Disappearing research: a study to help postgraduate research dissemination
Dr Emily Webb, Learning Development Team
We have a flaw in our research-led teaching model. We rarely encourage or support taught-postgraduate students to complete the research cycle and disseminate their research. In doing so we are losing valuable original research and cheating our students of the full research experience and associated skills development and engagement. This academic year (23/24), I am undertaking a pilot project within the School of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) supported by CTIS to explore the impact of targeted support and guidance for a small cohort of master's students who wish to share their research more widely.
In 2021/22, 707,000 students graduated from UK Higher Education institutions from taught master’s programmes, with a further almost 9,000 engaged in a research master’s programme (HESA, 2023). Many of these students engaged in some element of independent research as part of their programme outcomes. For the majority of students, this takes the form of research-based module assignments and an original dissertation or significant contribution to an ongoing research project. However, despite these numbers the volume of independent research shared by these postgraduate students is minimal. While there is extensive existing research evidencing the academic, professional, and personal benefits of sharing research (Spronken-Smith, R. et al., 2013; Walkington, 2015; Little, 2020) many UK masters students graduate without sharing any element of their studies and research beyond their tutor or institution.
By not encouraging the sharing of this wealth of research we are not only losing new and innovative ideas and approaches within the relevant academic disciplines, but also potential ways to effect wider social, political, cultural, economic, and environmental change. For the students, we are doing them a disservice in failing to recognise their potential and failing to encourage them to share their knowledge and learning, and develop key academic, professional, and personal skills. This ‘gap’ has been widely recognised within undergraduate research scholarship (Petrella, Jung, 2008; pronken-Smith, R. et al., 2013), and many institutions now have teams to support undergraduates to share their knowledge and research (see for example Leeds Undergraduate Research Opportunities https://students.leeds.ac.uk/info/1000015/undergraduate-research-opportunities ). Similarly, institutions are now increasingly supporting PhD candidates to share their research much earlier (Horta & Santos, 2016). However, the scholarship and support around the dissemination of master's research remains under-developed to say the least.
Inspired by the valuable MA dissertations I supported in POLIS in 22/23, I was keen to explore the opportunities available to students to disseminate their work and examine the potential benefits. From this initial seed, a pilot project has been born. The catchily titled ‘Taught Postgraduate Research Dissemination Pilot Project’ aims to explore the impact that disseminating original research has on the development of students' academic and research skills, and the extent to which they feel engaged with their programme of study. Conducted over an academic year, those who choose to participate will be supported through workshops and one-on-one guidance to create research content for dissemination across various channels. This research content will be guided by the interests and experiences of the participants during their postgraduate studies, and may take the form of articles, blogs, podcasts, online video content, or academic/public presentations. Although there is no obligation to have completed dissemination by the end of this period, participants will be encouraged to continue refining their research. Twice during the project, participants will respond to an anonymous questionnaire to reflect on their experiences, and at the project's culmination, they will also participate in a focus group, further expanding on the emerging themes identified in the questionnaire.
To date, nine students have selected to take part in the pilot and have completed the first questionnaire exploring their motivations and hopes for the project, and the first workshop designed to encourage them to think creatively about the different topics they may wish to explore has been delivered. I hope the outcome of this pilot will be to demonstrate, if only on a very limited scale, the benefit and importance of supporting taught postgraduate research dissemination in a variety of innovative and accessible ways. However, I also hope it will pave the way for future scholarship in this area and encourage colleagues to work with their master's students to disseminate more frequently.
See you back here in 12 months for some results!!
References
HESA. (2023) Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2021/22 - Student numbers and characteristics https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/19-01-2023/sb265-higher-education-student-statistics/numbers [accessed 11/04/2023
Horta, H., Santos, J.M. (2016) The Impact of Publishing During PhD Studies on Career Research Publication, Visibility, and Collaborations. Research in Higher Education 57, 28–50.
Little, C. (2020) Undergraduate Research as a student engagement springboard: Exploring the longer-term reported benefits of participation in a research conference. Educational Research, 62.2 (229-245)
Petrella JK, Jung AP. (2008) Undergraduate Research: Importance, Benefits, and Challenges. International Journal of Exercise Science. 2008 .15;1(3):91-95.
Spronken-Smith, R. et al (2013) Completing the Research Cycle: A Framework for Promoting Dissemination of UG Research and Inquiry, Teaching and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1.2 (2013) 105-118
Walkington, H. (2015) 'Students As Researchers: Supporting UG research in the discipline of HE'. The Higher Education Academy. < https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.creode.advancehe-document-manager/documents/hea/private/resources/Students%20as%20researchers_1_1568037263.pdf> [accessed 12/05/2023]