I have bene experimenting since a few years with an alternative options to a Master's thesis option or the non-thesis option in mathematical sciences. We offer a two-course sequence on research in statistics (and also separately, research in mathematics). During the first semester, students are exposed to many ideas and publications, along with software packages that could be used in applied research projects. The entire class of students works together on one or two research projects that are built around one theme, such as disease surveillance (cluster analysis) of large data sets. Students work together as a team, sharing information, and tutoring each other. Each student wprks on an individual project duirng the second course. We have found a very high level of acceptance and enthusiasm by our graduate studnets to sign up for such a two-course research sequence.
What are your thoughts on this option for research?
Collaboration is something that happens in the real world after graduation. As such, the activity you have given as an example mirrors the real world context and is considered an authentic assessment.
The real question whether or not such an approach is consistent with your schools' curriculum. If the goals of your department are to instill in students the ability to collaborate on research projects and develop learning autonomy through tutoring there should not be any problems with this approach.
Having said this, students also need to learn how to get something done by themselves such as through a traditional thesis approach. This means that what you are doing in the example above should not be the only learning experience as it would not be balanced between individual and group learning experiences.
Dear Raid,
As you have indicated, the program has a non thesis option at the masters level and particularly to apply statistical software for a statistical research that is done in collaboration and as long as what you have devised indeed demands the works of every individual that is involved in the project, as it is necessary that each of them should learn, know equally the theoretical and abstract complexities of the concepts involved in the courses that lead the project and be able to do exactly what is achieved by the group, then that might be fine and in fact a good place to start students to practice to do practical team work to become better professionals. Probably such collaborative work at that level might as well be appropriate for medical sciences.
But that might be a little different in mathematics. Graduate learning in mathematics or in other similar theoretical fields, is where students are expected to display their self mathematical maturity in reading and understanding highly abstract theoretical or applied mathematical articles and literature and do research independently in order to become independent researchers themselves right after their graduation. Because of that end goal, individual works are required and necessary.
Always... group and team research makes perfect sense. Apart from the benefits mentioned in the given answers, such a collaborative research also gives students much needed flexibility in their super tight schedule.
Thank you for your detailed feedback to my description of a (new) optional program that our students can decide to take. Each student can take the non-thesis option, so doing applied research collaboratively in one semester does not imply that students will not be challenged in the program individually. Each student work individually on research during the second course in this two-course research sequence.
An important outcome so far has been the students' eagerness and enthusiasm to enroll in the research course. We have about 1-4 students each year who choose to do a thesis. Most Mathematics or Statistics Master's programs in the USA have the thesis as an option. It is not mandatory.
This year we have 25 students enrolled in research courses. 13 are in statistics research, and 12 are in mathematics research. Compare this total with 1-4 students,
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Indeed, the choice between thesis and non thesis graduate programs are also common outside of USA. It is a big leap to have that many graduate mathematics and statistics students and that means you will be extremely busy shaping these young would be mathematicians/statisticians of their own.
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