Assessment method

Thesis / Dissertation Data Analysis Projects will primarily be concerned with the reproducibility of key scientific analysis. Projects will be marked on three aspects: the project reports, the accompanying data analysis pipeline developed for the analysis and the oral presentation of the project. The report must not exceed 7,000 words in length and describe the analysis pipeline and its development, and the project goals and results obtained. The report must be accompanied by an executive summary of the work of not more than 1,000 words in length. The data analysis pipeline used for the analysis must also be provided to the assessors in a form which is accessible and reproducible. The oral presentation will be used to confirm the candidates understanding of the project and to clarify any points which were unclear in the report or analysis pipeline. Assessors may ask questions of the candidate during the presentation to further explore any aspect of the project, the submitted materials, the presentation, or other background knowledge relevant to the project. Other Each Major and Minor Module will be assessed via a mix of: Coursework - which will typically be in the form of a report describing the development and implementation of specific data analytic methods, typically of not more than 3,000 words in length, in conjunction with the data analytic pipeline itself, however the exact form will be module dependent. The reports will be expected to be concise and will be judged on the quality of argument, the clarity of presentation, and the insightfulness of interpretation. The pipeline itself will be judged on conformity to software development best practice as taught in the 'Research Computing' major module, and the quality of the pipeline in terms of its accuracy, range of application, ease of use, and robustness and stability. Written exams - which will be closed books and will primarily test candidates' theoretical knowledge via calculations, short answer questions and essays. Oral presentations on candidates’ work may be required as part of the assessment of submitted coursework. In the MPhil in Data Intensive Science, the weighting of the assessed course components is as follows: the Project report (Data Analysis project) will represent 25 per cent (25%) of the final grade; the taught modules examination (mix of written assignment, written examination, and oral presentation) will represent 75 per cent (75%) of the final grade where : Each major module will count for 12% of the final grade. Each minor module will count for 7.5% of the final grade.