Thesis Design

Introduction

This course is dedicated to supporting your development as a master of science with a focus on high-level scientific skills relating to synthesis, analysis, logical reasoning, and the ability to communicate clearly in different mediums, with a focus on academic writing. We also extend attention to scientific rigor and replicability in literature review and experimental design (including participant recruitment, stimuli design/selection, experimental design, and analyses of outcomes).  In this course you will develop your research proposal for your thesis along with a proof-of-concept for your demonstrator, which will be a critical step for you in autonomous writing your thesis project.

Learning outcomes

Upon the successful completion of the course “Thesis Design”, you will be able to:

1. Perform a critical, targeted literature review in the field of voice technology.
2. Elaborate testable hypotheses based on the state-of-the-art in voice technology.
3. Perform novel scientific research autonomously related to the proposed thesis topic.
4. Elaborate standard experimental procedures related to the proposed thesis topic.
5. Work collaboratively in international, cross-cultural teams on shared experiments related to the proposed thesis topic.
6. Provide and receive critical peer review in a constructive way.
7. Share research outcomes through popular abstracts, posters and high level academic writing.
8. Design and perform a voice technology pilot study.

Course structure

The course runs for 8 weeks. Each week has 2 classes of 1 hour 45 minutes (with a 15 minute break in the middle).

Classes are on Monday (15:15 -- 17:00) and Wednesday (13:15 -- 15:00).

Contact information

Your instructor for the course is Dr Matt Coler (m.coler@rug.nl). For general questions you can contact the Educational Secretary or Student Service Desk (cf-sec@rug.nl, +31(0) 58 205 5009).

You can book an office hours meeting with Dr Coler here.

Practical Information

Literature

We will mostly be reading literature that is available online. Obligatory readings are either accessible through open access or online through SmartCat of the library.

Brightspace

We use the virtual learning environment “Brightspace” as the main platform for communication. If there is any necessary change on the syllabus, I will announce it in class and in Brightspace.

Assessment

Your final grade is calculated as per below. There is no final exam. Dates below are indicative. There may be changes depending on the speed with which we proceed.

Note the predominance of peer review in this course.

Assignment	%	Date assigned	Date due
Participation	20	N/A	N/A
Peer review 1: RQ + Hypothesis	05		Week 3
Peer review 2: RQ + Hypothesis + Method	15		Week 6
Peer review 3: Research proposal	40		Week 8
Article presentation	20	Week 1	Week 8
TOTAL	100

As you can see from the table above, participation is important. You need to upload the following documents in your participation folder:

• Act_1 - RQ --> Include track changes.
• ...

Information on scoring the participation activities can be found in the overview of rubrics.

Cheating and plagiarism

Cheating and plagiarism are academic offenses, with severe consequences. They are acts or omissions by students to partly or wholly hinder accurate assessment. As per the Teaching and Examination Regulations, cases of cheating and plagiarism are reported by the instructor to the Board of Examiners, which will decide on the consequences.

Student services

Ask for help as soon as you need it. The student services desk can answer many of your questions. They are open M-F 10:30-13:00 / 13:30-15:30 and can be reached at cf-sec@rug.nl.

The student advisor, Hieke Hoekstra (h.hoekstra@rug.nl), works on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. She can offer you confidential advise, support, and tips. Go to her as soon as you have some concerns. She's here to help!

Planning

Week 1: Research questions and the literature

Class I: Research questions (Feb 5)

Preparation:

• Familiarize yourself with the master’s thesis assessment criteria.
• Select and acquaint yourself with a citation management system.
• Examine theses related to topics of interest.
• Read: The Wiley peer review guide (optionally, watch the video).
• Read: How to write a rebuttal from Nature Methagora blog.
• Fill out this form

Class II: Lit review (Feb 7)

Preparation:

• Read: Verkhodanova, V. (2021). More than words: Recognizing speech of people with Parkinson's disease (Doctoral dissertation, University of Groningen). Chapter 3 -- no need to read cover-to-cover, just note structure of replicable lit review. See Fig 3.1 and Table 3.1
• Familiarize yourself with Feedback Fruits.
• Review the research proposal LaTeX template