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HL20490: Critical & applied social sciences research

Follow this link for further information on academic years Academic Year: 2016/7
Further information on owning departmentsOwning Department/School: Department for Health
Further information on credits Credits: 12      [equivalent to 24 CATS credits]
Further information on notional study hours Notional Study Hours: 240
Further information on unit levels Level: Intermediate (FHEQ level 5)
Further information on teaching periods Period:
Academic Year
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Summary: CW 50%, PF 50%
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Detail:
  • Assignment (3000 words) (CW 50%)
  • Portfolio (3000 words) (PF 50%)
Further information on supplementary assessment Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Further information on requisites Requisites: Before taking this module you must take HL10355
Further information on descriptions Description: Aims:
To develop students' understanding of research methods for sport, physical activity and exercise and for them to extend and apply them to enable them to complete a dissertation proposal.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit students will have:
* An understanding of techniques of small-scale enquiry including interview-based, observational and media analysis approaches
* An understanding of research as a process; how to develop an appropriate research design, and how to locate and review recent social science literature in an appropriate field.
* An understanding of techniques of analysis
* An understanding of the key approaches to 'writing' in the social sciences.
On completion of this unit students will be able to:
* Critically evaluate the process of social science research in sport and physical activity
* Design a dissertation study in sport and physical activity

Skills:
Intellectual:
* Develop and apply the skills needed for academic study and enquiry F
* Evaluate both research and evidence critically and assess a variety of information sources T/A
* Analyse and synthesise written information from multiple sources F/T/A
Professional Practical:
* Undertake detailed and informed long- and short term planning F
* Oral presentation skills F
Transferable/Key:
* Take responsibility for personal learning and development F
* Manage time and prioritise workloads F
* Information management skills T/A
* Work independently to identify and achieve clear goals F

Content:
The unit will be divided into two parts:
Part 1 Methodological Approaches to Social Science
* Preliminary considerations: paradigms and philosophical positions, generating research questions, use of theory to inform research, research ethics and reflexivity
* Methodological approaches in the social sciences: critical engagement with a number of methodological practices that are designed to generate data related to context (e.g. textual analysis, media analysis, surveys, secondary data sets), people (e.g. interviews, focus groups, participant observation, PAR, questionnaires, authoenthography) and places (e.g. ethnography, case studies, observation)
* Innovating methodological practices: critical engagement with the way that visual, digital and participatory methodological practices can be deployed to collect data related to context, people and places.
Part 2 Contextualising and Generating Research Proposals
* Doing contextual research: a critical engagement with contextualising, designing and judging research within the current social, political, economic and historical moment
* The politics of interpretation: a critical engagement with the strategies and practices of analysis and interpretation of data
* Disseminating sport research: a critical engagement with writing as a method of enquiry and the various forms of expression (e.g. performance, poesis, 'scholarly', narrative) that vie for legitimacy within social science
* Proposing research: a guide to writing an undergraduate research proposal.
Further information on programme availabilityProgramme availability:

HL20490 is a Designated Essential Unit on the following programmes:

Department for Health
  • UHHL-AFB11 : BA(Hons) Sport & Social Sciences (Year 2)
  • UHHL-AKB11 : BA(Hons) Sport & Social Sciences with Professional Placement (Year 2)

Notes: