Course unit details:
Research Techniques and Methods (Skills)
Unit code | CHEN64421 |
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Credit rating | 15 |
Unit level | FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 1 |
Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
This unit develops skills essential to the research proposal and dissertation units. Students work in groups, studying a research theme - which is not necessarily linked to research area of their proposal and dissertation.
The first theme uses lectures and workshops to discuss and give experience of the various types of scientific and engineering literature, their use in literature surveys, their use in summarizing the state of a research area, and critical assessment of them explain the structure of a project proposal.
The second theme covers project design: experimental design and the time and resource planning required to deliver a successful project.
At the start of the module students are given a list of research themes with a short summary and some good papers (normally one review article and a number of research papers). They are assigned to groups, each with a different theme, based on expressed preferences for themes.
Group work:
1. Students will work in groups to conduct a literature survey on their group’s research theme, Having identified and understood the state of the art of that area, they will report on the literature survey and summarize the research theme in a scientific poster. Students will be given lectures on literature searching and a workshop during timetabled sessions, and do the survey outside of timetabled sessions.
2. Students will work in groups to design a poster presenting all or part of their research theme.
Matters of plagiarism and the importance of citing others’ work are important to this unit. A prerequisite is the course’s online exercises and/or self-assessment tests related to and citing the literature.
Aims
The unit aims to develop skills in:
- critical reading of academic literature
- searching research literature
- summarising scientific knowledge in a poster and written summary
- critical academic writing
- academic good practices
- designing an approach to solving a scientific or engineering problem
- writing research proposals
Learning outcomes
Classify the different types of written dissemination of research outputs in terms of scrutiny and timeliness.
Compare academic writing with other types of writing in terms of content and style
Identify good practice in academic writing
Conduct a literature survey into a given area, identifying key papers and summarizing the state of the art.
Report on the literature while avoiding academic malpractice.
Critically evaluate the quality and impact of individual research papers
Contrast groups of papers in a given research area
Summarize the results and methodologies used across a group of research papers in a given area.
Present summaries and evaluations of the literature in written and poster form
Design an efficient set of experiments to solve a research problem with a number of variables.
Plan a research programme, considering the resources required, and present a written report with GANTT chart, list of milestones and deliverables, and summary of resource requirements (assessed in the proposal module).
Appraise a research proposal
Work effectively in groups
Teaching and learning methods
Lectures and workshops supported by lecturers and graduate teaching assistants Group work outside timetabled periods to deliver group literature survey and prepare the poster Private study to summarize research article Private study to review a a research proposal. Poster session to present a poster and answer questions on a research theme
Knowledge and understanding
-Understand broadly the contents of research papers on a given research theme relevant to their field of study;
-Reflect on the quality and potential impact of research papers
-Appreciate the peer review process for publishing research;
Intellectual skills
Summarise the contents of research papers on topics relevant to their field of study in written and oral form.
Provide an overview of a research theme from the contents of relevant research papers;
Reflect on the process of searching the literature
Practical skills
Prepare diagrammatic, written and oral material to communicate research concepts effectively;
Use their own words to report published work;
Carry out an effective literature search
Transferable skills and personal qualities
Communicate research aims, methods, results and conclusions to a non-expert audience;
Gather information using a literature search;
Distil and summarise complex concepts;
Work effectively in groups.
Assessment methods
Assessment Task | Length | Weighting within uni (if relevant) |
Continuous Assessment | - | 100% |
1. Synopsis of a research article | 10h | 10% |
2. Literature survey of a research theme (with peer assessment weighting individual marks in the range 0.8x - 1.2x) | 35h | 30% |
3. Summary and critical analyss of a research aritcle | 15h | 40% |
4. Presentation of a research theme in the form of a poster (group mark for poster and individual mark for responses to questions) | 10h | 20% |
Feedback methods
See Table above
Recommended reading
Critical Thinking Skills (3rd Edn) Cottrell S., Macmillan Higher Education ISBN 9781137550507
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Practical classes & workshops | 11 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 139 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Bernard Treves Brown | Unit coordinator |