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ED50369: Contemporary issues in educational research 2: competent producers

[Page last updated: 05 August 2021]

Academic Year: 2021/2
Owning Department/School: Department of Education
Credits: 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 120
Level: Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7)
Period:
Semester 2
Assessment Summary: CW 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Coursework (CW 100%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites:
Aims: The aims of this unit are to enable students to:
* understand and respond to the complexities in identifying research questions, designing and undertaking educational research;
* gain an understanding of working within a research community;
* develop an understanding of the continuum of participatory research from that often described as emancipatory, research that strives to be collaborative through to developing approaches that seek to engage marginalized groups; but also researching powerful people;
* communicate and discuss research;
* gain knowledge and experience of different educational research strategies e.g. development workshops, action research, ethnography, evaluation research, narrative inquiry;
* gain knowledge and experience of innovative methods of data collection including those with children and issues of validity.

Learning Outcomes: Completion of this unit, and associated course-work, should enable students to:
* understand the planning and decision-making process in designing educational research;
* understand ethical considerations, and be able to make appropriate and reasoned responses;
* have knowledge of official guidelines on ethical issues;
* gain experience in working on a research project;
* understand the continuum of participatory and collaborative approaches within research and be able to identify their own stand point;
* have gained the knowledge to be able to select and use from a range of methods of data collection;
* have experience of generating educational research.

Skills:
* Problem formation and analysis, research and critical reflection/evaluation (T/F/A)
* Working under supervision and independently as a researcher
* Independent work and self-directed learning (F)
* Group and team work with researchers (F)
* Individual and group presentation skills (F)
* Written communication (A).

Content: Through seminars and working groups the following aspects will be explored:
* Starting places as producers of research and generators of educational knowledge: problems, questions, purposes
* Linking problems to theory and design
* Ethical practices in educational research
* The continuum of participatory research
* Researching with Children
* Researching sensitive issues
* Research and marginalized groups
* Interview and observation in educational settings
* Web-based research including multi-media accounts
* Researching powerful people.

Programme availability:

ED50369 is Compulsory on the following programmes:

Department of Education

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2021/22 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2022/23 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2021/22.
  • Programmes and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.