RMP: Personal Support and Guidance


The MSc in Research Methods is a demanding programme. You will take a large part of the responsibility for your own learning during the programme and will work frequently to meet deadlines. These challenges are part of studying at the postgraduate level. There are several types of support built into the programme to help you meet these challenges.

(1) The programme director is available for individual appointments, which may be made by email (hg102@soton.ac.uk). The programme director will be assisted in providing support to you by the Director of PG Student Support for Psychology, Dr Edward Redhead (psy-support-pg@soton.ac.uk). The University also has a counselling service, student advice centre, chaplaincy, and student health centre, which also has counselling and clinical psychology services.

(2) Once you have identified a dissertation supervisor, s/he will be an important source of help – do not hesitate to approach him/her with questions or ask for assistance. Additionally, it is important that you arrange some meetings with your supervisor at an early stage to discuss the level of supervision that you require. Both students and supervisors vary in their expectations regarding supervision levels, with some viewing frequent meetings as necessary, and others expecting more independence. It is important that you set realistic expectations early on by asking your supervisor about the frequency of supervision, and to clarify their level of involvement in project conceptualisation, design, analysis and interpretations. This will reduce the likelihood that problems will develop later on in your relationship with your supervisor. Although meetings with your supervisor at an early stage will likely prevent any misunderstandings about what is expected of you during the MSc Research Methods programme and (perhaps) beyond, sometimes problems might still crop up from time to time. For example, you may find that your supervisor is pushing you beyond reasonable expectations, given the time constraints imposed by the MSc, to conduct other research. If so, it is important to keep in mind that you can approach the MSc programme director to discuss such matters.

(3) You will have considerable personal contact with staff teaching on the programme and the programme is designed to maximize peer collaboration and support.

(4) The Academic Unit has a Diversity Tutor, Dr Denis Drieghe (dd1f08@soton.ac.uk) who can be consulted for additional help and advice. The University has two International Student Advisers who can be contacted by emailing international-help@susu.org

Confidentiality is assured at all levels of support.

Study Skills

The University is able to provide study skills resources. For more information see: http://library.soton.ac.uk/sash

English Language Support

If you want to continue to improve your English during your time at the University of Southampton, the Academic Unit of Humanities offers an “English for Academic Purposes Support Programme”. Further details can be obtained from the following website:

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/cls/english/support.html

The University’s Researcher Development & Graduate Centre also provides important information for international students. Further details can be obtained from the following website: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/gradschools/

Please sqee also the English for Academic Purposes Toolkit: http://www.elanguages.ac.uk/eap_toolkit.php

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