Postgraduate Course: The Nature of Enquiry (EdD) (REDU12002)

Course Outline
School	Moray House School of Education	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 12 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	The aim of this course is to introduce philosophical and epistemological perspectives that inform the aims and practices of social and educational research. Discussion of the main debates between the various schools or paradigms will lead to a consideration of the arguments and assumptions which each makes about the social world. The course will focus on issues of methodology (i.e., the principles of research) rather than on providing training in the use of specific research methods, but these will then be linked with the discussions in other courses on the actual practice of research. It is also important that a course of this nature should address the values and ethical problems inherent in social and educational research and this course introduces them.
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Learning and Teaching Activities
Assessment (Further Info)	Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Assessment Methods
Additional Information (Assessment)	Students should submit and assignment of 4,000 to 5,000 words that explores the nature, the context and the goals of social enquiry. The assignment should be illustrated with references to their own area of research interest and/or professional expertise. The assignment might be tackled in a variety of ways. For example, it might involve a detailed discussion of the influence of a particular paradigm on research in their area, or it might take the form of an argument for more diversity, e.g. an argument (eg. an argument concerning the need to move away from a positivist perception of enquiry to a more interpretivist model). It should not be merely a descriptive account of the main features of positivist, structuralist and/or intrepretivist approaches to social enquiry.
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No Exam Information

Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS2)		Quota: None
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Learning and Teaching Activities
Assessment (Further Info)	Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Assessment Methods
Additional Information (Assessment)	Students should submit and assignment of 4,000 to 5,000 words that explores the nature, the context and the goals of social enquiry. The assignment should be illustrated with references to their own area of research interest and/or professional expertise. The assignment might be tackled in a variety of ways. For example, it might involve a detailed discussion of the influence of a particular paradigm on research in their area, or it might take the form of an argument for more diversity, e.g. an argument (eg. an argument concerning the need to move away from a positivist perception of enquiry to a more interpretivist model). It should not be merely a descriptive account of the main features of positivist, structuralist and/or intrepretivist approaches to social enquiry.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to: identify the main traditions/paradigms of social and education research analyse the ways in which the different methodological positions affect research questions, research design and the choice of data collection instruments and analysis techniques discuss the contribution of systematic enquiry to understanding social and educational issues and developing public policies to address these issues demonstrate an awareness of the values and ethical debates inherent in social and educational research