EDUC60452 Educational Research Methods and Design

Educational Research Methods and Design EDUC60452

For the assessment for this course unit you are required to prepare a Reflective Research Proposal based on your dissertation project. The Research Proposal process will enable you to think through some important issues and provide an agenda for discussion with your supervisor and the rest of the group. The assignment should be 3000 words in length (+/- 10%) (excluding references) and will constitute two parts: a research proposal (approximately 2000 words) and a reflective account (approximately 1000 words). Both parts are described in more detail as follows:

Part 1: The research proposal (2000 words)

This part should be detailed yet focused and ideally contain the following information:

The title of the proposed research study
An introduction that identifies the research aims and objectives and provides a rationale for the study (i.e. why it is worth doing?) Think about:

yourself and your professional interests and goals;
what is happening in a particular context that requires the research to be undertaken

Details of the context in which the study will take place (e.g. country; region; town; organisation etc.)

A literature review that identifies the current state of play in your research area as well as defending the need for your new study/analysis. Ideally this part should end with the gap in knowledge and statement of your research questions.

The presentation of a clear set of research questions (absolute maximum of three, less is better) that can be clearly operationalized (i.e. tested and examined during the research process in a way that allows you to answer them)

The research design and method(s) of data collection and methods of data analysis.
For primary data collection: describe the methods you need to use to both collect your data, the instruments for data collection, and sampling and justify your decisions (why they are best suited to answering your research question).
For secondary data analysis: Description of data source(s) and identify why the method and data you plan to use is the best suited to answering your research question.
For a Literature Review you should include detail of your literature review methodology and intended methods of review (e.g. from where and how you will source your literature).

Methods of analysis: How you propose to analyse your data

Ethical issues: What will you need to consider when designing and undertaking your inquiry to ensure you are conducting research in an ethical manner?

Timeline: You should describe the stages in the research project and when you aim to complete particular aspects by

Part 2: The reflective commentary (1000 words)

For this part of the assignment you will be expected to reflect on the development and design of your research inquiry. Key issues to think about will include an acknowledgement of the perceived limitations of your research and the reasons for these. You will also need to think about the process of developing your proposal. What were the key considerations? What are the strengths of the proposal? What did you find most challenging about the process?

You should aim to be critical and honest in your self-appraisal and consider your strengths and weaknesses as a researcher.

Additional information

References:

You should also provide a list of the literatures you have read (so far) including methodological sources you have consulted in order to design your proposal. These books/articles should reflect the literature/theory focus, and the research methodology.

It is important to negotiate access to the collection of data so that you do not create your own barriers. If, due to events and unforeseen developments, you need to make amendments to your original proposal then your supervisor will give you guidance on this.

Manageability:

The proposal allows your dissertation supervisor to check what you intend to do and give you guidance in relation to whether it fits in with the aims and objectives of the course or programme. It is important that you are not too over ambitious and try to collect too much data, and equally that you are not too simplistic and collect data that is trivial and lacking in rigour.

Submission:

This course uses Turnitin for assignment submission. Turnitin is an online submission and marking system. Assignments are submitted to Turnitin via Blackboard. A submission portal will be available before the submission date through which you can upload your research proposal. Your research proposal will be marked and your grade and feedback will be available online within three weeks of submission. Some of the proposals will be marked by two tutors as part of the University’s quality control requirements. Turnitin will check your work for plagiarism and provide a report to the tutor on any element of plagiarism detected.

The research proposal needs to be submitted through Turnitin by 14:00 on Thursday 17th May 2018.

Self-plagiarism – A note of caution:

Because of the nature of this assessment task you are likely to be developing content that will, when you come to write it, be very similar to that which will form the content of your dissertation. This is just a note to be aware of this when you do write the dissertation up that you don’t simply copy and paste sections from this assessment task into your final submission as this will show up as self-plagiarism on Turnitin and you will be penalised for this. You will have to ensure that you paraphrase and rewrite sections sufficiently that this does not occur.

Educational Research Methods and Design EDUC60452