping things more general earlier on in your enquiry, but now is the time to
‘sharpen things up’. Hence 11. Establish specific research question(s).
12. Think about how you are going to achieve your aims/objectives and answer your
research question(s).
13. Go to the research method and design literature and investigate which approach is
most suitable for your project. For example is a case study an appropriate way?
14. How are you going to collect the data?


Are interviews, questionnaires, focus groups or a combination of these suitable
for you etc?
i. What type of interview?
ii. Are the interviews going to be recorded and transcribed?
iii. What type of questions are you going to ask? (This relates to
interviews, questionnaires & focus groups).
Documents – what type and why? If using only documents is this enough to
make your work original?
15. Within the research method chapter you must explain and justify your chosen method
and design and relate it to the research method literature.
16. Once your research method and design has been decided you can produce a working
draft of your research methods chapter.
 Note: this must be refined once the research is completed to ensure that it does
explain and relate to what you did.
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
17. Continue to collect your background literature/ and or any other documents that you
need to complete your literature review.
18. At the same time organise contacts and set up a schedule for collecting your empirical
data.
19. Read and critically analyse and evaluate the rest of the literature review papers.
20. Complete your literature review chapter.
21. Start collecting data.
22. Organise data and start critically analysing and evaluating it.
23. Write up findings.
24. Write up discussion of findings and critically analyse and evaluate these in relation to
the literature etc utilised as the underpinnings of your research.
25. Write a conclusion.
26. Assemble first draft of complete dissertation.
27. Rework and redraft where necessary.
28. Check spelling and grammar.
29. Check all tables, diagrams, appendices’ etc.
30. Check references and bibliography.
31. Have it proof read before submission.
 Please note: Your dissertation supervisor will not proof read your completed
dissertation prior to submission. Your supervisor will only provide comments
on one chapter.
One final point, some students opt for an extended literature review or questionnaire based
research. If you want to opt for the former type of dissertation, you have to provide a high
quality of comparative analysis and awareness beyond mere reporting of things you have read
in order to achieve a mark beyond the ‘B Grade’ range. In the latter case, the quality of your
interviews counts. Interviews of fellow students or people in the street are not terribly
impressive. Also the vast majority of students who opt for this kind of dissertation seldom
show any awareness that they are engaged in collecting a sample. They show no recognition
that they understand the difference between samples and populations and have a tendency to
present their figures as universal truth, rather than estimates with associated confidence
intervals. This greatly detracts from their mark.
5
Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
MSc Dissertation Getting Started Notes: (Quantitative Research)
One way to do a dissertation (other ways can also produce good work):
1. To get started collect 12 academic research papers (i.e. journal articles) that relate to
your chosen research topic area.
2. You may find that a lot of academic papers are written in jargon that is hard to
understand and uses techniques which are well beyond your comprehension. If in
doubt, read the abstract and the conclusion and try to pick out the main points without
getting bogged down in technicalities.
3. A good starting point is scholar.google.com
4. There’s quite a useful list of key papers in finance the reading room at
www.altruistfa.com.
5. Read and critically analyse and evaluate these papers.
6. Remember that critical analysis is not just description. It is the ability to reduce a
subject to its key points, to justify the choice on logical and empirical grounds and to
be able to say where the weaknesses are in the current approach and where further
work is needed.
7. Identify the key issues, debates, controversies and so on that appears in the articles.
8. Write them down as bullet points.
9. Write up a review (mini literature review) of these papers.
10. Reflect on what you have uncovered.
11. What seemed to you to be the key issues?
12. What issues would sustain your interest long enough to write a dissertation on the
subject?
13. From this decide on a research focus, aims and objectives. Write them down.
a. Keep these realistic. E.g. can you collect all the information you need on time?
b. Also, try to be specific and avoid vagueness. There’s nothing wrong with
keeping things more general earlier on in your enquiry, but now is the time to
‘sharpen things up’. Hence 14. Establish specific research question(s).
15. Think about how you are going to achieve your aims/objectives and answer your
research question(s).
16. How good are your quants? Do you fully understand the technique you intend to use?
Try a ‘dry run’ with a mini data set, so that you are clear that what you plan is
achievable.
17. Quantitative approaches that are typically taken by undergraduates would be, a)
Accounting.
a. b) The use of statistical methods to examine a particular data set.
b. c) The examination of risk-return using portfolio theory CAPM etc.
18. We do get the occasional student who wants to look at more exotic quantitative areas,
such as derivatives or bond durations. This is fine if you are sure of your mastery of
these areas.
19. Go to the research method and design literature and investigate which approach is
most suitable for your project. For example, basic quantitative data analysis can be
done using standard statistical approaches. If you plan to use anything more
sophisticated, for example, neural networks, what do you think is the additional
benefit?
20. How are you going to collect the data?
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
a. Is it freely available on the internet, or through one of the financial databases
available in the University?
b. Will data need to be specially collected from organisations or within
companies? If so, can you be sure it will be available on time?
21. Within the research method chapter you must explain and justify your chosen method
and design and relate it to the research method literature.
22. Once your research method and design has been decided you can produce a working
draft of your research methods chapter.
a. Note: this must be refined once the research is completed to ensure that it does
explain and relate to what you did.
23. Continue to collect your background literature/ and or any other documents that you
need to complete your literature review.
24. At the same time organise contacts and set up a schedule for collecting your empirical
data.
25. Read and critically analyse and evaluate the rest of the literature review papers.
26. Complete your literature review chapter.
27. Start collecting data.
28. Organise data and start critically analysing and evaluating it.
29. Write up findings.
30. Write up discussion of findings and critically analyse and evaluate these in relation to
the literature etc utilised as the underpinnings of your research.
31. Write a conclusion.
32. Assemble first draft of complete dissertation.
33. Rework and redraft where necessary.
34. Check spelling and grammar.
35. Check all tables, diagrams, appendices’ etc.
36. Check references and bibliography.
37. Have it proof read before submission.
a. Please note: Your dissertation supervisor will not proof read your completed
dissertation prior to submission. Your supervisor will only provide comments
on one chapter.
One final observation, some students opt for an extended literature review or questionnaire
based research. If you want to opt for the former type of dissertation, you have to provide a
high quality of comparative analysis and awareness beyond mere reporting of things you
have read in order to achieve a mark beyond the ‘B Grade’ range. In questionnaire-based
approaches, the quality of your interviews counts. Interviews of fellow students or people in
the street are not terribly impressive. Also the vast majority of students who opt for this kind
of dissertation seldom show any awareness that they are engaged in collecting a sample. They
show no recognition that they understand the difference between samples and populations
and have a tendency to present their figures as universal truth, rather than estimates with
associated confidence intervals. This greatly detracts from their assessed mark.
I hope that these guidance notes are helpful to you.
Regards
Audrey
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
Appendix 2: Staff Research Interests
ACADEMIC STAFF
LECTURING SPECIALISM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Santhosh Abraham
BA,MSc,PhD,CFA
Lecturer
Contemporary Issues in Accounting
Research Methods
Financial Reporting
Risk reporting
Corporate governance reporting
International accounting
Andrew Adams
BSc,MSc,PhD,AIA
Director, Centre for Finance
and Investment
Financial Markets
Investment Management
Investment Mathematics
Risk assessment
Market efficiency
Closed end funds
Janusz Brzeszczynski
MA, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Finance
Financial Markets
Financial Econometrics
Research Methods in Finance
Stock markets
Currency markets
Market microstructure
Efficient markets
Financial econometrics
Emerging markets
Financial risk
Volatility dynamics
Kate Clements
BA,PGCE,ACA
Teaching Fellow
Auditing
Taxation
Use of IT in Accounting
Taxation and the church
Thereza R. S. de Aguiar
Financial Accounting
BAcc, PG Dip (Production
Engineering), MBM, PhD
Lecturer
Financial accounting
Social & Environmental accounting
Corporate disclosure
Accounting education
Carbon accounting
Gender
Critical social & environmental
accounting
Julian Fennema
BSocSc, MSc, PhD
Lecturer
Emerging Financial Markets
Transition Economics
Financial Markets
Regulation
Research Methods
Non-linear investment dynamics
Investment-financing constraints
Boulis Ibrahim
BSc,MSc,PhD,FHEA
Lecturer
Financial Derivatives
Security Analysis
Petroleum Economics
Corporate Finance
Information flow
Volatility dynamics
Microstructure models
Liquidity dynamics
Bill Jackson
BCom, PGCAP, PhD, FHEA
Lecturer
Management Accounting
Accounting History
Accounting history
Accounting in hospitals
Gender and the accounting profession
Accounting in emerging economies
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Postgraduate Dissertation Proposal Instructions
Dr Audrey Paterson
Edward Jones
BA(Hons),PGCE, MSc, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Corporate Finance
Corporate Governance
Business Economics
Economics of Strategy
Mergers and Acquisitions
Corporate finance
Strategic investment decisions
Competition policy
Corporate growth opportunities
Corporate Governance
Executive Compensation
Fisheries Economics
John-Paul Marney
BA, PhD
Lecturer
Security Analysis
Corporate Finance
Quantitative Methods
Market efficiency
Financial bubbles
Application of novel computer algorithms
to finance
Claire Marston
BSc,MAcc,PhD,FCA,CTA
Professor
Corporate Reporting
International Accounting
Accounting Theory
Research Methods
Risk reporting
Impact of IFRS adoption
Investor relations
Corporate governance
Financial analysis
Segmental reporting
Nick Paisey
BA,MEd,PGCE,CA
Senior Lecturer
Accounting Theory
Financial Reporting
International Accounting
Audit
Accounting profession
Accounting education
Accounting history
Accounting and business ethics
Audrey Paterson
(Nee Jackson)
BCom,MSc,PGCAP,PhD,
FHEA
Lecturer
Management Accounting
Strategic Accounting
Public Sector Accounting
NHS Pharmacy cost management
Public sector accounting
Accounting history
Accounting in emerging economies
Gender and the accounting profession
Moh Sherif
BA,MSc,PGCAP,PhD
Lecturer
Financial Econometrics
Corporate Finance
Research Methods in Finance
Finance theory and Capital markets
Mergers and Acquisitions
Asset pricing puzzles and stock market
anomalies
Term structure models
Market microstructure
Emerging financial market
Akira Yonekura
BA, MBA, PhD
Lecturer
International Accounting
Social & environmental accounting
Financial accounting and reporting
Accounting history
Accounting theory
Corporate governance
Jim Haslam
PhD
Professor
Management Accounting
Management Accounting
Accounting history
Social & environmental accounting
Corporate governance
9