Professional Doctorate in Sport - DSport

Supervision and guidance from the supervisory team to help the student refine the initial research proposal, research training, completion of the Post-graduate Certificate in Research Practice, participation in research seminars, journal review groups and in-house conference events, pilot studies and completion of research governance procedures.

The Postgraduate Certificate in Research Practice is specifically designed to meet the needs of doctoral research students at Birmingham City University and to support the diverse mix of research interests and approaches both across the University and in individual Faculties.

The course is underpinned by a collaborative ethos that promotes the exchange of ideas, critical discussion with peers and interdisciplinarity. As such you will work with doctoral students across the different disciplines within the Faculty as well other research students at Birmingham City University.

The course is delivered primarily through faculty-based workshops and seminars facilitated by the course team. There are also a number of talks by invited researchers, including Professors, Research Fellows and PhD students. Face-to-face sessions are supported by online resources through a blended learning approach and complements regular support from your supervisory team. These sessions are book-ended by two University-wide workshops that bring together PGCert students across the University.

The course aims to present multiple perspectives, practices and approaches where you are encouraged to critique both established and emergent ways of working. It supports you in becoming an independent learner, capable of undertaking research consistent with benchmarks set by external bodies and based on peer-review (normally viva voce).

Knowledge mobilization involves using high-quality knowledge during decision-making processes. The aim of knowledge mobilization is to encourage researchers and key stakeholders (e.g., practitioners and policymakers) to work collaboratively to support research-informed policies and practices. Indeed, personal contact between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers is vital for research uptake and creating evidence-informed practice.

Knowledge mobilization involves moving research from the study (e.g., article, conference, laboratory), into the hands of people and organisations who can put it to practical use. Knowledge mobilization is most often used in the health and life sciences professions, including medicine, nursing, pharmaceuticals, rehabilitation, public health, and sport. When designing research and developing a dissemination plan, key questions to consider are:

• What are the issues that your community is currently facing?

• Who are the key stakeholders you are working with?

• What is the key message (e.g., important findings, this intervention works) and output (e.g., guidance, tool)?

• Who is your audience when disseminating your findings?

• What is the best way of reaching them?

• What resources (i.e., time, money, staff) do you have?

• How will you know if it has been successful?

Throughout your DSport, you will develop a deep understanding of various methodological approaches to capture and interpret data within your respective field of sport. You will also hold an applied skill set that allows you to work with stakeholders within your sporting discipline. The purpose of this core module is to align these two assets to help you implement evidence-informed decisions to your organisational structures and practical settings.

Achievement on the module will not only help you understand how knowledge translation works, but it will also allow you to comprehend how your own research findings from your DSport can be translated into your applied settings moving forward.

As part of this module, you will explore the different disciplinary approaches in sport (e.g., mono-, multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary) and how they are relevant to your sport and related discipline. You will also identify, examine, and explain a guiding framework (e.g., a roadmap for developing the arguments you will use in your own work) relevant to sport and your related discipline.

The different disciplinary approaches and processes in sport are reflected in several theories, models, and frameworks. The use of theoretical frameworks can help to encapsulate various ‘mono-disciplinaries’ and explain how they can influence, interact, and/or constrain one another based on the specific context. It also considers how they can integrate and involve different key stakeholders from both within and beyond disciplinary perspectives to create new areas of knowledge and applied tools. Guiding theoretical frameworks are developed by researchers to explain phenomena, draw connections, and make predictions relevant to real-life settings.You will use a theoretical framework to:

• Examine your thesis title and research/practical problem. The research problem anchors your entire study and forms the basis from which you construct your theoretical framework.

• Brainstorm on what you consider to be the key variables in your research/practice. What factors contribute to the presumed effect?

• Consider the different disciplinary approaches within your sporting context and recognise how they influence, interact, and/or constrain one another.

• Review related literature to find answers to your research/practical question.

• List the constructs and variables that might be relevant to your study. Group these variables into independent and dependent categories.

• Review the key social science theories that are introduced in the module and choose the theory or theories that can best explain the relationships between the key variables in your study.

• Discuss the assumptions or propositions of this theory and point out their relevance to your research.

You will be invited to critically consider how evidence-informed approaches covered in the module are related to you to your own practice area. More specifically, as part of the ‘assessment day’, you will be required to present an explanation of your role and impact in a specific area of sport practice, whilst considering the disciplinary approaches to achieve these intended outcomes, which will be guided by a theoretical framework of your choice. You will also be required to respond to panel questions following your presentation.

The module will enable you to practise skills of advanced academic inquiry that were explored in previous modules, applying techniques of research design, planning, conduct, data generation/collection, analysis and reporting in a focused real-world inquiry of relevance to your professional practice.

We further consider aspects of research ethics and integrity, including practical support with ethical review procedures that you will need to undergo as part of your inquiry.

You will continue to develop and practise skills in writing and communication of research, through writing sets and a mini-conference. Your continuing development as a researcher will also be supported by consideration of planning for conference participation and writing for publication.

Achievement on the module will ensure your smooth transition into the ‘thesis stage’ of the doctorate through testing research and inquiry techniques for fit and feasibility, engagement with research procedures such as ethical review, and further development of your research focus through the analysis of findings.