KA7068 - Research Project

A member of academic staff will guide you during your execution of your research project and while you write your dissertation. Additionally, the member of academic staff will monitor your compliance with the University’s research ethics and governance policies and procedures, compliance with the University’s health, safety, and well-being policies and procedures, and your adherence to the University’s codes of practice to safeguard the confidential nature of the data you collect. This includes ensuring you have received research ethics approval following your engagement with the University’s Research Ethics Online tool. You must gain research ethics approval before you collect any data; this is a mandatory University requirement.

As your research project will require you to engage in a substantive amount of independent work, a member of academic staff will support you as a supervisor. The allocation of a supervisor will enable you to obtain formative feedback on the development and progress of your project. Throughout your period of engagement, your supervisor will guide you through the process of formalising, executing, preparing, and writing-up your dissertation during supervision sessions. You must meet with your supervisor on at least six occasions.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Propose a clear and logical research design, data collection, and analysis strategy which is appropriate to the research context, variables, and attributes of your intended data.
2. Evaluate different methodological approaches and data collection and analysis techniques.

Intellectual / Professional Skills & Abilities:
3. Define, refine, and operationalize a researchable topic that is succinctly focused and critically justified in terms of its theoretical framework and research methodology and accurately reflects the philosophy of your programme of study.
4. Conduct a focused literature search of library and web-based materials (including institutional data and advanced scholarly material) and critically appraise and analyse your findings.
5. Integrate and modify ideas, concepts, and theoretical models that you have selectively extracted from scholarly literature sources.
6. Critically appraise and test the applicability of theoretical models to your researchable topic.
7. Design a detailed programme of research, data collection, and analysis that integrates research goals, data requirements, and standardised methods of collection and analysis, and takes into consideration theoretical and methodological constraints and limitations.
8. Identify carefully considered gaps in your completed research and propose appropriate and relevant possibilities for further research.
9. Write an original research publication, which does not exceed the stipulated word limit, in an academically acceptable format, which is theoretically and methodologically linked, paying attention to the integration of the literature review, the focused choice of methodology explained in comparative terms, the critical evaluation of your data, and the clear and concise presentation of new results

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
10. Design and execute a detailed programme of research, data collection, and analysis that takes into consideration the professional, research ethics, and governance characteristics of a Northumbria University postgraduate student.

Formative Assessment
Academic staff on the module will assess you in a formative manner to help build your confidence and highlight any misunderstandings you may have of the theoretical, professional, and research design concepts used in the module. Your formative feedback will be given to you either verbally by academic staff on the module during formally-scheduled supervision sessions or digitally using the University’s VLE. Your formative feedback aims to help you learn and prepare for the submission of your summative assessment.

Summative Assessment
Academic staff on the module will assess you in a summative manner by one project in the form of a dissertation, which will evaluate your ability to satisfy all the module’s learning outcomes. You will use the University’s VLE to sit the examination. Academic staff on the module will use digital feedback tools to issue your feedback.

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The module facilitates a process by which you will use and extend the knowledge and skills you have acquired thus far as a postgraduate student. Using an appropriate research methodology and associated research methods for the collection and analysis of data, you will critically synthesise a body of knowledge relevant to your programme of study to investigate an approved topic of your choice. Upon successful completion, you will be able to demonstrate an ability to conduct research and organize the findings into a comprehensive formal original research publication. This will require you to critically evaluate your contribution to current knowledge and understanding of your chosen topic area. You will be allocated a supervisor who will provide appropriate guidance and support throughout the module while encouraging learner autonomy.