Effects of Action Learning Strategies and Reflection in Teaching Business Research Methods in Business and Management Education

Abstract

In a rapidly changing business world, Research Methods (RM) and their application to real-world problems are becoming skills that equip students for the rest of their lives. Thus, there are ongoing debates about several practical and pedagogical challenges to teaching research methods. One of the questions to address challenges is how to make RM interesting to Business and Management (B&M) students. Addressing this issue becomes even more debatable for the large class seatings in an increasingly internationalised context. Arguably, to remain relevant, Management Education (ME) must reflect the realities that influence its subject matter, while at the same time addressing social needs and expectations. Therefore, introducing innovative and inclusive methods for learning, teaching and assessment is becoming undoubtedly important for shaping the future of ME. This article presents a reflective analysis of introduced innovative learning, teaching and assessment methods for teaching RM on one of the largest PG taught courses in one of the UK’s higher education institutions. In this course, students learn and develop a research proposal for the final PG project. The innovative methods employed in this course were to address the above-mentioned challenge, making RM more interesting for B&M students by improving an engagement. This was achieved by incorporating an active and action learning strategies in flipped classroom settings. The idea was to create an interactive environment where students could master technical information through Learning Set Conversation (LSC), Reflection, and Critical Analysis. Having, LSC about the Case Study, which was linked to research process, helped students to adopt multicultural environment and have a great experience while they were learning and developing their Research Proposal. In addition, introducing the weekly Reflective Work/Reflective Diaries submission as a form of assessment, helped students to keep Reflective Diaries, which allowed them to observe their own research practice and the lessons they have learnt. Effectiveness of the introduced methods and recommendations are based on the Mid-module feedback data which was taken form 3 different intakes between 2021-2023.