Research Project: Design, Conduct & Report - Research Methodology - Postgraduate Course
Course descriptionBy the conclusion of the specified learning and development activities, delegates will be able to: Design a research project, taking account of important issues; Choose sources of information appropriate for the type of research being conducted; Assess the value of secondary sources of information as a prelude to the conduct of primary research; Choose the methodology that best suits the type of investigation being conducted & appropriate to the research objectives; Choose the most appropriate data elicitation techniques, in relation to the sampling frame, sampling unit, sample size & time span, among other factors; Advise others of the situations in which participant observation, conversation analysis, documentary analysis, focus groups, interviews & questionnaires, respectively, are appropriate; Design interviews & questionnaires that will elicit information appropriate to the research objectives; Design structured & unstructured questions, determining the conditions under which they should be used; Design questionnaires & interview schedules, with a mixture of open-ended & closed-ended questions, avoiding forced-choice in the latter; Employ appropriate data analysis techniques, based on the type & volume of data available; Use SPSS and, or, Excel software packages in analysing data; Identifying ‘trends’ & ‘patterns’ in information, in an effort to arrive at conclusions; Produce effective reports, adhering to conventional styles, presenting evidence from the data, & exploiting visual representations; Make research proposals, taking pertinent factors into account; Manage research projects, from inception to reporting; Identify appropriate roles in research project management & produce realistic costing; and Design a research project that incorporates a high ethical standard.