# Student questions ### What do I do if my assessor is not listed as an option on the Datanose project page? The dialog that shows you the options has a button 'Not in list'. If you click that button you can manually add the assessor. Do make sure the assessor meets the project requirements. ### I am not sure how to find a suitable project While it's easy to say that finding a project is "simply contacting people", this step by itself can be daunting. Check out our [[Tips for landing a project]] to help you get started. ### There are steps missing on the Datanose registration page. Is everything okay? The numbering on Datanose is non-continuous. You're right that this makes no sense. It is one of several oddities of the system as a whole. You're entirely in the safe zone despite the missing steps. ### I am getting an error while registering my project, because the starting date is not in order. In the case of Research Projects, your proposal is due within one month after the starting date. As a consequence, you cannot retroactively register a project with a starting date over a month ago. You will have to choose a later starting date (and therefore ending date) so that you can still submit your proposal in time. ### What do I do if my examiner is not listed as an option on the Datanose project page? In this case, your intended examiner still needs approval by the Examinations Board. Please use the following form to submit the details of your intended examiner: https://forms.office.com/e/gKae3KX9FL ### I still don't get the thing about examiners and assessors. There are two people grading your work. One within the lab where you are doing your project, one outside of it. One of these two people gets the label examiner, and the other does not. One can only get this label if meeting [[Research Project 1 Manual#Requirements|particular requirements]], such as working at UvA. For some projects, the label examiner will apply to the grader who is outside of the hosting lab (these are external projects). For others, the label examiner will apply to the grader within the hosting lab (these are internal projects). Both situations are perfectly fine. When registering your project, Datanose will try to trick you. See this video on how to choose Internal vs External without falling into the trap that Datanose sets: https://www.loom.com/share/f311ab6c85c94625864bc525aa2c6a02 ### I am having trouble finding an examiner. Can I start the project? Sometimes it is difficult to find an [[examiner]] who fits with your project and is willing to grade your work. If the starting date of your project arrived and you still have no examiner, you can indeed start working on the project to avoid losing time, but do note that you need an examiner to: 1. have the project approved 2. review your proposal one month after starting the project. This means that your ultimate deadline for finding an examiner is within one month of starting the project. Starting a project without an examiner does carry the risk of spending time on a project that is ultimately not approved. Also, handing in a proposal more than two weeks late leads to a [[Project planning and delays|change in end date]]. ### I have an Action on my Research Project page that says 'Upload Internship Agreement'. What does that mean? Sometimes students need to sign non-disclosure agreements or contracts with clauses about intellectual property. In these cases, higher education in the Netherlands uses a model agreement that is signed by the student, the hosting institute and the programme director. If such an agreement is applicable to your project, you are kindly asked to upload it via your Datanose project page. For more on this agreement, see: https://student.uva.nl/en/topics/internship-agreement-and-arrangements Note that this model agreement also replaces the Nuffic agreement for non-EEU students. ### Isn't 42 hours a very odd number for a working week? It is and we will be honest: we don't really mind and would never be able to notice if you stick to 38 or 40 hours. But very technically, the Dutch academic calendar and the European Credits Transfer System (ECTS) lead to an expectation of 42 hours per week on learning. This follows from the fact that students are supposed to earn 60 EC in 40 weeks, or 1.5 EC/week. At 28 hours/EC, this leads to a workweek of 42 hours. Our advice is to let that paper reality to be what it is and to stick to what's productive, what keeps your progress on track and what is considered full-time by the hosting lab. ### My examiner's name has an appended exclamation mark on the Datanose project page. What do I do? If you've registered the project within the last three weeks and had to make a request for approval of the examiner, the exclamation mark indicates that the request is still being processed. If it is still there by the time you submit your research proposal, it might be that the examiner will not be approved. If you notice this, please contact [email protected]. ### There have been delays and now my project cannot be completed by its due date. What do I do? If you need to extend the deadline for your project, make sure to set a new one and contact your assessor and examiner so that they can plan accordingly for assessment. Under some circumstances you also need to inform the programme and study advisor. See the manual of your project for more details ont his. ### There have been delays and so I would like to receive additional ECs for the project. How do I do that? The EC value of a given project is based on the feasible "amount of learning" that was estimated during the proposal phase of your project. You cannot retroactively obtain additional ECs if you spend more hours on a project than was established at its start. ### My project is ongoing and I obtained less than 30 EC during the rest of the year. Is this a problem? Students from outside the European Union have to obtain a specific amount of EC for their visa to be extended. If you did not manage to complete all your coursework, but you are working towards successful completion of your Research Project, it is possible to receive dispensation. See the following link for more information: https://www.uva.nl/en/education/practical-information/visas-and-permits/study-progress-monitoring.html#anker-dispensation ### I am trying to turn in my report for a Research Project and I have to upload slides. I never heard about uploading slides. Am I supposed to upload slides? You're not. Sometimes the Datanose team changes settings and we suddenly have the setting of a different programme. Please let us know if this situation occurs and we can get the Datanose team to fix it. If you are in a hurry, feel free to upload a mock slide deck. ### Why is the report for the Research Projects counting towards 50% of the final mark if I spent much more time and effort on experimental work? The validity of the report grade is considered to be higher, because we have two people assessing it. The experimental work, in contrast, is assessed by a single person. And we'd like the final mark of the project to be dominated by the most valid partial grade, which is why we opted for the 50%. As a more general rule (also in courses!) the weight of partial grades if never calculated by looking at the effort they require, but rather by looking at the importance of the learning objective(s) they measure and the validity by which they do so. ### I do not agree with my final mark. What do I do? During a feedback meeting, the assessor and examiner should be able to explain their grading decisions. If you feel you deserve a lower or higher grade, you can discuss this with them and if there are good reasons, the assessment might change as a consequence Once the grade of a project has been confirmed and registered on Datanose, it can no longer be edited by assessor and examiner. This is why it is good practice to schedule the feedback meeting before the grade registration is finalised. >[!note] >Please note the examiner has the best view of UvA grading practices, especially if a project is done abroad, where the grading culture might be different.> ### The manual for the Research Projects is too long and complicated, I won't read that. I am also not going to look at slides. How will I know how all of this works? The information meeting on Research Project is your best option! ### I think the assessment procedure did not happen as it should have and I have been graded unfairly. What do I do? If you have doubts about the grading procedure, you can contact the Examinations Board of the programme to have them review the situation. You can reach them via [email protected]. ### I managed to get my work published and/or presented. Do you care? Congratulations! And yes, we care. We always like to track these things and so we'd appreciate it if you could submit the details via https://forms.office.com/e/xZtnGVLD60. ### How can I use large language models when doing research or writing my thesis? See: [[Use of GenAI in the capstones]] for more information on UvA and MBCS policy. ### I need to do statistics in my project, but I am not prepared for that Your supervisor should be able to point you in the right direction for resources related directly to your project. If that's not an option or you need additional help. you can also look into: - https://student.uva.nl/en/information/help-with-methods-and-statistics - https://www.uva.nl/en/shared-content/faculteiten/en/faculteit-der-natuurwetenschappen-wiskunde-en-informatica/news/2023/05/statistics-and-mathematics-advice-and-support-hub-smash-live.html # Examiner questions ### I am an examiner, what does that mean? Briefly put, your task is to monitor whether the level of the project and its assessment are in order. Since you are familiar with the UvA benchmarks and have demonstrable experience with assessment of individual projects, you are well-positioned to do so. The manual of the respective project gives more details on what the role entails exactly, but you can think of: - Evaluating the level and feasibility of the research proposal for a research project - Cross-validating the report grade for a research project or the complete work for a Literature Thesis - Double-checking the assessment for the projects, before confirming and registering the grade. ### I see there is a grading discrepancy of 1 point or more between me and the assessor. What do I do? The first thing to do is contact the assessor to see what the origin of the difference in evaluation is. If you can reach consensus, the grades can be changed accordingly. See [[Grading Discrepancy]] for a more formal description of what to do. ### On the Datanose project page, I have to confirm the final mark and then register. Why are these two distinct steps? If the assessment is in order, you can confirm it and neither you or the assessor will be able to change the grades submitted via Datanose. However, the result is not pushed to SIS, the central system that registers grades yet. This means that between confirmation and registration of the grade, you could still at your own accord contact the student about your decision, e.g. to provide closing remarks or discuss feedback. Once you register the grade, the student is informed about the result immediately. ### The grading rubrics listed on this website are different from those on the Datanose page. Which ones should I use? We update the grading rubrics over summer in Europe, but sometimes projects that were initiated before this time are finalised after this update. These projects still 'carry' the old grading rubrics. Similarly, sometimes there is a delay in deployment of our new rubrics. The best thing to do is use the rubrics as shown on Datanose, as these will fit with the project under consideration. ### I cannot join the public defence for a *Research Project 2* If this is the case, please contact the programme coordinator Vincent Tijms to think of a solution. # Assessor questions ### The grading rubrics listed on this website are different from those on the Datanose page. Which ones should I use? We update the grading rubrics over summer in Europe, but sometimes projects that were initiated before this time are finalised after this update. These projects still 'carry' the old grading rubrics. Similarly, sometimes there is a delay in deployment of our new rubrics. The best thing to do is use the rubrics as shown on Datanose, as these will fit with the project under consideration. ### I am not used to the Dutch 1-10 grading system. How should I calibrate? The Dutch system ranges from 1 (exceptionally poor) to 10 (above and beyond). The grade 6 is considered to be minimally sufficient (although as a final mark, 5.5 is also rounded to 6). See the following website for more information: https://www.nuffic.nl/en/education-systems/netherlands/grading-systems. The University of Amsterdam has listed how the different grades in the Dutch system compare to international standards. This list can be found here: https://student.uva.nl/en/topics/the-marking-assessment-and-registration-of-your-academic-results Note that works that score higher than 8.0 are remarkable and that the grade 9 is reserved for the top 3% of students, while only the top 0.5% scores 10. ### I cannot join the public defence for a *Research Project 2* If this is the case, please contact the programme coordinator Vincent Tijms to think of a solution.