Module SPRT2012: RESEARCHING SPORT

Department: Applied Social Sciences (Sport)

SPRT2012: RESEARCHING SPORT

Prerequisites

• SOCI1321 - Introduction to Research.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To develop students' understanding of the nature and use of social science research methods as they relate to sport, building on the foundation delivered in First Year Module 'Introduction to Research'.
• To introduce students to central issues in social research as they relate to sport.
• To enhance students' understanding of the ethical issues surrounding the conduct of social research as they relate to sport in the process of conducting a research project.
• To provide students with an understanding of basic issues in the description, exploration, and interpretation of statistical and other data.
• To introduce students to the basic principles of major qualitative methods.
• To enable students to use social research methods in the collective execution of a preliminary research project on a topic of direct relevance to the student's programme of study.
• To enable students to build the foundation for their dissertation in Level 3.

Content

• Lectures Term One - Methodological and philosophical issues in social research, experiments versus surveys, the idea of sampling, statistical procedures, interviews, ethnography, document analysis, etc.
• Seminars Term One - Principles of research design, design a sample and produce a simple questionnaire, conduct and record a qualitative interview, discuss potential problems in ethnographic observation, research questions, grounded theory, etc.
• Statistical Classes Term One - An introduction to data and to SPSS, exploring data, basic graphs, describing data, the idea of sampling, statistical inference, chi-squared, correlation and cause, simple linear regression.
• Illustrative Thematic Workshops Term Two - Hands-on methodological experience.The themes vary from year to year; examples are: drinking habits among university students, urban development, explaining social problems, work and identity, gender and social stratification in participation of sports.

Learning Outcomes

• At the end of the module students will:
• Understand the basic methodological issues which surround the conduct of social research.
• Understand the ethical issues which surround the conduct of social research

• At the end of this module, students will be able to:
• Conduct qualitative research interviews.
• Conduct preliminary qualitative documentary research with Nvivo or other textual software.
• Conduct a small scale survey by drawing an appropriate sample and designing a questionnaire.
• Use SPSS to produce the statistics needed for analyzing a real large numeric dataset, identify meaningful information
• Work collectively on a small research project.
• Develop and execute a research project as the basis of their third year dissertation.

• At the end of this module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate a range of communication skills including the ability to: evaluate and synthesise information obtained from a variety of source (e.g. written, oral, web); communicate relevant information in different ways (e.g. written, oral, tables and graphs, etc); select most appropriate method of communication for different tasks; respond effectively to others; monitor and reflect on use of communications skills.
• Demonstrate a range of numeracy skills including the ability to read and interpret tables, graphs, charts; organise and classify data; make inferences from sets of data; adapt numerical strategies to overcome difficulties raised by self-reflection.
• Demonstrate competence in the use of IT resources; use the statistical software SPSS; use a range of web-based resources to gather relevant information; adapt learning to overcome difficulties raised by self-reflection.
• Demonstrate an ability to work effectively as part of a team including specific abilities to: plan work with others in order to achieve desired outcomes; establish good working relationships with peers; monitor and reflect on the quality of the group work, including group and external feedback on personal contributions; monitor and reflect on use of skills in working with others.
• Demonstrate a capacity to improve own learning and performance, including the specific ability to manage time effectively; work to regular prescribed deadlines; engage in different ways of learning including both independent and directed forms of learning; gather necessary information from a range of bibliographic and electronic sources.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, statistics practical sessions and classes will enable students to understand research approaches and practise appropriate techniques.
• Statistics classes will deliver quantitative skills and the full repertoire of research skills will be deployed in the workshop sessions.
• The assessment combination of statistical project (to test quantitative data analysis skills), pilot project (to test group working skills and practical design, data collection and analysis skills) and research proposal (to test ability to formulate testable research questions) will test students across the range of knowledge and the range of skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Statistical Project: based around statistical procedures using SPSS and a formative dataset to be provided.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University