Research in the Age of Disinformation - MAN00019C
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2025-26 |
Module aims
This module will guide students into becoming more sophisticated consumers of numerical, textual and visual information. Students will inspect case studies in the form of multiple media such as text, imagery and film and analyse how our perceptions of data can be misled, including but not limited to the narrative of statements and presentation of graphs.
Module learning outcomes
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Manage business, management and organisational information by using suitable methods to collect, collate and evaluate relevant data sources.
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Understand empirical problems and analyse real world scenarios, linking method to practice.
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Critically evaluate the quality of numerical, textual and visual evidence, and identify gaps and inadequacies to overcome ambiguity.
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Understand the application of qualitative and quantitative data, and recognise how an understanding of one enriches the understanding of the other.
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Be able to look for and integrate other sources of data on the same topic to achieve a more rounded interpretation than the original story.
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Understand the ethical dimensions of data and be able to put into practice ethical behaviour in conducting, analysing and producing accounts of useful and ethically responsible research.
Module content
During workshops, students will assess a variety of research sources to look at at what the intended “take away” message is, how the actual discussion matches to that message, and how our perceptions around the facts can be manipulated through conflation of terms, subtle rewordings of statements, the construction of narrative, imagery presented, misleading graphs and other such techniques.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
| Feedback on formative presentations will be given immediately during formative workshops. Feedback on ideas will be generally immediately available during workshops, although over email is also a possibility. Feedback on the summative assessment will be in the usual form, available as soon as possible after submission. All feedback will be in accordance with SBS policy. |
Indicative reading
Blastland M. and Dilnot, A. (2008). The Tiger That Isn’t. London: Profile Books.
Huff, D. (1954). How to Lie with Statistics. London: Penguin Books.
A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Management Research -
Management and Business Research -
https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/management-and-business-research/book243175#contents