PG Dip in Applied Research

Duration: 3 trimesters 

Trimester 1 – Research Skills:

Research skills refer to the ability to search for, locate, extract, organise, evaluate and use or present information that is relevant to a particular topic. Academic research is a specific type of research: a process of detailed and methodical investigation into some area of study.

Trimester 2 – Research Methods:

You study the necessary skills to successfully analyse and evaluate published research as well as conduct original research. You will cover various topics which include finding relevant literature and research design, and you will be able to present your research findings. This topic equips students with standard information retrieval skills, data presentation and scientific report/research proposal writing. It also allow students to acquire experience and general research skills essential for academic and research study.​

It also introduces the most frequently used research methods which include:

• Observation / Participant Observation.

• Surveys.

• Interviews.

• Focus Groups.

• Experiments.

• Secondary Data Analysis / Archival Study.

• Mixed Methods (combination of some of the above)

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Trimester 3 – Research Practice:

This involves the introduction of a pilot study. A pilot study asks whether something can be done, should the researchers proceed with it, and if so, how. However, a pilot study also has a specific design feature; it is conducted on a smaller scale than the main or full-scale study. In other words, the pilot study is important for improvement of the quality and efficiency of the main study. In addition, it is conducted in order to assess the safety of treatment or interventions and recruitment potentials, examine the randomization and blinding process, increase the researchers’ experience with the study methods and provide estimates for sample size calculation.