MALK5900 Masteroppgave Emneplan

The course will use varied, student-active work methods. Work and teaching methods include lectures, seminars, and group-based and individual assignments. Two teaching sessions are organised, each running over a period of three to four days. Between the sessions, the students will work on a written assignment that will be commented and discussed at the last session. Digital platforms will also be used for work between the sessions on campus. Students are expected to work actively on the written assignment between the sessions.

All courses included in the specialisation must be completed with pass grades and all coursework requirements must be approved before the candidate may submit the master’s thesis.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student can

• analyze and critically assess the scientific work of others

Skills

The student can

• demonstrate working knowledge of the ethical and technical principles that govern scientific research and publication, including international citation and reference standards
• demonstrate that they can plan, implement and evaluate a supervised innovation project in accordance with research ethics guidelines and regulations, and guidelines from relevant governmental bodies (i. e., The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, relevant Norwegian Research Ethics Committees and so on)
• choose and apply relevant methods of data collection for research or scientific inquiry
• write a thesis according to criteria determined by the university
• critically assess the results of his own work
• critically assess various sources of information

Competence

The student can

• participate in the development of the behavioral sciences
• justify their professional behavior with reference to ethical guidelines, general ethical considerations and their own assessment of the situation
• analyze and critically assess various sources of information with relevance for the thesis

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the examination:

• Minimum attendance of 80% at teaching sessions

Project examination in the form of a written work that is developed during the course. The work is carried out individually with a scope of 2,000-2,500 words or in pairs with a scope of 3,500 - 4,000 words. The student can choose between two or more set research questions.

Resit examination: If the student is awarded the grade F (fails the written assignment), he/she will be given one (1) opportunity to submit a reworked version.

Thesis. Submission of master’s thesis according to program specifications, consisting of a project report. Technical standards according to the current APA manual. Submitting dates each year: June 15th and November 15th.

Thesis format

The Master’s thesis consists of a project report. The format of the project report should conform to the publishing conventions of the science of behavior analysis, and the length should be appropriate for the work that is reported. The project report must include an executive summary for the Best Practice project bank. The project report is written according to the current APA Publishing Manual Standard; double spaced Times New Roman size 12 with standard margins for MS Office Word. Examiner’s guidelines are provided.

Ethics and data protection

An account of ethical considerations is required if the thesis includes empirical data on humans or nonhuman animals. A risk -and vulnerability analysis (ROS-vurdering) should normally be conducted, and a case number should be included in the title page of the thesis article. If data on humans are included in the thesis, an account of data protection issues is typically required. The description of ethical and data protection considerations can be included in the main body of the thesis. If the decision is made that such an account is not appropriate in the main body of the thesis, a reflection note on this topic should be attached to the thesis. A reflection note is a short description of ethical and data protection considerations, maximum 6000 characters, including spaces. For theses that do not include empirical data, research ethics relevant to the thesis should be discussed, either in the main body of the text or a reflection note.

Some Master projects may require consideration or approval from external bodies, such as Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD), the Regional Committee for Medicine and Health Sciences Research Ethics (REK), National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH), and/or internal or external data protection officials. It is ultimately the responsibility of the main supervisor to ensure that the relevant bodies are consulted. If external bodies are consulted, a case number should be included in the title page of the thesis article. If a decision is made that there is no need to consult external bodies regarding ethics or data protection, a description of the deliberations preceding this decision is required, either in the main body of the thesis or in the reflection note. If the thesis is an empirical work, the main supervisor must state in writing that the research is conducted in accordance with current laws and regulations before the thesis can be submitted.

All

Grade scale A-F.

All answers are assessed by one examiner.

An external examiner is used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. When selecting answers for external evaluation, a minimum of 10 percent of the answers shall be included, with no fewer than 5 answers. The external examiner’s assessment of the selected answers shall benefit all students.