Enrolment Details

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Enrolment Details

• Award PgC Research Methods
• Award Code 21L32000
• Start Date Beginning of this semester

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Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods
Welcome!

• Staffordshire University
• Professor Douglas Burnham

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Introductory Session

• 1. The aims, structure and assessment of the
  Postgraduate Certificate.
• 2. Important issues at the early stages of your
  research degree enrolment/ registration and the
  supervisory relationship.

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Introductory SessionPart One

• The PgC Research Methods Its role, and how it
  works

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What is the Postgraduate Certificate in Research
Methods?

• It is a course designed to help you get the most
  rapid and confident start on your research
  degree.
• It meets the research degrees training
  requirements placed on universities by national
  funding bodies.
• It is assessed, but on a pass/fail basis. All new
  research students are required to pass before
  completing their research degree.
• It includes both practical advice and theoretical
  views on the nature of research.

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The Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods

• 60 Credit modular award
• Required of all new research students,
  University-wide
• Normally, you are encouraged to attend at the
  first opportunity after enrollment on your
  research award
• Passed before MPhil/PhD Examination

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Award Structure
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Summary of Each Component

• Research Skills (15 credits) General practical
  skills pertinent to the success of doctoral level
  research strategies for productive reflection on
  research process.
• Comparative Research Methodologies (15 credits)
  Aims to provide a wider understanding of your own
  work, and its place within the notions that
  define research in general.
• Directed Study (30 credits) This is an empty
  module, to be filled up with whatever specific
  learning opportunities you need that this stage
  of your research work or your career.
• The formal agreement as to what will be in the
  Directed Study is called a learning contract.

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The Details

• Weve now had an overview of the Certificate. Now
  lets examine in more detail each of the
  components.

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Research Skills Module

• Includes
• Part of the induction process onto
  Staffordshires Mres/MPhil/PhD/Professional
  Doctorate awards
• Key Skills (e.g. library work, project and time
  management, etc.)
• Guidelines for the development of Research
  Proposal and ethical approval
• Productive recording and reflecting on research
  practice.

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Research Skills Module

• To complete this module, you need to submit
• 1. Your learning contract (usually submitted
  beforehand) .
• 2. A Reflective Learning Account of at least 2500
  words.
• This is your account of what you have learnt and
  achieved, over an approximately six month period.
  
• It assumes you have kept a research journal, from
  which you can extract evidence or examples. The
  research journal is strongly recommended.
• 3. A copy for information of your research
  proposal (from the RDC1 form) this may of
  course still be in draft form. The proposal is
  not part of the assessment.

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Comparative Research Methodology Module

• Includes
• Philosophy of knowledge what can be known, and
  how? and how this relates to doing doctoral
  level research
• Introduction to general theory of qualitative/
  quantitative methods
• Case studies in comparative methodologies

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Comparative Research Methodologies Module

• To complete this module, you need to submit
• An essay comparing your own with anothers
  research (at least 2500 words), discussing
• key issues such as the nature of hypothesis,
  evidence, background assumptions, data
  collection, ethics and verification in the two
  projects
• locating comparisons within theoretical paradigms
  of the research process as such.

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Directed Study

• This is a 30 credit core module, the content of
  which is decided upon by you and your supervisory
  team.
• The criteria for inclusion of content are
• 30 credits, postgraduate level
• Must meet
• At least some of the award outcomes of
  Certificate
• The specific needs of you as a professional
  researcher, and of your research project.
• Assessment what is to be submitted, and when, is
  part of the negotiated content.

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Directed Study, cont.

• Process
• Perform a skills audit with your supervisory
  team. Identify your personal and professional
  strengths and weaknesses, and how they relate to
  the successful completion of your project.
• Identify an an appropriate set of learning
  opportunities that will make good the most
  urgent of your weaknesses.

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What could I include?

• Existing modules offered by the University (or,
  in exceptional cases, by other Universities)
• E.g. Subject-specific Research Methods module
  or other specialist knowledge.
• Particular skills (IT, languages, writing, etc.)
  at L3 or M.
• (No more than 15 credits at level 3.)
• And/or un-credit-rated learning opportunities
  (e.g. conferences, workshops, mini-courses,
  professional development, etc.), with an
  assessable outcome.

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Example of Directed Study content

• Auditing and doing assessment for the MA module
  Advanced Statistics. (15 credits)
• Week 5-8 of a module entitled Field Study Design.
  Assessed by production of a web-based
  questionnaire. (nominal 7 credits)
• A paper delivered at the annual Anthropology
  Now conference. Assessed by doing it and
  reporting back to supervisors. (nominal 8
  credits)

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Directed Study, cont.

• If you are including all or part of an existing
  module, you must obtain the module tutors
  permission.
• Part of agreeing the content will be agreeing
  appropriate assessments, who will be marking it,
  and target deadlines.
• Upon finishing and passing all the work within
  the Direct Study module, submit to the AMD office
  the last page of the learning contract, with
  Section Six signed.
• This last signature, from your supervisor,
  indicates that everything agreed has been
  completed satisfactorily.

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The Learning Contract

• The learning contract serves as a map of your
  study towards the Certificate. It includes
• The schedule of your study, including assessment
• Report on the skills audit undertaken with your
  supervisory team (PDP).
• Choice of content for Directed Study, described
  and justified.
• copy of module descriptor for any modules that
  are to be included within the Directed Study
  umbrella.

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The Learning Contract, cont.

• The Learning Contract is subject to the approval
  of the Award Committee.
• Minor and major changes to the contract.

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The Learning Contract

• Please give or send the learning contract to
  Christine Lawton, Sandra Lomas or
• Jackie Clewlow
• The Faculty of Arts, Media and Design,
• College Road,StokeonTrent ST4 2DE
• c.lawton_at_staffs.ac.uk
• s.lomas_at_staffs.ac.uk
• j.a.clewlow_at_staffs.ac.uk
• www.staffs.ac.uk/pgcres

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Submission dates

• The assessments for each of the core modules
  should be submitted separately, but on the same
  day (see document on assessment). Assessment
  deadlines are strongly recommended, but
  negotiable, esp. for PT, distance or
  international candidates.
• Submit to the 5th floor office of the Faculty of
  Arts, Media and Design.Use the coversheets
  either from AMD or your home Faculty.
• You may submit by internal post. International
  candidates only submit by email, obtaining a
  read receipt.

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Prior learning and experience

• You and your supervisor may decide that you do
  not need a full 30 credits worth of extra
  subject-specific knowledge or skills in order to
  get started on your research project, because you
  have already shown you possess the all the
  knowledge or skills needed.
• You are effectively asking for exemption from all
  or part of the Directed Study module.
• If so, the University still needs to be supplied
  with evidence to this effect.

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Prior learning and experience

• First, as part of the skills audit, you will have
  determined what are the specific skills and
  knowledge that make you qualified now to pursue
  the research project.
• Then, you will fill the Directed Option module
  with the previous learning or experience by which
  you acquired these specific skills. The process
  of completing the Learning Contract is just the
  same, except that you will already have done and
  passed any assessments, and you will need one
  extra signature.

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Prior learning/ experience, cont.

• Third, you must also write a Reflective Appraisal
  of Previous Work. This document is mainly an
  extended version of the learning contract, and in
  it you reflect upon your existing experience,
  knowledge and skills and how they have prepared
  you for research work.

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2nd Example of Directed Study

• Auditing and doing assessment for the MA module
  Advanced Statistics. (15 credits)
• In my previous employment I was part of a
  research team that produced two papers for
  Southwest Anthropological Quarterly. These
  demonstrate that I am familiar with X. And X is a
  central element of knowledge or skill for my
  current research project. (15 credits of previous
  experience)

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Introductory SessionPart Two

• The First Stages of Your Research Degree

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Main Stages of Research Degree

• Application and Recruitment
• Enrolment
• Supervision arrangements
• Registration
• Transfer ( if applicable)
• Production of the thesis
• Examination

We will talk Mainly about These stages.
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Enrolment

• Enrolment is just the agreement with the
  University that you are a student here library,
  IT, access to supervision, fees, etc.
• You need to enroll twice once for the research
  award, and once for this Certificate.
• The enrolment for your research award will happen
  annually, every September.
• Important for HEFCE, Research Activity Survey and
  the RAE

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Supervision Team

• Normally, you will have two or three supervisors
• The Principal Supervisor or Director of Studies.
• A Second Supervisor may have more day to day
  contact.
• You can have external supervisors but not
  Principal.
• Advisors.
• The Principal will have a line-manager
  (ultimately the Faculty research manager or
  Dean). This is your recourse if a problem cannot
  be internally resolved.

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Your Supervision Team

• Ensure
• you know who all the members of your supervisory
  team are, and how to contact them.
• you know who the principal supervisor is, and who
  his or her line manager is.
• you agree with the principal supervisor the basic
  roles of each member of the team.
• Different kinds of meetings individually with
  principal or with second group meetings.

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Working with your supervisor(s)

• Key Responsibilities of the supervisor
• Have knowledge of the subject
• Regular, quality supervisory meetings
• Provide guidance and support especially at the
  outset
• Help you to design and plan your research project
• To read/ view, and comment on, your work
• Help you through the regulatory/ professional
  aspects
• Make examination arrangements, and prepare you
  for it
• Report to University annually on your progress
  (RDC16 form)

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Student Responsibility

• To attend meetings as arranged prepare agenda.
• Take notes of the meeting so that you are clear
  what the supervisor has asked you to do.
• To provide written work to supervisor regularly
  and expect it to be read.
• Take notice of the guidance and feedback from
  supervisors.
• To create, maintain, and keep to plans.
• Keep journal as record of your progress and
  achievements.
• Write students sections of annual reports.
• Learn to manage time other resources
  professionally

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Registration

• Registration is different from enrolment. In
  effect, you do not register yourself, you
  register your research project.
• Involves the development of a research proposal
  (RDC1 form), confirming supervisory team, seeking
  ethics risk approval, and producing
  confirmation of external partners.
• Registration is complete when this proposal has
  been approved by both the Faculty and the
  University Research Degrees Committees. (Mphil
  registration is by Faculty committee only.)
• The aim of this is to ensure the project is
  viable and that everything you need is in place.

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Transfer

• Transfer is an additional stage for MPhil with
  the possibility of transfer to PhD students. It
  involves applying to upgrade an approved Mphil
  registration to a PhD registration.
• This involves the production of a progress
  report, and a mini oral examination. On the
  examination committee are a representative from
  your supervisory team, a member of University
  staff independent from the team, and a chair from
  the URDSC.
• In transfer, you must show that your project now
  meets the criteria for a full PhD project, and
  that you have made satisfactory progress towards
  it both in terms of the project content, and in
  terms of your own skills as a researcher.

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Further information to come

• All this info may be a bit overwhelming! But,
  future sessions will offer opportunities
• To learn more about the registration of your
  research proposal.
• To learn more about the administrative processes
  throughout your degree.
• To learn more about good practice in research
  degrees project management.
• We will also discuss further the assessments for
  the Certificate.

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What have we done in this session?

• Aims and objectives of Postgraduate Certificate
  in Research Methods.
• Introduced the assessment requirements of the
  Certificate.
• Talked about the Directed Study module.
• Talked briefly about Enrolment, supervisory
  arrangements and registration.

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Enrolment Details

• Award PgC Research Methods
• Award Code 21L32000
• Start Date Beginning of this semester