APME81-Individual Capstone Project

Module Provider: School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
Number of credits: 60 [30 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Spring / Summer term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Ms Sandra Preciado
Email: s.l.preciado@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

Your Capstone Project is an opportunity to integrate and apply all you have learned to the design and implementation of a practical, hands-on project with a consumer behaviour focus. Select a project that will bring improvement to your current professional and academic sphere of influence, e.g. by addressing a problem at an external organisation or an issue that you may have encountered within your profession, institution, or organisation – something that needs a creative solution! With the support of a supervisor, you'll set out objectives, develop an appropriate methodology, analyse data, and identify an innovative but realistic solution in your final report.

Aims:

• conduct an independent investigation of an issue relevant to the content of the MSc programme of which it forms a component, under the guidance of an academic member of staff. 


• Effectively apply theories and concepts learned on the programme to real life consumer behaviour issues


• provide an opportunity to study a particular consumer behaviour related topic in depth;


• combine relevant theories and suggest alternatives in order to solve real consumer behaviour issues;


• enable the student to show evidence of their ability to plan and manage a project within deadlines

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• demonstrate acquisition of detailed knowledge and understanding on a specialist subject


• present a succinct synthesis and review of theoretical and empirical literature relating to their chosen topic


• collect appropriate data 


• present a systematic and carefully structured analysis of information collected 


• apply cognitive skills, including analysis and argument, to draw relevant and defensible conclusions and show how these are related to the existing literature


• write a substantial and well structured report to defined standards of presentation including comprehensive and accurate referencing.?

Additional outcomes:

• development of time management skills •development of skills in using computer software for production, editing and presentation of documents.

Outline content:

Students will be required, in consultation with and the approval of their supervisor, to produce an original report. Students will be required to produce an acceptable proposal of their ideas and subsequently to produce written work of sufficient quality to demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge appropriate to their topic or question.

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

An initial lecture will be delivered at the very beginning of the Spring Semester to prepare the students for this project and a series of 5 2 hours lecture will be given early in the Summer semester to prepare the student for the project proposal and the final capstone project document. A blog group will be created early on via BlackBoard so students can share ideas and for tutors to help these ideas develop, This is an independent study module. The student will be the project manager. A pro ject facilitator (similar to a dissertation tutor) will be assigned to each student at the beginning of the summer semester. 

The contact hours below are indicative only.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Lectures		2	10
Seminars		10
Tutorials		10
Guided independent study:		60	508
Total hours by term	0
Total hours for module	600

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Report	15
Project output other than dissertation	85

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

Students will write a report  of 10-12000 words, covering an introduction, a review of the relevant literature, the research questions, an explanation and justification of the design, a description of the conduct and analysis of the research, and a discussion of the findings in relating to the literature and methodological issues, drawing insights and/or conclusions.

It is mandatory that the student takes note of and fully complies with the university’s guidelines on Research Ethics, and the School procedures for ethical clearance for research: information on these is given in programme handbooks and is available from the SAPD Student Offices. Failure to do so may lead to deductions of marks and data collected without prior authorisation following the specified procedures may be considered ineligible for use as part of the research. 

Formative assessment methods:

There will be an opportunity for the students to receive formative feedback through the regular meetings that have with their project facilitator throughout the Spring and Summer semester.

Penalties for late submission:

The below information applies to students on taught programmes except those on Postgraduate Flexible programmes. Penalties for late submission, and the associated procedures, which apply to Postgraduate Flexible programmes are specified in the policy 'Penalties for late submission for Postgraduate Flexible programmes', which can be found here: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmissionpgflexible.pdf
The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

An overall mark of 50% is required for a pass

Reassessment arrangements:

Reassessment of this module will take the form of a  resubmission of coursework

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

1) Required text books:  None

2) Specialist equipment or materials:  None

3) Specialist clothing, footwear or headgear:  None

4) Printing and binding:  None

5) Computers and devices with a particular specification:  None

6) Travel, accommodation and subsistence:  None

Last updated: 30 March 2023