Research Techniques and Methods (Skills)

CHEN64421 Research Techniques and Methods (Skills) 15 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 6 Marta Falkowska Unit coordinator Andrew Masters Unit coordinator Shaojun Xu Unit coordinator 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 <p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.4285em;margin:0px 0px 1em;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The material in the unit can be grouped into two sections: (1) Lectures and workshops to discuss and give experience of the various types of scientific and engineering literature, their use in literature surveys and their use in summarizing the state of a research area. (2) The practice of scientific communication, including writing, referencing and the design and oral defence of a poster.</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.4285em;margin:0px 0px 1em;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Each week of teaching will contain one hour of  face-to-face lecture and two hours of blended learning. The lectures, combined with material provided online, will cover the background to good scientific/engineering writing, going through such items as what is expected in the abstract, objectives, background, methodology, results, conclusions and bibliography sections of a report, what is expected in a poster and, in addition, information on searching the literature, academic malpractice, statistical analysis involving ANOVA and design of an experiment. The concept of critical analysis will also be developed. In the blended learning sessions, students will work in groups, carrying out tasks aiming to reinforce the taught material. This unit will also examine the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as chatgbt.</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.4285em;margin:0px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Matters of plagiarism and the importance of citing others’ work are important to <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgba(0,0,0,0.87);"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">this unit. A prerequisite is the standard online malpractice course.</span></span></p> <p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.4285em;margin:0px 0px 1em;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The material in the unit can be grouped into two sections:</p><ol><li style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Lectures and workshops to discuss and give experience of the various types of scientific and engineering literature, their use in literature surveys and their use in summarizing the state of a research area.</li><li style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The practice of scientific communication, including writing, referencing and the design and oral defence of a poster.</li></ol><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.4285em;margin:0px 0px 1em;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Each week of teaching will contain one hour of  face-to-face lecture and two hours of blended learning. The lectures, combined with material provided online, will cover the background to good scientific/engineering writing, going through such items as what is expected in the abstract, objectives, background, methodology, results, conclusions and bibliography sections of a report, what is expected in a poster and, in addition, information on searching the literature, academic malpractice, statistical analysis involving ANOVA and design of an experiment. The concept of critical analysis will also be developed. In the blended learning sessions, students will work in groups, carrying out tasks aiming to reinforce the taught material. This unit will also examine the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as chatgbt.</p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.4285em;margin:0px;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Matters of plagiarism and the importance of citing others’ work are important to this unit. A prerequisite is the standard online malpractice course.</p> <div><div><div><div><p><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">This unit develops the communication skills essential to the research proposal, to the MSc dissertation and to chemical engineering practice and reinforces material related to chemical engineering design. It seeks to develop skills in: </i><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgba(0,0,0,0.87);"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">- the critical reading of academic literature - searching research literature - summarising scientific knowledge in a poster and in a written summary - orally defending the contents of a poster - working in groups - critical academic writing - academic good practices - writing a structured literature review - designing an approach to solving a scientific or engineering problem</span></span></p></div></div></div></div> <p><span style="background-color:rgb(249,250,251);color:rgba(0,0,0,0.87);"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><strong>On successful completion of CHEN64421, a student will be able to… </strong>(1) </span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgba(0,0,0,0.87);"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Work effectively in groups so as to design an efficient set of experiments to solve a research problem with a number of variables. (2) Identify good practice in academic writing. (3) Write a structured literature survey, including an abstract, introduction, objectives, critical survey, conclusion and bibliography. (4) Orally defend the points made in a poster. (5) Prepare a poster that is well-designed with a structured content. (6) Conduct a literature survey into a given area, identifying key papers, and reference them in a professional manner. (7) Critically evaluate the quality and impact of individual research papers. (8) Conduct an ANOVA to analyse the data from a multiparameter experiment. (9) Present summaries and evaluations of the literature in written and poster form.</span></span></p> 0 Other 100% <figure class="table"><table style="width:500px;" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Assessment Task</strong></td><td><strong>Weighting</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Preparation and oral defence of a poster</td><td>40%</td></tr><tr><td>Long report, containing abstract, introduction, objectives, critical literature survey, conclusions and bibliography</td><td>40%</td></tr><tr><td>Short report where the content includes graphs, tables and the formatting of mathematical equations</td><td>20%</td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p> </p> MSc ACE MSc ACE PGDT Taught Component Mandatory MSc Adv Proc Integration & Des MSc Adv Proc Integration & Des PGDT Taught Component Mandatory N <div class="instructions" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:inherit;color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87);font-family:"Segoe UI", Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0.678571em 0.5em;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Reading lists are managed by The University of Manchester Library's <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(65, 131, 196);text-decoration:none;" href="https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/services/teaching-services/reading-lists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reading Lists Online service</a>.</div> Practical classes & workshops 11 0 139