Supervisor Role in Guiding the GMU Dissertation Process Assignment

Assignment Task

 The GMU Dissertation

Dissertation is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their ability to investigate issues of their own choice over a significant period of time. Essentially this is an individual effort, but it is carried out with the guidance and advice of a supervisor. Research is a creative and investigative process which only learners can develop fully.

The Role of a Supervisor

A supervisor/dissertation guide will be appointed to each student and the role of the supervisor is to act as a learning resource for the student. It is the student's responsibility to make use of that opportunity, in consultation with the supervisor. The student is therefore expected to accept responsibility for the management of his/her learning. Following the allocation of a supervisor, the student should contact the supervisor to arrange a meeting. The supervisor will assist in: -

• Clarifying the terms of the research.
• Suggesting areas of reading.
• Reviewing the proposed methodology.
• Establishing a timetable for the research which also includes initial dates for further meetings between the student and supervisor.
• Advising the student about appropriate standards and conventions concerning the assessment.
• Providing means of contact in addition to tutorials

Module Structure

The Research Methods module will be divided into three components and together these three components will be evaluated for 100 marks. The breakout of the individual components is as below:

Research Methods Course 

This is the course for which classes will be conducted that students need to attend. The outcome of the course will be the Research Proposal that students need to submit to pass this module. The Research Proposal will be evaluated for 20 marks.

Dissertation

This is the actual dissertation that students will undertake for a period of 5 months under the supervision of their assigned supervisor. The outcome of this will be the final dissertation submitted in the LMS, which will be evaluated for 60 marks.

Viva 

This is the dissertation viva that will be conducted by the Examination Committee. Students are expected to present their work using a PowerPoint presentation, after which the Examination Committee will have questions to ask the students regarding their research.

The Introduction Chapter 

This chapter should reflect the scope of the research, outlining the size of the problem, the rationale behind pursuing such an investigation and any personal motivations prompting the investigation. It is imperative that the chapter includes clearly stated aims, which lead to a well- formulated research question, which is then interpreted through a brief selection of objectives. The objective of the chapter is to introduce the reader to the work as much as give them an impression what to expect.

Literature Review 

This chapter should be a reworked and modified submission that students have developed. Students are expected to re-draft the chapter to ensure that it fits in the context of the whole dissertation and is no longer a stand-alone piece. The chapter describes and defines the context of the dissertation. The chapter needs to define and explain the intended meaning behind the research question. It should be focused and explore the relationships between concepts noted in the research question as well as demonstrate critical thinking drawn from the academic sources relevant to the research question. The objective of the chapter is to allow reader to recognise the broader frameworks supporting the undertaken research and the wider linkages that exist beyond the scope of the research, whilst engaging with ways these debates impact the undertaken research. The student shall include at least 20 peer-reviewed journal articles in the literature review.

The Methodology and Philosophy 

This chapter provides an overview of how the research was conducted. Although there is some expectation of a more descriptive approach (simply describing the process of data collection), for the most part, students are expected to reflect upon the appropriateness of the steps they took to their given research question. Thus, the tone of the chapter should be more reflective and focused on examining the appropriateness of the undertaken process and the supporting methodology. It is imperative that any methodological choices and decisions are argued against the overall research question to demonstrate the rigour of the process. During the research process, secondary data is essential and primary data is desirable.

Students should cover, for example:

• The types of decisions they had made in order to respond to their research question and the impact of those decisions on shaping the investigation
• The rationale behind the choice of research methods
• What data is appropriate and how was it sourced
• What were obstacles and how they were overcome
• How reliability and validity have been ensured
• What were the limitations of the chosen methodology

This Management has been solved by our PhD Experts at My Uni Paper.