Class Dissertation

The Dissertation is the Curricular Unit that aims at the development of competence and autonomy for the practice of scientific research in the scope of Exercise and Well-Being. The realization of the dissertation presupposes the achievement of a literature research that will define the theoretical rationale of the work, the definition of a method, the collection of data, the analysis of the results, a discussion supported by the theoretical rationale followed and a conclusion. The final product of the Dissertation will be a document that will include two manuscripts of articles prepared for submission in scientific journals.

Not applicable

The dissertation is organized into the following 3 stages, during which the student works under the guidance of a faculty advisor: Stage 1 - Definition of the topic, basic theoretical framework, objective, and preliminary definition of the method * Working document of up to 10,000 characters * Poster presentation at the 1st evaluation conference Stage 2 - Critical review of the literature, method; progress report on data collection * Article manuscript with a systematic literature review or meta-analysis and the study method * Oral presentation at the 2nd evaluation conference Stage 3 - Results, discussion, and final text The final dissertation will include: * General introduction (up to 10,000 characters) * Manuscript 1 - Systematic Literature Review * Manuscript 2 - Experimental or observational article * General discussion (up to 10,000 characters) * Oral presentation for the dissertation defense

This Course Unit primarily uses a problem-based learning methodology. Several lines of research are proposed for the student to develop. After choosing the topic, the work goes through different stages under the guidance of a tutor. The evaluation is carried out in three stages, with the first two being primarily formative in nature. In these stages, the student presents their work to an examiner who is not their advisor, so that it undergoes a peer review process. In addition, students are asked to carry out a peer review of one of their classmates' works. In this way, students are exposed to the complete scientific production process, including the poster presentation, an oral presentation, and the peer review processes.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7ª ed.). APA. Thomas, J. R., Martin, P. E., Etnier, J. L., & Silverman, S. J. (2022). Research Methods in Physical Activity (8ª ed.). Human Kinetics.