ISARS 101: INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS

Description: 

This course will provide an opportunity for students to establish or advance their understanding of research and it importance, define and identify a research problem; develop a research topic, developing a problem statement, identifying key objectives with relevant hypothetical and theoretical variables for literature. Knowledge of how to develop an abstract and an introduction or background to a research study will also be built up in this course. 

Learning outcome:

At the conclusion of the course, the students will:

• Write a clear research abstract and develop keywords
• Understand the meaning and important basic elements of research
• Identify a research problem, develop a topic and objectives of the study
• Be aware of the ethical principles of research, ethical challenges and approval processes

Course Outline

ISARS 101: Introduction to Advanced Research Methods

• Lesson 1: Meaning, importance, basic concepts and elements in research
• Lesson 2: Defining and identifying a research problem
• Lesson 3: Research topic, abstracts, and introductory components
• Lesson 4:Research ethics and integrity

Description: 

This course will provide an opportunity for students to learn the meaning, purpose and types of literature review. It prepares students for an intensive academic research project through the use of library to identify seminal authors/resources, develop skills for findings, evaluating, and using information, formulate strategies for acquiring materials as needed and produce a critical annotated bibliography.

Learning outcome:

At the conclusion of the course, the students will:

• Understand the meaning, purposes and types of literature review
• Use the library to select and evaluate appropriate texts
• Analyse texts in relation to your research objectives
• Write bibliography and references

Course Outline

ISARS 201: Introduction to Advanced Research Methods

• Lesson 1: Meaning and purpose of literature review
• Lesson 2: Types and structure of literature review
• Lesson 3: Use of library to select and evaluate appropriate texts
• Lesson 4: Bibliography and references

Description: 

The aim of the course is to provide you with the methodological skills necessary to carry out independent research. Throughout the course, methodological and design considerations are integrated with statistical techniques. Students will be exposed to techniques of designing and administering research instruments. Research methods is divided into three components; methodological issues, advanced experimental and quasi-experimental designs and advanced data analytic techniques, including analysis of variance, regression modelling and regression diagnostics, factor analysis, and reliability analysis. Students are taught these techniques in the context of SPSS and other computer-based data analysis software. Qualitative methods are considered briefly.

Learning outcome:

At the conclusion of the course, the students will:

• Describe types, importance and applications of method and designs in research
• Design a research instrument and administer to a pilot sample group
• Enter, analyse, and interpret the results of data using SPSS for Windows
• Describe and critique the essential features of a range of advanced statistical techniques

Course Outline

ISARS 301: Advanced Research Design And Methodology  

• Lesson 1: meaning, importance, types and application of research methods and design
• Lesson 2: design and administration of research instruments
• Lesson 3: entering, analyse, and interpreting results of data using SPSS for Windows
• Lesson 4: critique of essential features of a range of advanced statistical techniques

Description: 

The course with expose students to basic statistical techniques in conducting research, especially empirical research. Elementary introduction will be made to statistical reasoning, including sampling, elementary probability, statistical inference, and data analysis. This course presents Methods of presentation and tabulation of data, Classification serration and tabulation of data, Measures of Central Tendency, Measures of Dispersion and variability, Probability, Correlation, Test of Significance of Mean Difference, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi-square, Regression Analysis, and related techniques. Statistical software SAS and SPSS will be used to demonstrate how to apply the techniques on real data. The main purpose of these courses is to let students know how to use statistical techniques properly in data analysis. Students are taught these techniques in the context of SPSS and other computer-based data analysis software. Qualitative methods are considered briefly. Students will also be exposed to knowledge of how to interest the result of their findings. 

Learning outcome:

At the conclusion of the course, the students will:

• Describe types and application of statistical techniques
• Present data in tabulation form and develop a spread sheet for data report
• Use statistical techniques and software in data analysis
• Interpret the result of research findings.

Course Outline

ISARS 401: Advanced Basic Statistical Techniques And Data Analysis   

• Lesson 1: Types and application of statistical techniques
• Lesson 2: Data presentation and development of spread sheet for data report
• Lesson 3: Statistical techniques and data analysis using appreciate tools
• Lesson 4: Interpretation of results and discussion of research findings

Description: 

Interpretation of results and discussion of research findings is an important element in conducting report. The objective here is to provide an interpretation of research results and support for conclusions, using evidence from experiment and generally accepted knowledge, if appropriate. The significance of findings is clearly described. Students are exposed to the skills of interpreting research results and report writing.   

Learning outcome:

At the conclusion of the course, the students will:

• Summarize research findings and illustrate them with figures and tables.
• Describe research results and provide a context for validation
• Organise and structure research discussion with validations
• Write a research report, conclusion and recommendations

Course Outline

ISARS 501: Advanced Research Discussions And Report Writing   

• Lesson 1: Summary writing
• Lesson 2: Interpretation and discussion of research results
• Lesson 3: Organisation and structure of research discussion with validations
• Lesson 4: Conclusion, recommendations and research report writing

Description: 

The purpose of this course is to instruct students on how to turn their research ideas into high quality research products, including dissertation proposal, conference presentations, proposal for grants, awards and fellowships or a journal article. Students are also taught how to develop power points bullets and presentation skills.   

Learning outcome:

At the conclusion of the course, the students will:

• Write a publishable research paper and proposal for grants
• Develop a PowerPoint presentation of a research paper
• Find sources of funding, awards and fellowships, conferences and publication outlets
• Send an article to academic journals for publication consideration

Course Outline

ISARS 601: Research Writing, Presentation And Publication    

• Lesson 1: writing a publishable research paper and proposal for grants
• Lesson 2: how to develop PowerPoint presentation
• Lesson 3: research funding, conferences and publications
• Lesson 4: participating in a seminar, conference and article publication

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