This course provides training in a variety of research methods and data analysis techniques relevant to practitioner research in education and multi-professional practice. It explores how practitioners can make use of evidence or the knowledge generated by social research, examines the use of existing research and the creation of new evidence through evaluation, and explores initiatives for promoting greater exchange between researchers and educational practice.

Three one-hour online support sessions

One weekend intensive (Friday 1pm-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm) consisting of research workshops, lectures, to support development of evaluation approaches

Three one-hour online follow-up sessions

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Assessment:

Report (50%) - a research report making use of existing datasets to carry out original analysis and draw conclusions to inform further research, practice and policy in relation to the student's research question. ILOs 2, 3

Written assignment (50%) - an annotated bibliography (2000 words) setting out a research question and a systematic approach to reviewing the literature on it. ILOs 1, 4

The aims of this course are to:

1. enable participants to carry out a variety of data collection strategies and to critically analyse various approaches to generating, extracting and interpreting data, including both the collection of empirical data and the research use of existing evaluation datasets, and how these might be employed within their own professional context. 

2. investigate the role of inferential statistics to critically analyse data to answer research questions related to educational change and practice.

3. develop skills in qualitative data gathering and analysis.

4. explore the intersection of research ethics and professional ethics in relation to educational change.

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

■ Apply a range of collection and analysis methods and identify which are best suited to address specific research aims/questions.

■ Demonstrate critical understanding of practical issues in the research field, including ethical conduct

■ Critically analyse how advanced research methods might be employed within their own professional context.

■ Design and conduct research to understand and respond to problems and issues in their own professional context.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.