| CODE | PHE5101 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Research Methods in Physical Education and Sport (1) | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute for Physical Education and Sport | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will first provide an overview of the epistemological and ontological debates of research and then focus on the main assumptions underlying the quantitative research paradigm. It will identify the characteristics of an observed phenomenon, or exploring correlations between a number of entities and present the main three quantitative methods, that is, observation studies, correlational research and survey research (cross-sectional or longitudinal) in detail. Other essential scientific themes covered in this study-unit include epidemiology research, concepts of validity and reliability, sampling and research ethics. Students will be guided through the whole process of doing research, including identifying a topic in the area of physical education, physical activity and sport for individuals with or without disability, finding relevant literature, planning methods and choosing the right tools, collecting data, analysing and presenting results and presenting conclusion and recommendations.The use of appropriate referencing and plagiarism software are also taught in this study-unit. The students will be also be guided to analyse a set of data using SPSS and taught how to interpret and discuss the results. This study-unit will also give the students the opportunity to present an outline of their study and discuss its research design and methodological issues. The lectures will include hands on practice on the use of statistical tests and data analyses. Study-Unit Aims: - To develop students' research planning skills; - To familiarise students with key concepts in research design, sampling, data collection and cleaning, analysis, reporting, and discussing, from a quantitative research perspective; - To teach appropriate use of statistical tests; - To enable students to start working on their dissertation; - To make students aware of how to avoid plagiarism and how to use appropriate referencing. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Use appropriate methods to design questionnaires and collect data; - Differentiate between various sampling methods; - Know how to calculate the required sample size for a study; - Use statistics appropriately when conducting a study or experiment; - Analyze data and present results both in graphical and tabular forms; - Distinguish between different types of errors; - Differentiate between parametric and non-parametric tests; - Generalize results using statistical tests; - Distinguish between different types of models; - Familiarize with different diagnostic tools. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify a research area and topic in physical education, physical activity and sport for individuals with and without disabilities, and study its feasibility; - Develop research questions; - Design a research study; - Evaluate the necessity of adhering to research ethics; - Identify the appropriate sampling and data collection methods; - Carry out an observation study and survey research; - Distinguish between True and Quasi-Experimental research; - Generate variables and enter data in SPSS; - Analyze data statistically using SPSS; - Investigate relationships between variables and assess their significance; - Fit models and use them for prediction. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Field, A., 2013. Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. London Thousand oaks New Delhi: SAGE. -Thomas, J.R., Nelson, J.K, and Silverman, S. (2005). Research Methods in Physical Activity. 7th Edition. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Liberato Camilleri Adele Muscat |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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