Research Methods in Media and Cultural Studies

• Credit value: 0 credits at Level 7
• Tutors: Dr Simone Wesner and others to be confirmed

This compulsory, unassessed module is for all full-time MA students in their first year and all part-time MA students in their second year. It consists of four workshops, which are designed to help you begin the process of research, building towards the submission of your dissertation proposal.

Indicative syllabus

• Starting research: problems and concerns surrounding starting and conducting research; key aspects of writting an academic piece of research and how to go about gathering evidence; the main types of research questions and the differences between a variety of research approaches.
• Using the library for research and referencing and avoiding plagiarism: common research paradigms linked to our personal understanding of what research is and how it is carried out; referencing and how to avoid assessment offences such as plagiarism.
• Negotiating the process of research: data collection and ethical implications of research; specific data collection methods that match with the paradigms and methodologies that are of interest to the group
• Structuring your research and answering a question: how best to analyse data that you will collect for your research coursework or your dissertation.

By the end of these workshops, you will be able to:

• understand what a research question should contain and how to formulate one
• understand the differences between paradigms, methodologies and methods and identify the research material needed to answer a research question
• reference your work properly and avoid plagiarism
• select relevant frameworks, processes and approaches for undertaking research projects for personal and work related enquiries, and specifically for your own MA dissertation project.