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.

Stage 1) Definition of the topic, basic literature review, objective and preliminary methods

1. Report (10000 characters)

Ii. Poster presentation on an evaluation conference

Stage 2) Critical review of the literature, method, report of the progress in data collection

1. Manuscript with a systematic literature review or meta-analysis and the study method (research protocol)
2. Oral presentation on an evaluation conference

Stage 3) Results, discussion and final text

1. The dissertation includes:
2. General introduction (10000 characters)
3. Manuscript 1 - Systematic review of the literature
4. Manuscript 2 - Experimental or observational research paper
5. General discussion (10000 characters)

Ii. Oral presentation for the final evaluation

This Course Unit mainly uses a problem-based learning methodology. Several research lines are proposed for the student to develop. After choosing the topic, the work goes through different stages, with the guidance of a tutor.

The evaluation is done in three stages, with the first two mainly having a formative character. In these stages, the student presents their work to an examiner who is not their advisor, so that it can undergo a peer review process. Additionally, students are asked to peer review one of their classmates' works.

In this way, we aim to expose students to the complete process of scientific production, including presenting in poster format, an oral presentation, and peer review processes.

Ntoumanis, N. (2009). SPSS for Sport and Exercise Studies - 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.

Thomas, J. R. & Nelson, J.K. (2002). Métodos de Pesquisa em Atividade Física. Porto Alegre: Artmed.