We would now like you to review the work of another learner on this course and provide them with your feedback.

Don’t forget: you do not need to be a subject expert to comment upon another person’s work as it is the process that we are interested in here.

Use the three criteria to evaluate the piece, ensuring that you are constructive and supportive.

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

You’re going to be asked to give feedback on the following aspects of the author’s assignment:

• Is the research problem presented first in a succinct yet compelling way? How ‘accessible’ is the research problem? Are the questions clear?
• Is the literature discussed directly related to the stated research question?
• Has the review built a focused argument and identified an appropriate research context?

Please keep this window open and do not navigate away before submitting your feedback. If you close the window or navigate to a different page, you will be given a new assignment to review when you return.

You must first submit an assignment in the previous step before you can review other learners’ assignments.

WEEK 4: RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY, RESEARCH DESIGN, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND RESEA...

Start date:

 

Introduction to research design

Good research design offers a viable route to gather appropriate material.

4.1

RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY, DESIGN, METHODOLOGY AND ETHICS ARTICLE

4.2

WHAT OUR CURRENT STUDENTS SAY VIDEO (03:36)

4.3

THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF RESEARCH ARTICLE

 

Research philosophy

An understanding of conceptual issues in how knowledge is produced.

4.4

RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY ARTICLE

4.5

ONTOLOGY ARTICLE

4.6

EPISTEMOLOGY ARTICLE

4.7

YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF ONTOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY DISCUSSION

 

Research design

A framework setting out the terms for data collection and analysis.

4.8

RESEARCH DESIGN ARTICLE

4.9

QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNARTICLE

 

Research methodology

Technique and tools for gathering and treating data.

4.10

IDENTIFYING RESEARCH METHODS QUIZ

4.11

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ARTICLE

4.12

CHOOSING YOUR RESEARCH METHOD OR METHODS ARTICLE

4.13

RESEARCH ETHICS ARTICLE

4.14

USING THE CERD FRAMEWORK TO THINK THROUGH THE DUTIES OF A RESEARCHER VIDEO (04:00)

 

 

Review of the week

A recap of what we've learnt this week.

4.15

BEGIN TO OUTLINE YOUR OVERALL APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY ARTICLE

4.16

REVIEW OF THE WEEK ARTICLE

 

4.1.

Research philosophy, design, methodology and ethics

Comment

This week, we tackle some large issues that many students might consider difficult, not relevant to them or else an annoying but necessary aspect of their thesis. In the Social Sciences, although the degree to which research projects explicitly address the issues and needs of research philosophy, design, methodology and ethics is likely to differ significantly, ALL research touches on all them.

In your PhD proposal, you will need to offer a clear description of the foundations of your research, which will include reference to research philosophy, research design and research methodology. This week you will begin to outline your overall approach and methodology.

In Arts and Humanities disciplines, the degree to which doctoral research projects consider these same issues can vary markedly according to subject area and the nature of the project. A project on English Renaissance drama, for example, is unlikely to engage with research ethics and may have only limited contact with research philosophy, in the sense that we will outline this week. For further guidance, Arts and Humanities applicants are advised to make contact with the Postgraduate Research Directors (PGR Directors) for their host departments. However, we hope that all potential PhD applicants read through this week’s information and tasks.

To provide some context, let us consider some broad interrelationships before going into more detail on each of these facets of research.