Dissertation Preparation Unit Notes
Lecture 1
Introduction
Intro:
- During this unit you will produce a research proposal which will form the
basis of your dissertation.
- In order for you to come up with a research proposal, you need to come
up with a dissertation idea.
- Attend seminars and workshops to understand how to research and plan
your work.
- You must complete an ethical document in a draft format but you won’t
submit this. You need to do this for experience, for next year.
- You must find and confirm a member of staff who will supervise your
dissertation.
- During this unit you will develop your understanding of a research
design and write a research question which will lead to your dissertation.
- During this unit you will complete a dissertation proposal including a
critical literature review, method proposal and ethical documentation.
Assignment:
- Research Proposal 24/05/21.
- 2000 words.
- Literature review including a critical analysis providing gaps in research
which provides rational for your study in that area. Hopefully this leads
to your aims and hypothesis. A literature review answers the question
‘why did this study get done in the first place’.
- Proposed Methods. Detailed account of how you propose to conduct the
research. Write as you have seen in a peer reviewed article so in
scientific language. Write step by step what you will do so someone
could pick it up read it and understand it. Read relevant peer reviewed
studies to get a feel for it. Give an account of the resources you want to
use, eg – if you have picked a number of people that you will study then
you need to justify this, did you come to this number through a
calculation or previous research.
- Ethical documentation. Refer to the generic department ethics
department which is going to give you much guidance and it will be this
document that you need to fill out a draft version of.
To pass:
- (look at the marking box on assignment brief)
- Design a realistic study.
- Critically review appropriate literature - Advice from lecturer – read read
read! Read specifically around the area you are looking at to gain a
better understanding. The more that you can read around a topic the
more it will benefit you around your understanding and the more it will
benefit you in this unit with your research question and research
methods.
- Select and evaluate appropriate research methods. Your method must
make sense with your research question and hypothesis. Eg – if you are
looking at aerobic performance endurance then during your method you
are testing sprint speed, these two things do not go together.
- Produce a research ethics document.
Contact with your supervisor:
- They will only supervise people in their ‘area’. Eg nutrition.
- First come first served.
- They will only accept a supervisory role if a clearly thought-out idea is
presented to them by the student. Make sure your idea is clearly
thought out and is clearly presented to the member of staff.
- Dissertation must be specific. Designed to answer a specific question.
- Majority of contact you have will be with your dissertation supervisor.
- Emphasis on the relation between you and your supervisor is guidance.
No one will do the work for you. You need to have a good understanding
of the literature around your area before going to the supervisor.
Plan of action:
- Start formulating an idea for your project. Ensure it is within staff
expertise and is based on literature searches.
- Start speaking to staff about your idea to get some guidance/focus.
‘reach out to a staff member and say ‘listen I’ve got an idea for a
research project; can I speak to you’.
- Establish a supervisor for your dissertation.
- Have a plan by the end of week 4 (21/02/21).
- Contact supervisor and prepare draft proposal.
- Upload draft proposal and confirm supervisor (05/03/21).
Seminar 1
What is a dissertation:
- It’s a formal piece of academic writing where you explore a specific topic
in detail. Independent self-directed piece of study with some supervisory
assistance.
- Depending on the topic you are exploring, this could dictate the
structure, mode of treatment of the topic and methodology of the
dissertation.
- These should be chosen in consultation with your supervisor; however, it
may be:
- -- Research attempting to extend the state of knowledge within the topic
area. – The application of existing ideas, techniques or methods to a new
situation. – A critical review of the existing state of knowledge within the
topic area.
- The dissertation has 3 main components:
- -- The ethical application (this is a very important part of the process to
allow the research to be conducted. The ethical application form will
need to contain details of the rationale, outline, ethical considerations,
study material, and risk assessment for the proposed study). – The
dissertation thesis (justification, the study, the purpose, everything is
laid out and documented and this where the main bulk of the work in
academic writing comes from). – dissemination of the findings (normally
a conference presentation).
What makes up a dissertation:
A dissertation is made up of individual sections (these will vary depending on
the study, but all studies will follow a general theme and structure).
Dissertations normally include:
- An abstract
- Introduction providing a background to the issue and why it is important
(providing context, not a literature review)
- A clear statement of the research problem to be investigated (a
dissertation is basically a documentation of a piece of research which is
fundamentally trying to solve a problem. Lay out the problem here)
- A review of relevant literature (look for gaps in the understanding)
- Details of the methods used (done in enough detail so someone could
pickup your research and replicate your method)
- Results section (statistical analysis etc)
- Discussion (different from results as you are critically analysing the
results and what it means).
- Ideas for future study (any potential directions that further research
could go in as a result of your study).
- References
- Appendix
Why do a dissertation:
- Gives you the chance to research a topic of personal interest and should
be a piece of work that you are proud of.
- Seen as important by future employers and shows your competence.
- Dissertation is a learning process which allows you to bring together a
bunch of skills and develop numerous transferable skills.
Task – search for dissertations in your area of interest. One in undergraduate
and one in postgraduate. Identify the key areas that make up a dissertation in
these studies.
Lecture 2
How to approach research and get organised
What does research mean:
- A systematic, logical process involved with problem solving.
- Research needs to be replicable.
Problem Solving:
- We need to problem solve scientifically
- Develop a problem (read read read) (find a gap in the literature to
improve understanding)
- Formulate a hypothesis (understand research design, methods you will
use and what statistical analysis you will use)
- Gather data
- Analyse and interpret
What is the point of research:
-
Enhance knowledge
Improve society
To become critical
To justify what is already being done
To inform action
Type of research classification:
- Quantitative research (collection and analysis of numerical data) (often
comes about from direct testing or questionnaires for example. Applying
interventions to see relationships or differences in results before and
after intervention). Relationships use correlational analysis and
differences for two types of data you might use a statistical test that
looks at the differences of the means of the data eg. a T-test).
- Qualitative research (none numerical, observations, interviews, natural
unaltered settings).
Study design formats:
-
Whether it is quantitative or qualitative you will need:
A problem
Hypothesis (measurable/testable)
Participants
Variables to measure
Methodology
Methods of analysis
Common themes:
- Blinding (single and double blinding)
- Placebo (could happen if participant isn’t blinded to which is the control
and which is the real thing)
- Validity (internal and external) (internal = was the research done right)
(external = does the same result happen in other settings).
- Reliability (stability, equivalence)
- Sampling (representative of wider population, randomization, selection
bias)
To control or not to control:
-
How might you control
When
Why
What are you controlling?
Variables:
- Dependant (outcome variable eg- sprint performance) (interest in
analysising)
- Independent (other varaibles eg, age, sex etc) (interested in collecting
your data on) what influence do these have on your outcome.
Deductive and Inductive reasoning:
- Quantitative research is based in part on deductive reasoning (logic
proceeds from general to specific). (theory to hypothesis to observations
to conclusion)
- Qualitative research follows more of an inductive process (logic
proceeds from specific to general). (observations to general pattern
observed to tentative hypothesis to prevailing theory). Eg – One might
observe that a swan is white. The pattern might be that there a lot of
swans that are white. The tentative hypothesis would be swans are
white. The prevailing theory would be that all swans are white.
Deductive Research:
- Based on known facts (eg: all fish live in the sea, Kevin is a fish, Kevin
lives in the sea) (Further example: Theory = Throwing potatoes at people
will hurt them and annoy them (based on previous evidence).
Hypothesis = if you throw a potato at someone, they will get angry. Test
1 = throw a potato at person 1. Test 2 = throw a potato at person 2.
Result = they both got angry. Conclusion = throwing a potato at
someone will make them angry.
Inductive Research:
- A potato falls from the sky hits rory and he gets angry. The next day a
potato falls from the sky hits rory and he gets angry. A general theory is
made on this observation and pattern. When potatoes fall from the sky
and hit someone, they will get angry.
Task:
Find these research designs and write when you would use them:
-
Systematic review
Ethnography
Case study
Survey
Intervention
Questionnaire
Causation
Interview
Observation
Correlation
Meta-analysis
Randomized control trial
Lecture 3
How to find and read literature
Literature review:
- Find key literature then – provide a Detailed critical analysis of key
literature
- Gaps in the literature should be identified (rationale for study should
start to be developed).
- End this section detailing the key aims of the project (based on prior
literature), the research question that will be addressed and the
hypothesis.
Reading the literature strategy:
- Finding data (scan reading search engines and using keywords to find
relevant studies)
- Getting an overview (skim reading an article, looking at headings and
subheadings)
- General reading (conventional reading - read most of the text but miss
some bits)
- Studying (Academic reading – reading in depth. Slow and strategic
reading to build strong understanding)
- Analysis (Analytical reading – not only involves reading in depth but also
questioning and considering how this source links to other information
that you have read).
- (FIRST 4 IN THIS TABLE ARE THE KEY ELEMENTS FOR ME WHILST
WRITING THE PROPOSAL)
How to search for literature:
- Key words (think about language and terminology)
- --- creating a search term grid (you can find more common terms in the
area you are studying by reading journal articles in that area and taking
note of common words)
- Databases (eg. pubmed, science direct, ebsco host services. These are all
available through the library search database. This library database will
search all of these databases for you. This is a good place to start).
- Evaluation – Where (peer reviewed). Who (research scientist, journalist,
randomer). When (how old is it, is it still relevant). How relevant (is it
related to what you are researching, assess how relevant it is). Why (why
is this information important, why are you reading it).
- Is it a primary or secondary source. (Original source of info where the
info was presented is primary, where as secondary sources have been
referenced by the article you are reading)
- Create tables (example below)
Useful steps in the search:
1- Identify the problem
2- Consult your secondary sources (review articles, textbooks,
encyclopaedias)
3- Identify appropriate descriptors (key terms)
4- Search for preliminary sources (research articles
5- Read and record the literature
6- Write the literature review
Developing the research question:
- What has already been published in the area
- What are the key findings, theories and concepts in previous literature?
- Identify results of previous studies, identify similarities and differences
and undertake critical analysis.
- How does the literature relate to and support what you plan to do?
- Persuade the reader that your research is important
What is critical analysis:
- Analyse, not just describe
- Appreciation of different theories and approaches (recognizing that
perhaps there may be counter theories to your argument and they need
to be mentioned in a balanced manner)
- Developing a balanced argument:
- 1 – explore contradictory literature/research
- 2 – demonstrate an awareness of bias when critically analysing
- 3 – consider strengths and weaknesses
- 4 – consider the underlying reasons for these differences
- Conclusion/summary:
- 1 - Demonstrate independent thinking
- 2 - Justify your point of view
What shall we consider:
- What is the sample size (n=) characteristics (amateur, professional etc)
(males/females).
- Age of participants. How will this impact generalising findings. Eg – a
study on males cant be generalised to females.
- Did they miss any key measures off a different study. Eg. jones et al
(2010) used glucose levels, however smith et al (2011) went further than
this to incorporate insulin levels.
- Strengths:
- 1 – what is good about the study
- 2 – did they use a big sample size
- 3 – did they use a new technique for measuring a variable
- Or simply difference:
- 1 – this will help you to establish WHY studies have different findings.
- 2 – Smith found this and Jones found that buy WHY.
- 3 – eg – smith (2011) found used females aged 17-25, however Jones
(2010) used female participants 35-45 this could have affected the
results because……
- Development of research question. Using this diagram to develop your
hypothesis thus leading to your research question.
Task:
- Find three studies that are related to your idea and consider the
following:
Task 2:
Summarise your articles.
Explain how they relate to your potential research question.
Using the spider diagram above start to plan your research question and
proposal.
Seminar 3
Planning your literature review
Complete tasks at the end of lecture three. Post on the discussion board a
summary of one article relating to your research idea and see if you can start a
discussion with anyone looking at a similar topic. (maybe just complete the
task for lecture three then try to get in contact through other means with
people from your class to try and have a conversation about how they are
coping and who their supervisor is etc.). below these questions may help when
examining the related journal articles.
Lecture 4
Quantitative Research Design
Four steps we focus on completing this year for the dissertation:
-
Develop a research question
Translate your question into research hypothesis
Decide what to measure and how to measure it (variables)
Ethics
What does an experiment need to have?
-
Research question
Hypothesis (This needs to be measurable/testable)
Participants
Variables to measure (ask Julia about this, do we have the equipment at
the university needed)
- Methodology (protocols aka the day to day of actually conducting the
study) (what design is it: cross-over design)
- Methods of analysis (will you use a t test or something)
Reliability:
- It is really important that your study is consistent and repeatable.
- Degree to which repeated measurements are reproducible (follow strict
protocol’s and methodology)
- How can you measure reliability (perform a series of statistical tests)
- Controls (one way to increase the reliability in your study you can
introduce control measures).
Validity:
- The degree of ‘truthfulness’ of a test score/result.
- Dependant on two things reliability and relevance:
(Tests need to be reliable to be valid but they can be reliable without
being valid).
- Consider the internal validity and the external validity of your study.
Key terms to consider:
- Placebo (ask Julia about this, do we need a placebo, if so how do we
implement it)
- The placebo effects
- Blinding
- Double blind
Controlling Variables:
- Will impact validity
- How will your participants behave before the study and what effect will
that have? (should they exercise before or not, should the eat or not
etc).
How do we decide how to measure variables?
- Quasi experimental study – control group vs experimental group
- Experimental research designs:
Between subjects:
1 - Experimental group 1 Test 1
2 - Experimental group 2 Test 2
Seeing how the experimental test differs between 2 experimental
groups.
- Repeated Measures (within subject differences):
Experimental group test 1 ---- treatment period ---- test 2
- True experimental designs incorporate randomized sampling and
allocation to groups and include a control group
- Its not always entirely necessary to have a separate control group. It is
possible to introduce a control measure into for example a repeated
measures design.
True experimental designs:
- How can casualty be achieved
1 – control and effect correlate
2 – cause should precede the effect
3 – all other explanations (confounding variables) of the cause and effect
must be ruled out
The effect should be present when the cause is present
The affect should be absent when the cause is absent
Designing a study:
- Independent variable (IV) = what the researcher is manipulating
(Breakfast)
- Dependent variable (DV) = effect of independent variable (Metabolic
health)
- Research question – the thing you want to answer
- Theory – What has been shown in the research previously to make this
interesting
- Hypothesis – What do you think will happen
Research Hypothesis:
-
-
-
Develop Hypothesis from the research question.
A hypothesis is a prediction of what is going to happen in our study.
Null Hypothesis (nothing will change, the study won’t have any effect)
Alternative (experimental hypothesis) (there is a
relation/difference/effect as a result of the treatment variable in your
design)
It’s important that you state both of these hypotheses when you are
designing your research study
The hypothesis should be educated predictions based on research,
previous literature and an understand on how human physiology works
in certain situations.
Important to state these before the study happens rather than after.
At the end of the study, you may reject or accept the null hypothesis or
you may accept of reject the alternative hypothesis.
Lecture 5
Writing your Literature Review
What is a Literature Review?
- It’s a type of essay which summarizes the key literature on a subject
- It’s a type of story which summarizes material in a logical order,
composed of critical arguments, concluding with your own reflections on
the most important insights that emerge.
- Mainly based on peer reviewed material.
-
What should it include:
- The literature review should address the key literature in an area and
provide a detailed critical analysis of it.
- From the critical analyses, gaps in the literature should be identified.
(not enough experimental studies to show breakfast causes good health)
- You should end the literature review with detailing the aims of your
project (based on previous literature), the research question that will be
addressed, and then the hypothesis
What a literature review is not:
- It’s not an annotated bibliography. Providing a descriptive list of
literature isn’t good.
- It’s not a basic summative report of what you’ve read – you need to be
saying something. Provide your own analysis and own reflections.
Title of the literature review:
-
Suggests to the reader what you are researching
Should not be vague
It needs to be specific
It needs to refer to ALL main variables although you can use a collective
noun for similar variables
- Be prepared for your titles to develop (your working title may change)
Developing a research question:
- What has already been published in this area
- What are the key findings, theories and concepts?
- Present the results of previous studies, identify similarities and
differences, and critically analyse it
- How does this relate and support what you plan to do?
- Persuade the reader that your research area is important (narrate a
persuasive story to convince the reader that your research is
important)
How to structure it:
- An introduction or background information section (gives a quick idea of
the topic of the lit review, such as the central theme or organisational
pattern)
- The body of the review (contains your discussion of sources and is
organised either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically).
- Conclusions and/or recommendations (discuss what you have
understood after reviewing what others have said).
- Literature review should go from – Broad theme – to specific to the topic
– to critical information (good slides at around 24:30 in the lecture to
show examples).
Aim:
- What is the purpose of your study?
- Objectives:
– How will you achieve the aim:
1 - break down a research aim into manageable sections
2 – Explain how the research question will be answered
3 – Most studies have an overall aim and a number of objectives
Be selective:
- Choose the most relevant literature that directly focuses on your
research question or topic of interest.
Tip:
- Avoid using quotes.
- When paraphrasing make sure to represent the authors work accurately
and that it is referenced in the correct style.
- The process of writing is skill. When drafting a piece of work it is smart
to do several drafts of that work. Re-write, re-write, re-write.
- Be sure to use terminology familiar to your audience; get rid of
unnecessary jargon or informal language.
What is critical analysis:
- You need to analyse, not just describe
- Appreciation of different theories/approaches (explore research that
may be contradictory, provide the other side of the argument if there is
differing views out there in the literature and in the data)
- Developing a balanced argument
1 – Explore contradictory literature/research
2 – Demonstrate an awareness of bias
3 – consider strengths and weaknesses
4 – consider underlying reasons for differences
- Conclusion/summary:
1 – Demonstrate independent thinking
2 – Justify your view point
The last 5 mins of lecture shows a good literature review example
Lecture 6
Methods Section
The methods section should:
- provide a detailed account of how the hypothesis will be tested
- include a full justification of the resources your methodology requires
(e.g., if you are using 15 participants, why have you picked that number.
If you are using blood lactate analysis, why is this needed. If you have
each subject performing 5 repeat tests, why is this necessary.
- You should provide evidence of a data collection sheet that you will use
to collate your data in raw form (this will include sections to input data
from your dependant variables and have evidence for identifying the
subject, date, condition/test number etc).
- Be repeatable (someone can look at the methods section and repeat the
study)
- Be generally structured in the order of your experiment.
- Include sub-headings. Don’t be afraid to use sub-headings (good slide
showing examples of potential headings here 11:00 mins)
- Do not refer to the participants in your study as ‘subjects’, always use
participants.
- 24:22 links to a good video on how you take a sample and relate it to the
wider population
- Write in future tense for dissertation proposal because it hasn’t
happened yet
Statistical analysis should include:
-
Measures of central tendency
Normality
Statistical models: ANOVA, T-test, Regression, Effect Size, Post Hoc.
Statistical model used – SPSS
- How have you presented your data – Mean SD
- Use alpha level
Lecture 7
Review and Consolidation
Talks about what we have done and what we will do.
What we will do:
-
Ethics 15/03
Risk assessments 22/03
Easter 29/03
Easter 05/04
N/A 12/04
Participant info, DPIA’s, Consent and GDPR 19/04
Putting the proposal together 26/04
Writing clinic 03/05
Lecture 8
Ethics
Intro:
- What are ethics; a set of guidelines employed to ensure the safety of the
participants and correct practice during research. Is the process worth
the reward. To ensure the correct tools and protocols are being used to
answer the research question and hypothesis.
Declaration of Helsinki:
- A set of ethical principles for the medical community regarding human
experimentation, and is widely regarded as the cornerstone document
of human research ethics.
The ethics proposal to get UoB ethical approval:
- Be carried out by a competent researcher
- Be conducted on volunteers who understand what is required of them
- Be safe
- Be useful
- Adhere to the general guidelines of the University
Uni Regulations:
- Participants give informed consent before taking part, and are free to
withdraw without giving a reason at any point.
- The involvement of the participants is proportionate to the likely
benefits of the research
- Any harm or distress will be minimised through robust precautions
- Anonymity of participants
Process of Ethical proposal:
- You fill out ethics form and send it to supervisor, she gives notes on it.
You improve it and send it back. She may send it to an independent
researcher to get feedback. You improve the ethics form until your
supervisor feels confident enough to sign off on it
Lecture 9
Risk Assessments and SOPs (standard operating procedures)
What is the purpose of a risk assessment?
- Identify risks and hazards in advance of an experimental study
- Must risk assess the environment (lab) and tasks.
- Hazard = something which could cause harm – (gives a load of examples
6:00 min)
- How likely is it that the probability will cause harm and how severe
would this harm be? = level of risk.
- Control measure = something that reduces the likelihood or severity of a
hazard occurring.
- Links to a website that may be useful 10:32
- You need to refer to university risk assessments that are most relevant
to your study in the assignment
- Gives a good table on how to write up risk assessment 15:34
- Slip trips and falls in lab – computer wires – make sure they aren’t in the
way and secured in the right fashion
- Shows how to rate your risk rating 17:27
2nd lecture this week:
- Shows how to access risk assessment and sop info on breo.
3rd lectures this week:
- Shows you risk assessment examples on breo.
- Shows which number to reference in your assessment.
- Shows how to access list of all lab equipment (make model and supplier
must be mentioned in assessment).
Recommended Resources
bell, J. (2014) Doing your research project. A guide for first time researchers. London: Open
University Press. Sixth Edition. Permanent URL: http://library.beds.ac.uk/record=b1678849~S20
Field, A. (2013) Discovering statistics using SPSS. 4th edition. London: Sage Publications. ISBN-13:
978-1446249185
Quinn, G.P. & Keough, M.J. (2002). Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521009768
Thomas, J., Nelson, J. & Silverman, S. (2010) Research methods in physical activity. 6th edition.
Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics. ISBN-13: 978-0736089395
Martin, P., & Bateson, P. (2007). Measuring behaviour: An introductory guide. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press