Postgraduate Course: Dissertation (Physical Activity for Health) (SPRT11001)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education and Sport |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Dissertation |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 60 |
ECTS Credits | 30 |
| Summary | The dissertation is a major piece of work that requires significant time and commitment from the student. Through the dissertation the student has the opportunity to identify a research or professional practice issue related to physical activity for health, and undertake an independent research study to address it. Where appropriate, students will have the opportunity to link with existing research projects in this area within the Physical Activity for Health Research Centre (PAHRC) (http://www.ed.ac.uk/education/pahrc). |
| Course description |
The dissertation process will involve planning, execution, and interpretation and write-up of the independent study in the field of physical activity for health. Dissertation studies may be field, laboratory or desk based.
Students will be supported through specialist research training clinics at the beginning of the process, and by a designated supervisor through individual and/or group tutorials throughout the dissertation process. Additional research training will be provided through completion of the pre-requisite courses Understanding Research Concepts (REDU11010) and Research Process (REDU11011) courses.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students must satisfy MSc progression requirements according to assessment regulations |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 27 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
| Course Start Date |
19/09/2022 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
600
(
Dissertation/Project Supervision Hours 8,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 12,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 12,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
568 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Total mark for the course will be a weighted average of the two assessments.
Task 1 (20%) Oral presentation of research plans prior to data collection, including research questions and detailed overview and rationale for the methodology
Task 2 (80%) Journal article style submission of research project including abstract and lay summary (~5000 words except title, abstract and lay summary) |
| Feedback |
Students will be provided with on-going formative feedback (where appropriate written or oral) from their individual supervisor throughout the dissertation process. Detailed individual formative written feedback from two examiners will be provided following the assessed oral presentation. Detailed written feedback from two examiners will be provided on the journal article submission. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Undertake a significant piece of work demonstrating substantial autonomy, initiative and decision making
- Identify and define a topic of enquiry suitable for a dissertation and justify its theoretical significance showing effective use of relevant literature and other scholarly evidence, professional relevance and practical feasibility
- Identify appropriate methodology and use it effectively to collect data in an ethical and responsible manner
- Systematically analyse data collected using appropriate techniques.
- Communicate the research plans and findings observing appropriate academic guidelines and reflect on how the knowledge can be transferred to a professional context .
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Reading List
Key texts for this course will be:
Coolican, H., (2009). Research methods and statistics in psychology. Hodder Education.
Field, A., (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London: Sage.
Lynch, C. (2011). Doing your research project in sport. Exeter: Learning Matters.
Specific readings from various journals include Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Preventive Medicine, Journal of Sport Sciences.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
During this course students will have the opportunity to practice and develop their ability to:
1) Exercise substantial autonomy and initiative in a research activities
2) Apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis to forefront issues in physical activity for health
3) Identify, conceptualise and define new and abstract problems.
4) Critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge and thinking in physical activity for health
5) Communicate research findings, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences.
6) Undertake critical evaluations of a wide range of numerical and graphical data |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Research training workshops and individual/group tutorials with allocated supervisor |
| Keywords | research project,physical activity for health |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Graham Baker
Tel: (0131 6)51 6034
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Stephen Graham
Tel: (0131 6)51 6132
Email: |
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