module specification

The module aims to enable students to develop an understanding of philosophical, practical and ethical aspects of social research methods and skills for designing and conducting social research in the field of youth and community development. A specific focus on this module is on action research – understood as a form of social enquiry which aims to bring together action and reflections on practice with disadvantaged communities.

The module provides training on research design - developing an answerable research question, identifying aims and objectives of the research, identifying an appropriate methodology and developing a critical appreciation of ethical research practice. It also develops the skills required for reviewing and appraising published research and for developing arguments and making conclusions on the basis of evidence.

The ultimate purpose of this module is to equip students with necessary conceptual understanding and the practical tools for conducting social enquiries on issues of their choice which seeks to bring about positive social change. The module feeds the dissertation project and the placement component of their degree programme.

The specific aims of the module are to:

1. Enable students to appreciate the importance of scientific (systematic, rigorous and academic) research in the practice of youth and community development work.
2. Introduce students to the principles of social research methods with particular focus on qualitative research and specifically of action and emancipatory research.
3. Enable students to develop relevant skills to formulate their research questions that are informed by theoretical insights and translated into the design of conducting a social research.
4. Enable students to appreciate an ethical approach to research and demonstrate a critical application of ethical practice.
5. Provide students with skills to appraise published research, design an appropriate interview schedule, conduct in-depth interviews, observe social phenomenon and reflect on their own practice and values.
6. Develop students’ capacity to analyse qualitative data and develop arguments on the basis of evidence
7. Enable students to develop skills in reporting and applying research.

The strategy is to learn by doing. However there will be introductory lectures to develop a theoretical understanding:

Learning through study:
• Philosophical traditions and methods of social research
• Principles of conducting emancipatory research, anti-oppressive practice and reflective learning.

Learning by doing:
Students will be engaged in activities, through guided group work, to develop practical skills, necessary for undertaking a research project. These will include:

• A deeper and critical understating of formulating a research question; identifying its aims and objective
• Reviewing and appraising literature through reviewing a scholarly article
• Conducting systematic reviews and developing rationale for own research
• Designing a topic guide to use for generating primary data
• Choosing appropriate research method for collating, analysing qualitative and quantitative data on youth and community development.
• Students will write a proposal for their dissertation applying the above.

Students’ learning will be assessed through a literature review and a proposal for their dissertation.

The module is delivered as a series of guided group work activities, seminars and lectures on topics including principles of social research, research designs, methods, ethics and qualitative data synthesis and analysis. The sessions will consider the context of youth and community work. A range of individuals who are experts in their field will deliver specific sessions. Independent learning will be supported by tasks on the Virtual Learning Environment, library materials and online resources.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

1. Critically describe the different research methods, their strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness for researching youth and community issues.
2. Search, review and evaluate published research on students’ chosen topic and locate them in the context of current scholarship.
3. Apply skills and knowledge to design their own research – developing an answerable research question informed by theoretical insights, identifying research aims and objectives, and decide on the appropriate methods of generating data to use them to inform the research question.
4. Demonstrate the application of ethical practice in conducting the research and a commitment to emancipatory practice.

This module will be assessed by two pieces of written work to support the development of the dissertation or action learning project - including to following:
a) Literature review (2000 words)
b) Research proposal (1000 words)

Reading lists are held in the University’s reading list repository at the following link:

https://londonmet.rl.talis.com/modules/ SS7007.html