module specification

This core module providing a vocational and advanced undergraduate research element for PIR courses aims to:
• enable the student to gain a useful experience of the working environment
• enable the student to enhance and extend their learning experience by applying and building on their academic skills and capabilities by tackling real life problems in the workplace.
• provide the student with an opportunity to design a research proposal relevant to their placement.
• allow the student to utilise research and analytical skills acquired during their programme of studies.
• enable the student to undertake relevant research and write up findings in dissertation form.
• offer a medium for the student to report upon their work placement experience.

Successful completion of Level 5

Support for students in the search for a placement from academic staff and the Careers Service; Undertaking a work placement in an organisation; Lectures/Workshops on Choosing a topic, Researching and Presenting Work, Role of the Supervisor; Preparation; Organisation of Materials; Collecting Information; Methodology; Research Proposal; Bibliographies and Referencing; Quotations; Avoiding Plagiarism; Guide to Electronic Resources; The Internet; Databases; Guide to other Library Resources. LO1,LO2,LO3,LO4,LO5,LO6,LO7

The module will be delivered through lectures/workshops and personal supervision. There will be a blended approach to learning so that contact time with academic staff is complemented by a range of on-line resources, particularly delivered by using Weblearn. In completing the module students are expected to develop skills to enable them to: choose and obtain a placement with an employer; Select and define a topic of research; Produce a research proposal; Display analytical capability; Work on their own under the guidance of a supervisor; Understand how to conduct research at undergraduate honours level - this may involve: Searching for, consulting and organising Primary and Secondary Source Material; Making Notes; Submitting properly referenced work in accordance with academic guidelines; Discovering the potential and limitations of the Internet; Write up a dissertation that is a coherent academic study. 20% of the assessment on the module is allocated to a placement report that the student produces on their placement and their experiences thereof. Students keep a record of their placement activity as it progresses. They set themselves some realistic learning aims and objectives for the placement and agree these with their employer and supervisor in advance. The student draws the analysis together thematically producing a set of learning outcomes and comparing them with original goals in the final placement report.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate that they have operated effectively, both independently and with others, in a structured and routinely supervised work placement environment.
2. Demonstrate that they pursued a rational and organised approach, applying previously known or new techniques and/or methodologies, to the task(s) set during the placement.
3. Demonstrate their ability to undertake relevant research and write up findings in dissertation form.
4. Describe, analyse and evaluate the structure, major activities, attributes and responsibilities of the placement organisation in a report.
5. Develop a final profile of personal/professional attributes within the context of qualities and transferable skills, including self-evaluation, necessary for employment and further study or professional development, articulated through a report.
6. Reflect upon the role they performed and their place within the organisation hosting the placement.
7. Understand how to conduct research at an advanced undergraduate level.

The final dissertation on a topic related to the employer’s role carries 80% of the mark. The placement report accounts for 20% of the mark.
Students have to register their initial placement and research interests in week 2 of the semester of commencement. Students are also permitted to undertake the placement in the summer vacation following completion of level 5.
They finalise their placement and area of research, are allocated a supervisor and provide a 500-word research proposal by week 4 of level 6, with opportunities for diagnostic formative feedback.
The word-processed summative dissertation and report must be submitted separately electronically via Turnitin.

Core Reading
Fanthome, Christine,Work Placements – A Survival Guide for Students, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Additional Reading
Bell, Judith, Doing your research project. A guide to first-time researchers in education and social science, Buckingham, Open University Press, Third edition, 1999.
Berry, Ralph, The research project: How to write it, London, Routledge, Third Edition, 1994.
Bouma, Gary D. and Atkinson, G.B.J, A handbook of social science research, Oxford, Oxford University Press, Second Edition, 1995.
Bryman, A., Social Research Methods, Oxford, Oxford University Press, Second Edition, 2004.
Burnham, P., Gilland, K., Grant, W. and Layton-Henry, Z., Research Methods in Politics, Basingstoke, Palgrave, Second Edition, 2008.
Davies, Martin Brett, Doing a Successful Research Project: Using Qualitative or Quantitative Methods, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Greetham, B., How to Write your Undergraduate Dissertation, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2009.
Grix, Jonathan, The Foundations of Research, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Harrison, L., Political Research: An Introduction, London, Routledge, 2001.
Hart, Chris, Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination, London, Sage, 2001.
Leigh, Judith, CVs and Job Applications, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Marsh, David & Stoker, Gerry, Theory and Methods in Political Science, London, Macmillan, Second Edition, 2002.
Marsh, David & Stoker, Gerry, Theory and Methods in Political Science, London, Palgrave Macmillan, Third Edition, 2010.
Mounsey, Chris, Essays and Dissertations, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002.
Pennings, P. et al., Doing Research in Political Science: An Introduction to Comparative Methods and Statistics, London, Sage, Second Edition, 2006.
Preece, Roy, Starting research: An introduction to academic research and dissertation writing, London, Pinter, 1994.
Rudestam, K.E. and Newton, R.R., Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process, Newbury Park, Sage, 1992.
Silbergh, D.M., Doing Dissertations in Politics: A Student Guide, London, Routledge, 2001.
Wisker, G., The Undergraduate Research Handbook, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2009
Where possible, the current version of reading materials is used during the delivery of this module.  Comprehensive reading lists are provided to students in their handbooks.  Reading Lists will be updated annually.