A major part of the course work in research is dedicated to students’ final research projects. In the research project, the student will demonstrate that the academic learning aims of the master’s program have been attained. The project must satisfy the following criteria:
A project mainly aiming at developing educational material or a literature review is not acceptable.
Most of these projects will take place within the context of ongoing research at FI, or in collaboration with partner institutions such as the University Museum or SLO. Each student who will start a project from the list will be assigned to a FI research staff member (PhD) who will act as supervisor.
Alternatively, students may propose their own project ideas. In addition to the criteria stated above, the conditions for the acceptance of such proposals are:
This information has to be available to the coordinators before the formal starting date of the project;
A coordinator has approved a brief proposal (two-pager) providing motivation, background information and the research question.
The paper will be written and presented in English.
Seminar
A required part of the Research Project is the accompanying student seminar that assists students in the research process: development of instruments or instructional materials, data collection, data analysis until reporting results.
This implies that drafts will be interactively discussed with peers and judged against the formal requirements. In the seminars peer feedback is used to get acquainted with other topics and types of research, to develop a critical attitude and to support each other. This is an important element in becoming a part of the FI research community. For this reason, students are also invited to assist the FI research meetings and to present their plans there.
The seminar is organized and chaired by the coordinators. During seminars on data collections and analysis, attention will be paid to the do’s and don’ts in this stage of research. Last, attention is paid to summarizing data in tables and graphical representations, style guidelines of the American Psychological Association (Sixth Edition) and time will be allocated to writing academic English. Students individually write their own paper. Students are expected to read the literature and prepare sessions with peers in which they discuss intermediary products (e.g., interview scheme, data analysis, draft paper etc). They will present their research to FI staff members near the end of the project.
Available projects can be found at the
Students site, as well as the
forms.