Module Identifier TF32410  
Module Title RESEARCH METHODS  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator Professor Martin J Barker  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Dr Glen Creeber, Dr Kevin J Donnelly, Dr Alison Forsyth, Dr Jamie Medhurst, Professor Adrian C Kear  
Pre-Requisite TF10420 , TF10220  
Course delivery Lecture   10 X 1 HOUR LECTURE  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 X 1 HOUR SEMINAR  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment 3500 word assignment. For information on due dates for submission of assessed work, please refer to the departmental web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts/duedates.shtml 70%
Semester Assessment An annotated bibliography.30%

Learning outcomes

Typically, upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

Understand the differences between research, and other ways of gaining information and understanding.

Recognise the different stages involved in effective research; formulating a question, grounding this in existing research, theories and frameworks, formulating methods, managing the research process, and evaluating findings.

Develop their own dissertation proposal in the light of these, and see how to use an appropriate method or methods to carry this out.

Locate and draw upon a wide range of resources for this purpose.


Aims

The aims of this module are as follows

To develop student research skills to the point where they are prepared to conduct independent research in the development of an undergraduate research dissertation or research project;
To develop student skills at distinguishing between popular and scholarly source materials, using library, web, and other internet resources, using existing methodological frameworks, and textual analysis (of both printed and audio/visual texts);
To address the planning and execution of individual research projects.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
Deacon, David et al (1997) Researching Communications London: Arnold
** Recommended Text
McKee, Alan (2003) Textual Analysis: a biginner's guide London: SAGE

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6