ECTS - Research Methodology and Communication Skills
Research Methodology and Communication Skills (MDES600) Course Detail
| Course Name | Course Code | Season | Lecture Hours | Application Hours | Lab Hours | Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Methodology and Communication Skills | MDES600 | 1. Semester | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Pre-requisite Course(s) |
|---|
| N/A |
| Course Language | English |
|---|---|
| Course Type | Compulsory Departmental Courses |
| Course Level | Natural & Applied Sciences Master's Degree |
| Mode of Delivery | Face To Face |
| Learning and Teaching Strategies | Lecture, Demonstration, Discussion, Question and Answer, Drill and Practice, Observation Case Study, Problem Solving, Team/Group. |
| Course Lecturer(s) |
|
| Course Objectives | The objective of this course is to improve the research and communication skills of students early in their graduate program to help them better plan, conduct and present their research and thesis work. |
| Course Learning Outcomes |
The students who succeeded in this course;
|
| Course Content | Rigorous, scholarly research, particularly theses or dissertations. Literature review, surveys, meta-analysis, empirical research design, formulating research questions, theory building, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods, validity, reliability, triangulation, building evidences, writing research proposal |
Weekly Subjects and Releated Preparation Studies
| Week | Subjects | Preparation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction; What is Research? Why to do research? | Lecture Notes |
| 2 | Identification of a research problem | Lecture Notes |
| 3 | Managing and Planning Research | Lecture Notes |
| 4 | Literature mining, taxonomy | Lecture Notes |
| 5 | Data gathering and data management | Lecture Notes |
| 6 | Technical Writing | Lecture Notes |
| 7 | Writing a research/thesis proposal | Lecture Notes |
| 8 | Ethics in Research | Lecture Notes |
| 9 | Communication Skills | Lecture Notes |
| 10 | Scientists must speak | Lecture Notes |
| 11 | How to present | Lecture Notes |
| 12 | Student Presentations | |
| 13 | Student Presentations | |
| 14 | Student Presentations | |
| 15 | Student Presentations | |
| 16 | Student Presentations |
Sources
| Other Sources | 1. Robert L. Peters. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Master's or Ph.D. (Revised Edition), 1997. |
|---|---|
| 2. Zina O’Leary, The Essential Guide to Doing Research, Sage Publications, London, 2004. | |
| 3. Bruce A. Thyer, Preparing Research Articles, Oxford University Press, London, 2008. | |
| 4. Paul Oliver, The Student’s Guide to Research Ethics, Open University Press, Philadelphia, 2003. | |
| 5. James E. Mauch and Namgi Park, Guide to the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: A Handbook for Students and Faculty, 5th Ed., Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 2003. | |
| 6. D. Eric Walters and Gale Climenson Walters, Scientists Must Speak, Rutledge, London, 2002. | |
| 7. Owen Hargie (Ed.), The Handbook of Communication Skills, 3rd Ed., Rutledge, London, 2006. |
Evaluation System
| Requirements | Number | Percentage of Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance/Participation | - | - |
| Laboratory | - | - |
| Application | 1 | 20 |
| Field Work | - | - |
| Special Course Internship | - | - |
| Quizzes/Studio Critics | - | - |
| Homework Assignments | 3 | 30 |
| Presentation | 3 | 20 |
| Project | - | - |
| Report | - | - |
| Seminar | 1 | 30 |
| Midterms Exams/Midterms Jury | - | - |
| Final Exam/Final Jury | - | - |
| Toplam | 8 | 100 |
| Percentage of Semester Work | 100 |
|---|---|
| Percentage of Final Work | 0 |
| Total | 100 |
Course Category
| Core Courses | X |
|---|---|
| Major Area Courses | |
| Supportive Courses | |
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | |
| Transferable Skill Courses |
The Relation Between Course Learning Competencies and Program Qualifications
| # | Program Qualifications / Competencies | Level of Contribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | Accumulated knowledge on mathematics, science and mechatronics engineering; an ability to apply the theoretical and applied knowledge of mathematics, science and mechatronics engineering to model and analyze mechatronics engineering problems. | |||||
| 2 | An ability to differentiate, identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems; an ability to select and implement proper analysis, modeling and implementation techniques for the identified engineering problems. | |||||
| 3 | An ability to design a complex system, product, component or process to meet the requirements under realistic constraints and conditions; an ability to apply contemporary design methodologies; an ability to implement effective engineering creativity techniques in mechatronics engineering. (Realistic constraints and conditions may include economics, environment, sustainability, producibility, ethics, human health, social and political problems.) | |||||
| 4 | An ability to develop, select and use modern techniques, skills and tools for application of mechatronics engineering and robot technologies; an ability to use information and communications technologies effectively. | X | ||||
| 5 | An ability to design experiments, perform experiments, collect and analyze data and assess the results for investigated problems on mechatronics engineering and robot technologies. | X | ||||
| 6 | An ability to work effectively on single disciplinary and multi-disciplinary teams; an ability for individual work; ability to communicate and collaborate/cooperate effectively with other disciplines and scientific/engineering domains or working areas, ability to work with other disciplines. | X | ||||
| 7 | An ability to express creative and original concepts and ideas effectively in Turkish and English language, oral and written. | X | ||||
| 8 | An ability to reach information on different subjects required by the wide spectrum of applications of mechatronics engineering, criticize, assess and improve the knowledge-base; consciousness on the necessity of improvement and sustainability as a result of life-long learning; monitoring the developments on science and technology; awareness on entrepreneurship, innovative and sustainable development and ability for continuous renovation. | X | ||||
| 9 | Be conscious on professional and ethical responsibility, competency on improving professional consciousness and contributing to the improvement of profession itself. | X | ||||
| 10 | A knowledge on the applications at business life such as project management, risk management and change management and competency on planning, managing and leadership activities on the development of capabilities of workers who are under his/her responsibility working around a project. | |||||
| 11 | Knowledge about the global, societal and individual effects of mechatronics engineering applications on the human health, environment and security and cultural values and problems of the era; consciousness on these issues; awareness of legal results of engineering solutions. | X | ||||
| 12 | Competency on defining, analyzing and surveying databases and other sources, proposing solutions based on research work and scientific results and communicate and publish numerical and conceptual solutions. | |||||
| 13 | Consciousness on the environment and social responsibility, competencies on observation, improvement and modify and implementation of projects for the society and social relations and be an individual within the society in such a way that planing, improving or changing the norms with a criticism. | X | ||||
| 14 | A competency on developing strategy, policy and application plans on the mechatronics engineering and evaluating the results in the context of qualitative processes. | |||||
ECTS/Workload Table
| Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including Exam Week: 16 x Total Hours) | |||
| Laboratory | |||
| Application | 1 | 40 | 40 |
| Special Course Internship | 1 | 30 | 30 |
| Field Work | |||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Presentation/Seminar Prepration | 2 | 15 | 30 |
| Project | |||
| Report | |||
| Homework Assignments | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| Quizzes/Studio Critics | |||
| Prepration of Midterm Exams/Midterm Jury | |||
| Prepration of Final Exams/Final Jury | |||
| Total Workload | 178 | ||