Doctor of Business Administration

You will open a research log of your experience of moving through the various parts of the programme in relation to their professional lives. An indicative template and guidance will be provided. The log should have regular brief entries (at least every two weeks) and provide a commentary and reflection on making sense of the doctoral, work and general life experiences. The log does not employ academic references unless you wish to engage with particular sources as a part of the log and its experiences.

This log will operate, and be maintained, for the duration of the programme and will be submitted alongside the final thesis programme upon submission (minimum 2000 words in overall length). You must receive a ‘pass’ mark for this element (pass threshold for progression). Non-achievement of a pass mark will require a resubmission of the log element.

Establishment of, and engagement in, action-learning sets

Action learning sets will be formed at the commencement of the programme. Action learning sets provide a well-established and acknowledged management development methodology which allows programme participants to exchange and learn in a structured manner. While these are essentially self-directed, these will be overseen at distance by supervisors or a programme leader.

Identification of topic, and conduct of, preliminary literature review. Learning how to conduct a literature review or systemic literature review based on a WIP title and research questions.

This will be supported by two programmed two-day taught sessions.

Development of an understanding of research paradigms, epistemology, ontology, axiology and the development of a conceptual framework.

This will be supported by two programmed two-day taught sessions.

You will combine the learning from the Assignment 1 and 2 and begin to develop and consolidate, in assignment 3, an overall research design. In this phase there will be two two-day workshops to outline research design. 

During this module you will also continue to deepen and develop the chosen literature areas or methodologies related to their identified working research question(s). 

In this phase, ethical approvals and field work will also be prepared and be undertaken.

Preparation and presentation of a pilot study. The research design will be presented by first year and completing students at the flagship residential event in June (please see below).

Allocation of supervisors

Supervisory teams will begin to be assigned during the March-June phase but it should be anticipated that this may be a time-intensive activity involving negotiation. 

Two members of staff per student, including 1 main supervisor or director of studies and a secondary supervisor – will usually be allocated at the end of year 1 when the topics have been successfully developed, are clearer and allocation is therefore more readily facilitated.

In June there will be a two to three day residential for students on the DBA programme. This is likely to be held on the DMU campus. It will comprise, for example:

• Guest speaker and lecturer presentations
• An opportunity for you to present, discuss and receive feedback on your developing work - poster presentation as part of the 3rd module assessment.
• Business and organisational visits linked to conducting research methodology

At the end of year one – both full-time students and part-time students will participate in two inter-linked events: the DBA residential and also the BAL Faculty Milestone Day. The DBA Residential will most likely be on-site at DMU and will comprise posters and presentations of the research, guest talks, visits, activities etc. The overall aim of the residential is to develop skills, knowledge, community and confidence. The residential will be scheduled at the same time as the BAL Faculty Milestone Day programming. This is the major event constituting an opportunity to undertake Formal Review and progress to full admittance on to the doctoral thesis development stage of the programme.

The Milestone Day constitutes the Formal Review and the transfer to the doctoral thesis phase of the work. For those part-time students who have not successfully completed the three assignments in year one and are not, therefore, ready to undertake the Milestone Day, there will be an opportunity to complete this at the Milestone event in the following year. Full-time students must successfully undertake the Milestone Day at the end of year 1.

During Year 2 you will aim to complete advanced drafts of the Literature Review chapter and the Research Methodology Chapter for your thesis. These two documents will form the basis of your submission for the Probation Review. This is a specially convened panel with an internal examiner and a chair to conduct and oral examination in relation to your progress. The Probation Review must be passed for you to be able to progress to completion of the final thesis and the viva voce examination in line with normative doctoral processes.

In addition, if you has not yet successfully completed the three assignments related to the three modules in year one then these must be completed here in year 2.

Pilot Study

Conduct the Pilot study and monitor and analyse and initial write up results. The pilot study will provide you with an opportunity to draw together the learning from assignment 1, 2 and 3 in conjunction with the Research Log, Action-Learning Groups, Presentation and Residential.