SED7153 - Research Methods for Education

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, participants will be able to:
Critically examine how national/institutional policy impacts on choice of research in the context of own personal/professional practice;
Propose and design appropriate question(s), hypothesis/ses or a specific enquiry for research into an educational issue;
Identify and explain relevant research literature and scholarship in the substantive field in order to situate the planned research in relation to the existing field of enquiry;
Judge between a range of possible modes of enquiry, and discuss and justify the chosen research design and particular approaches;
Critically judge and assess the particular methodological, ethical and practical issues relating to the planned research;
Plan, formulate and justify a research proposal for undertaking a piece of educational research, including drafting ethical clearance documents where appropriate.

Content:

The module will cover content that will enable students to create a fully justified research proposal for their final phase module (Empirical Dissertation, SED 7166; Philosophical Dissertation, SED 7176, or Major Study, SED 7186). It will therefore cover:
- Identifying a focus for the research, and developing appropriate questions/hypotheses /a specific area of enquiry;
- Situating the planned research in the light of current research literature and scholarship in the field, and identifying and making best use of existing sources;
- Justifying an approach for pursuing the enquiry that takes account of different epistemoplogical and methodological traditions of research;
- Qualititative and quantitative methods of data collection, and mixed methods approaches in education;
- Approaches to the analysis of data such as phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches, and descriptive statistics;
- The principles of ethical inquiry in educational contexts, and applying for ethical clearance.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Learning will include lectures, small group discussion workshops, student presentations, seminars and independent study. Students will use an online forum on Moodle both to share emerging ideas for their planned research, and to receive both peer and tutor formative feedback on their plans. Learning will be supported by module tutorials. Students must attend an aditional review tutorial to discuss their research plan. This formal tutorial will agree the focus of the research for phase 3 of the programme, and which module in this phase is most appropriate for them to study given their emerging research idea. Participants will be expected to draw on their own professional experiences and personal contexts in order to contribute to, and lead, group activities.
At the end of this module which marks the end of phase 2, students undertake a formal reflective review with their Progress Tutor and peers before progressing to phase 3. The aim of this review is to facilitate a discussion on each student's choice of research topic for phase 3, and allows the Progress Tutor to discuss and agree the module most appropriate to enable the student's research in the final phase.

Scheduled teaching and learning: seminars and workshops
Hours: 24
Intended group size: 20

Tutorials
Hours: 20

Formal Review Tutorials
Hours: 20

Guided independent study
Hours: 236

Further details relating to assessment

Is this module exempt from condonement of marginal failure? Yes

All students will prepare a full research proposal for research that they will undertake in the final phase of the programme. All students will be required to consider the ethical implicaitons of their planned research, and will complete the LTU Research Ethics Self-Assessment form as part of their formal submission. Students who identify as needing to obtain ethical approval, or who are planning to undertake empirical research, will be required a full ethical clearance application prior to commencing any data collection involving human participants (or human tissue, animals etc) as required under the LTU Research Ethics Policy.

Other relevant matters
Students are entitled to one tutorial during the module if they wish to discuss material relating to the module and/or its assessment. They are, however, required to attend a formal review tutorial to agree the focus of their research for phase 3 of the programme, and to provide them with guidance over which module would be most appropriate to study in phase 3 given their emerging research plan.

Assessment:

001 Proposal; 6,000 words; end of semester 2 100%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Leigh Hoath
Level - 7
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - SED7123 OR SED7133
Semester(s) Offered - 7PGS2

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