Module Identifier PGM0210  
Module Title PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH DESIGN  
Academic Year 2007/2008  
Co-ordinator Professor Hidemi Suganami  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Mrs Glenys N Williams, Dr Michael J Davies, Professor Diane Rowland, Professor Hidemi Suganami  
Course delivery Contact Hours   12 x 2 hours sessions  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment 3,000 words students to design and present their own research proposal within an appropriate methodological and epistemological context  100%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, students will be able to:

Brief description

This module is designed to be an integral component of the new RT masters courses which the University has introduced. Through this module Masters and PhD students will gain a broad knowledge of a range of research skills which they can apply in a variety of research contexts.

Aims

This module aims to give research students a knowledge of the basic principles of research design and strategy. It will enable them to demonstrate their capacity to: formulate their research question, analyse them and where appropriate, formulate testable hypothesis; explain why their research questions are significant, what kinds of question theirs epistemologically are and why they are adopting their chosen modes/methods of enquiry; and assess the implications of the outcomes of their research. To this end, this module provides students with a sytematically guided opportunity to familiarise themselves with certain key issues in the philosophy of social science and of history, such as: causation and multi-causality; modes of explanation and understanding; the nature of historical knowledge; sampling, sampling error and generalizability; society/history as social/historical constructs; critical functions of social science.

Content

This module covers the following topics:

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7