Assignment Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of this assignment is to:

•enable you to prepare for an in-depth study of an area of particular interest related to the information world

•provide a literature review upon which the proposed topic can develop

•indicate and justify a relevant methodology

•plan your research activity

•demonstrate your understanding of research methods and professional practice in a practical and relevant way. Generally the intent is to give you an understanding of the research process together with experience in putting forward a properly considered course of action, leading to the collection and analysis of appropriate data as a contribution to the understanding of the chosen topic. The context is information and/or Data Analytics/ Library Management and the taught route which you have undertaken.  It should enable you to progress on your Dissertation with confidence having:

•completed a selective critical review of your topic area

•identified the research area

•related the literature to your proposal

•identified a timetable of activities

•chosen and justified suitable methodologies upon which to base the project activity

•considered the ethical issues identified and how they will be addressed.

You will find a template for this in the Assignment section of the BlackBoard module as well as a detailed marking rubric.

Formative comment:

If you would like formative comment on your Proposal, it is recommended you submit a draft (this can be as simple as a list of bullet points as a plan, the contents page of your report, or selected sections of writing, or indeed all of these).  The deadline for receiving formative comment is 1st May but you are welcome to email the module tutor with a suitable draft at an earlier stage if you so wish.

Mapping to Programme Goals and Objectives

Knowledge & Understanding (KU):

1.critically evaluate up-to-date and relevant literature

2.A critical understanding of the relationship between research philosophy and research design including methodology, method, techniques and analysis

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities (IPSA):

3.You will construct appropriate research questions, hypotheses and/or aims for Masters Dissertation proposal.

4.You will design appropriate methodology for the collection of data and analysis

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

5.You will critically appraise the ethical considerations in conducting applied research.

Module Specific Assessment Criteria:

Assessment criteria.

Indicative abstract

Clear indication of what information is contained in the work including; the purpose of the work, its scope and any limitations, how it will be carried out and what it is going to cover.

Note: An indicative abstract (sometimes called a descriptive abstract) indicates what information is contained in the work, but does not tell you what the contents are in any detail. It covers the purpose of the work, its scope and any limitations, how it will be carried out and what it is going to cover. It does not tell you what the results or conclusions are, though it would indicate that these sections are present and what they would be likely to cover. It is a taster to encourage the reader to move on. It is NOT a concise summary of the work.

·A clear and relatively short expansion of the Project title.  It should enable the focus of intent of the proposed Project to be fully apparent.

·Aims and Objectives should be clearly indicated.

·Brief literature review using the initial literature search as the basis for discussion.

·This should be a review of the traditional literature, and where relevant, electronic sources, identifying their relationship to your proposal.  

·The approach should be constructively critical, and would be expected to explore all appropriate avenues which might illuminate the proposed area of investigation.

·This should identify and justify the approach you have chosen,

·the method/s you are proposing to use

·the data collection techniques you will apply.

·Particular attention should be paid to the resources available to sustain the Project, so that the intended scope is realistic and manageable.

·You must demonstrate that you have considered how the data collected will be analysed.

Anticipated outputs and possible constraints:

·This is done to highlight the benefits of the research [not a prediction of findings!], for example, will the research result in guidelines?

·Any limitations on the research