Full-time MPhil and PhD students are required to attend modules 1 to 5 of  the research methods training programme and to complete written assignments for modules 2, 3 and 4. Part-time students must agree with their supervisors the components of the programme which are required.

Taught doctorate students are also required to complete research training modules as part of their programme of study.

In addition to specific modules for research students, you may also be eligible to attend other modules on the taught Masters programme, subject to approval of the programme provider. Research students are also invited to attend regular research seminars led by members of the School or by visiting speakers. You may also attend (on a non-credit, ‘audit’ basis) modules from the College of Social Sciences’ new MA Social Research.

There are facilities for study in the School of Education Library at Edgbaston. Full-time students are allocated to study rooms as soon as possible after arrival.

Description of Research Training Modules

Module 1: Introducing Research in Education

This module is an introduction and induction to research in education. It is intended to provide the student with knowledge and awareness of the following: an understanding of personal research skills and approaches appropriate for a research degree programme; current national and international debates about the role and nature of researcher/research in the world of research in education; relevant research or subject based literatures and research communities and networks; the need to develop critical analysis or evaluation in reference to theory and the context of specific research study. Learning outcomes expected from the module are that the student will demonstrate an awareness of theoretical discourse in the field of educational research; identify principles, purposes and policies associated with the researcher and research in education; present a piece of critical writing examining an issue or an aspect of research in education relevant to their own professional context.

Module 2: Education Research and the Researcher – Identity and Epistemology

This module aims to introduce the new researcher into some of the current debates within educational research and to help them to start to locate themselves within these debates. It aims to introduce them into some of the philosophical aspects that underpin both the selection of methodology and research tools or methods. Within this context the theory and practice of research education including contested positions and values and their philosophical underpinning will be discussed. Skills that are integral to both users and producers of research, including critical reading and evaluation will be explored. The course will be built in part around small and larger group discussions of published research, small scale studies and research activities to develop their critical understanding and awareness of their values and beliefs in relation to research design and methodology.

Module 3: Designing Research and Using Methodology in Education

In this module students trace the development of the design of their own educational research studies from the philosophical roots and purposes of the study, to the selection of research questions, research design and criteria for appropriate methods of data collection and analysis. While focusing on their own beliefs and purposes in developing their own research designs, they examine relationships between epistemology and research design across a range of social science research options and evaluate their internal integrity and implications for education policy and practice. Designs considered include versions of experimental research, survey, case study, ethnography, evaluation, discourse and linguistic enquiry, historical enquiry, biographical research and action research. Issues covered from a range of these approaches to research will include: sampling, generalisability, validity, reliability, replicability, bias and reflexivity.

Module 4: Using Sources/Producing Analysis in Research Method

This module aims to introduce students to, and familiarise them with, a range of methods of data collection and analysis. These will span a range of open and closed ended techniques and both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Module presentations will be through a mixture of lecture, seminar and workshop-based activities using existing data sets. These will enable students to understand the rationale and begin to develop the skills to work confidently and independently with data that they have collected themselves. It will be supported by additional workshop activities relevant to students wishing to increase their expertise in a particular technique or method of analysis. The module will address key methods of data collection (narrative accounts including diaries; unstructured, semi-structured, structured and group interviews; questionnaires, systematic self-reports and attitude scales; unstructured, semi-structured and structured observation and assessment activities). Students will also examine various ways of preparing data for analysis and presentation of data. Methods of data analysis discussed will include unstructured data analyses, content analyses, discourse and conversation analyses, critical incidents, document analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, statistics tests (non-parametric and parametric) and computer-based qualitative packages.

Module 5: Producing and Disseminating Research in Education

In this module students develop and extend their critical awareness of the production and use of educational research. The module aims to develop understanding of the basic principles of policy-relevant research and evidence-based policy. It aims to enhance students’ critical literacy and political perspectives of national and international educational research studies in order to interpret and evaluate them across political contexts. Students will be encouraged to apply critical literacy and political perspectives to their own research study. Additionally, the module aims to develop critical awareness of the use of discourse and genre in the dissemination of educational research. Students will be encouraged to enhance their own skills in communicating, discussing and writing in disseminating their research study. The module also aims to develop and extend students’ awareness and skills in managing dissemination medium with an audience, such as conference presentations, posters and journal papers with academic, practitioner and lay audiences. A range of high and low tech modes and media will be explored.

Module 6: Completing an Educational Research Design/Study

This module will introduce the requirements of managing and completing a piece of research or a study in education combined with the experience of being an educational researcher conducting an empirical investigation. This module draws on continuing progression in parallel research modules and will commence in the Autumn Term. It is intended to facilitate a focus for the application of research design to the development of the student's own research proposal. The proposal should be developed through discussion with the thesis supervisor and is expected to progress following feedback on work submitted for taught elements of the research training. Students will be asked to refine a research question or intention from an initial broad area through to specific aspects that their research will address. They are also required to demonstrate how these questions are related to methodological choices they have made and will be expected to manage an aspect of this research to completion. This will require the compilation of a set of empirical data or literature in an evaluation or report.

Graduate Information Skills Programme

This course is provided by Information Services. It is designed by the Education Learning Advisor in conjunction with the Director of Studies thus ensuring that it relates to the wider research programme, and focuses specifically on resources in the Education field.

• Introduction to the Library and IT Facilities
• Getting Started on your Literature Review
• Information Resources for Education
• Introduction to Endnote Reference Management Software
• Official Publications and Statistics
• Keeping up to Date

The programme consists of 4 half-day sessions for full-time students and 2 sessions for part-time students (one full day and one half day) held in an IT Training Room on campus. Each session includes: an introduction to resources, an onscreen demonstration, time for hands-on practice. The programme is supplemented by ‘clinics’ and one to one training sessions arranged on request.