GRT-40028 - Module Specification
School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2024/25

This module helps to develop your research skills by encouraging you to reflect on what is involved in the development of the social science researcher. On this module, you'll be taught by - academic staff with direct experience of publishing/reviewing, supervising and seeking/winning research funding, and supported by specialist staff where appropriate.
The module focuses on the key attributes of an effective researcher, including:
*Personal Effectiveness: research as craft; personal development; planning a project; self-management and home-work balance; developing ideas in your research; advanced skills for scholarship, such as critical reading, academic writing; academic publishing;
* Knowledge and Intellectual Abilities: developing your intellectual/subject identity and voice; connecting with and keeping up with your discipline; information retrieval and literacy; organisation and management tools for research;
* Research Governance and Organisation: research funding - the context for UK research funding and how to find/apply for funding;
* Engagement, Influence and Impact: how to work with others; build and develop your networks; impact of social science research).
The module is organised in a way that provides students with general overviews, practice-based knowledge sharing sessions, skills and expertise sharing, and small group work. Students develop a portfolio that includes a personal development plan and examples from evidence based practice.

The module aims to deliver a comprehensive introduction to the qualities of effective research practice in the social sciences. It offers a reflective engagement with the Vitae Research Development Framework. It focuses on the notion of research as a craft and aims to provide tools with which students can develop their researcher skills in a reflective way. The module also links with the social and institutional qualities on which social science research is embedded. All four domains of the Vitae Researcher Development Framework find a presence in the delivery of the module.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Identify current research and scholarship on self-development and personal reflexivity, and evaluate this to an advanced level: 1
Appraise their own abilities and working style reflexively, identify areas for personal development, and engage in practice-based learning in order to enhance their personal effectiveness as a social researcher: 1
Identify relevant technologies and software used by social science researchers, and to learn to work with some of these effectively: 1
Communicate appropriately through use of higher level writing skills and verbal communication skills, and to use appropriate academic referencing and summary tables in order to present written work effectively: 1
Critically engage with the relationships between knowledge, politics and power in the world and how this impacts on social research practices: 1

Study hours

Active:
15 hours of scheduled lectures, workshop and small group work;
15 hours of structured asynchronous online activity (to include portfolio preparation/reflection; quiz activity; external research tasks; group discussion; engagement with online resources);
15 hours supervised scholarship skills work-ins/consultation.
Independent:
40 hours class preparation time
45 hours assessment preparation time
20 hours independent reading

School Rules

Students attending this module can not also attend the module GRT-40015 Research Skills and Research Development

Description of Module Assessment