This module is supported by module Research with Children and Young People in which students will receive research raining to support dissertations through seminars and workshops. The learning and teaching environment for the dissertation once a supervisor has been allocated is facilitated through one-to-one contact between supervisor and supervisee.
Supervisors will provide at least four hours of supervision, not including time spent reading drafts of written work. How this time is allocated should be mutually decided by the supervisor and the student. There may be a flurry of short meetings to support and ethical approval application and then one or two longer meetings to discuss drafts of dissertation sections, for example. There is no one right way and supervision may take place in a variety of ways including email conversations, phone calls, face to face meetings and zoom calls.
The supervisor's role specifically includes:
Helping to focus on research objectives and narrow down project focus.
Advising on the feasibility of a research strategy, including methodology and methods.
Provide feedback and further guidance on elements of the research
Support you in identifying appropriate literature and sources
Advise on the varius stages of the research process, such as literature reviewing, data collection, analysis or presentation of work
Assist in structuring the dissertation
Comment on written drafts of the dissertation, that constitute no more than 25% of the written piece.
Students are advised that staff are available to support them over the summer vacation but that they should ensure to make arrangements with supervisors on an individual basis before the end of the summer term.
Students are encouraged to feel able to approach any member of the PPS Department to discuss dissertation topics, approaches and/or potential supervision.
Included in the allocated teaching hours are a day for presenting research topics with supervisors and peers and 4 hours of individual supervision (excluding the reading of draft work).