EDM007-Investigating Education

Module Provider: Institute of Education
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Autumn term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2019/0

Email: n.majid@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

The aim of the module is to provide students with an overview of approaches to research in education in order to equip them both to understand and evaluate research studies and to carry out a small-scale personal research study for a dissertation. Topics to be covered include: the nature and purposes of educational research, formulating research questions, types of research design, methods of data collection and data analysis, ethical issues in research, writing a research proposal and structuring the dissertation. The assignment consists of either a research proposal or a comparison and critique of two empirical journal articles on a topic that is relevant to the dissertation.

Aims:

The aim of the module is to provide students with an overview of approaches to research in education in order to equip them both to understand and evaluate research studies and to carry out a small-scale personal research study for a dissertation.

Assessable learning outcomes:

Knowledge of different philosophical assumptions that underpin research and their influence on planning and carrying out research

• Understanding of research design and its relationship to research questions and purpose


• Identify and apply appropriate criteria for judging the integrity of research


• Understanding of research ethics


• Knowledge of the strengths and limitations of different research methods


• Knowledge of different methods for analysing qualitative and quantitative data

Additional outcomes:

• Project planning


• Critical analysis of educational research


• IT and advanced bibliographic skills


• Numeracy


• Awareness of dimensions of professional practice as a researcher

Outline content:

• The nature and purpose of educational research


• Philosophical approaches to education inquiry


• Planning a project and a thesis


• Experimental Design


• Survey Design


• Action Research


• Case Study Design


• Narrative Approaches


• Conducting Interviews


• Qualitative data analysis


• Quantitative data analysis


• Statistical Analysis and SPSS

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The module uses a mixture of lectures, seminars, group work and guided reading. Students are encouraged to identify a topic for investigation and to reflect on the content of taught sessions in relation to that topic.

This module runs twice/year Autumn daytime for full-time students and Summer- evening for part-time students

Summative assessment- Examinations:
n/a

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Written course work: one research essay of 3,000 words

Formative assessment methods:

Penalties for late submission:
Penalties for late submission on this module are in accordance with the University policy. Please refer to page 5 of the Postgraduate Guide to Assessment for further information: http://www.reading.ac.uk/internal/exams/student/exa-guidePG.aspx

Assessment requirements for a pass:

50%

Reassessment arrangements:

Resubmissions must be submitted within one calendar month of the notification of failure.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

Last updated: 22 August 2019