The Research in Human Geography or Planning module provides an opportunity for the student to undertake an independent investigation of a topic of their choice, which is relevant to either Geography or Planning, and must address an original research question. The research project may involve the collection of original data through field research or may apply novel analyses to secondary data. The results of the student's independent research are presented in the format of a written research article which should be consistent in structure to the research literature of the identified field of study within either Geography or Planning and should include: (i) Discussion of the project and its aims in the context of relevant published and unpublished research; (ii) The selection and justification of a suitable methodology; (iii) Survey and evaluation of the sources of information used and; (iv) Execution of the project by addressing the stated aims and research context using the methodology selected and justified by the student.
By the end of the module, the student should be able to:
- Synthesise current research within a given field and identity crucial research gap in need of further investigation
- Independently implement, evaluate and refine a developed research proposal to address identified research challenges.
- Analyse data collected using appropriate techniques and synthesise these research findings in the context of the research aims.
- Critically analyse research findings within the context of the wider research literature