The Final Report presents the results of your independent research project. Your research project must be based on an industry-relevant research question, and should be presented in a professional format appropriate to the media industry sector under investigation. The research question should be clearly identified (on the title page and/or at the start of the report), and the industry sector should also be clearly evident.
In addition to research conducted specifically for the project, the report should draw on your prior learning (e.g. concepts or issues previously studied) and your knowledge of your chosen industry sector. It should synthesise all of these elements to engage in depth with your research question.
The research question should be developed in consultation with the Course Coordinator.
Research project design, including identification and use of industry sources, will be discussed in more detail in workshops. Feedback and questions from the Week 6 presentations may also be helpful in informing elements of the project (including the research question). The marking rubric is included below. Report writing and structure will also be discussed in workshops.
Remember that this is a desktop research project: in addition to scholarly sources, your project findings should be based on industry-relevant primary sources available in the public domain. Appropriately referenced case studies can also be used to illustrate issues discussed in the report. All sources should be referenced using University of Adelaide Harvard referencing style. As this is a desktop research project, please note that you are NOT permitted to undertake activities such as interviews or surveys – these types of human research need prior approval by the University’s Human Research Ethics Committee, and this approval is not possible within the time constraints of the course.
The word count for this report is 4500. This is calculated from the start of the Introduction to the end of the Conclusion – elements before and after this are not included in the word count.
An indicative structure for the report is:
Title Page
Table of Contents
Executive Summary (~200 words – additional to word count)
- The Executive Summary provides an overall summary of the study and its key findings and conclusions. You should write this with an industry audience in mind: the summary should be clear, concise and accessible, and it should emphasise the project’s industry-relevant findings and recommendations.
Introduction (~500-600 words)
The introduction should:
- Provide a broad overview of the industry ‘problem’ that the project is investigating (i.e. why is this a relevant or pressing issue for industry?)
- State your research question.
- Indicate the industry sector under investigation.
- Summarise your project’s scope (what did you look at?) and approach (how did you do it?)
- If using case studies, provide any necessary background or context to the cases.
- Provide any definitions required.
- Provide a statement of the significance of your research (why are you looking at this question? Why is it important? In what ways might the new knowledge this project provides be useful or relevant to industry practice?)
Background (~1000-1200 words)
- This section is your literature review (both academic and industry literature). It should outline what we already know about this topic, including from both academic and industry perspectives. You should use this section to identify key themes (and gaps, if relevant) in previous research/knowledge.
Methodology (~500-600 words)
- Outline how you approached your research question (i.e. how did you go about researching this question? What method/s did you use?) You should include details of any sampling strategies for collecting materials, and outline where your research materials (for example, industry reports) were gathered from. Try and be as specific as you can. Discussion of methods is always in the past tense.
- Remember that this is a desktop research project, so some research methods (e.g. interviews) are off-limits. However, there are a range of other approaches (e.g. content analysis, textual analysis) that can be productively used. You might, for example, analyse and evaluate new marketing strategies used in integrated marketing campaigns, using specific campaigns as case studies. Or you might trace how a particular industry issue is covered by industry or mainstream media to show how understandings of, and discourses about, industry practices have changed over time. Use the Methodology section to explain how you did your research, and why you did it the way you did.
- If you are adopting a case study approach, explain your choice of case studies (How/why did you choose your cases? How exactly did you gather your data about these cases?)
Findings (~2000 words)
- This is the section in which you present the findings of your research. Findings should comprise at least one third of the total word count of your project.
- Your findings are what provide the ‘answer’ to your research question, so you should present your material in the way that best does this. It can help, for example, to use sub-headings to identify key themes or points of focus.
Conclusion (~300 words)
- Your conclusion should summarise your ‘answer’ to your research question: what did your research find and why is this significant or useful? What have you contributed to understanding and knowledge about your industry problem?
- Discuss the limitations of your project: what worked? What didn’t? What couldn’t you find out? What might further research reveal?
Recommendations (~100 words)
- This section should include one or both of two types of recommendations:
- Recommendations for industry practice based on the findings of your report.
- Suggestions for future research: how might other researchers push this research question forward? What other approaches might they take? (i.e. What else would you do if you had more resources/time/different methods at your disposal?)
Reference List
Appendices (if needed)