M97 – Negotiated Individual Study in Education
M97 – Negotiated Individual Study in Education
Assignment One – Developmental Review
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
This assignment is designed to help you focus your study as early as possible. You will present an outline proposal for the study in which you will clearly identify the topic to be studied, the methodologies you propose to use and at least one additional learning outcome that you hope to meet whist engaged in the study.
The proposal will also review your developmental process in terms of selecting your study so, for example, you might indicate what your initial idea was, how you went about selecting and rejecting ideas and how you decided upon the final idea. You should refer to relevant literature in your work.
ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
· Demonstrate a critical understanding of the topic to be studied
· Demonstrate clear, critical and focused understanding of the additional learning that engaging in the study will help achieve
ETHICAL GUIDELINES
Access to children, teachers, parents or any school personnel normally must be approached through the head teacher.
If students want to carry out research with children they must consult the head teacher or line manager as to whether they need to write to the parents for permission. The school may prefer to do this rather than allow the student to do it.
Students must submit their research proposal to their tutor prior to commencing the research. This proposal must include reference to any ethical issues and how these will be dealt with, details of the data collection including interview questions, observation techniques, questionnaires, etc.
Students may want to use video and photographs to carry out their data collection.
Whilst this can be a very productive source of data these two devices are beset with ethical problems. They are also extremely time consuming to analyse. Tutors must be involved in the discussion about whether or not to allow students to use these means of data collection and all ethical issues must be thoroughly considered.
The tutor will indicate if the proposal is approved before the student can commence the work. This approval will indicate ethical approval and the tutor’s responsibility for ethical standards being maintained.
The BERA Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research, fourth edition (2018) are available to download in the module space. Trainees are required to read these. Submission of this proposal form indicates that students have read and understood these guidelines.
1) Give a brief description of the area on which you are to focus for the study.
Here you can articulate the overall area that will be the focus for this study. You may also wish to briefly outline any first phases you are going to conduct or have conducted already.
2)/ Give a brief account of how and why you have come to the conclusion that you should concentrate on this area of study. How does this link with your own professional practice? How will engaging in this study enhance your professional practice?
Here you can engage with the background to your study and explain the reasoning behind your choice of topic for this study. You should also consider how this will improve your professional practice as a teacher.
3) What is your initial research idea, question or hypothesis?
Here you should articulate an initial question or hypothesis for your study.
4) What model(s) and methods do you propose to employ for
this study and why?
Here you should engage with the methods that you propose to use to collect data on your study. You can also reiterate any structures or cycles that will take place in your research. Try to indicate at least your first intended cycle in this section.
5) In addition to the learning outcomes already stated for this
module, what other learning outcomes will the study enable you to meet? You should propose at least one additional learning outcome. This is a learning outcome for YOU, not for your pupils, so you may consider beginning it with something like: “By the end of this module I will have a critical understanding of.......”Additional learning outcome(s):
6) Additional information:
Here you should include any additional information of which you feel that your tutor should be aware. For example, any ethical considerations which may impinge on your work or any particular constraints which may affect your study
7) References:
Here, you should include some indicative academic texts relating to the actual topic of your study with a brief annotation showing how they will be useful for your work. Please remember that we are looking for “Academic texts/references”
Newspaper/magazine articles, whilst useful as a starting point, should not be used as a basis for academic discussion or evaluation
Proposal (1000 words)
Please see the assignment guidance under UNITS for further information as to what is required for this proposal.
For this assignment you will need to
LO1 - Demonstrate a critical understanding of the topic to be studied
LO2 - Demonstrate clear, critical and focused understanding of the additional learning that engaging in the study will help achieve.
This will need to be written on the proposal proforma:
EPD M97 Developmental Review Proposal Proforma (1).doc Download EPD M97 Developmental Review Proposal Proforma (1).doc attached
A note on similarity scores
You should still make sure that you have not copied and pasted from any sources - you should always paraphrase unless you are referencing a direct quote. The University has clear referencing guidelines Links to an external site. - please make sure that you have followed them.
Feedback
Programme leaders have four weeks from the submission date to assess this assignment. You will receive an automatic email when feedback and marks have been released.
Normally feedback will be given in two different forms: firstly there are likely to be some annotations within your proposal itself at the relevant places for the comments, and secondly there will be feedback against the following headings and which will be reflected in the actual mark awarded.
a) Suitability of topic/set learning outcomes:
b) Action research and data collection methods intended:
c) Indicative literature:
d) Overall comment:
e) Bullet points to consider:
f) Grade: