Students who are taking the Ingenium option will complete the HPQ as a part of the Ingenium course - advice about the Ingenium course will be shared with year 8 students as a part of the options process.

The HPQ is also open to students in years 9 and 10 through the twilight curriculum. Details about the twilight curriculum are shared annually and this includes how to apply for the HPQ.

Students will be supported in developing a project title that forms the basis of their research. Once their title has been agreed they will use the skills shared during taught sessions and advice from meetings with their supervisor to help them work through each stage of the project. For students completing the HPQ through the twilight curriculum, taught sessions will take place once a week after school. Ingenium students will have timetabled lessons during the school day dedicated to their HPQ.

At the end of the HPQ students will submit the following elements for marking:

• A filled in production log that shows the decisions they have made at each stage of the project and the reasons for their decisions.

• A written report about their research - in most cases this will be in the region of 2000 words.>

• Evidence of the presentation they have delivered. This is usually includes copies of the presentation slides and any speaker notes they have used.

• The timeline or "to do" list that they have used to help them stay organised through the project.

Some students also choose to create an artefact; in this case students will also need to include evidence of their artefact.  Students who create an artefact have the option of writing a shorter written report - this will be disucssed and agreed with their supervisor. 

Your supervisor will mark your finished project. The scores then get submitted to the exam board. The results are published on the same day as GCSE results. The projects are graded A*-C. 

There are four assessment objectives (AOs) that the supervisor has to consider when they mark your project. They will look at the whole project and pick out where there are elements that contribute to each AO.  

Your supervisor is a really precious resource! Make the most of the time that you have with them. You’ll meet with your supervisor at least five times and maybe more depending on how your project goes. 

Before each meeting you should make sure that you have all the most up-to-date information about what you have achieved so far with your project. Also think through any questions that you want your supervisor to answer.

During the meeting your supervisor is likely to ask you lots of questions. Either make notes or record the meeting so that you can use the information to help you With the next steps of your project and to fill in your production log.

It is up to you to organise the meetings. If you find that things are getting tricky and you need some advice, email your supervisor; they will be more than happy to help.

Your production log tells the story of your journey through your research project. A thorough and detailed production log makes it easy for your supervisor to give you high marks in the final project!

Use your own thinking and the advice from your supervisor to fill in your production log in detail. Each section will have subheadings; you should aim for a paragraph with writing or at least five bullet points in each section. Here is an example of one of the pages from an A* grade project.

You will receive advice on each section of the production log as a part of the taught sessions. You need to fill in the sections that say “to be completed by the candidate”. These sections are as follows:

1. Record of initial ideas

2. Part A: candidate proposal. After filling this in, email your supervisor and the centre coordinator to tell them it is complete. They will then approve your project title. You should not complete further research until your project title has been approved.

3. Planning with review.

4. Mid project review.

5. Project product review.

6. Presentation record part A.

7. Summary and reflection.

One of the most common pieces of advice that students who have completed the HPQ give students just starting out is to stay organised! To help you do this you should have a detailed timeline or to do list that you keep up-to-date on a regular basis. Here are some examples from two different A* grade projects.

Your timeline should be submitted when you hand your project in. 20% of the marks available are given for how well you manage your project. A detailed timeline is excellent evidence of your project and time management.

Deciding on a project title can take longer than people expect. There will be plenty of advice given to help you with this. The title can be either a research question or a hypothesis. Previous students have investigated a wide range of themes in the past.

Your project title should:

• Primary research is when researchers collect data themselves rather than relying on information collected from previously done research.Be something that you are interested in. You will be spending several weeks completing the project; you need to find it engaging.

• Be a manageable piece of research that you are able to complete within the time available.

• Have clear objectives that you will be able to review and evaluate.

Before deciding on your title you’ll need to do some background research to see the information that is available. You must also meet with your supervisor To discuss your ideas with them. 

Once you have decided on a title you should fill in part a candidate proposal of the production log. After doing this email your supervisor and the centre coordinator to get your title approved.

You must follow the 'steps for approving project titles' that you can see on the staff page of this website before you begin the main research for the project.

Depending on your project title and the theme of your research you might decide to create an artefact. Artefacts come in many forms including models, display boards, videos and websites. If you decide to create an artefact as a part of your project, you should develop a proposal that includes how you will measure the success of your artefact once you have created it. To do this thing through what you want to achieve and what an excellent artefact might look like.

If you create an artefact you should discuss the length of your written report with your supervisor. Creating an artefact can be time-consuming and therefore you may write a short written report. Your supervisor will help you decide on an appropriate length.

Primary research is carried out by researchers directly rather than using data or information from research that someone else has carried out.

For the HPQ primary research is most usually done in the form of a questionnaire or an interview. Students might also conduct primary research through the form of experiments or data collection in specific places that they choose to study. Where students are using questionnaires they should always run a pilot questionnaire to make sure the questionnaire is clear and will provide the information that will help them.

Primary research might collect both qualitative and quantitative data, delving on the aim of the research.

Secondary research is when the researcher uses existing data and information on the theme that they are investigating.

The starting point for secondary research is often a general Google search. Sources might include: government or non-government organisations; data from libraries; information from institutes of learning such as universities; media articles from a range of media outlets.

Secondary research is easily accessible, can fill knowledge gaps and provide the basis for further investigation. 

There are some disadvantages of secondary research. It can be hard to identify whether the information is reliable or not. Sometimes there will be generalisations and the data or information might not link specifically with your research theme.

In order to conduct high-quality secondary research there are some key questions that you should ask yourself about the sources that you are using. This will help you decide whether the sources are reliable and give you an idea about whether there is a level of bias in the information you are looking at.

It is critical that you keep a list of all the sources you look at as a part of your research. This will form the basis of your bibliography. It is critical that you maintain academic honestyBy including links or references to any data or quotes that you include from your secondary research sources.

The methods that you used to analyse your results will depend on the type of data that you collect and what you are trying to find out. It is important to remember that when we talk about data we often think about values or numbers however data also includes facts, observations, images or descriptions places or themes.

To analyse data you need to investigate the information that you have collected and identify the contribution that it makes to your research theme. 

Data analysis might include:

• Statistical analysis for example calculating averages, identifying the frequency of a specific value within the dataset or exploring the relationship between two datasets.

• Studying the data to identify key themes and patterns that exist.

• Identifying connections between data sets and between data and the research question or hypothesis.

As a part of your data analysis you should consider how you are going to present the data when it comes to inclusion in your written report and/or your presentation. 

There are two aims to the written report: these are To communicate:

• What you were investigating (make sure that you include the title of your project!)

• What you found out

There is a 2000 word limit. Your written report can be shorter if you have created an artefact or run an event - if you have done one of these things you will need to agree the approximate length of your report with your supervisor or the centre coordinator. 

You should use the written report to communicate the key findings from your research.

Structure: There should be three main sections to the writing:

• An introduction. Include: your research question/s; why you decided to investigate your chosen theme; any hypotheses that you set out at the start of your project.

• The main body. Include: an analysis and discussion of your findings; relevant images or graphs (make sure you write about any you include!); discussion of your sources and their reliability; reference to both primary and secondary data.

• A conclusion. Include: a summary of your main findings; anything that surprised you; how the investigation might be developed further in the future.

You must also include a bibliography - refer back to the taught session on referencing to remind you how to do this.

Advice:

• Make sure that you spell check and proofread your report. Then ask someone else (maybe someone else on the HPQ?) to proof read it to double check it makes sense.

• Quote relevant data.

• Quote key points from your secondary research if  you feel it is relevant - and make sure you reference them to show where the quote came from.

• Set out to engage the reader right from the opening sentence. 

The exam board has shared this example of a written report that come from a project that received an A*:

To what extent is chocolate just a sweet treat or does it have any health benefits?

The presentation is an opportunity for you to share your key findings and to show off your verbal communication skills. Delivering the presentation can be daunting however thoughtful planning and plenty of practice will help you deliver a presentation of the highest quality.

Aim for presentation of approximately five minutes long. It should not be longer than eight minutes.

The aim of the presentation is to communicate the following:

• What you were investigating and what you found out

• How successful your research project was - in other words to what extent did you achieve what you set out to achieve?

• What the project taught you about how to conduct research.

• The strengths of your project.

• How your project could be improved.

• If you were to do another research project, what you would do differently next time to make it better.

Use this checklist to help you decide what you should include in your presentation and the planning advice to help you get started.

Presentation advice:

• Avoid having “text heavy” slides - simpler is better. Have one image or word that you talk around is much more engaging than having a lot of text on the slide.

• Practice your presentation - stand out, speak it aloud - even if you feel a bit silly doing it. The more you practice the easier it will be.

• Try to speak without notes. If you do need notes, use cards with short bullet points on that remind you what to say, rather than reading out a speech word for word.

• You can involve the audience - it might make your presentation more memorable if you do!

Practice your presentation before you deliver it. Here are some top tips to think about when improving the quality of your presentation delivery. 

The final part of your project will be to fill in the summary and reflection section of the production log. There are a significant proportion of marks that you can gain for having a high-quality summary and reflection. However experienced and skilled the researcher and however much time and resources are available, no research project is ever perfect. In the summary and reflection section you need to demonstrate that you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your project as well as what you have learnt and what you might do differently if you had a similar project to complete in the future. Follow the advice for this section carefully.

Once you have completed the section your project will be ready for final checking before you hand it in. You should use the hand in checklist to help you make sure that you have included everything that you need to. Students often forget to fill in page 2 of the production log; this is the candidate declaration where you need to add your signature to say that this project is your own work and you have not copied it from anyone else.