CONS7822 Assessment 4 Part 2 – Final report

1.0       Assessment aim

This assignment requires you to conduct an industry-based investigation into the topic of your choice, and present your findings in a professional report.

2.0       Learning outcomes associated with this assessment

LO3. Collect and analyse data and then formulate conclusions and recommendations.

LO4. Communicate research results in a professional manner.

3.0       Assessment tasks

This assessment requires you to present your data collection process, findings, discussion and conclusions of an industry-based investigation that answers your research question. You will also make recommendations based on evidence from your research and your reading that will help drive improvements within the construction industry in your topic area.

1. Present your data and findings using appropriate graphical and other presentation methods
2. Make connections within and between your collected data and wider literature
3. Develop an argument that connects your data to a discussion of the topic and draws logical conclusions
4. Provide evidence-based recommendations for industry improvements.

4.0       Report contents

Your report should be written and edited to professional standards and formatted according to the template that is provided on Moodle.

The report must NOT use any form of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) for any purpose. See the Moodle course for further clarification.

The assignment must include the following parts:

Student declaration

Write a declaration stating that no genAI has been used.

Executive summary

Each copy of the report must include an executive summary of between ½-1 page.

Confidentiality statement

Explain how you have maintained the confidentiality agreement you made with your participants as part of the ethics process.

Publication agreement

The report you produce is a public document and may be added to the Unitec Library collection or online document repository. Use the words provided in the template to state your agreement to this condition.

Acknowledgements (optional)

Anyone who has helped with proof-reading or editing of your report must be identified in your acknowledgements. You may also thank anyone you believe helped you in the process of producing your report. If you acknowledge your participants or the companies involved, you must maintain confidentiality and should not refer to them by name.

Table of contents

List of section titles and subheadings as required, with page numbers.

Table of Figures, List of Tables etc.

Figures include all graphics such as charts, graphs, photographs, maps or other illustrations. These should be numbered and listed with captions and page numbers.

Tables include any text, numbers or other data arranged in a row and column format. These should be numbered and listed with captions and with page numbers.

Glossary, List of abbreviations (optional)

If you are using a lot of specialist terms in your report it may be necessary to provide a glossary and/ or list of abbreviations to define these for your reader. Terms should be listed alphabetically.

Even if you include a list of abbreviations, all abbreviations should also be written in full the first time they are used in the text.

Text

This makes up the main body of the report. Section headings and sub headings are up to you to determine, but will usually follow the pattern described in the template table of contents.

Reference list

This section is arranged alphabetically by author. The list of references should follow the APA referencing system. APA referencing guides are available on Moodle or through the library website.

The reference list should contain ALL references cited in the text; every reference in the reference list should appear in the text. A bibliography (list of material read but not cited in text) is NOT required.

In the body of the report all quotes should be referenced: (Author, year, page number), and paraphrased or summarized material should be referenced (Author, year).

Appendices

Appendices typically contain additional information that is “nice to know” not “need to know” for the reader. Anything that is essential to the understanding of the report should be contained in the main text of the report, but appendices serve to make relevant supporting material available.

Information which MUST be included in your appendices include:

• A copy of your data collection frameworks e.g., interview questions, document analysis framework, observation framework etc;
• A table or other summary of your full data collection for each type of data you have used.

Information which MAY be included in your appendices include:

• Drawings or maps (eg to support case studies)
• Additional charts, graphs or tables

Information which MUST NOT be included in appendices:

• Ethics documentation
• Raw data that identifies your participants or their companies
• Documents which are not publicly available

5.0       Report style

Report style, including title page, must follow the template provided on Moodle.

Word count

5000-6000 words, counting all text between the start of the Introduction and the end of the Conclusions/Recommendations (not including title page, table of contents, references, appendices etc)

Margins

Margins should be 35mm on the left, 35mm to the top and 30mm to the right-hand margin and bottom of the page.

Page numbers

Page numbers should be located in a consistent position throughout the report.  They may be either centred at the bottom of the page or bottom right hand.

Every page except the title page should be numbered. The preliminary pages (all pages before Chapter 1) should be numbered in lower case roman numerals counting from the title page (i.e., i, ii, iii, iv …). The title page is counted as page i, but the number on the title page is not shown (if you use the template provided, this is set up for you.)

The rest of the report should be numbered in Arabic numerals (i.e., 1, 2, 3 ,4 …). Any maps, diagrams, tables or illustrations inserted into the text should be included in this sequence, as should the appendices.

Line spacing

Text throughout the reports should be printed with 1.5 spacing. Tables may have closer spacing but should not be less than standard single spacing.

Illustrations and diagrams

Any figures, photographs, illustrations, maps, graphs, charts, etc., contained in the report must be clearly legible and consistent in all copies.

All illustrations should be numbered and captioned according to APA 7^th format. Illustrations must be relevant to the project and text (not clip-art).

Standard of finished work

You should carefully proof-read your report before submission.

Anyone who has helped with proof-reading must be stated in the Acknowledgements section of your report. You may be requested to provide a copy of your original work as it looked prior to proof reading, so ensure your proof reader does not directly edit your electronic file but either marks up a hard copy, or saves a separate copy using Track Changes.

6.0       Submission

This assignment is worth 60% of your course mark.

All 3 parts of the submission are to be submitted to Moodle by 9am Friday 6^th June 2025.

For complete information on extensions, APCs and late submissions please refer to the Assessment section on Moodle.

Assignments submitted late will be penalised by a deduction of 10% per day, up to 5 days, inclusive of weekends. Assignments handed in more than 5 days after the deadline will not be marked.

Loss of files is not a valid excuse for a late hand in. Your submission will not be marked until all three parts are submitted via the drop-boxes provided.

1.    Report submission – Microsoft Word document

A single Microsoft Word document i.e. one document containing title page, table of contents, report content, references and any appendices must be submitted to the Turnitin dropbox.

2.    Student research file – zip folder

This file is kept by the course co-ordinator for 5 years, to conform to the requirements of the Unitec Research Ethics Committee. It is a confidential file and so personal and company names and raw data are all included.

Your student research file must contain:

• all of your ethics documentation (ethics approval application form with supervisor’s and course coordinator’s signatures, information sheet, signed participant consent forms)
• your raw data (completed questionnaires, interview recordings and notes, interview transcripts (if used) or summary notes,). If you have used document analysis, do not include the documents themselves, but include a list of the all the documents you have used, and the table, spreadsheet etc that you used to extract the relevant information.
• copies of any other communication with participants (emails, letters).

This material should be saved to a Compressed (zipped) folder before uploading to the dropbox provided on Moodle.

File names for your submissions should be as follows:

Reports: IP2_2022 (Student name ID)_(xxxx words)

Research file: IP2_2022 (Student name ID)

(Student name ID) = Your name and student ID

(xxxx words) = word count of all text between the start of the Introduction and the end of the Conclusions/Recommendations (not including title page, table of contents, references, appendices etc)

E.g.,

IP2_2022 Ima Student 1234567_5434 words.docx

IP2_2022 Ima Student 1234567_5434 words.pdf

IP2_2022 Ima Student 1234567.zip

Any material that identifies your participants or their companies must be in your Research File only. Within your report submission (including appendices) you must maintain strict confidentiality of any information that is not publicly available.

7.0       Marking schedule

Refer to separate marking schedule documents provided on Moodle. There are 2 marking schedules that are slightly different; which one applies to your report will depend on your research approach:

1. Case study – where your research is centred on a specific case (company, development, project, building, individual), marks are allocated allocated to a Case Study section in your report. This provides information on the case study context and should be of sufficient detail to assist the reader in their interpretation of your findings.
2. Non-case study – where there is no case study, the context needs to be developed from the data collected, so the Findings section is worth more marks.