Dissertation Preparation: Handbook, Ethics Approval Form, Consent Form, Student Diary, and More

Supervisory Meetings

Within the BlackBoard page of this module you will find various documents whose purpose is to provide you with all the information you need to succeed in your dissertation. Some of these documents are:

·         Module Handbook

·         Ethical Approval Form (attached here)

·         Sample Consent Form

·         Student Diary (attached here)

·         Harvard Referencing Guide

·         Copyright Statement

·         Dissertation Checklist and Guidance

·         and many others

·         You are expected to have around 8 supervisory meetings.

·         You must contact your supervisor immediately (copied here) and make arrangements for the first supervisory meeting asap.

·         To make the most of supervisory meetings, make sure you are well prepared and able to discuss your proposed topic and answer any questions that your supervisor may ask.

·         Always take notes in your Student Diary and set tasks and deadlines to ensure effective and efficient use of your time as well as that of your supervisor.

Everyone doing research must complete an Ethical Approval Form to establish the type of research that will be taking place and whether it involves human participants. Prior to undertaking any primary research the students must discuss this form with their supervisor and then complete it providing as much detail as possible. The form must then be submitted to the supervisor for initial approval. Once the Ethics Form is signed it must be submitted to Blackboard for official review by the Research Ethics Committee Representative at QA.

·         The approved and signed Ethical Approval Form must be uploaded on BlackBoard by week 4 of your dissertation period.

·         A copy of the approved and signed Ethical Approval Form must also be included in the Appendix section of your final dissertation.

If the research requires that interviews are undertaken then an Information Sheet (introducing the reasons behind the research) must be prepared (and agreed by the supervisor) and provided to the interviewees and their consent must be sought. No participant should be engaged or approached to take part in the research without obtaining their informed consent first.

·         The Information Sheet and any Consent Forms obtained by interviewees must be included in the Appendix section of your final dissertation.

Student Diary (attached here):

Students must keep a Diary to record progress, what is discussed, reviewed, agreed and planned during their meetings with their supervisor, any ideas they may have that relate to their dissertation, as well as to keep track of the process of working on their dissertation. You must bring this diary with you on every meeting with your supervisor and have it ready for review is asked. The Diary is attached here for you so start using it from the very beginning on everything that you do during your dissertation.

·         The Student Diary must be included in the Appendix section of your final dissertation.

Does your proposed research involve any of the following (Please circle):

Deception of participants? (i.e. do they understand the implications of participating in a research study?)

Inducements to participate? (i.e. are participants being offered any ‘prize’ for agreeing to participate in the study?)

Possible psychological stress? (i.e. will you be asking about potentially sensitive personal issues)

Any other special circumstances?

If you have answered “yes” to any of the above, please provide detail regarding how you will deal with these issues?

Please provide details of the likely participants involved in the research (details of vulnerable groups*. E.g. children, the elderly, people with a learning disability)

Please provide details and justification for the methodology to be used in the proposed research (please attach copy of questionnaires/interview routines:

If you are using interviews no participant should be engaged or approached to take part in the research without obtaining informed consent (Please attach copy of information sheet and consent form or please use the space below to provide a justification why informed consent does not need to be sought)