This module facilitates postgraduate students to undertake and complete appropriate research in area of their choice related to the Environmental Health and Safety discipline. Specialist skills in Environmental Health and Safety research will be developed as well as skills in critical and analytical thinking, resilience, self-motivation, ethics, and problem solving will be developed.
This module begins with and introduction to the research process and a consideration of ontological and epistemological basis of research as well as the ethical dimension. This will lead into experimental design and bias as well as the range of research methodologies available. Students will then be formally requested to choose a research topic and begin structuring a research aim, hypothesis or question and considering pilot studies and sample frames. At this stage, the role of the supervisor will be considered. An introduction into qualitative and quantitative data analysis will then be presented together graphical methods of for presenting data. Practical excel or SPSS based lectures on descriptive and inferential statistical testing will then be presented to underpin data quantitative analysis. NVivo will used for qualitative data analysis. The role of systematic reviews and literature searches will also be investigated before the role of the discussion chapter is considered. The module will finalise on the conclusions and recommendations chapter and dissertation presentation and publishing.
The majority of the syllabus above will be presented using face-to-face lectures and students will learn through in-class activities and discussions. Students are regularly reminded of the importance of research and of choosing a topic of their choice. At this point self-directed learning becomes the dominant influence and students will be encouraged to seek weekly feedback on their progress from their allocated supervisors. Supervisors will therefore meet regularly with students in order to closely monitor research progress. Particular attention by supervisors will be paid to the following milestones being achieved in good time; structuring the aim, hypothesis or research question, selecting and piloting research methods, generating reliable and valid data, data analysis, conducting appropriate literature searches, drafting chapters. The emphasis here will be on delivering supportive lectures on the research process and allowing the student to self-deliver whilst being closely supervised at all times.
This module will be delivered multimodally, with the student choosing one of two options; Hyflex or attendance in class. Content can also be delivered as pre-recorded video or as required pre-reading of selected peer reviewed papers, articles, case studies or past dissertations
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Other Assessment(s) | 100 |