Course Catalogue

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This course will explore major controversies within the history of scientific research. By focusing on standards and expectations of excellence in modern scientific research, it will show students what lessons can be learned from these controversies. Students will learn about the need for reliability, validity and strong ethics in scientific research. They will also get the opportunity to apply this knowledge by critiquing scientific research while creating their own research ideals.

The course will consist of 4x 1 hour core classes as well as 6x 1 hour seminars - this will make up 10 hours of contact teaching time. The core classes will run once a week, with each seminar running 4x a week (students should attend one seminar, at a time that is suitable to them).

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Each student will be given a choice of 5 studies which are deemed problematic. They will select one study and give a 5 minute presentation identifying problematic areas of the study. (20%) The presentations will be live in the last seminar. If the student is unable to present a live presentation, they will be permitted to send a recording to the course co-ordinators.

They will then be asked to write a 1000-word essay (80%) that outlines key changes that they would make to the study to allow it to be more empirically sound. The essay should also include 1 reference to modern literature which addresses the same issue in a more appropriate way. Finally, the essay should include 1 reflective paragraph on what they have learned during this course.

*students will be guided on how to locate appropriate literature

This course will aim to:

■ Introduce students to codes of empiricism which will include discussions of validity, reliability and ethics within research.

■ Increase students' knowledge of major areas of debates within the modern history of scientific research and enable the students to build informed opinions of these debates.

■ Provide guidance on how to analyse scientific literature in order to build the students' confidence in critical analysis.

■ Give students an opportunity to apply what they have learned by identifying and critically reviewing a highly debated subject area of research in science.

By the end of the course, students should be able to

■ Utilise some principles of criticality to the analysis of a scientific study design.

■ Outline how the elements of best practice (ethics, validity and reliability) should be applied to modern scientific literature.

■ Develop and present their own response to this debate as well as signpost modern literature's response to contentious areas of research.

■ Identify their own learning and increased criticality through reflective practice.

Students must submit 75 % of the course's summative assessment.