Researching Education: The Dissertation (121X3A)

60 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring and summer teaching

On this module, you’ll carry out independent research. You’ll develop skills in:

• writing
• oral reflection
• critical thinking
• applying knowledge and methodology to empirical study.

You’ll research your topic choice and explore its potential impacts on theory, policy and practice, with guidance. You’ll write a critical literature review, then design and conduct a small-scale research project. Through this, you’ll apply methodological and ethical understanding, including:

• gaining ethical review
• collecting and analysing data
• producing original findings
• reflecting on practice, policy and research.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 600 hours of work. This breaks down into about 24 hours of contact time and about 576 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2025/26. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.