This is an advanced course for policy analysis in education and its role in decision making. The course is also designed to help students to identify their dissertation topic, research design and methods. The course provides students with the depth of understanding and comprehensive skill set needed to conduct policy enquiry and apply this to the development of their thesis proposal.

Weekly; The course runs over 11 weeks; 10 x 2 hour sessions with one reading week.

None

Policy Enquiry and Decision Making EDUC5249

Summative Assessment 1 (30%): Group Presentation

Submission between Week 3 and Week 6 of the course.

Students are asked to work in small groups (2-4 students) to prepare and deliver a group presentation (10-15 minutes in duration) on the design of a policy enquiry using an experimental or quasi-experimental approach. Drawing on the course's essential readings (i.e., project documents, evaluation report), the presentation should address a set of guiding questions provided by the instructor, which are designed to support students to engage critically with policy documents, identify the key components of policy design, examine issues of internal and external validity, and reflect on relevant ethical considerations.

Summative Assessment 2 (70%): Individual Policy Enquiry Proposal (3,000 words)

Submission a few weeks after the final class of the course.

Students are asked to submit a policy enquiry proposal focused on a specific education policy of their choice. Students will select an existing education policy and propose how they will use advanced research methods for the analysis of data in relation to a specific policy idea or policy design. The proposal should present and discuss a description of the policy and the policy problem it seeks to address, a justification for the relevance and importance of their policy enquiry; a clear description of the proposed design including key elements, and a discussion of the methodology and methods to be employed.

The aims of the course are:

■ to develop the understanding required to select and apply diverse and appropriate methods of policy enquiry to the thesis proposal

■ to equip students with the skills of data collection (primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative), analysis, interpretation and presentation needed for policy analysis and policy evaluation,

■ to provide experience in using analytical software packages for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods of policy enquiry

■ to support the development of strategies for project management and research design for the thesis proposal.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Design and plan research projects for policy enquiry.

■ Conduct advanced analysis of qualitative and quantitative data for policy analysis and policy evaluation.

■ Critically review the evidence base for policy decisions.

■ Communicate research findings to a policy audience in an effective and rigorous manner.