SHN6164 - Dissertation

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

Define and justify a proposal suitable for a study of 10,000 words.
Plan and carry out a piece of research in a logical, ethically acceptable and systematic manner using the appropriate data collection methods.
Analyse and interpret results.
Present findings and conclusions clearly and concisely and evaluate the research process in response to questioning.
Write an appropriately sectioned dissertation of 10,000 words.

Content:

The individual student will negotiate with a tutor a topic for research reflecting personal interest and areas, or approaches, previously introduced in the programme. This will include original research and data collection and will involve the use of techniques such as case studies, dietary surveys, laboratory work, interviews and surveys. Students may undertake a discipline-based, or professionally focused, study, e.g. developing and testing a marketing initiative, a nutritional behaviour change programme, or an educational intervention. Students will be required to comment on the significance of their results in relation to the work of other researchers and communicate their findings coherently. There will also be opportunities for students to undertake research for external organisations under careful supervision with both the tutor and outside mentor. Only students undertaking the 40-credit module will be eligible for this opportunity. Proposals requiring ethics approval are submitted to the department Ethics Committee.

Learning and Teaching Information:

An initial lecture series for the whole cohort, subsequently students will work independently under the supervision of an appropriate tutor to research and produce a dissertation. At the end of semester 2 dissertation students will make a short presentation to staff and peers to summarise their dissertation process and findings.

Lectures
Contact hours: 4
Intended Group size: 35

Tutorials
Contact hours: 6
Intended Group size: 1

Presentation
Contact hours: 2
Intended group size: 10

Guided self-study
Hours: 388

Other relevant matters
An acceptable submission of the first component is necessary in order to present for final assessment.

In order to undertake this module, students will need to gain permission from the module tutor before module commencement.
Students should normally have 60% plus in both the exam and the research proposal components (001 and 002) of Research Methods at Level 5 (SHL5302, SHL5482, SHN5662, SHN5852) and an overall 2i mean score for all Level 5 modules is required.

Assessment:

001 Research Proposal 1 x 1000 words (Pass/Fail) Mid semester 1 0%
002 Written Dissertation 1 x 10000 words end of semester 2 80%
003 Oral presentation 1 x 20 minutes end of semester 2 20%


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