UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA

FACULTY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

SCHOOL OF BUILDING AND LAND MANAGEMENT
URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
MODULE OUTLINE

MODULE CODE AND MODULE NAME: URP4013, RESEARCH PROJECT

Credits: 6
Semester and year: Semester 1, 2022-23
Schedule: Fridays 10:00 am -1:00pm

Location: UTechonline/Moodle.

Instructor's name: Dr. Copeland Stupart

Phone Number: (876)832-5371
Email Address: cstupart@utech.edu.jm & cstupart@yahoo.com
Office hours: [e.g. Mon. 2-3 pm, Thur. 10-11 am]
Location: Zoom link: Meeting ID: 690 263 5813; Passcode: URP4013

Module Description

The module is designed to build on students’ research experience and enhance the technical skills
necessary to undertake a research project at the final stage of their course of study. Students are required
to select a subject area of interest and pursue in-depth research using primary and/or secondary data
sources.

Module Objectives [insert general objectives]

Upon completion of the module, the student should:

i. Identify a researchable problem or concern
ii. Plan, design and execute a research study in the field of urban and regional planning
iii. Formulate a research proposal responding to emerging challenges in Climate Change, and
Sustainable Energy
iv. Select and justify appropriate research designs to answer specific questions
v. Analyze issues pertaining to the research topic by using appropriate research methods
vi. Complete and submit a research project to the university

Content (Can be placed here or incorporated in Weekly Schedule below)

3.1 UNIT 1: AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:

1. Outline the stages in the research process

2. Explain the research process

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Content
• Formulation of research topic
• Formulation of research proposal
• Defending of research proposal
• Ethical approval of research
• Fieldwork and data collection
• Data analysis
• Conclusion and recommendation
3.1 UNIT 2: THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:

1. Selecting a research topic that conveys the student’s intended investigation

2. Outline the purposes of the research proposal
3. Outline the Elements of a research proposal
4. Identify research problems/concerns
5. Formulate research topic
6. Formulate problem statement
7. Identify relevant literature Review
8. State the purpose of the study
9. Formulate research objectives/hypothesis
10. Formulate research questions
11. State the significance of the Study
12. Identify appropriate methodology for carrying out the study
13. Defend the proposal to a multidisciplinary panel (*Note, student must receive approval before
proceeding to the next unit)
Content
• Title
• Abstract
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Background to the study
• Preliminary literature review
• Definitions
• Statement of the problem
• Research aims and/or objectives
• Research question/s or problem/s and/or hypotheses
• Rationale for the research
• Epistemological stance and theoretical framework
• Research methodology
o Overall methodological approach
o How the approach fits the overall research design
o Methods of data collection
o Interpretation and analysis of the results
o Rationale for methodologies applied

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• Significance of the research/contributions of the research
• Particular needs; eg. resources
• Expected preliminary outcomes
• Intellectual property issues
• Ethical approval/evidence of application
• Overview of sections
• Timeline/plan of the work
• Bibliographic references and appendices

3.1 UNIT 3: THE ABSTRACT

Verb tense: simple past – refers to work done
Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:
1. Outline the elements of the abstract (Mini-version of the study)
Content
• Principal objectives
• Methods used
• Principal results
• Main conclusion

3.1 UNIT 4: THE INTRODUCTION

Verb tense: Present – refers to established knowledge in the literature

Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:
1. Define the nature and scope of the problem
2. Identify literature that is relevant to the topic of study
3. Outline the intended approach for carrying out the study

Content
• Background to study
• Review of relevant literature
• Approach (and justification for this approach)
• Purpose of the study
• Problem statement
• Research objectives/hypothesis
• Research questions
• Significance of the study
• Definition of terms
• Delimitations of the study
• Limitations of the study
• Assumptions
• Organization of the study/thesis
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3.1 UNIT 5: THE LITERATURE REVIEW
Verb tense: Present – refers to established knowledge in the literature

Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:
1. Select previous studies on the area being researched
2. Discuss several critical studies that have already been done in the area being researched
3. Identify gaps in the literature
4. Explain why this area is important to the general subject under study

Content

• Provides rationale for study

• Begin with a listing of the subsections of the literature review
• Use frequent headings to help readers follow your organization
• Detailed Literature Survey
• Field Design
• Quantitative and qualitative data investigations
• Observations
• A description of what is already known about the subject and a discussion of their relevance
• Evaluate why these background studies are insufficient. In other words, what questions do they leave
unresolved that this study will address (innovative step)
• A description of data collection and test the questions to be examined.
• Conclude with a summary

3.1 UNIT 6: THE METHODOLOGY

Verb tense: Simple past – refers to work done

Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:
1. Describe what was done – experiment, model, or field study
2. Determine appropriate sampling methods/techniques
3. Determine appropriate methods for data collection
4. Determine appropriate methods for data analysis e.g. use of SPSS, Excel, etc.

Content

• Description of materials
• Description of procedure in logical order
• Sufficient detail so that procedure can be reproduced
• Begin with a paragraph explaining the purpose of this chapter
• Purpose of the study (to refresh memory)
• Research questions (to refresh memory)
• Review of related literature and research summary
• Method – the research framework
• Data collection – show how your data collection addresses each research questions

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• Role of the researcher (if you are performing qualitative analysis, you should explain your role, how
you interacted with the participants, your background, etc.)
• Data analysis – describe; show how your data analysis addresses each research question
• Conclude with a transition paragraph, such as: “This chapter presented the methodology for the
collection of data for the study. The next chapter presents research findings followed by a chapter on
conclusions, discussion, and recommendations for future research.”

3.1 UNIT 7: THE FINDINGS (RESULTS)

Verb tense: Simple past – refer to what was found or observed
Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:

1. Use different means to present findings/results

2. Presents the data, the facts – what was found, calculated, discovered, and observed

Content

• Begin with a paragraph orienting the reader to the chapter (because some readers will jump to this
location in your thesis and not read the earlier chapters)
• Presents your findings in logical order, with tables and figures as needed and with frequent use of
headings to help readers follow your organization
• The results
• Your observations during experiments/fieldwork
• Your observations about the results (eg. Compare/contrast between experiments)
• Results of calculations using data, such as rates or error
• If you use mixed methodology, present quantitative then qualitative findings
• Conclude with as summary of the findings and a transitional paragraph, such as: “This chapter
presented quantitative and qualitative research findings addressing the four research questions of this
study. The next chapter presents conclusion, discussion, and recommendations for future research.”

3.1 UNIT 8: THE ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION

Verb tense: Present – emphasis on established knowledge, present results

Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:
1. Show the relationships among the facts
2. Puts results in context of previous researches
Content

• Trends, relationships, generalizations shown by the results

• Any exceptions, outlying data (and why)
• How your results agree/disagree with previous studies, and why
• Congruence/inconsistences, etc.
• Discuss each of your major findings.
• Summarize each one briefly and show how your findings compare to other previous research, and
discuss why each is important.
• This is where you as a researcher present what you have learnt from the research.
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3.1 UNIT 9: THE CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS
Verb tense: Present – emphasis on what should now be accepted as established knowledge

Specific Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should:

1. Summarizes the principal findings

2. Make recommendations

Content

• Begin with a paragraph orienting the reader to the chapter (because some readers will jump to this
location in your thesis and not read the earlier chapters). Including purpose of the study, research
questions, summary of the literature review, summary of the methodology, plus a summary of the
findings.
• Your conclusions about what the data means – the most important critical thinking insights revealed
by the data
• Conclusion should relate back to the introduction, and the hypothesis
• Summary of evidence supporting each conclusion
• Implications,
• The significance of the results
• Any practical application
• Recommendations for practice – provide a list of several things that researchers working in the topic
area on which you did your research should do as a result of your study.
• Suggestions for further research
• Conclusion – your final thoughts

Instructional Approaches

This module is based on supervisions, presentations of various steps of research project and continuous
adjustments of research work. For the first six weeks of Semester 1 lectures will be delivered by the
coordinators. During this period students will work in their groups to conceptualize a research idea.
Subsequent to the production of the research idea, group consultations will be had with the coordinators
and their supervisors. Additionally, lectures will be done along with group consultations throughout
Semester 2 on the elements that should be included in the final project.

Recommended text(s)/web links/readings:

List as follows:
Required – i.e. the text(s) the student is expected to purchase
- Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D. (2018). Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed
Method Approaches (5th Ed). Los Angeles: SAGE Publishers.

Recommended – i.e. the text(s) the student is advised to consult during the module

- Babbie, E. (2015). The Practice of Social Research (13th Ed). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
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Weekly Schedule
Week Date Topic/Activity Reading
1 Aug. Introduction to the module and requirements
26,
2022
2 Sept. An overview of the research process Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
2, (2018).
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
3 Sept. The research proposal Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
9, 1. Selecting a research topic that conveys the (2018)
2022 student’s intended investigation Babbie, E. (2015).
2. Outline the purposes of the research proposal
3. Outline the Elements of a research proposal
4 Sept. The research proposal Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
16, 1. Identify research problems/concerns (2018)
2022 2. Formulate research topic Babbie, E. (2015).
3. Formulate problem statement
5 Sept. The research proposal Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
23, 1. Identify relevant literature Review (2018)
2022 2. State the purpose of the study Babbie, E. (2015).
3. Formulate research objectives/hypothesis
6 Sept. The research proposal Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
30, 1. Formulate research questions (2018)
2022 2. State the significance of the Study Babbie, E. (2015).
3. Identify appropriate methodology for
carrying out the study
7 Oct. The research proposal Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
7, 1. Defend the proposal to a multidisciplinary (2018)
2022 panel (*Note, student must receive approval Babbie, E. (2015).
before proceeding to the next unit)
8 Oct. Class discussion and Research Group Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
14, Consultation (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
9 Oct. Class discussion and Research Group Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
21, Consultation (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
10 Oct. Class discussion and Research Group Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
28, Consultation (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
11 Nov. Class discussion and Research Group Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
4, Consultation (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
12 Nov. Oral Presentation of Research Proposal
11,
2022

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 Week Date Topic/Activity Reading
13 Nov. Class discussion about the proposal presentation Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
18, (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
14 Nov. THE ABSTRACT Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
25, THE INTRODUCTION (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).
15 Dec. THE LITERATURE REVIEW Cresswell, J.N. & Cresswell, J.D.
2, THE METHODOLOGY (2018)
2022 Babbie, E. (2015).

Assessment
Description Weighting (%) Due Date
Oral Presentation of Research Proposal 20 November 11, 2022
Research Project Document 80 April 2023
Total 100%

Grading system
Grade Grade point Percentage Scale
A+ 4.3 90.00 - 100
A 4.0 80.00-89.99
A- 3.67 75.00-79.99
B+ 3.33 70.00-74.99
B 3.0 65.00-69.99
B- 2.67 60.00-64.99
C+ 2.33 55.00-59.99
C 2.00 50.00-54.99
D+ 1.67 45.00-49.99
D 1.3 40.00-44.99
U 0.00 0.00-39.99

Specific Requirements for Research Project: URP4013

Enter information here that is specific to the module that will help students to complete
successfully. e.g. class attendance, assignment quality, equipment, schedule interruption, online
protocols, website, WhatsApp group etc.

NOTE: Students are to consult UTech, Ja. Student Handbook AY2021/22 for details on
Academic regulations pertaining to ………..(You may include in detail the specific
requirements dealing with such issues plagiarism, academic integrity, etc.)

College/Faculty/School contact information: Mr. Wycliffe Frater, Admin Support

Urban & Regional Planning

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 Tel #: (876)927-1680-8 ext.:
Email: Wycliffe.frater@utech.edu.jm

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