module specification

This module supports the completion of the individual research project. It builds towards the completion of a body of work for final submission.

This module supports the completion of project work across the final phase of full-time and part-time study. Reflection upon practice and review of the overall direction of project work, research questions, aims and methods are important aspects of this stage of the course. The project will be completed to an appropriate standard and presented in a manner consistent with the project aims, agreed by the appropriate course team and subject supervisor. A submission of project work is made along with a critical and evaluative research report (6-8000 words).

This module aims to:
• enable students to complete a research project within a supportive academic context and research culture;
• enable students to present an agreed body of work in order to demonstrate an appropriate level of attainment, professionally and intellectually, which may contribute to continuing professional practice or further studies;
• enable students to reflect critically on their practice in order to realise their personal objectives and understand the methods by which they have been achieved;
• enable students to demonstrate precision in the use of materials, techniques, and forms;
• facilitate critical thinking and analysis to support the realisation of the project and an understanding of its social, cultural, philosophical, and ethical dimensions;
• enable students to engage with a range of critical debates and vocabularies applicable to their approved programme of work.

FA7025 Research Methods, FA7047 Project Development

Students will follow their individually negotiated work programmes, following review and feedback from the Project Development module and continue to meet regularly with their supervisor(s). The module is concerned with the student completing their individual project. Individual and group tutorials continue to support students to refine their work towards a substantial conclusion. LO1,LO2,LO3,LO4,LO5

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to, and have the opportunity to, continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

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

1. engage effectively with the context of the project using appropriate critical language; providing evidence of awareness of critical debates and issues that relate to the project;

2. present project work demonstrating an appropriate use of practitioner skills in relation to practical, technical and theoretical understanding in a manner that reflects the proposal and agreed criteria;
3. employ effective independent learning strategies required for continuing professional study and/or research at a higher level;
4. report and communicate the progress of research and present findings in a manner that is appropriate to the nature of the proposal and agreed criteria;
5. deliver a sustained, structured and systematic approach to the independent study of an approved programme of work.

Final assessment is based on a submission of completed project work with an accompanying critical and evaluative research report (6-8000 words).

Completed project work: a body of practice demonstrating the development and completion of the project, with related supporting material such as documentation evidencing the working method. The submission will be in a medium and format appropriate to the subject.

The Critical and Evaluative Research Report (6-8000 word) will demonstrate the rigour and research that has been achieved in the project. It will act as a guide to the project submission and, convey the research journey. The most significant findings and data collected over the development of the project will be considered, reflected upon, and analysed. Key elements of the project context will be identified critically and analytically, and the relation of the project work to these made apparent. The methods used will be considered and reflected upon and any development of these will be explained. Key theories that pertain to the project will be engaged with critically and analytically.  The questions deemed most significant at the conclusion of the project will be presented in their final form and, the extent to which the methods used were effective or could be further improved will be considered.

Texts will be identified on an individual basis as appropriate. Students will be expected to read widely in and around their subject and to keep up with current specialist journals, e -resources and exhibitions and/or live events and screenings.

Core:
Barratt, E. and Bolt, B. (ed.) (2014) Material Inventions, Applying Creative Arts Research,  London: I.B. Taurus, 2014
Barrett E. and Bolt B. (ed.) (2007) Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Inquiry, London: I.B. Tauris

Biggs, M and Karlsson, H. (ed.) (2010) The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts, London and New York: Routledge

Fraser, M. (ed.) (2013) Design Research in Architecture: An Overview, London: Routledge
Nelson, R. et al. (2013) Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances, New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Scrivener, S. (2002) ‘Reflection in and on Action and Practice in Creative-Production Doctoral Projects in Art and Design’, Research into Practice: Working Papers in Art and Design [online journal]

Wesseling, J. (ed.) (2011) See it Again, Say it Again: The Artist as Researcher, Amsterdam: Valliz

Additional:
Orna, E. and Stevens, G. (1995) Managing Information for Research, Buckingham and Philadelphia, Open University Press
Pegley, O. (2007) ‘Capturing and Analysing own design activity’, Design Studies,Vol 28, No. 5, September
Biggs, M. and Karlsson, H. (ed.) (2010) The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts, London and New York: Routledge
Willis, P. (1980) ‘Notes on method’ in Hall, S. et al. (ed.), Culture, Media, Language, Unwin Hyman
Gray C. and Malins J. (2004) Visualizing Research, Aldershot, Ashgate

Ritter, R. M. (2002) The Oxford Manual of Style, London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, Oxford University Press
Leavey, P. (2009) Method meets Art: Arts-based Research Practice, New York and London: The Guilford Press
Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. How Professionals Think in Action, Basic Books