BIOL63150
Dissertation Research Skills
30
Full year
Postgraduate Taught
Level 6
Patricia Gooding
Unit coordinator
School of Biological Sciences
1
FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 '
European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 15.0
<p style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By the end of this course unit, students will be able to:</p><ul style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <li> design a work plan integrating a specific research project into a broader research framework, eg a funding application;</li> <li> carry out a thorough review of the relevant literature as part of the dissertation research work and write-up;</li> <li> understand the importance of critical evaluation of peer reviewed publications of relevance to dissertation research work;</li> <li> understand the rationale underlying key dissemination practices and strategies across the psychological sciences and apply this understanding to their research project/dissertation work;</li> <li> design and write a grant proposal describing their proposed dissertation research project work in the styles required by key Research Councils;</li> <li> defend their research proposal;</li> <li> analyse the data produced for their dissertation/project work using appropriate analytic procedures;</li> <li> write a scientific report of their research project/dissertation work in the style appropriate for a peer-reviewed journal in the psychological sciences as appropriate to their research area.</li></ul>
<p style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By the end of this course unit, students will be able to:</p><ul style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <li> design a work plan integrating a specific research project into a broader research framework, eg a funding application;</li> <li> carry out a thorough review of the relevant literature as part of the dissertation research work and write-up;</li> <li> understand the importance of critical evaluation of peer reviewed publications of relevance to dissertation research work;</li> <li> understand the rationale underlying key dissemination practices and strategies across the psychological sciences and apply this understanding to their research project/dissertation work;</li> <li> design and write a grant proposal describing their proposed dissertation research project work in the styles required by key Research Councils;</li> <li> defend their research proposal;</li> <li> analyse the data produced for their dissertation/project work using appropriate analytic procedures;</li> <li> write a scientific report of their research project/dissertation work in the style appropriate for a peer-reviewed journal in the psychological sciences as appropriate to their research area.</li></ul>
<ul style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <li> To provide an introduction to the research process and the research community within the psychological sciences in a way which enables students to situate their own dissertation research work within that community.</li> <li> To enable students to situate their research dissertation work within key areas of the psychological sciences (eg clinical and health, developmental, cognitive sciences, neuroscience).</li> <li> To equip students with the skills necessary to critically evaluate published and unpublished research and use those critical evaluation skills throughout their research dissertation work.</li> <li> To assist students to define and develop their own research projects in the context of their research dissertations.</li> <li> To develop students' written and oral presentation skills for both academic and lay audiences so that they can write a research proposal for their dissertation work, write their research dissertation in accord with high quality peer reviewed journal papers, and present a poster disseminating their research dissertation skills.</li> <li> To provide students with a practical grounding in the advanced bibliographic and computing skills necessary for postgraduate research in psychology, with a focus on the literature review for their dissertations.</li> <li> To ensure students conduct an independent piece of research on a specific topic in the psychological sciences and to produce a written report of the research in the form of a dissertation with the goal of achieving publication standard.</li></ul>
<table style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; width: 676px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial;"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="left" style="width: 672px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <div class="PSEDITBOX" style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); border-width: 1px; border-color: rgb(153, 153, 153) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(153, 153, 153); border-style: solid; width: 672px; min-height: 50px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px; vertical-align: top;"> <p>In Semester 1, there will be seminars/workshops focusing on the skills generic to psychological research, but allowing students to apply these skills to their dissertation research work.</p><p>It will consist of lectures/workshops/seminars/peer group discussions providing a structured framework for the development of research questions, a literature review (required for the dissertation write-up), the development of a 12-month programme of research work (which is the dissertation research planning work), and dissemination of their dissertation research work.</p><p>Students will be required to defend their dissertation research proposal ‘Dragon’s Den’ style. Plagiarism will be explained in-depth early on in Semester 1 and expectations of M-level writing skills will also be covered.</p><p>In Semester 2, there will be a focus on critical analysis practice, practical skills underling data presentation, and the preparation of poster presentations of their dissertation research in the form of nine workshops. Six of these workshops will be devoted to critical analysis/evaluation skills. Each workshop will allow two papers to be evaluated.</p><p>Students will be invited to nominate papers relevant to their dissertation research work to be discussed. At the end of Semester 2, students will submit a 1,000-word critique of a paper key to their dissertation research work, and which was not discussed in the workshop. </p> <div> </div> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table><p> </p>
0
Other
100%
<ul style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <li> A 4,000-word grant application/research proposal based on the student’s dissertation topic (70%).</li> <li> A Dragon’s Den style defence of the grant application/research proposal (10%).</li> <li> A 1,000-word critical evaluation of a research publication of central importance to the research dissertation (20%).</li></ul>
<p>No information available</p>
N
<ul style="color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <li> Banister, p. et al., (2011). <em>Qualitative Methods in Psychology: A research guide.</em> Mc-Graw Hill.</li> <li> Field, A. & Hole, G. J. (2002). <em>How to Design and Report Experiments.</em> Sage Publications.</li> <li> Giles, D.C. (2002). Advanced Research Methods in Psychology. Routledge. </li> <li> Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B. & Zechmeister, J. S. (2012). <em>Research Methods in Psychology.</em> Mc-Graw Hill. </li> <li> Smith, J.A. (2008). <em>Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods.</em> Sage Publications.</li></ul>
Lectures
28
Practical classes & workshops
12
0
250