MSc Health and Social Practice - Year 3 Direct Entry (Dissertation) DTPHSA6
1 year part time | September start

You will be encouraged to critically explore a range of approaches to research however emphasis will be placed on your understanding of the world view, design and meaning system that will drive your own research study. It is assumed that prior to the undertaking of this dissertation module you will have undertaken study that prepares you for engagement with a Masters dissertation process and that you will have constructed a robust research proposal that has gained or is in the process of gaining ethical approval from both the University and (if applicable) your employing organisation. In the module you will revisit and deepen your understanding of a range of key topic areas linked to the empirical research process, this will include discussion of world views and research paradigms, the research question, aim or hypothesis, research design, working with literature and theory, developing ethical codes, constructing the research sample, collecting robust research evidence, ensuring quality assurance within your research work, analysing both qualitative and quantitative evidence and writing and disseminating the research dissertation work. You will be invited to attend a series of research seminars during the module and you will have access to a named supervisor for one to one supervision work. Both the seminars and supervision will encourage you to apply the key areas of learning within this module to your own professional context and field of expertise. This will enable you to critically examine how the empirical research process will work best for your research goals and design.

This module gives you the opportunity to consolidate your previous learning in a way that is meaningful to you. The development of a practice project will allow you to bring together reflection, theory, action, and practice. You will apply your analytic and assessment skills to a range of change frameworks and, from your findings, select an appropriate framework to plan and conduct a service change which is compatible with the needs of the service user, the service and the practice context. You will learn about influence factors, both internal and external, and in order to take account of multiple perspectives when planning change, you will negotiate and collaborate with relevant stakeholders and colleagues in the planning and implementation of your project, which will include evaluating the impact of any resulting change. Through this you will learn how to successfully operate as a leader, project coordinator, decision maker and auditor. While undertaking this project you will engage in reflective practice, conceptualisation, literature evaluation, relevant data collection and project planning and change management.

This 15000 word dissertation module will focus upon a selected area of health and social practice. It was designed to let you explore and area of research by undertaking a systematic appraisal of the empirical literature. This systematic appraisal would be in an area of your choice, and reflect that of your professional practice. In doing so, you will investigate and conceptualise research through exploring secondary data. This means that you will learn about the process of searching and retrieval of appropriate literature and critical appraisal of that literature. You will also learn how to demonstrate a systematic approach to analysis, interpretation and presentation of the results. You will also need to consider ethics and how you address this within the systematic appraisal, however, ethical permissions for this dissertation are necessary however, they are also minimal.