Unit information: Understanding Educational Research in 2008/09

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Unit name Understanding Educational Research
Unit code EDUCM5502
Credit points 20
Level of study M/7
Teaching block(s) Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director Emeritus Professor. Tim Bond
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

School/department School of Education
Faculty Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

This unit develops concepts and practices to enable participants to develop a reasoned evaluation of published educational research. The unit provides an overview of paradigmatic differences that operate in social science research and facilitates participants in considering the implications of these for understanding and evaluating research in their own field of interest. Particular attention will be paid to associated issues concerning the relationship between evaluation and educational values; research ethics; implications for research design and methodology; research quality criteria; and the intended applications and audiences of the research. Participants will critically engage with these issues by evaluating one or more published studies in their field of interest as group activities during the unit and as the basis for individually prepared assessed work.