Module Title: MA Dissertation (solved)

Module Outline

Module Title: MA Dissertation

Module Supervisors
E-mail Room Number Campus
Credit Value: 60		Terms: Autumn, Spring, Summer
Assessment	100% coursework
Coursework	1 x 12 000 words
Submission Details
Moodle
TALIS ASPIRE
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Introduction

The dissertation is an important part of your studies. It is an intellectual journey in which you can apply the knowledge you have gained, use it in a creative way and deepen your understanding of themes that you are interested in. This handbook is designed to give you guidance on this endeavour.

In many ways this is the culmination of your MA, but you should also start work on this from the beginning. Here is an opportunity to devote time and energy, in a supported environment, to demonstrate something significant about your insight and understanding.

The dissertation is a unique piece of work. It does, however, take time, discipline and patience. It requires careful planning and organisation and you must balance between the ideal and what is practical given the time and resources available.

The Research Module acts as a precursor to the dissertation, giving you valuable information on the research process, and dissertation writing skills. We also recommend that you attend the Research Forums, and the Open Seminars, all of which enable you to encounter other people’s research work.

You should discuss your initial ideas for a dissertation focus, aims and objectives with your tutor and your peers. Give yourself substantial time to think about this. Consider aspects of the course that have particularly interested you. Consider what kind of balance you want to make between empirical and conceptual research, and between psychoanalytic, psychosocial, analytical psychological, psychodynamic and other approaches.

You are expected to produce a research proposal of about 2,000 words by the end of the Spring Term. .

You are expected to start developing and conducting research for your dissertation throughout the year, but to write it mainly over the summer term and summer vacation period. You will be supported in this by your dissertation supervisor.

Your final dissertation of 12000 words +/- 10% should be submitted by mid-September. The dissertation accounts for 60 credits of the 180 credit programme.

Aims

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module students should have:

Undertaken a substantial research enquiry in the respective fields of your specific MA programme
Conceived of appropriate research aims, objectives and methods to support the enquiry.
Engaged in a substantial critical and independent analysis of literature relevant to the enquiry.
Designed and implemented appropriate empirical and/ or theoretical research methods.
Analysed data emerging from the research.
Interrogated and reflected on the research process
Presented research work in a clear, readable, and accurate manner.

Key Skills

Ability to write clearly, coherently, and concisely.
Ability to present word-processed essays and dissertation, participate in email discussions and ability to make use of electronic research resources.
Ability to identify, clarify and propose solutions for problems within the field of of study.
Ability and willingness to discuss ideas with seminar leaders tutors/supervisors, and fellow students.
Ability to respond positively to constructive oral and written feedback.

Employability Skills

Written and verbal communication
Capacity to understand and apply complex ideas
Capacity to work independently but use guidance where needed
IT and word processing skills

Learning and Teaching Methods

The learning and teaching environment is facilitated through one-to-one contact between supervisor and supervisee.

The Dissertation Proposal

By the end of the spring term you are expected to produce a research proposal of about 2,000 words. Details about the various components of the research proposal will be provided in the seminar on ‘Preparing your Dissertation Proposal’. You can also seek advice and support in developing your dissertation proposal from tutors, and from your personal tutor. The following structure should be used.

Introduction: What is your general area of enquiry? What are the relevance of and rationale for choosing this area of enquiry? Some account of your particular motivation for this area of research may be given. Does it come from any special expertise you have in this area? Give signposting to the proposal essay.

Research focus What is your research question? If relevant, you may also state any initial hypotheses or arguments that you have, that the research may test. What specific contributions will be made to your field of study? What are the emerging objectives of your research.

Introduction to the literature: This should include a brief discussion of some of the initial literature relevant to your research interest. What is your proposed literature search strategy? What key themes may it be relevant to investigate? How will your literature search assist your research process

Research design and methodology: What are the key features of the methodological approach you propose adopting? What paradigms prevail and what is your personal stance? What does this mean for the research design and the methods of data collection you might employ? What research methods do you plan to use to collect the data? How do you propose analysing the data? What are the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of the methodology and data collection and analysis methods selected?

Ethical issues: What ethical issues arise? In particular, in any empirical work (a) Will subjects be asked for their consent to be included in the research? (b) What measures will be taken to ensure necessary confidentiality? (c) What provision will be available for subjects who become upset during the course of the research – the no-harm principle?

Timetable: An outline of the approximate timetable of the various stages of the proposed research should be given.

References

Dissertation supervision

Supervisory arrangements are made individually by the student and supervisor once your proposal has been submitted. Please discuss the allocation of supervisors with your programme Director. The supervisor will provide at least four hours of supervision, apart from reading drafts of written work.

Specifically, the supervisor’s role includes:

Helping you to narrow down the focus of your study develop your research objectives. This will have happen initially during the development of the proposal, but further refinement may be necessary throughout the process following feedback.
Advising you on the feasibility of your research strategy, including the methodology and methods. You will start this process as you develop your proposal, and you should consider in some detail the feasibility of your proposal and the general methodological approach.
Following feedback, you may require further guidance from your supervisor in relation to feasibility and methodology
Supporting you in identifying appropriate literatures
Advising on the various stages of the research process, such as literature reviewing, data collection analysis and presentation
Assisting in structuring your dissertation
Commenting on sections, and no more than 25% of the entire piece

Your supervisor can be available to help you over the summer vacation but make sure you agree the summer arrangements before the end of term, since staff have their own vacation and other commitments.

One of the primary aims of the dissertation is for you to develop your skills in designing and undertaking original research. Therefore, should any challenges or problems arise in your research, please consider first whether/how you could address these yourself or with peers. You may find that you are able to effectively solve issues without needing to contact your supervisor for advice.

Dissertation structure

The structure offered here is a guide – although it is expected that most dissertations will follow this format, or at least include these elements:-

Title
Abstract
Preface or acknowledgements
Table of contents

List of tables and diagrams
Introduction
Literature review
Methodology
Findings and discussion
Conclusion and recommendations
Reference list
Appendix

Title Page

Your dissertation must include a title page giving:

The title of the dissertation
Your student number
The name of the degree and programme
The date (month/year) of submission

This must not include your name or any identification other than that detailed above

Abstract

All dissertations must include an abstract of no more than 200 words, which summarises the dissertation. Please note that the abstract is not an introduction to the dissertation, it is a summary. It should summarise the focus, objectives, methodology, findings and conclusions of the dissertation. The abstract must be placed immediately after the title page.

Preface or acknowledgements

This is a personal statement where you may, for instance, write about your personal interest in the dissertation topic and acknowledge those you feel have helped you to complete the work.

Contents page

It is advisable to include a contents page, which lists any appendices as well as the sections or chapters of your dissertation. After your contents page, you should list in order any tables or diagrams that appear in the dissertation (including page number).

Main body of the dissertation

Introduction

It is essential to introduce the dissertation and situate it in a broader intellectual, practice and/or research context. The introductory chapter should include an outline of your intentions as follows:

Scene setting: briefly describe the context that is relevant to the approach and focus of your dissertation
Overview: provide a short summary of the approach you have taken, the theories that have informed your approach and why it is relevant and important to you. Present your main research questions, or aims, and objectives; and
Dissertation structure: outline the structure of the dissertation so that the reader has a sense of what will follow

Literature review

A critical review of literature and critical use of theory is essential for any type of dissertation. It will contribute to your framework for the presentation and analysis of your findings and inform your methodology. The purpose of the literature review is to present a concise overview of literature which is relevant to your research questions and research approach that you have adopted. At Masters level you are required to not only present literature but also to analyse and interrogate it.

Methodology

The methodology section describes the way in which you have undertaken the study It should include your research questions, research methods and the type of data you have collected and worked with and justify the methods of data collection you have used, the samples and you have selected and so on. You need to demonstrate that you are aware of the strengths and limitations of your methodology and the implications this has for any findings and conclusions, including any ethical considerations.

Findings and discussion

In this section you should present, analyse and discuss your findings. You will need to consider carefully how you are going to organise the data that you have been working with (literature, qualitative and/or quantitative) so that it is presented clearly and logically for the reader. Here, it is important to relate your findings back to the wider literature you have gathered. For example, do your findings confirm or add weight to the existing evidence base? Do your findings build on and extend the conclusions reached by other researchers? Do your findings challenge or conflict with the data produced in previous studies (and why might that be the case)? You may also find as a result of your research that you are theorising up from the data and need to include new literature to support your analysis.

In summary, in this section you should ensure that:

evidence and findings from your data collection are clearly reported;
material is logically set out;
data analysis has been carried out in a competent manner;
data is interpreted and not just described;

Conclusions and recommendations

This section brings together the key themes of the dissertation and any implications for your personal and professional practice. It may also include recommendations for further research, the strengths and limitations of your study and importantly, a critical reflection on what you have learned about the process of researching the dissertation, and whether there is anything you might have done differently in light of this.

Reference list

This is a list of all the books, journal articles, reports, websites etc. you have referred to in the dissertation. Make a note of all the sources you have used as you go along, rather than trying to go back through everything you have read at a later stage. Make sure you use the Harvard referencing system

Appendices

The purpose of an appendix is to present research material which is relevant to the study but which is not essential to include in the main body of the dissertation. Appendices are not ‘marked’ and should not be used to include material that is essential to the argument being made. Appendices might include copies of ethics approval emails, research tools (e.g. questionnaires, interview topic guides), excerpts from documents (e.g. policy documents), extensive tables or charts, or coding frameworks. An appendix is not a repository for everything that you collected but couldn’t include in the dissertation itself. Only select those materials that you think the reader might want to refer to. It is a general rules that the number of pages for appendices should be well below the number of pages in the dissertation itself

Assessment

Dissertations are marked against two main clusters, subdivided in the following criteria:

Research Design and Methods – the degree to which the dissertation:

has been carefully devised and conceived
has clear aims and objectives
adopts an appropriate choice of methods to address the research questions/hypotheses identified
demonstrates an understanding of the relevant methodologies used and their limitations
uses innovative methodological approaches where appropriate.

Theoretical Perspectives – the degree to which the dissertation:

uses clear and purposeful research questions/hypotheses
demonstrates a comprehensive review and understanding of the relevant theory, concepts and models identified in the appropriate literatures
demonstrates a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this material
uses this material in a way that offers a potential contribution to develop our understanding of the issue(s) under investigation.

Analysis and Originality – the degree to which the dissertation:

contextualises and conceptualises the issue(s) under investigation
addresses the specific research questions/hypotheses identified
draws successfully on the identified literatures, any relevant secondary material and where appropriate primary data collection in this process
is analytical (rather than descriptive) in its approach
demonstrates signs of original thinking or new insights

Conclusions (and Recommendations if appropriate) – the degree to which the conclusions:

are clear and soundly constructed
properly address all the key issues under investigation

Structure and Presentation – the degree to which there is:

a logical and clear structure to the dissertation
a coherent and purposeful line of argument threading through
the work is well written, presented and properly referenced using the Harvard system.

Assessment

Assessment for this module overall is 100% coursework:

1 x 12 000 word essay

Word count +/- 10%. This excludes the abstract, title pages, bibliography and any appendices.

Scripts should be in 12pt Arial, and double-spaced

As the University’s policy of zero tolerance applies to this module, you are strongly advised to complete and submit your essays well in advance of the deadlines.

Late submission and extenuating circumstances

Postgraduate taught dissertations are not counted as coursework and are not covered by the policy on the late submission of coursework.

A postgraduate dissertation extension request can be made if you find that, due to extenuating circumstances, you will be unable to submit the dissertation by the published deadline.

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