In this portfolio-based unit, candidates demonstrate evidence of acquiring a range of research skills and practices appropriate to a higher degree by research degree with respect to research design. This unit develops candidates' understanding of strategies of inquiry and methodological approaches to research and the various decisions involved in creating a research design. An important component of the unit is developing strategies for research planning, including contingencies. The unit focuses on constructing appropriate research projects by illustrating the interactions between paradigms, theory, research questions and research methods for collecting and analysing data. Various methodologies are discussed and analysed to reveal the implicit but important assumptions that underpin them. Ethical issues involved in designing and conducting research are discussed and candidates will be familiar with the expectations of an ethics application to the Human Ethics Research Committee. A special emphasis is placed upon recognising the influences that choices about multiple components of research design have upon each other and the project as a whole. Pragmatic research management issues such as record keeping, data management, dissemination practices and authorship are also discussed.

Learning outcomes

The outcome of any unit for individual students is contingent upon what each student brings to class and the amount of energy and effort they deploy. However, a student who engages in all class activities with diligence can expect to be able to:
1. Identify research design issues and employ appropriate research methods appropriate for different paradigmatic research;
2. Critically evaluate designs in existing research according to relevant quality criteria;
3. Analyse interdependences between project components to explore how changes influence the overall design of a study and recognise the need to plan for contingencies in research;
4. Defend a research design for a research programme with an appropriate contribution to knowledge within which to evaluate existing systems and address practical problems;
5. Critically analyse the implications of ethics within a chosen research programme and identify, where appropriate, relevant issues pursuant to ethical frameworks, including the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research; and
6. Produce a research portfolio demonstrating appropriate research design skills.

Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - evaluate and adopt new technology
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development

Skills development

Subject Matter Outcomes

This course will familiarise students with the following:

• Contemporary debates in the philosophy of the social sciences
• Research design
• The ethical issues involved in social science research
• Approaches to qualitative data analysis
• Approaches to quantitative research methods

Generic skills

In addition to the subject matter outcomes identified above, this course will facilitate the acquisition and retention of a number of generic skills which are critical components of professional academic life.

• Students’ abilities to engage in analysis and inquiry will be developed and practiced particularly through assignments concerning research design which require students to identify a strategy for analysing situations which often do not avail themselves of an obvious approach.
• Problem solving abilities will be developed through the research design process which requires students move from the identification of an analytical problem to devising a strategy to collect data which will enable the student to render an adequate response.
• Communication skills will be developed through written work as well as brief oral presentations/workshop disucssion during class.
• Professionalism and social responsibility will be developed through the completion of assignments which serve as a socialization process for engaging in professional social science as well as sessions and assignments concerning the University ethics approval process.

 

Prerequisites

10386 Research Fundamentals PG AND 10387 Reading and Critiquing Literature PG.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

6647 Research Methodology and Research Design PG, 6648 Quantitative Research Methods B PG AND 6649 Qualitative Research Methods B PG

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.