Weekly online
Join interactive online teaching, with guided reading, practical activities and assessment work around the live sessions. Your written course plan confirms the timetable, learning hours and masterclass arrangements for this module.
Professional learning · Executive Leadership
Advanced Business Research Methods.
Turn an important business question into a credible research proposal.
Good business research begins with a question that matters and a design capable of answering it. This module helps you move from a broad management concern to a focused, justified and feasible research proposal. You will examine relevant literature, compare methodological choices and plan how evidence could be collected and analysed. KBC’s proposed activities build the proposal progressively, giving you opportunities to test the connection between your question, methods and intended contribution. The aim is a coherent plan that explains what you want to investigate, why it deserves attention and how you would conduct the work responsibly.
Weekly route3 months
Live online2 hours a week
Module startsOctober · February · June
Learning structure1 module
The professional challenge
Make the next decision with more confidence.
A business wants to understand why employees leave, customers disengage or a new process underperforms. Initial explanations reflect opinion and selective examples. You must narrow the problem, assess what research already explains and design a feasible investigation that can produce useful evidence without overpromising what the findings will establish.
Who will benefit
For managers, business graduates and experienced professionals preparing for postgraduate research or a substantial workplace investigation. The module suits learners who have an area of interest but need a rigorous way to turn it into a researchable question. You should be ready to read critically and revise your ideas as evidence develops.
What you take back to work
Practical capability, built through learning.
- Develop a focused business research question with a clear rationale.
- Critically evaluate literature and use it to shape a research proposal.
- Justify methodological, sampling and analytical choices in relation to the question.
- Produce a feasible research proposal addressing access, ethics and limitations.
Inside the course
A connected learning journey.
KBC’s published route is a three-month module within the 18-month diploma programme. These learning blocks connect the unit outcomes with reading, discussion and practical application. A full OTHM unit includes 100 guided learning hours and 200 total qualification hours; your learning plan explains the allocation across teaching, directed activities, study and assessment.
01Shape a question that can be investigated
Move from an organisational concern to a defined research problem. Identify the intended audience, the decision or understanding the study could support and the limits of the available time and access. Learners compare possible questions, avoid building a preferred answer into the wording and explain what a useful contribution would look like.
Apply it at work: Develop a research question, objectives and a feasibility note.
02Build a critical conversation with literature
Search for relevant academic and professional work using a transparent approach. Evaluate the credibility, context and contribution of sources, then organise ideas around themes or disagreements. Learners practise comparing claims and methods rather than describing one article after another, and use the review to refine the question and identify a defensible rationale for study.
Apply it at work: Create a literature matrix and a short critical review.
03Choose a coherent research approach
Examine research philosophy alongside inductive and deductive reasoning. Compare designs and methods against the question rather than selecting a familiar technique first. Learners consider the strengths and limitations of qualitative, quantitative or mixed approaches, then explain how their chosen design connects the research objectives with the evidence needed and the conclusions that could reasonably follow.
Apply it at work: Write a justified methodology and compare it with one alternative.
04Plan access, sampling and responsible evidence collection
Decide who or what should provide evidence and how access could be obtained. Evaluate sampling choices, data quality and the practicalities of collection. Learners identify ethical questions, information-handling needs and potential pressures on participants, then design a proportionate plan that respects the setting and explains the consequences of restricted access or missing voices.
Apply it at work: Prepare a sampling, access and ethics plan with draft instruments.
05Design the analysis and complete the proposal
Plan how the proposed evidence would be analysed before collection begins. Check that the analysis can address the question and that the intended claims match the design. Learners assemble a coherent proposal with a timetable, limitations and resource requirements, then respond to critical questions about feasibility, contribution and the consistency of their methodological choices.
Apply it at work: Submit and defend an integrated research proposal.
Learn around your working life
Time to understand. Space to apply.
Online or in a city near you
Face-to-face delivery can be arranged in London, Maidstone, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. Your course offer confirms the venue and teaching dates.
A London masterclass to start your module
Meet your tutors and fellow professionals at an optional full-day London event. KBC covers the event, agreed transportation, refreshments and an open buffet dinner. Confirm arrangements with the team before booking travel.
Support between sessions
Return to class recordings and learning resources, bring questions to your tutor and use free one-to-one tutoring and coaching support. Your course plan sets out the guided reading and practice needed alongside live teaching.
Your route to recognition
Know what the assessment involves.
The official OTHM unit is Advanced Business Research Methods. The current specification gives coursework guidance of approximately 2,500 words, centred on developing a research proposal. KBC’s proposed workshops build its question, literature review, methodology and practical design. A proposal plans an investigation; it should not imply that a dissertation or full field study has been completed. Final requirements come from the issued assignment brief. The centre assesses the work against the criteria and OTHM provides external verification.
Your written offer records the award or course completion requirements, any examination fees included, and the relevant eligibility checks.
The professional knowledge behind the course
Explore the books and standards.
The learning themes above bring together the relevant guide, syllabus and workplace practice. KBC’s teaching sequence connects these ideas through discussion and application.
- OTHM Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership — qualification specification ↗OTHM · Current linked file: July 2025; document retains May 2020 footers
Official qualification structure and Advanced Business Research Methods learning outcomes, assessment criteria and coursework guidance. Full specification read.
- Research Methods for Business Students — Mark N. K. Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill ↗Pearson · 9th edition; 2023
Recommended reading: proposals, literature, research philosophy, design, access, ethics, sampling, collection and analysis.
Your investment
Get a course offer that fits your route.
Request the standalone fee for your chosen format, including the teaching, reading materials, assessment and membership arrangements relevant to this course.
Standalone professional development is self-funded or employer-funded. The agreed course offer explains any available support and the costs included.
Your questions, answered.
What is the official OTHM title?
Advanced Business Research Methods. The shorter page title should be understood in that qualification context.
Will I complete a dissertation?
The unit develops a research proposal. A dissertation is a separate piece of work with its own requirements.
Do I have to collect primary data?
The proposal should justify its evidence sources. Any collection activity must follow the issued brief and appropriate access and ethics requirements.
What would this help you achieve?
Talk to KBC about your experience, your goals and the right learning route for you.