Order instructions

A substantial piece of research is the culmination of the Master’s experience and draws on both the technical skills learned through the taught components of the course and the research skills developed through the research methods and pilot project units.  The student will develop these skills through a piece of applied research in the field of acoustics, in which the student identifies and produces a solution to a research question, drawing on skills developed in both the Research Methods unit and in subject specialist units.

For the second assessment, the student is required to determine the appropriate methodology for their research, and undertake pilot testing on a small dataset.  This will allow the student to gain preliminary results and analyse the results to determine conclusions.

In particular, this pilot analysis will be used to develop a hypothesis for testing on a larger scale as part of the larger research project unit.    It will also enable the student to determine if the methodology employed is appropriate and refine it before starting the main research project, which should be a continuation of the topic studied for the pilot project.

This pilot study will be written up in the form of a report, at which point the student will move onto their research project unit.

The project is expected to have a significant element of innovation and challenge, developing new or enhanced data, applying or developing methods or tools to solve complex problems and/or adding to the overall knowledge base for the subject area.  The project may include the development of new technology, but this must be part of the process of contributing to the development of knowledge such as new datasets or providing a solution to an acoustic problem.  The development of technology in its own right is not the primary focus of this project.