Researching HE

The curriculum will cover the following areas:

• The study of Higher Education: different levels and units of analysis.

• Different approaches to researching Higher Education: positivist, constructivist, critical realist and pragmatic paradigms, ontology and epistemology, research methodologies and methods, the role of theory, deductive and inductive theorisation, the relation between theory and data, abduction and retroduction.

• Phenomenography and teaching and learning approaches, social practice theory, Teaching and Learning Regimes and communities of practice.

• Designing aims, objectives and research questions, engaging with, and mobilising Higher Education literature.

• Qualitative research approaches: phenomenology, Grounded Theory, ethnography, auto-ethnography, narrative inquiry, case study, action research, the challenges of undertaking insider-research in universities, researcher positionality and reflexivity.

• Surveys and other quantitative approaches.

• Research proposal planning, structure and process.

• Ethics, the EthOS process, informed consent, values and beliefs, axiology.

• Dimensions of quality in educational research.

• Data collection and recording: conceptual and design thinking for reflexive thematic data analysis.

On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:

1. Collaborate with colleagues to undertake and articulate an inquiry-based research project and/or product which critically engages with key Higher Education policy and/or practice issues.
2. Justify and deliver the research project and or product to an audience using appropriate media.
3. Critically evaluate alternative research paradigms, methodologies and methods situated within a Higher Education context.
4. Design a feasible and coherent proposal for an individual Higher Education research project.

Group Assessment (40%)

This is agroup negotiated assessment on a topic of the group’s choice that addresses a key debate and or issue in Higher Education, providing evidence of collaborative working and agreed methods. The format of the submission could consist of, for example, a 30-minute presentation (including time for audience questions), a 15-minute video, 16-page booklet or a 1500-2000 word report. Other negotiated options are available. All group members will receive the same group mark (40% weighting).

In your group you must research:

Either

• A current debate or issue in Higher Education or academic practice

Or

• The themes of and approaches to Higher Education research in one of the disciplines (or a comparison between two or more of them).

Individual Project Proposal (60%)

You must submit an individual research project proposal containing:

• A clear explanation of the context and rationale for the research including your chosen research paradigm, methodology and appropriate theoretical framework (s).
• A clear theme, aim and objectives and/or research questions or problem.
•  A justification of appropriate research methods, data collection and analysis with some assurance of feasibility with regard to access, ethics, resource requirements and timescale.
•  An annotated bibliography which illustrates how relevant HE literature has informed your research thinking (between 5 and 10 sources).
• A draft table of contents or a chapter outline for the Dissertation.
• References list.

Guide length: 3000 words. All participants will receive an individual mark (60% weighting).