20th March – 27th March 2012 – Writing the Report

This session was divided into two parts. In the first part of the session we were taught how to write the report as to what needs to be included in the report. We were given a sample report which gave us an idea on how to interpret primary and secondary research. Also we were shown how to format the report as to what needs to come under each heading and were told what to include in the appendix. This was really useful as it gave us a better knowledge in knowing exactly how to plan and write the report.

The second half of the session was individual appointment. Each student had an appointment to show our tutor a draft of the report which we had done so far. There were two sessions where each student had given an appointment to show the draft report. My appointment was on the first session. I couldn’t show my tutor the whole report, so I decided to show her the bits which I’ve done so far. 

When I showed my draft to my tutor, she said I had to add more when interpreting primary and secondary research.  This gave me a clear idea on how I should interpret data and also helped me gain more confidence in writing the remaining part of the report. I believe assignment workshop session is really useful as it enabled student including myself to know exactly what to include in the assignment in order to gain the highest possible marks.

13th March 2012 – Data Analysis

This session was mainly on how to tally the result which we had in our questionnaire and working out percentage for the different type of questions. Also, we learned how to do the mean, median and mode on a rating scale answer, this taught us how to interpret data further.

Sometime, designing graphs in excel can be quite difficult as Microsoft office software keeps changing every often. Therefore, the slide that were given to us in this session helped me as it showed exactly the steps which we have to follow in order to work out the percentage without using the calculator. 

The second half of the session was based on the primary and secondary research that was done during the last few weeks. This session taught us based on the findings how to use the information in order to draw conclusion. I found this very useful as it gave me an idea about how to interpret the data when drawing conclusion and recommendation.

This session not only taught me about interpreting different type of data but also taught me the difference between critical writing and descriptive writing. In doing this, it gave me more thoughts on what I really need to include in the report in order to get better results.

6th March 2012 – Continuing on Primary research

Following from the previous session, we had to show our tutor on the questionnaire which we had designed in order to help us get an accurate and reliable result for the research topic. This session on the other hand was the continuous session from the previous session. But, this session taught us that there are two different types of questions that could use for interview – Structured and Unstructured.

This actually made me realise the type of questions that I should use to interview the manager. I chose to do a structured questioned as I believed that it would help me on my research and would give me insight knowledge on recruitment and selection in Iceland.

The second part of this session was to know exactly which type of sample would be best used to collect the data, and as I already knew that I would give out 25 questionnaires to staff. I didn’t exactly know which type of sample to use as there are many different types. Therefore, I decided to use quota sample where I believed would be the best way to choose staff.

To ensure that the primary research were effective and the result were not biased. I decided to interview manager from two branches which include Wembley and Sudbury Hill. Also, Questionnaire was divided to 25 staff which included from both branches in order to obtain better results. 

28th February 2012 – Choosing the Type of Primary Research

Primary Research is research that is done by the first person. In this session, we were taught that there are many techniques which could be of use to collect primary data such as questionnaire, interview, focus group and many more. I taught the best way to get better and accurate result would by Interviewing store manager and giving out questionnaire to staff in order to find out their views on the method in which they believed they were recruited and selected to work for a particular role.

This session taught us that when doing questionnaire, there are different type of questions that could be included. Questions such as dichotomous, multiple choices, rating scale which all consist of closed questions. In order to find out more about the different type of question, I started researching online and came across this YouTube link which highlighted the different type of questions. The link for is shown here

Also, when designing a questionnaire, there are certain things that need to be avoided such as ambiguity, leading or loading questions, two questions in one, assumptions, generalisation, negative and hypothetical questions in order for the respondent to find it easy and simple to respond to the questionnaire.

21st February 2012 – Secondary Research

In this session, we learned how secondary research is implemented and the importance of including this type of research when doing the assignment. As the topic on the research proposal were new and as I myself didn’t have any idea on what recruitment and selection involves and what processes companies follow in order to recruit and select staff. Therefore the use of different secondary research techniques was shown to us. This was seen as the main help in starting our research on.

Also, when looking at secondary research, there are many information that falls on the same topic therefore an example on a literature review were shown to us to gave an idea in knowing exactly what to research and how to interpret the finding according to the topic. Literature review is a “summary and explanation of the complete and current state of knowledge on a limited topic as found in academic books and journal articles” (Studyhood).I found this very useful as this really helped me in knowing what exactly we have to include when doing the assignment.

The second part of the session was to look at the use of Harvard referencing. In this we were taught how to reference a direct quote which comes from a book, internet or journals.

31st Jan - 7th Feb - Research Proposal Review

Continuing from the last semester, we were told to choose a topic where we’ll research on a field and get in depth information on that area. Therefore, I chose to research on ‘recruitment and selection process in Iceland PLC’. We were told to print out the research proposal which we had done in our previous semester, as it believed to be the main topic in which we had to do our research on.

A week before our second semester started, we received an e-mail from our teacher inviting for individual appointment. My appointment was on the 31^st Jan, which was the first week after Christmas holiday. On reviewing my proposal, my tutor highlighted a few changes including on the title as well as the objectives. For e.g., I changed my proposal title from ‘Recruitment and selection’ to ‘Recruitment and training’.

I found this session very useful as my tutor explained me exactly what I will be doing in the entire semester and how the research proposal would be useful in this assignment. She also suggested few books which might help me when doing the assignment. These two sessions were in fact an introductory session where we each had to show what we will be researching on and allocated a separate topic to research upon. This allowed us to carry out some independent learning and research in which this whole assignment was about.