Undergraduate Course: Research Design in Geography (GEGR09011)

Course Outline
School	School of Geosciences	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	This course introduces students to diverse skills required for undertaking independent research and writing. Particular emphasis is given to providing materials and information that will prepare students for the Geography Dissertation. A variety of skills are introduced including: Research question formulation; Choice of appropriate methodologies; Critical reviewing of literature; Planning, analysis and write-up of work; Use of Computer-based and IT skills to enable efficient working.
Course description	Research Design is divided into three streams: Human Geography (Qualitative), Human Geography (Understanding People through Measuring and Testing), and Physical Geography. Students will choose what stream they wish to join after the first lecture. Human Geography (Qualitative) (Course Organiser: Hamish Kallin): This course will review research design with a specific emphasis on how to approach the writing of a human geography dissertation. The course will place particular emphasis on problem formation (or how to shape an engaging research question), writing skills and the integration of theory into the choice of methods and literature. This course will be particularly helpful to those undertaking a more qualitative form of research. Syllabus: Wk 1: Research Design- Joint Lecture Wk 2: Problem Formation Wk 3: Theory and Literature Wk 4: Methods and Data Analysis Wk 5: How to organise and how to write Human Geography (Understanding People and Society through Measuring and Testing) (Course Organiser: Chris Dibben): This course will review research design with a specific emphasis on how to approach the design of a human geography dissertation. The course will explore problem formation (or how to shape an engaging research question), helping you to think through the most appropriate methods to you answering particular research questions of interest. It will expose you to a multitude of different sources of information, data and methods. The course will be particularly helpful for those taking a more (post) positivist position in their work, where a research question may be addressed through measuring and testing and through approaches influenced by the natural sciences such as experiments. Syllabus: Wk 1: Research Design- Joint Lecture Wk 2: Asking Questions- capturing answers Wk 3: Doing social experiments Wk 4: Observing people and places WK 5: Google, twitter...new forms of data Physical Geography (Course Organisers: Andy Hein and Noel Gourmelen). The course will review research design, use of Earth Observation datasets (access, principles, processing), acquiring field data (sampling strategies, key techniques) and analysing data. The focus will be on applying knowledge gained in previous courses to practical research application. It will prepare students for their dissertation projects by helping them to consider effective approached to data collection and analysis. Syllabus: Wk 1: Research Design- Joint Lecture Wk 2: Earth Observation data for Physical Geography Wk 3: Earth Observation data for Physical Geography Wk 4: Field data for Physical Geography Wk 5: Field data for Physical Geography

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites	Students MUST also take: Geography Dissertation (GEGR10053)
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Block 3 (Sem 2)
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 12, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 2, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 80 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Students will submit a research proposal not exceeding 2,500 words
Feedback	Students will be able to discuss their research ideas during the course with staff. Students will receive feedback on their research proposals from their dissertation advisors.
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: have a better grasp of the basics of research design, and the purpose of doing a dissertation understand how to formulate a feasible and interesting research question have a better understanding of how research ideas develop from an identification of gaps in the literature, into appropriate research approaches and then well formulated projects feel more confident about accessing, collecting and analysing data relevant to their dissertation projects