Module Three
Advanced Research Methods (ARM) course was incredibly interesting. I found it useful to consolidate some of the previous years learning and to reframe my knowledge of research methods in light of new and incredibly interesting perspectives.
The single greatest criticism of the ARM module was a distinct lack of quantitative methodology – I think we spent about five three-hour sessions on statistical interpretation, but being mathematically challenged I found fifteen hours just wasn’t enough to be of any use – the old concern of not wanting to appear inept at doctoral-level data-analysis is significant in preventing me from trying to use this in any paper. This is a shame as I feel I should have a reasonable grasp of quantitative methods even if they are not the ones I use predominantly. Since this time I have acquired a copy of SPSS and a couple of books on how to use it – but I can’t help but feel that direct tuition would have saved me a great deal of time.
The ARM has six written components which for my cohort were seen as separate entities, not necessarily having cohesion as a single paper; I understand that for previous cohorts, these tasks aimed to build a cohesive research topic and were presented in one file. Thus although I wrote them independently of each other, in the back of my mind I wanted to create a consistency between them that would allow them to be merged together at a later date.
Task 1 – Research Proposal
Task 2 – Ethical Context of Research
Task 3 – Critiques of Empirical Work
Task 4 – Research Instruments
Task 5 – Data analysis
Task 6 – Personal Statement
Once again, I’ll stress that these are draft copies and subject to feedback and revision – please feel free to add your comments!