Researching Education: The Dissertation (121X3A)

60 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring and summer teaching

You'll design, conduct, evaluate and write about a research study, usually based on your own work or professional experience.

The module focuses on a specific area of education, requiring you to develop in-depth knowledge, research skills, and professional expertise in that topic.

You’ll learn to approach research in a structured and thorough way, working independently while also receiving support through small group sessions and one-on-one guidance from a supervisor.

The module will enable you to:

  • design an empirical study with research questions
  • conduct an ethical review
  • conduct the data-collection, data-analysis and evaluation
  • produce findings and recommendations for practice that could inform other professionals' understanding in this area.

Teaching

100%: Seminar

Assessment

25%: Examination (Oral examination)
75%: Written assessment (Dissertation)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 600 hours of work. This breaks down into about 24 hours of contact time and about 576 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.