Course syllabus
Hello PPU215 students,
The final conference proceedings are now available. Writing a scientific article is an achievement so you should be proud of yourselves.
This study period has been especially challenging with the conditions brought by COVID-19, but we made it through. We hope that you feel this course has provided you with a stimulating environment to further your scientific and professional skills, and that it equipped you with additional tools to tackle your next project and your MSc thesis. We are very happy with the overall level of performance; you have handled the remote work really well, not just go along with it but actually made it work. This was a big learning adventure for all of us so thanks for taking the ride with us. :)
Good luck with your exams and have a great summer!
The teaching team
Additional course content: Expert dialogue
Dr Nils Lübbe, director of research at Autoliv, and Dr Mélanie Despeisse, assistant professor at Chalmers, discussed research and recruitment, especially focusing on what would be relevant for MSc students in engineering.
Thank you for your participating to
the PPU215 Conference Spring 2020
'Engineering Solutions for the Environment'
May 27, 2020 | Chalmers University of Technology
Best Overall
Group 3 - A comparative study on how renewable energy generation technologies impact sustainability
Henrik Wiberg, Sreehari Batni Ravindranath, Madhav Bhallamudi, Roberto Costanzo, Marie-Mädli Kivimäe
Best Style Award
Group 9 - Exploratory study on collaborative consumption in Swedish clothing industry
Juan González, Alberto Valdez, Harshith Kumar, Filip Alpsten, Dilip Ganga, Shanjith Raja
Best Story Award
Group 3 - A comparative study on how renewable energy generation technologies impact sustainability
Henrik Wiberg, Sreehari Batni Ravindranath, Madhav Bhallamudi, Roberto Costanzo, Marie-Mädli Kivimäe
People's Choice Award
Group 10 - Dairy versus vegan milk: influence of environmental impact on people’s milk choice
Sachin Subramanian, Ahmed Fardan Jabir Hussain, Andrea Bongiovanni, Arvid Svanberg, Christian Kiprianoff, David Ancona Orozco
&
Group 3 - A comparative study on how renewable energy generation technologies impact sustainability
Henrik Wiberg, Sreehari Batni Ravindranath, Madhav Bhallamudi, Roberto Costanzo, Marie-Mädli Kivimäe
And many special mentions for good visuals!
Congratulations to you all!
The People's Choice Award was based on your collective contribution via the presenter feedback survey:
Course PM
PPU215 Research methodology in production projects
lp4 VT20 (7.5 hp)
Course offered by the Department of Industrial and Materials Science
Examiner: Mélanie Despeisse, melanie.despeisse@chalmers.se
Course coordinator: Arpita Chari, arpitac@chalmers.se
Course purpose
This course is designed to align with the quality criteria and learning objectives for your Master's thesis work in year 2.
The course aims to develop your professional and scientific skills by working on a research project to answer an open-ended research question. You will start by identifying an engineering problem and defining a research question which will form the basis for your group project. You will work in groups of 6 students to practice project planning, time management, remote teamwork, various forms of communication, and ethical considerations in engineering (professional development). You will answer your research question using a triangulated approach combining literature studies, quantitative and qualitative methods (scientific skills). At the end of the course, all groups will present their research project with a scientific paper and an oral presentation at the PPU215 mini-conference (webinar).
Course design
The course progresses along two tracks: professional development and scientific skills. Both tracks will be explored and practised via a combination of learning activities centred around your group project. Each activity will equip you with tools and methods to build your ability to plan and execute a research project effectively.
Scientific skills (LO1-6). This track contains lectures and exercises focusing on the necessary theories and methods to conduct rigorous project work according to established quality criteria for generating scientific and engineering knowledge: theory of science, scoping, data collection, literature studies, quantitative methods and qualitative methods.
Professional development (LO5-10). This track is mainly composed of workshops and theme lectures on the following topics: project planning and time management, project meetings and remote teamwork, giving and receiving feedback, ethics in companies, ethics in engineering, and moral decoupling in supply chains.
At the overlap of both tracks (LO5-6). You will also learn about how to conduct a stakeholder analysis and how to communicate your work effectively (oral, written and visual communication).
Learning objectives (LO)
LO1. Define the scope of your research project and formulate a research question accordingly
LO2. Evaluate the pros and cons of different methods using basic terminology from theory of science to discuss how knowledge should be produced and to create a scientific basis for decision-making
LO3. Apply a triangulation of methods (including data collected from various sources and critically reflect on the limitations of these datasets) to carry out a literature study, a qualitative inquiry and a quantitative data analysis
LO4. Formulate conclusions as a result of scientific inquiry that lives up to established quality criteria of scientific and engineering knowledge
LO5. Communicate information according to academic standards for scientific writing and adopting an appropriate style to address the needs of various audiences (written report as a conference paper for experts, and oral presentation at a mini-conference/webinar for the general public)
LO6. Identify stakeholders of a problem and design an inquiry to reflect their roles
LO7. Create a project proposal with an actionable plan and clear tasks
LO8. Organise and chair project meetings (both face-to-face and online) to support teamwork and to keep track of personal and team progress in learning and performance
LO9. Give and receive constructive feedback in a team
LO10. Use reflection as a tool to learn from your own experience, and to describe ethical considerations of engineering work, drawing active insights from theme lectures for your professional practice
Course literature
Additional material (optional)
The course content is defined by the activities as indicated in the course schedule. Some elements are mandatory while others are not, but still highly recommended.
The group component, i.e. project work, is a major basis for the grade (60%) and involves organizing yourselves as a team, performing the required tasks for your project, and independently creating a well-supported scientific argument to answer your research question. This project work is mostly carried out outside of scheduled class time, but many lectures and classroom exercises function as supportive activities towards the end goal.
The individual component of the course (40%) is used to adjust the personal grade level.
Accordingly, there are two types of assignment:
- Individual Deliverables (ID): each student must submit their own response for these assignments;
- Project Deliverables (PD): these must be done as a group, focusing on the project.
Grading is individual and the grading scale is: 5, 4, 3, and Fail.
Contact details
TEACHING STAFF & TUTORS:
Mélanie Despeisse (examiner), melanie.despeisse@chalmers.se
Arpita Chari (course coordinator), arpitac@chalmers.se
Cecilia Berlin, cecilia.berlin@chalmers.se
Peter Hammersberg, peter.hammersberg@chalmers.se
Xiaoxia Chen, xiaoxia.chen@chalmers.se
Clarissa Gonzaléz, clarissa.gonzalez@chalmers.se
Ninan Theradapuzha Mathew, ninant@chalmers.se
Lena Bendrioua, lb@chalmers.se
Anna Volkova (Chalmers Library), anna.volkova@chalmers.se
Marco Schirone (Chalmers Library), marco.schirone@chalmers.se
GUEST LECTURERS:
Lars-Ola Bligård, Chalmers, IMS Design & Human Factors
Jon Bokrantz, Chalmers, IMS Production Systems
Lars Björklund, Transparency International
David Eriksson, Jönköping University
Schedule
|
Date |
Time |
Room |
Activity |
|
Mon 23 Mar |
08.00–09.45 10.00–11.45 |
Course introduction (MD) * Project introduction (AC, XC, CG, NT) * |
|
|
Wed 25 Mar |
10.00–11.45 13.15–15.00 15.15–17.00 |
Scoping a research question (MD) Theme lecture: Theory of science (LOB) Project planning (XC) |
|
|
Mon 30 Mar |
08.00–09.45 10.00–11.45 |
Data collection (CB) Stakeholder analysis (CB) |
|
|
Wed 1 Apr |
10.00–11.45 13.15–17.00 |
Literature search (AV & MS) Effective scoping (PH) * |
|
|
Easter break |
|||
|
Wed 15 Apr |
10.00–11.45 13.15–17.00 |
online / flipped ˟ |
Qualitative methods (JB) Quantitative methods I (PH) – bring laptop + JMP |
|
Mon 20 Apr |
08.00–11.45 |
Quantitative methods II (PH) – bring laptop + JMP |
|
|
Wed 22 Apr |
10.00–17.00 |
˟ |
Project work/Coaching session ˟ (library appointment) |
|
Mon 27 Apr |
08.00–11.45 |
Design of experiments I (PH) – laptop + JMP |
|
|
Wed 29 Apr |
10.00–11.45 13.15–17.00 |
Theme lecture: Moral decoupling in supply chains (DE) Design of experiments II (PH) – laptop + JMP |
|
|
Mon 4 May |
08.00–11.45 |
Scientific writing and peer review (MD) |
|
|
Wed 6 May |
10.00–11.45 13.15–17.00 |
˟ |
Presentation skills (MD) Project work/Coaching session ˟ (tutor appointment) |
|
Mon 11 May |
09.00–11.45 |
Theme lecture: Engineering ethics (CB) |
|
|
Wed 13 May |
10.00–11.45 13.15–15.00 15.15–17.00 |
˟ |
Theme lecture: Ethics in companies (LB) Quality in research (PH) Project work ˟ |
|
Mon 18 May |
08.00–11.45 |
Presentation practice (MD) |
|
|
Wed 20 May |
10.00–17.00 |
˟ |
Project work ˟ |
|
Mon 25 May |
08.00–11.45 |
˟ |
Paper review/Conference preparation˟ |
|
Wed 27 May |
10.00–17.00 |
PPU215 Conference * |
|
ANNOTATION: * mandatory participation; ˟ self-organised sessions
Course summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|