*please note your University may require a higher grade for progression.

The perception and experiences of international students when studying in the UK.

Feedback will also be communicated back to you via your tutor. They will confirm the timescale in which you will receive your feedback.

You will receive a 10% penalty for this assignment if you go over the word count by more than 10%. If your assignment is significantly under the word count, you may not have answered the question in full and will be reflected in your overall mark.

The word count does not include contents, end of text references or appendices.

Module learning outcomes:

Knowledge based outcomes:

LO1.    Undertake relevant and informative research to support theories and ideas

LO2.    Collect, analyse, and present statistical data to inform and support evidence

Skills based outcomes:

·      Gathering data and information from a variety of secondary and sources

·      Communicating relevant information in a variety of forms

·      Analysing information and make reasoned judgements

Assessment criteria:

AC1.1      Evidence relevant research carried out to support their work

AC1.2      Produce a well-structured research paper with clear findings to support a research aim

AC1.3      Demonstrate proficient use of Harvard-style referencing

AC2.1      Collate relevant secondary data and perform statistical calculations

AC2.2      Interpret and present the data using appropriate methods to inform others and support own ideas

Assignment instructions:

Examples of the topics you might wish to investigate are:

·      Homesickness

These are just ideas – you can include anything you find of interest but please check the suitability with your tutor first.

You will then write your findings as a research paper. The research paper is written in third person formal English, such as you would find in a journal article. It will be treated as a scientific report, therefore it must be factual, objective and logical in structure and content. You will be given more information about how to structure your report later in this document.

Task 1: Literature review and report introduction

Part A: Literature review

·      Decide what topic areas you might like to research.

·      Conduct a literature review to discover what previous research has taken place on your chosen topic(s).

Part B: Report introduction

Write the introduction to your report.

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      The introduction includes the literature review which is a description of the background literature related to the study. This provides the reader with some background information relevant to your investigation.

·      You should refer to at least 1 piece of previous research in this area.

·      Remember to use Harvard referencing in the body text when mentioning other studies.

Task 2: Research aim and designing a questionnaire or interview.

Part A: Research Aim

Write the aim of your investigation.

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      Once you have completed Task 1, you will have an idea of what exactly you would like to investigate about students’ perceptions or experiences of education in the UK. This will become the aim of the study.

·      The aim of the study is a statement about what is being investigated and what is expected. Since this is not an experiment, there is no hypothesis; just a reason for doing the study.

·      Your aim should be 1 or 2 sentences in length.

Part B: Design a questionnaire or interview.

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      To investigate your aim further, you must devise a questionnaire or a set of interview questions to ask your fellow students about their perceptions and experiences.

·      Consider what types of questions you will use, e.g., open or closed or a mixture of both. If you are using closed questioning, what form will this take, e.g., multiple choice, forced choice, or Likert-type scale?

·      Your questions must be chosen carefully to give you the answers you need that will meet the aim of your study.

Task 3: Conduct the research and Research Method

Part A: Conduct the research

Before you actually conduct your research, there are some things that you must consider.

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      Decide who your participants will be. E.g., will they be only your classmates, or will you use other OnCampus students or friends too?

·      Decide how and when you will distribute your questionnaires and how you will collect them back in again. E.g., will you give them out during break time and collect them back in when you return to class?

·      If you are conducting interviews, you must schedule appointments with individuals.

·      Consider what type of sampling you are using, e.g., random sample, opportunity sample.

·      Remember to collect information about your participants such as age, gender if you think that might be important based on previous research, country of origin, length of time studying in the UK, existing level of qualifications, or any other relevant information. This information will be needed when you write your Method section.

Part B: Method Section

This section is where you describe how you designed and carried out your investigation. Precision and clarity are necessary in this section as this is where you demonstrate your understanding of quantitative research methodology. This section is divided into 3 separate parts.

Use the following guidance to help you:

Participants

·      Give details of the number of participants together with details such as age, country of origin, or the fact that all the participants were students. Include any characteristics of participants that could be replicated, if someone else wanted to repeat this investigation.

Materials

·      This section is for the materials used for this investigation and can simply be listed with an appendix reference for each one. (Example – Appendix 1: Informed consent form, Appendix 2: Copy of interview questions.

Procedure

·      Carefully and accurately describe how the investigation was carried out. This should be done in a chronological step-by-step order.   Enough details should be provided so that another researcher could replicate the investigation.

·      Include reference to any ethical issues that were addressed (for example when informed consent was carried out).

·      Example: Participants were asked for their consent and gave it (Appendix 1).

Questionnaires were handed out in class to participants. They were given 30 minutes to complete the questionnaires before the researcher collected them in (Appendix 2).

Students were debriefed and advised that they could withdraw from participation in the investigation at any time.

Task 4: Results

Present the results of your investigation.

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      Calculate the figures from your investigation, e.g., mean or median, percentages, etc.

·      Present the data in numerical and graphical forms, explaining briefly what the numbers are saying (no conclusions here though!).

·      Put the raw data into an Appendix at the end of the report.

Task 5: Discussion

Interpret your results in the light of previous research (you are comparing what is found in your investigation to what was found in the studies you talked about in the introduction).

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      Discuss the results of your investigation and how they link to the studies referred to in the introduction. Were your results similar or different to previous findings?

·      The strengths and limitations of your research.

·      Any relevant modifications and areas of further investigation based on your results. Did you have any problems when you carried out your study? Would you do anything differently if you could do it again?

·      An informed conclusion.

Important: Do not introduce any further studies in this section.

Task 6: References, Report Abstract, and Appendices

Part A: References

References for all studies that appear in the introduction should be in standard Harvard format as you have been instructed in your Skills lessons.

Part B: Report Abstract

Write your abstract.

Use the following guidance to help you:

·      The abstract contains a summary of important information about the study. It allows the reader to understand quickly how the study was carried out, the results and the conclusions drawn.

·      The abstract is the last section of the report to be written but appears at the beginning of your report.

·      It should contain fewer than 200 words.

Part C Appendices

Appendices (plural of appendix):

·      Include copies of supplementary material, e.g., a copy of the questionnaire or interview questions, plus any other material you may have used as part of your investigation, such as images or soundbites given to your students as part of the interview, etc. This section provides all the materials necessary to allow a similar investigation to be replicated.

·      Number them Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.

Further information

Once you have completed all of these tasks and received feedback from your tutor, you will need to assemble your report for final submission. Make sure you assemble it in the following order: