PP0428 - Introduction to Academic Research

You will learn through lectures, tutor or student-led seminars, workshops, peer group and collaborative learning and independent, self-directed study. Lectures will cover key characteristics of social research and what makes ‘good research’, understanding social research methods, different elements of the research process, research ethics, and critical appraisal of social research. Seminars will provide you with the opportunity to discuss research design and practice issues with peers and tutors in a supportive and open environment. Seminar activities will also have strong practical orientation activities to apply the knowledge gained from the lecture in the form of practical examples and small group activities during the seminar session. It will give you the opportunity to reflect upon insightful, challenging and well-considered approaches to research. You will also use the on-going self-direct study time stipulated in the module outline to become familiar with research and to complete required assessment components.
A range of resources including lecture materials, links to external websites, podcast materials assessment details, and additional resources to support your study will be on via the Electronic Learning Portal (eLP). You will also be expected to post comments and have on-line discussions through discussion boards on the eLP. There will also be a series of workshops in IT labs and library during this module in which you will learn and practice your research skills required for the formative and summative assessment. There are opportunities for formative assessment throughout the module to support your learning and to help you work towards the summative assignment

Your learning will be supported in a variety of ways during the module. The module leader and tutors will provide a series of lectures which focus on the learning outcomes for this module. Seminars will provide you with an opportunity to freely discuss and share your ideas with a tutor and peers. Especially, seminars will provide opportunities for formative ‘feed forward’ comment to you and develop your learning as you progress through the module. You will be supported by peer group work, which is central to learning on this module, through a series of collaborative working. Seminars and tutor/peer feedbacks will also support development towards the final assessed work.
You will be provided with reading materials, case examples, and activities during the seminars to support the development of your understanding of academic research. Especially, an electronic reading list which will include essential and recommended readings for the module will be provided to you. These will support you to engage in your own search for literature in order for you to develop your research skills.
Supervised workshops will also be provided to support the development of IT skills necessary for the summative assessment.
Contact details for the module leader and all tutors for this module are available to answer your enquiries in the module handbook and via the eLP.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Understand basic concepts, principles and practical challenges in research methodologies and methods, including understanding the importance of research ethics.
2. Understand and use language of research

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3. Develop basic critical appraisal skills and research reporting skill used in health & social care, and guidance & counselling research.
4. Demonstrate competence of research searching skill through IT, bibliographic skills and utilisation of web resources.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5. Demonstrate critical curiosity, analysis and ethics requirement in national and international academic research activities.

1. Formative Assignment:
During the module, you will be expected to work in small groups and deliver an oral presentation on a particular research method and your chosen strength and challenges. (MLO 1,2,3,4 & 5)

2. Summative Assignment:
2000 words written assignment (a critical and systematic literature review in an area of research relating to professional practice within an identified subject area) (MLO 1,2,3,4 & 5)

Feedback
1. Formative assignment
Module tutors will encourage peer feedback on your group presentation during the course of the module. Moreover, you will also get informal verbal feedback (from tutors, and peers) throughout the module as you undertake a carefully structured sequence of learning activities and tasks.

2. Summative
Tutors will formally assess your written assignment providing written feedback and marks based on the assessment criteria.

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The module is a core requirement for you taking Health and Integrated Social Care, and Guidance and Counselling. The aim of this module is to develop the understanding of academic research as a source of knowledge and application of evidence to future practice situations. Therefore, this module will focus on the understanding of fundamental principles of research and knowledge construction, and developing the ability to appraise the quality of different forms of evidence, including consideration of relevant ethical issues. This module will support students to move from entry level to being able to draw on a range of research skills and knowledge to support learning on the whole programme. This module leads on to Research in Practice module (Level 5).