Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
Hull College Group Higher Education
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Research Faculty of Business and Science
First Edition - Autumn 2013
Bulletin
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Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
FOREWORD The key purpose of our research strategy is to generate an environment to build upon existing research and scholarly activity in order to develop a strong academic culture where research, teaching and practice are interconnected and equally valued. An understanding of the links between research and teaching and their impact on learning experiences is critical to sustaining excellent performance.
The Impact of Research and Scholarly Activity on Learning and Teaching Practice: A call for information on… …the way learning, teaching and assessment strategies have been enhanced as a direct result of your scholarly activities. All staff are involved in research and development activities in one form or another. The HEFCE definition of what constitutes scholarly activity for Colleges offering HE cover the following:
Research activities will respond to changing educational agendas and to social and economic priorities in a globalised environment. This research bulletin seeks to inform and update readers on recent research taking place in the Faculty. Our first issue sets the scene and introduces some of those involved in supporting research.
• Keeping up-to-date with the subject • Curriculum development, particularly Foundation degrees • Curriculum development that involves research • Updating ICT skills • Taking higher qualifications – masters, doctorates and teaching qualifications • Consultancy to industry and other agencies • Industrial secondments or work shadowing • Research and publications • Practitioner / applied research • Personal development – action research and reading • Attending conferences and staff development within the College and externally We are collecting this information to show case and celebrate the good practice that takes place within the Faculty of Business and Science. We intend to capture examples of changes which you have made, either to whole modules or to individual sessions.
Linda Wilkinson Head of Learning and Teaching & Editor
The Faculty Research Bulletin will illustrate to our students, validating partners and FDAP reviewers, the lively academic development that we engage in to enhance our teaching and learning practice.
Contents Research and scholarly activity commitment / faculty objectives 2 Introduction to the research and enterprise toolkit
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Enterprise story
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Ethics and Research
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Research Profile: Why do research 6
We would like to have ONE specific example of curriculum development you have been involved in during the past two academic years. What has been your part in the development of a course or module? Please provide us with the following details: 1. A specific example of a change to the content or strategies used within your learning, teaching or assessment as a result of scholarly activity. 2. Provide the name of a course and or/modules to which you have made a contribution in terms of curriculum development. Many thanks for all your help and contributions.
Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
New Research Toolkit We are in the process of developing a Research and Enterprise Toolkit which will provide tools and guidance to support you in managing your research or enterprise project. Whether you are just getting started, or have been active in research for a while, we have tools and guidance for all aspects of a research project, so that you don’t have to start from scratch. The toolkit will be organised by phase of research, and all the resources have been curated by staff within the Faculty. Resources available will include Information suitable for staff and students on: • How to start a research project • Developing proposals • Conducting and Managing • Research Design • Analysing Data
The Toolkit will be available on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE: Moodle). Making this available via the VLE allows an interactive approach, offering a combination of multi-media resources, documents and links to useful and essential information. We are keen to incorporate your suggestions for resources that would be of assistance when undertaking research.
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Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
Business and Management Alumni Sarah Longthorn wins ‘Gold award’ Hull College is celebrating after a former student was awarded a prestigious Association of Colleges (AoC) Gold Award by Lord Willis of Knaresborough at the House of Commons. Sarah Longthorn, entrepreneur and founding director of WedgeWelly, picked up her award in June 2013. She said: “Studying at Hull College supported my early career and provided me with an outstanding platform of skills upon which my career blossomed. I’m delighted to be receiving the AoC Gold Award, and bringing it home to Hull on behalf of Hull College.”
Minimum Requirements for Ethical Research? Andrew Wilson Ethics mean different things to different people, many see them simply as a way of distinguishing right from wrong. Resnik (2011:online) suggests that most definitions of ethics describe them as,
…norms for conduct that distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. If this definition is applied to research activity it can help to distinguish between research that is acceptable and research that is not. The application of ethical concerns to research has led to the proliferation of guidelines for various disciplines and organisations. The guidelines all aim to help practitioners in various disciplines undertake research
Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
that is safe for human participants. It is worth noting that the majority of published guidelines cover very similar areas. Thus the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) guidelines are very similar to the British Educational Research Association’s (BERA) guidelines, and many others, and cover the same aspects of research practice. This level of agreement facilitates the identification of what are perceived as the most important guidelines. It can thus be argued that the three most common ethical concerns are Informed Consent, Confidentiality and the Right to Withdraw. All research activity should consider these 3 concepts as the minimal requirements for undertaking ethical research. The BERA (2011:p 5) guidelines claim that informed consent is,
…the condition in which participants understand and agree to their participation without duress, prior to the research getting underway. Thus informed consent must be given voluntarily by prospective participants in the research before it actually starts. This means that participants should have the research, its method, aims and rationale clearly explained to them so they can make an informed decision about joining the research or not. Some researchers ask participants to sign a document to indicate that they have given their voluntary informed consent to take part. This type of participant information document is aimed at providing the participants with information about the research in general so should deal with confidentiality and the right to withdraw. The confidentiality of participants should be maintained as far as it is practical and legal and researchers must comply with data protection laws if they store any data electronically. However researchers must comply with legally correct requests by law enforcement agencies to break confidentiality if required. In reality this is an extremely rare occurrence and the vast majority of participants’ identities are protected throughout the research process. In research where participants have been asked to sign to indicate they have given voluntary informed consent the researcher must ensure that the signature is not attached to any research responses made by the participant to ensure anonymity. It is often good practice to destroy all of the research data and its associated paperwork when the study is completed. The right of the participants to withdraw from the research for any reason should also be explained in participant information documentation. This guideline allows the participants to leave the research study at any point. Not only are participants able to withdraw from research studies at any point for any or no reason
but they can if they request have their contributions to the research removed from the results (BPS 2010). To summarise, all participants taking part in any study should understand the studies aims, structure and procedure i.e. what is expected of them within the study; this allows them to provide fully informed consent regarding their participation. They should be confident that any personal details they provide will be anonymised so their contribution to the research cannot be identified. Finally they should be aware that they can terminate their participation at any point without incurring any penalties. Failure to inform participants of their rights, discussed above, will stop an ethics committee giving a researcher permission to undertake research within their institution. Applying these three guidelines may not cover all ethical eventualities within a study but will provide a strong starting point for conducting ethically correct research. BERA (2011) Ethical guidelines for educational research. British Educational Research Association: London. BPS (2010) Code of Human Research Ethics. British Psychological Society: Leicester. Resnik, D,J. (2011) What is Ethics in Research & Why is it Important? [WWW] http://www.niehs.nih. gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/ Accessed 08/10/2013
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Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
Profile of a researcher... Why bother with research? Laura Gale tells us how she started and what motivates her research interests My passion for research began when I graduated from The University of Hull in 2010 in Sports Coaching and Performance. I continued with my studies within the Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Science as a Ph.D. student with Sports Coaching as my chosen area of research. My thesis has investigated the complex everyday realities of community coaches, by an exploration of micro-political workings and emotions within coaching. I have most recently engaged in research projects that focused on how coaches attempted to manipulate their working environment and cope with the multitude of variations that exist within it. This research resulted in achieving my first research publication for the Sociology of Sport. From a personal perspective, choosing to undertake a PhD was one the biggest decisions of my life. It is the first time you are really given control over your own learning. Indeed, I feel the process has shaped me as both an academic and a person. Having embarked on my PhD it was one of the best decisions I made, it gave me the opportunity to pursue a specialist area of interest developed during my previous studies, allowing me to shape the topic of my studies in a unique and distinctive way.
“it gave me the opportunity to pursue a specialist area of interest… allowing me to shape the topic of my studies in a unique and distinctive way”
The NEF Industrial Fellowship Scheme (IFS) A grant awarding programme to support the secondment of STEM lecturers into industry. The IFS grants provide lecturers with the opportunity to spend time in industry updating their knowledge and skills, thereby revitalising their learning and teaching. Dave Langcaster and Sally Bell have applied to the scheme and they will be working with the Creative Digital students, and local organisation C4Di, on a project to develop strong links with the local business community. This project will thereby support knowledge and technology transfer activities.
If you would like to consider applying for an IFS grant please see J. Davidson or L. Wilkinson for details.
Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
Profile of a Researcher – Dave Brown There were two significant factors that acted as catalysts for my original interest in research and both emerged during the major independent study module of my degree; having the professional autonomy to select a personally significant area of study and working with an inspiring academic supervisor! Taught postgraduate programmes are culturally mature and well designed, they provide a staged and signposted engagement with essential subject knowledge as well as grounding in small-scale research methods. Whilst professionally valuable everyone enrolled follows a similar programme of study and the syllabus often contains modules that vary in their appeal and significance. Postgraduate research programmes are different as they allow participants to propose and conduct a single, substantial and meaningful in-depth study; the qualification is awarded following successful examination of a thesis submitted at the end of the study. This provides strategically minded individuals with an opportunity to engage in a unique educational and professional development experience, with careful planning the research conducted can compliment and sharpen current professional practice and also form the basis of a future career. My own current research combines two vocations that are major components of my own career, sport and education. Although researching and writing at a high level is challenging, being authentically situated minimises anxiety and certainly provides a solid foundation from which to start. It is normal for more than one person to supervise postgraduate research projects; one will act as the main supervisor, the others more as an objective support network. In my experience the relationship you develop is one that is mutually respectful, encouraging and trusting. It is entirely possible that your supervisor will become a valued member of your professional network acting as an academic referee, mentor and sounding board for career development well beyond the completion of your studies. Arguably the status and exclusivity of an honours degree is changing due to the growth in undergraduate student numbers. Postgraduate researchers, especially those with doctoral qualifications are one of the most highly educated and skilled group in the UK. Employers recognise the personal attributes associated with independent study, having an enquiring yet open mind, being analytical, self confident and determined are key strengths you can demonstrate within any recruitment process.
Another advantage of following a research route that should not be underestimated is the ability to apply and study within a University and Faculty that is respected and renowned for work in your chosen field. You study much more independently and this enables enrolment in locations beyond a regular commute. Take care when selecting where you wish to study and note the outcomes of the most recent “Research Excellence Framework” exercise, working within a world leading or internationally excellent research institute is guaranteed to offer access to and engagement with some of the most influential professionals of their time. Deciding to engage in pure postgraduate research is daunting but there are many masters level programmes that offer “by research” routes and these offer an ideal introduction for anyone wishing to engage in more substantial professional or academic research.
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Faculty of Business and Science Research Bulletin – First Edition
Linda Wilkinson
Head of Learning and Teaching / Editor Faculty of Business and Science Energy and Climate Centre Hull College Queen’s Gardens Hull HU1 3DG Tel: 01482
598807
Hull College Higher Education