This course introduces students to concepts and practices of scientific research methodology. During the course, students will utilise the theoretical knowledge gained to critically review and synthesise the published literature, and prepare the literature review, and to plan their research.

This course consists of lectures, tutorials and supervisor meetings.

None

None

Students are assessed on a preliminary project report that includes a critical literature review, a statement of aims and objectives, hypotheses to be tested in the project, consideration of ethical issues, a data and code management plan, a workplan and a strategy for dissemination. The preliminary report should be written in appropriate scientific style, and should be maximum 4,000 words, excluding references.

The course aims to provide students with a critical understanding of research methodology as applied to modern research in brain sciences. Students will have the opportunity to appraise different types of scientific research, and to examine critically the different steps within a research project. Students will demonstrate their understanding and competence through the development of the study design for their own research project, including hypothesis setting, literature review and project work plans. Furthermore, the course will raise awareness of ethical issues and modern communication skills as pertaining to brain sciences.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

i) discuss scientific methods for quantitative and qualitative research;

ii) critically evaluate the methodologies used in published research;

iii) prepare a critical analysis of the literature in the research area, and from this ascertain a scientific question for a research project;

iv) develop hypotheses and design scientific experiments to address the hypotheses for the research project;

v) prepare scientific protocols for use in their project by synthesis of published research papers;

vi) evaluate and select appropriate methodologies for data collection and data management, and for analyses of results;

vii) critically evaluate and select the most appropriate methods to present scientific observations and results;

viii) critically examine and evaluate examples of scientific misconduct;

ix) design research in line with accepted research ethics, and legislation involving animal experimentation and research involving humans.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.