Module JXH-1044:
Conducting Successful Research

Module Facts

Run by School of Human and Behavioural Sciences

10.000 Credits or 5.000 ECTS Credits

Semester 1

Organiser: Dr Gavin Lawrence

Overall aims and purpose

For a successful career in all Sport, Health, Clinical, and Exercise professions, being able to generate cutting-edge questions whilst having the skills to design methods to answer these questions is key. Put simply, if you want a career where you continue to learn and lead on knowledge development, being able to understand and conduct research is essential. The purpose of this course is to provide you with an understanding of the skills required for this (the research process). An established and well-published Sports Science researcher, who helps leading organisations (e.g., UK Sport) answer questions that enable those organisations to stay at the top of their ‘game’, delivers the course. The course will provide you with the basic tools to understand and conduct Sports, Health, Clinical, and Exercise related research. It will introduce you to the skills and knowledge required to help you think about doing your own research whilst also helping you develop analytical and critical thinking skills. It is these skills that will allow you to read and evaluate the research of others in relation to understanding ‘whether their research is ‘good’ and what you can conclude from their work?’. These are essential skills to ‘future proof’ your development in any chosen career path.

Course content

Throughout the course you will develop a range of skills that will allow you to design and conduct research to answer a worthwhile research question. In addition you will gain the skills required to interpret and evaluate more fully the research of others in relation to research design processes, the data collection, and the data analysis and interpretation (i.e., what you can conclude from their work). As such, you will cover two board themes (1) Research Design and (2) Statistical Procedures. In research design you will cover topics such as; Types of Research Design, Threats to Research Design, and Validity and Measurement Issues. In the statistical procedures section, you will cover topics such as; central tendency, dispersion, standard error, and comparison of data sets.

Assessment Criteria

threshold

• D- to D+ basic knowledge and limited understanding of research principles and design together with an adequate understanding of statistical tests/procedures. Most criteria are met to an adequate standard; there may be a wide range in the quality of different components of the assignment questions.

excellent

A- to A* deep knowledge and understanding of research design and principles and has an excellent capacity to address, formulate, and answer basic research questions together with an excellent understanding of statistical tests/procedures.

A- = Most criteria are met to an excellent standard

A = All criteria are met to an excellent standard

A+/A* = Some criteria are met to an exceptionally high standard; the remainder are met to an excellent standard

good

C- to C+ good grasp of research principles and design, demonstrating good knowledge and understanding with the capacity to address, formulate, and answer basic research questions together with a good grasp of statistical tests/procedures. Most criteria are met to a good standard; there may be a wide range in the quality of different components of the assignment questions

Learning outcomes

  1. Be able to address, formulate, and answer basic research questions including relevant hypotheses;

  2. Understand and be able to conduct statistical analyses for dealing with two parametric data sets (e.g., t-tests)

  3. Be able to explain the relevance of the assumptions that underpin the above statistical procedures;

  4. Understand and be able to analyse data using descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, standard deviation, and Z scores);

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
EXAM Exam MCQ & SAQ section

This assessment forms part of the final exam and focuses on testing knowledge with an applied focus to questions. It contains short answer questions and longer calculations to test knowledge required during practical sport and exercise science data and research settings

 70.00
COURSEWORK Formal Online MCQ/Short Answer Exam

This short online exam/coursework is designed to help both monitor your understanding of the module material during the mid point of the course and to also help reduce some of the pressures associated with final exams. It will test your understanding of both research design and basic descriptive statistics.

 30.00

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
Private study

Private Study, revising lecture material, preparing for assessments

 72
Lecture

11 x 2 hour lectures covering What is (sport) science?/The research process

Types of Research Descriptive Experimental Epidemiology or Causal Comparative

Measurement Issues Validity& Reliability Review of weeks 1-4

Measures of central tendency/dispersion

Variance, standard deviation and Z scores

Standard error of the mean/central limit theorem

T tests (paired samples)

T tests (independent samples)

 22
Seminar

There are opportunities throughout the course to attend seminars designed to further your learning of the material covered in the lectures

 6

Transferable skills

  • Literacy - Proficiency in reading and writing through a variety of media
  • Numeracy - Proficiency in using numbers at appropriate levels of accuracy
  • Computer Literacy - Proficiency in using a varied range of computer software
  • Self-Management - Able to work unsupervised in an efficient, punctual and structured manner. To examine the outcomes of tasks and events, and judge levels of quality and importance
  • Exploring - Able to investigate, research and consider alternatives
  • Information retrieval - Able to access different and multiple sources of information
  • Inter-personal - Able to question, actively listen, examine given answers and interact sensitevely with others
  • Critical analysis & Problem Solving - Able to deconstruct and analyse problems or complex situations. To find solutions to problems through analyses and exploration of all possibilities using appropriate methods, rescources and creativity.
  • Presentation - Able to clearly present information and explanations to an audience. Through the written or oral mode of communication accurately and concisely.
  • Teamwork - Able to constructively cooperate with others on a common task, and/or be part of a day-to-day working team
  • Argument - Able to put forward, debate and justify an opinion or a course of action, with an individual or in a wider group setting
  • Self-awareness & Reflectivity - Having an awareness of your own strengths, weaknesses, aims and objectives. Able to regularly review, evaluate and reflect upon the performance of yourself and others

Subject specific skills

  • research and assess paradigms, theories, principles, concepts and factual information, and apply such skills in explaining and solving problems
  • critically assess and evaluate data and evidence in the context of research methodologies and data sources
  • describe, synthesise, interpret, analyse and evaluate information and data relevant to a professional or vocational context
  • plan, design, execute and communicate a sustained piece of independent intellectual work, which provides evidence of critical engagement with, and interpretation of, appropriate data
  • apply knowledge to the solution of familiar and unfamiliar problems
  • develop a sustained reasoned argument, perhaps challenging previously held assumptions
  • demonstrate effective written and/or oral communication and presentation skills
  • work effectively independently and with others
  • take and demonstrate responsibility for their own learning and continuing personal and professional development
  • demonstrate an understanding of the philosophical basis of scientific paradigms
  • demonstrate evidence of competence in the scientific methods of enquiry, and interpretation and analysis of relevant data and statistical outputs.
  • develop transferable skills of relevance to careers outside of sport, health and exercise sciences.
  • communicate succinctly at a level appropriate to different audiences.

Resources

Resource implications for students

N/A

Reading list

Additional Learning Resources and Information 

  Each week there will be an optional seminar session 
  You can also book one-to-one tutorial with the teaching assistant staff.

All module material, including lecture slides, will be available to view through Blackboard on the following link:

http://blackboard.bangor.ac.uk/

Here you will find; Important announcements Lecture material Computer session information Formative and other practice exercises to prepare you for your assessments Panopto (lecture recordings) to help you with your learning Summative online assignments

Courses including this module

Compulsory in courses: