Doing Your Undergraduate Project

Denis Reardon

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN: 9780761942078, 9780761942061
• eBook ISBN: 9781446226964
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Research in Education

Doing Your Undergraduate Project is a practical step-by-step guide to managing and developing a successful undergraduate project. The book covers all aspects of project management, explaining in a clear and structured way how to undertake a project and helping readers to identify and acquire the necessary skills to plan and carry out the research and writing.

This practical and concise book provides:

• Advice for preparing a project and choosing a topic
• Guidelines for writing a project proposal
• A checklist for planning
• A guide to producing a literature review
• Advice on choosing and implementing appropriate methodology
• An awareness of ethical issues
• Information for writing-up the report.

Written in a lively and engaging manner, this detailed and accessible manual is an invaluable resource for students across the social sciences working on their undergraduate project.


SAGE Study Skills are essential study guides for students of all levels. From how to write great essays and succeeding at university, to writing your undergraduate dissertation and doing postgraduate research, SAGE Study Skills help you get the best from your time at university. Visit the SAGE Study Skills hub for tips, resources and videos on study success!

1	The Value of a Project

CHAPTER CONTENTS

• How to use this book
• What will be learned from this book?
• Why do a project?
• The general aims and objectives behind the project, and its assessment
• Qualities and attributes of a researcher
• Summary
• Further reading

How to use this book

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The main purpose of this book is to serve as a guide for the preparation, management and presentation of an undergraduate project to be undertaken during a degree course in the humanities, arts, or social sciences. It is intended to answer the sort of questions asked by undergraduates and to enable them to ‘break down’ the seemingly rather daunting process of managing what is usually the most important piece of course work that they will undertake during their degree course. Because of the similarities and overlapping definitions of project and dissertation at different universities, much of this book may be applied judiciously to the preparation and writing of a dissertation.

The chapters represent the main elements of the undergraduate project research process. The experience referred to earlier has shown that students have found that breaking down the project process into these elements has provided them with a systematic and structured way of tackling their work. The chapters are arranged in an order that has proved helpful over many years, though each may be used independently to understand specific aspects of managing and doing your project. Thus, there may be repetition of certain points in some chapters rather than provision of references between chapters. As well as introducing this book, this chapter is intended to explain the practical value of doing a project and its importance in your future career. Also, it provides a guide to assist you in deciding what type of potential researcher you are by showing you how to identify your strengths and weaknesses and your likes and dislikes in respect of your general knowledge and understanding, and of the subjects that you have studied on your course. From this, you should be able to develop sound ideas of what you could and could not do as a project topic.

Chapter 2 is designed to assist you in preparing your mind to do your research work and so provides a detailed description of what a project is and what research is, because experience has shown that many students do not realise what is involved in either of these. It is useful to understand the context within which the research is to be done since this will enable the literature search and review to be better informed and will help to ‘prove the value’ of the work to be done. Attention is drawn to the importance of ethical conduct in research and, finally, the administrative matters that are such important contributors to a successful project are set out.

Many students have difficulty in choosing a topic for their project. Sometimes the difficulty is of their own making, as they do not seek advice or guidance from tutors or supervisors. They appear to hold the view that only they, the individual students, should be involved, but ‘do not know where to start’. Chapter 3 takes you from ‘an idea for a topic’ to the hypothesis and shows how to develop one through analysing the topic, formulating the research question and creating a knowledge map – all of which will help you to choose and know your topic intimately.

Most university departments will require a project proposal from you and this will have to be considered satisfactory by your tutors before you are permitted to proceed with your project. Many students neglect the proposal. Do not fall into the trap – a trap of your own making – by thinking that it is an easy task to prepare a proposal or that you can do it whilst ‘getting your research underway’. A well-prepared, well-structured proposal will act as an excellent desk reference tool throughout your research, and in Chapter 4 you will find out how to write one.

In Chapter 5, the way to plan your project is explained. This is another element that is often neglected by undergraduate students on the basis that ‘I don’t need to plan because I know exactly what I want to do’. Can you always recall exactly what you want to do? A well-made plan will act as a detailed reminder and route map for your research, making sure that you know what must be done, when it must be done and what is needed to do it. The planning method provided is based upon the life cycle approach to project management, which is systematic, structured and quite straightforward and has been used with success by many students.

There are risks associated with every aspect of life, not least with undergraduate project work. Generally, the risks are small, even insignificant, but there are occasions when a major risk event has severely adverse effects on a project. Learn how to assess and manage risks; such learning will be useful in professional employment after graduation. In Chapter 6, the risks that may be associated with your project and possible ways to assess and plan for them are discussed.

There are many books available on research methodology and so Chapter 7 alerts you to methods that have been frequently used in undergraduate projects. Choice of method is critical to the success of any project, so how do you choose methods appropriate to your topic? This chapter contains guidance on what methods are available, how to choose methods suitable for your investigation and how to use them. You must review the literature of your chosen subject to ensure that you know what has been done before and this makes reviewing the literature the most important research method that you will use. As it is regarded as so important, a separate chapter, Chapter 8, provides a detailed examination of the literature review, how to do it, and how not to do it.

Chapter 9 focuses on how to use the results that you will obtain in your investigation. Experience has shown that many students either substantially under-use their results because they do not realise their significance or try to make too much of them, possibly due to their enthusiasm for the work. An undergraduate project is not likely to produce world-changing outcomes since it is intended more as a proof of ability to research than as a results-oriented piece of work, though the results are important.

Chapter 10 is devoted to writing the project report. This is a seemingly arduous task, difficult to start, to plan and to finish, yet if you approach it systematically and give yourself enough time, you will find that it is very satisfying. After all, it is the story of your research and is the only proof that you have done your project. This chapter contains guidance based upon more than 40 years of writing, reading and assessing reports at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional levels.

What will be learned from this book?

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The project is intended to be a major learning vehicle, so it is important for you to know exactly what a project is, why you have to do it, and how to do it. Therefore, in using this book, you will begin the process of learning to be a project designer, manager and a researcher. You will acquire a range of skills and understanding that may be transferable to other situations. The main skills and understanding that you will need to complete the project successfully are listed in Box 1.1.

You will learn what research is and how to do it, what is required of a researcher in terms of qualities and attributes, and what is demanded in respect of standards in research, recognising that, at this stage, you are doing undergraduate work.

In the time available to do an undergraduate project, normally no more than 20 hours a week for 30 to 50 weeks, it will not be possible for you to get very detailed knowledge of each of the skills listed, but you will gain sufficient knowledge and experience to understand what is required for successful project completion.

Box 1.1: Skills and understanding needed to complete the project

• Project planning and management
• Time management
• Work scheduling
• Risk assessment and management
• Resource planning and management
• Ethical behaviour and standards
• How to self-audit your skills
• Reflection – an essential intellectual process for the researcher
• Report writing
• Subject knowledge
• Research – a body of intellectual and practical skills, many of which are dependent upon the topic in which the research is being done.

Why do a project?

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Your university requires a project for several reasons. One of these may well stem from opinions that have been offered by senior figures in commerce, government, and industry, namely that graduates are lacking in project management skills. These opinions reflect the fact that much nominally routine work done in commerce, government and industry has a lot in common with project work since it is done in discrete time, work and resource frames. Therefore, your degree includes project work to give you the opportunity to begin to develop project planning and management skills and research skills that will be valuable in employment after graduation. However, as the project is done at undergraduate level, it is not intended that you should seek to do what is often called leading edge, ground-breaking or wave front research that might produce a major contribution to the body of knowledge in your chosen topic area. Indeed, such work requires substantial knowledge of the subject field and considerable research experience. Nor is it intended that your investigation should result in a definitive solution to a specified problem, proof of a theory or the development of an innovative idea or product.

The project is intended to enable you to grasp the fundamentals of research, whether theoretical or practical, and of project management. To achieve this, your project must normally be simple and straightforward. It will enable your tutors and examiners to determine your ability to define, design, do and deliver a piece of research. Thus, it will be the way that you plan, organise and do your research that will be under test, more than the subject content and topic-specific results or outcomes of the research, though these will be of significance. In other words, your project is a learning vehicle that will enable you to gain essential academic, professional and practical skills and, when completed, will enable you to demonstrate your capabilities. Keep in mind that a project that is well done will be an impressive addition to your curriculum vitae.

The general aims and objectives behind the project and its assessment

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The aims are statements by which you declare your intentions in carrying out your project. They are the purposes that you expect to fulfil by doing your project. In the case of your undergraduate project, certain general aims will be established for the project by your academic department to enable your tutors and examiners to undertake the required assessment of your skills. These aims relate directly to what you have to prove about yourself as an investigator or researcher. They are concerned with the extent to which you have to learn research and project management skills and use them appropriately in the definition, design, planning, completion and reporting of your project. Can you cope with what is involved in doing a major piece of investigative work? Can you do the work and report it in a way that conforms to academic standards? You will establish other aims in consultation with your tutor and these will relate to the specific investigation that you will do. All the general aims will normally be set out in the project briefing issued by your tutor and should be repeated in your project proposal. The briefing will usually also contain the objectives and assessment criteria, and administrative and regulatory details relevant to the project. The precise form in which the general aims are given to you will depend upon the subject that you are studying for your degree, the nature of the project that you choose to do, and the regulations of your university.

The aims are summarised in column 1 of Table 1.1: General aims, objectives and assessment criteria, in which they are presented together with the objectives and the criteria for assessment. This table enables the links that must exist between the aims, objectives and assessment criteria to be identified. There must be direct and logical links between your objectives and your aims; the linkage is one of dependency. Similarly, there must be links between the assessment criteria and the objectives. In the final analysis, the best way to assess your potential as a project worker or investigator is to determine how well you have conformed to accepted practice and to measure the quality, extent and manner in which you achieve your objectives, using agreed criteria.

At first reading, the general aims may appear rather daunting. Yet they are not if you recognise that the earlier parts of your course have contained elements that will have introduced many of the underlying skills and knowledge necessary to help you to fulfil these aims. These skills will be honed as the project progresses and you will develop others as a direct result of doing the work. Similarly, your knowledge of the subject area will be expanded and deepened. In order to fulfil these aims, you will have to achieve the general objectives specified for the project in the project briefing. Typical objectives are listed in column 2 of Table 1.1.

The objectives are the achievements that you must attain in order to demonstrate whether the aims have been fulfilled. The aims and objectives may be differentiated in general terms by regarding the aims as qualitative intentions and the objectives as quantitative intentions. Thus, objectives are measurable or quantifiable. For example, one aim of the project is: ‘To test the student’s ability to interpret and evaluate data and information gathered during research’. This is primarily concerned with the intellectual skills that enable you to ‘tease out’ meanings, trends, patterns, relationships, causes, solutions and explanations of results using, for example, analysis, synthesis, integration and appropriate presentation of the results. This aim is, therefore, linked to the second objective: ‘To demonstrate the ability to use the research skills acquired whilst on the course, by satisfactory completion of a major piece of research work’. The extent to which this objective is attained will be demonstrated by the methods that you have chosen, the effectiveness and efficiency with which you have used them, the quality of the results obtained by using these methods, and the soundness of the analysis, interpretation, evaluation and presentation of the results.

Recognise that, although particular objectives are linked to particular aims and particular assessment criteria, such linkages are not exclusive. The achievement of a particular objective may ensure that parts, or all, of more than one aim are fulfilled. Similarly, one specific assessment criterion may link to more than one objective. When assessing your project, tutors and examiners will have created in their minds an image of your work based upon your stated intentions. They will also have created in their minds a ‘quality framework’ within which they will place you...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The Value of a Project
• 2 Preparing to Do Your Project
• 3 Choosing a Topic
• 4 Writing the Project Proposal
• 5 Planning the Project
• 6 Risk Assessment and Management
• 7 Methodology
• 8 The Literature Review
• 9 Using Results
• 10 Writing the Project Report
• Appendix 1 Sample Project Record Forms
• Bibliography
• Index