28/03/2012 - 29/03/2012: Essentials of Academic Work

The module provides students with an understanding of the research process in the subject areas and the particular contextual considerations of undertaking research for his or her master thesis.

This module is designed to introduce students to the particular nature of academic work:

• Be able to create viable research projects and related aims and objectives.
• Be able to design data collection and sampling methods to fit research requirements.
• Be able to undertake qualitative data analysis and present results.
• Be able to conduct and interpret the results of descriptive and basic statistical analysis of quantitative data.

The Essential Tenets of AcademicWork

• What do I want to test exactly (topic à theory, model, propositions, hypotheses)?
• What do I try to measure (knowledge, behavior, opinion, priorities, attitudes, perception, evaluation,etc.)?
• What kind of question / what kind of information will give me the answer I need to test my propositions/hypotheses?
• What kind of sample do I need? (size,type of cases, representative or random)
• How do I get access to people(sample)?
• How long can the interview/questionnaire be?
• What are my limitations?