Basit, T. N. (2010) Conducting Research in Educational Contexts. London : Continuum
Basit, T. N. (2003) Manual or Electronic: the Role of Coding in Qualitative Data Analysis, Educational Research, vol. 45, pp. 143-154
Bell, J. (2010) Doing Your Research Project. 5th Edition Milton Keynes: Open University Press
Blaikie, N. (2000) Designing Social Research, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Blaxter, L. Hughes, C. & Tight, M. (2006) How to Research. 3rd Edition Buckingham: Open University
Burton, D. and Bartlett, S. (2009) Key Issues for Education Researchers. London: Sage
Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2007) Research Methods in Education. 6th Edition London: Croom Helm
Ritchie, J. and Lewis, J. (2003) (eds) Qualitative Research Practice, London: Sage.
Yin, R. (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

- University Library for a range of relevant texts, e-books and academic journals
- Materials and resources on the module VLE
- Access to academic study skills tutors and resources
- Access to subject librarians for additional support

A one-day seminar will be integrated with independent study. You will receive individual tutorials from your Principal Supervisor and Second Supervisor to support your learning and the assessment work. Peer group learning is an essential element of the programme and there is an emphasis upon using the resources of the group; participants will be expected to contribute through discussion in face-to-face seminar and electronic mode. Direct teaching through 1 seminar and several individual supervision meetings, guided reading and web-based study tasks will structure the learning. You will be expected to use online databases for literature searching; to access the internet for relevant materials to support your learning; and to utilise the Virtual Learning Environment, Blackboard, provided for the programme.
Opportunities for ongoing formative feedback will be provided.

The content of the module will include:
- What makes an effective research proposal?
- Evaluating example research proposals
- Designing research questions
- The role of the literature review in developing a research proposal
- What makes an effective literature review?
- Communicating research design in relation to specific research questions.

The assessment for this module comprises two components:

PART 1: A formal written thesis research proposal of 8000 words (maximum), weighted at 75%. Assesses LOs 1-4

PART 2: An oral examination of the planned research project, weighted at 25%. Assesses LOs 5-6.