This module provides students with the generic skills of reviewing key voices, and identifying literature and data relevant to their specific area of research.  It considers the category of ‘doctoralness’, and the especial nature of a professional doctorate – as a ‘contribution to knowledge’ to the academy, to the institutional context, and to continuing professional /personal development. It also encourages students to locate their own practice-based research agenda within extant theoretical and methodological debates by keeping a learning journal throughout the programme. Candidates demonstrate that they have a competent, critical grasp of research resources, skills, methodologies and methods in their area of Theology and Religious Studies, and the approaches that might be used within it. 

Reflection, reflexivity, and ethics are core components of professional doctorates. In this module, students engage with models of critical reflection and debates that theorise the researcher's subjectivity, and location. They also assess the impact this has on the generation of knowledge, and on the ethical issues of power and representation. Students draw on entries from a research learning journal, which they keep from the outset of the programme, to offer a critical reflection of their approach to research and to their practice. 

In this module, students prepare for their thesis by exploring the principles of research design and applying them to their research question. Students consider the core elements of a research proposal, identifying the question for their project, and giving a well-supported rationale for the project’s value and originality. Students will also ground their thesis in the wider  issues, debates and methods within theology and religious studies, and develop a methodology for undertaking their project. This module also gives students the opportunity to consider a range of methods (such as, sampling, data-gathering, and data analysis) and to examine the general and specific ethical challenges in their work.

In keeping with the characteristics of a research degree, this thesis presents the candidates’ research as a contribution to theology and religious studies, and to the context of professional practice. It is a critical account and analysis of the intellectual and professional development of the candidate during the research, and is assessed at viva voce.  

The topic and scope of the thesis will have been identified through prior learning in HU8400 and HU8401 will have been precisely defined in HU8402 (Research Methodologies and Methods) where the preparation of a detailed research proposal forms part of the assessment.