This site is for the version of the module that will run 26th - 31st October 2015. The sites for the other runs of the module are still accessible here.
Session Content
Preliminary Activity
No preliminary reading for this session. You will, however, need to give some advance thought to the research proposal that you intend to submit as part of your coursework for this module. These are the areas that you will need to cover in the proposal, so think about them and prepare some notes in advance of the session. A maximum word limit has been suggested for the first area. I have not given guidelines for the word lengths of the other areas because this will depend on the nature of the project, but all of these areas will need to be covered adequately within the 3500 word total.
This will be a brief statement that outlines in general terms the area or issue or process etc that you intend to research. You should also give some thought to the rationale for the research, which is to say, why it is of particular interest to you and why it might be of interest to others at this point in time. It may be relevant to cite current legislation, official reports, or other current developments in education, but you should not, in the proposal itself, engage in an extended discussion here. You will need to keep this section below 500 words.
Here you should identify two recent and relevant research articles (ie empirical research published (or originally published) in English language research journals and NOT official documents, reports, works directed at a professional audience, or book length works). You will need to discuss the work critically and this should include a methodological analysis. Think about the arguments that are presented in the research and how these are justified in terms of the data that was available to the researchers; how are validity and reliability established, if, indeed, these aspects are relevant to the research? Think also about the ways in which the authors have interpreted the data and their findings. You should not approach these reviews from the position of seeking out faults in the research, although it is legitimate to point to limitations. You will need to think about the relationship of each piece of research to the research that you intend to conduct.
You are not obliged to identify by name a particular approach to your research, that is, you do NOT have to say that you will be conducting a GT or a phenomenological study etc. Indeed, it is more likely that you will be drawing inspiration from a range of approaches that have been presented on the module. What is important is that you are as clear as possible at this stage on the details of the approach that you will be taking and on your reasons for taking this decision. If you intend to engage in AR, then you should consider whether it is going to be possible to complete more than one cycle (probably not), if you intend to conduct a study based on grounded theory, to what extent are you going to be able to deply theoretical sampling, are you going to be able to proceed as far as theoretical saturation? It may be more appropriate to draw on some of the lessons of GT (open coding, memoing, constant comparison) in producing a thematic analysis of your data (ie rather than pushing as far as conceptualisation and a core concept). You should mark out clearly the relationship of these decisions to the methodological literature.
Brief description
Give a brief description of the setting (eg a school classroom etc) or possible setting for the research.
Access
Indicate how you will gain access to the setting and whose permission you will need to obtain etc.
Sampling
Outline your sampling strategies. If you intend to adopt theoretical sampling, you should consider whether you are likely to be able to proceed as far as saturation. In general, this is unlikely in the context of a masters dissertation.
Data collection
Outline your data collection strategies. If you intend to conduct interviews, give some sense of how you intend to manage them and consider whether or not audio recording and transcription will be possible/desirable; if you intend to undertake observation, consider whether the use of a stills camera might be useful, and so forth. Consider whether you might want to gather quantitative data at any point. If you intend to arrange group interviews or focus groups, then consider using a video recording in order to facilitate transcription.
Data analysis
Give some thought to your likely approach to data analysis. You may choose to adopt some of the strategies of GT, making use of open coding, memos, open coding proceeding to conceptualisation and the development of a core category and (if appropriate) selective coding, constant comparison, saturation. Given the limitations of time for the production of an MA dissertation, theoretical saturation and possibly the identification of a core category may be unduly ambitious and you may be required to identify your sample at the outset, which would rule out a theoretical sampling approach. If you intend to make use of visual data, think about the analytic resources that you might draw on here.
Contingencies
Try to anticipate any difficulties that you might encounter, including the possibility of subjects dropping out of the research for any reason.
Ethical issues
There is no such thing as a research project that has no ethical issues to consider, even if the work is entirely theoretical. Most important, though, is to reflect on the ethical issues relating to the use of data collected from people. Reflect on the issues raised in the BSA/BERA/BPA codes and consider how they relate to your research. How will you obtain the informed consent of your subjects and, if relevant, their carers? What information will you need to give them?
Professional/researcher development
You should give brief consideration to the ways in which you hope your research will contribute to your own professional and/or researcher development, linking this to the rationale that you provide in the first section.