What does the degree cover? The MA in Educational Research Methods (ERM) offers a comprehensive training in educational research, which is approved by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for its quality and rigour. It is designed to equip students with the epistemological, methodological, analytical and ethical knowledge and practical expertise required of a professional educational researcher. It will be of interest and relevance to a range of national and international students, including recent graduates keen to develop a career in educational and social science research and consultancy and professionals already working in educational institutions, local education authorities and commercial training departments and organisations.

The MA in Educational Research Methods is a stand-alone degree. It also forms part of a 1+3 (full time) or 2+5 (part time) model of training, recognised by the ESRC, with the first year of the MA in ERM forming the basis for a subsequent three year period of study for a PhD degree.

What modules are available?

The course is composed of five modules. All modules are compulsory for those taking the MA in ERM.

Foundation Research Methods (FRM) (30 CATs)

FRM provides students with generic knowledge, skills and understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues involved in conceptualising and designing educational research. It includes both general and specific aspects of research training including key dimensions of qualitative and quantitative research, their applications, understanding of relational aspects between them, and appreciation of the politics and ethics of doing educational research. FRM has been designed to contextualise educational research, in terms of its theoretical, epistemological and methodological underpinnings, for a broad cross section of students, enabling them to comprehend different facets of educational research in an integrated and coherent fashion. In addition practical skills are built into FRM, through workshops, seminars and tutorials, designed to develop library, web and applied I/T search aid, and research skills relevant to students’ needs and interests.

Assessment of the module is through the submission of two 2,500 word assignments. In assignment 1, students are given a choice of published research articles and asked to write a detailed critique of their designs, methods and presentations. In assignment 2, students are asked to design and undertake a mini-research project which utilizes one of the principal data gathering instruments (e.g., questionnaire, interview, life history, etc.) to which they will have been introduced during the module. This will assist with planning the dissertation or PhD.

Advanced Research Methods 1 (Nature and ethics of Inquiry) (30 CATs)

Advanced Research Methods 2 (Qualitative methods) (30 CATs)

Advanced Research Methods 3 (Quantitative methods) (30 CATs)

These three modules build on the foundation research methods module and focus in greater detail upon methods of analysis as well as broader theoretical and epistemological concerns. They are taught through a series of day conferences.

ARM develops an advanced understanding of the epistemological and theoretical issues underlying enquiry and their relationship to problem formulation, research design and strategy. The module is delivered through three streams of training in order to emphasise understanding of the interconnected layers of research. Each Module Conference progressively develops understanding within and between each stream of research training:

(i) the nature of research enquiry encouraging analysis of the progressive and reflexive nature of enquiry from theoretical construction of the objects and questions of research to the strategic design of methods and tools of investigation; the module also includes detailed consideration of the ethical principles and codes that guide educational research. This develops from a conceptual grounding through to consideration of specific areas of research ethics, with a particular emphasis on researching children and vulnerable participants. These include: informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, the ethical presentation of findings and their dissemination, Legal issues bearing upon the ownership of data, intellectual property rights and the publication and dissemination of research findings.

(ii) a second stream of qualitative research methods develops understanding of a range of subject-specific research strategies including discourse analysis, ethnography, action research, observation, case study, and interview methods;

(iii) a third stream of quantitative research methods develops knowledge of experimental design, sampling, problems of error and bias, assessing the reliability and validity of data, and analytic techniques. Methodological issues and statistical techniques will be introduced through discussion of research papers and the statistical package SPSS.

While the separate modules can be taken ‘stand-alone’, students on the MA in ERM will take all three modules. This allows the importance of interconnecting qualitative and quantitative methods in mixed-methods and integrated approaches to be considered. Each module is assessed through a 5,000 word written assignment. The Advanced Research Module draws upon the Institute of Education’s centres of national and international excellence in educational research which provide the research training with the vitality of living research projects.

Interweaved through all three modules is a consideration of conceptual issues and practical techniques for using information and communication technology (ICT) in educational research. For example this will enable students to use advanced IT systems, such as Common Gateway Information and HTML coding schemes, to construct and 'upload' surveys in the WWW, as well as computer software for quantitative and qualitative analyses. The knowledge and skills acquired are particularly relevant and beneficial for part-time students, especially if working at a distance from the university since it will enable you to conduct part of your research electronically, e.g., developing a web-based survey, collecting data electronically and using software programmes for data analyses. ICT also enables you to access the university library and other libraries / organisations 'after hours' through accessing full-text electronic resources and other educational materials, supports your continuing professional development through networking with learned societies, governmental and non-governmental organisations and other researchers in the field.

Dissertation (60 CATs)

Students are required to complete a 20,000 word research-based dissertation and will be allocated a dissertation supervisor to support themin this task.

MA in ERM students who are joining the PhD programme on completion of the MA use the dissertation to give a detailed account of the topic, research design or preliminary data analysis of the area for their subsequent PhD research. The dissertation thus requires them to put into practice many of the understandings they have gained from the MA in ERM modules, and acts as a significant lead-in to their PhDs.

Do all research students have to complete the modules of the MA in ERM?

All new research students are required to complete the taught modules of the MA in Educational Research Methods as their research training. Students who have already successfully completed Foundation Research Methods as part of their Warwick Masters degree are exempted from this module. Many students complete the rest of the modules during their first year of MPhil/PhD study. However, students who have already successfully completed Advanced Research Methods as options on a Warwick Masters degree will be exempted from these modules.

The Course Director for the MA In Educational Research Methods is Dr Steve Strand
Tel: 024 7652 2197
E-mail: steve.strand@warwick.ac.uk