Master’s tutors for your next study challenge

Master’s study asks you to evaluate ideas and evidence, explain your choices and work with increasing independence. The QAA master’s degree statement describes research, advanced study and professional or practice courses, often with overlapping features. Your course handbook and assessment brief set the requirements for your own work.

Consider two invented studies used for practice. Study A surveys established employees at one organisation about whether they prefer home or office working. Study B interviews new starters at another organisation about getting informal advice while working remotely.

A weak summary says: “Study A supports remote working, but Study B shows it is bad.” That treats different questions and groups as a direct disagreement.

A stronger comparison says: “A preference for home working and difficulty obtaining informal advice can coexist. The survey describes established employees’ stated preferences; the interviews explore new starters’ experiences of support. Neither study, as described, establishes whether remote working increases productivity.”

The improvement is the reasoning: identify the question, people and method before deciding what a finding supports. Sheffield’s literature-review guidance explains how to compare sources and organise them around themes. A useful follow-up is to make the same comparison with two readings from your module, then write a sentence explaining where their conclusions connect or diverge.

An illustrative starting question, “Does remote working improve productivity?”, leaves the people, setting and measure of productivity undefined. Interviewing a few colleagues about their preferences would not, by itself, establish a productivity effect.

A more focused question for an interview project could be: “How do new starters in one organisation describe getting informal advice while working remotely?” It identifies a group, setting and experience to investigate. An open question such as “Tell me about the last time you needed advice while working remotely” invites an account; “How frustrating was it to get help?” assumes the experience was frustrating. The Open University’s postgraduate interview guidance explains open questions and how to avoid leading respondents.

The resulting accounts could help you understand experiences in that setting. They would not establish a general productivity effect. In a lesson, practise explaining that connection between question, method and limits before applying the reasoning to your own proposal.

Keep your assessment your own. Check your programme’s rules before sharing assessed material: outside feedback as well as writing may be restricted. For example, Edinburgh’s proofreading guidance requires students to check course permission and prohibits substantive changes by a proofreader. Use separate practice material where assessment feedback is not permitted. Tuition cannot provide university approval for a project; take questions about the brief, supervision or required ethics review to your department before collecting data.