Researching Childhood and Youth (585X8)

15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring teaching

Social research with children and young people raises a range of unique challenges and opportunities with ethical, practical and methodological dimensions. This module provides an overview of this specialist area of research methods, giving participants the opportunity to explore how traditional research methods can be adapted in order to work with younger participants as well as understanding how new methodological approaches have grown from the specificity of working with children and young people. Methods covered will include interviews and focus groups, participant observation, draw techniques, photo-voice and participatory video. The module will also outline the ethical dimensions of research governance and practice for research with children and young people, including a critical exploration of power relations within the research process and the potential for research to contribute to personal and social change.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 15 hours of contact time and about 135 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2020/21. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.