Design a research project to compare the performance of two university courses.

Objective: Design a research project to compare the performance of two university courses. UK university Research questions Which course is performing well, on which measure, and why? Which course is performing less well and why? Does performance vary across different dimensions – how would you find out the causes for these differences? Background Provide some summary statistics from UNISTATS http://www.unistats.org/Compare-Courses (Links to an external site.) to identify the two courses you are interested in comparing. This sets out the context for your comparison. What kind of information does this data provide? How reliable is this data and what do you need to be aware of when using the data to compare courses? How does the response rate matter to the representativeness of the data? Issue What is the problem you are going to address –why is it important and for whom? ‘What are the consequences of not knowing?’ ‘Who cares/So what?’ Solution- your research proposal – Literature Here you are only expected to provide a research design of how you would conduct a project to address this issue. You do not have to conduct the research, you just need to show you know how to do it. Here you would be expected to develop some hypothesis that would lead to ways of addressing the problem you have identified, depending on whether the research confirmed these. What qualitative methodology would you use? Interviews – with whom and about what? Focus groups? Observation methods? Other? Outline and explain how you would design your research. How long will it take to complete? Are there any costs involved, and how much do you estimate these would cost? Who would fund the research? Ethical Review What procedures exist at Sussex University and what would you need to complete to gain ethical approval for your proposed project? http://www.sussex.ac.uk/bmec/internal/research/ethics Supply a draft consent form; an interview schedule if being used; and information sheet for your research proposal. Evaluation Explain your choice of methods and the strengths and weaknesses of these. Do you anticipate any problems, or resistance that may arise? How would you deal with them? What kind of solutions do you think your research will feed into? DATA SOURCES FOR EVALUATING UNIVERSITY PERFORMANCE UNISTATS http://www.unistats.org/Compare-Courses (Links to an external site.) COMPLETE UNIVERSITY GUIDE https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Business+%26+Management+Studies (Links to an external site.) TEF – https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/teaching/tef-outcomes/#/ (Links to an external site.) REF – http://www.ref.ac.uk/ Other sources of measuring organisations from different perspectives Race Equality Charter Mark – http://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/race-equality-charter/ Athena Swan – http://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/athena-swan/ Disability – http://www.dndp.co.uk/two-ticks-interview-scheme/ (Links to an external site.) Stonewall -https://www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/top_100_employers_2016.pdf (Links to an external site.) Which universities are in the top 100 employers for inclusiveness? http://www.sussex.ac.uk/equalities/ CHUCL http://www.sussex.ac.uk/staff/research/rqi/impact/iaa/iaacasestudies/culturalchange https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/sep/11/how-can-universities-ensure-their-students-are-satisfied