Title: Higher education students' views of conducting traditional research projects under supervision

Authors: Ramesh Gupta; Pravin Balaraman; Tom Keegan

Addresses: School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, Scotland, UK ' School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, Scotland, UK ' School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley PA1 2BE, Scotland, UK

Abstract: Universities compete for an increasingly diverse student population by utilising digital technology to meet educational requirements. The literature currently lacks an empirical assessment of undergraduate and masters students' views of research and academic writing skills teaching. We sought the views of business students in a mixed methods study utilising survey and focus group data underpinned by an interpretivist methodology. Our qualitative and quantitative findings and results demonstrate students' enthusiasm for our traditional approach to teaching research and academic writing skills. Students particularly benefit from supervisors' guidance in this endeavour. We therefore advocate retention of traditional approaches to teaching research and academic writing skills to meet students' needs to make universities competitive in an international market. Further research is now required to determine the views of university undergraduate and masters students in all disciplines. Supervisors, whose contributions are valued by students, need now to be equally recognised by their universities.

Keywords: higher education; student diversity; traditional research skills teaching; academic writing skills; supervisors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2025.145889

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2025 Vol.26 No.3, pp.362 - 388

Received: 18 Feb 2023
Accepted: 05 Jul 2023
Published online: 30 Apr 2025 *

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