School: Education

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

Please note that there may be some modifications to the assessment schedule promoted in Handbook for Semester 1 2023 Units. All assessment changes will be published by 20th February 2023. All students are reminded to check the handbook at the beginning of semester to ensure they have the correct outline.

  • Unit Title

    Research Preparation: Methods of Research
  • Unit Code

    RES6101
  • Year

    2023
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Catherine FERGUSON

Description

This unit is designed for students without prior training in research methods in the social sciences. It is assumed that students have not yet begun the design of a postgraduate research study (Honours, Master or PhD) or are at an early stage in the design of that study. For this reason the unit addresses both quantitative and qualitative research methods, recognising that most postgraduate students will choose one or other of these paradigms to frame their inquiries. The unit will provide the foundations and address the fundamental issues in social science research. It cannot encompass every possible research method. Students will be expected to build on these foundations when adopting a particular method for their research study. Students will be expected to develop basic level skills in applications of statistics in the social sciences. It is assumed that students have basic computational skills. Notwithstanding the limitations described above, the unit will require a sophisticated understanding of the basic concepts and issues and students will be expected to contribute at a postgraduate standard of competence.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded RES5101

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply simple data analysis processes to quantitative and qualitative data.
  2. Appreciate the methods components of a research proposal.
  3. Critique published research reports.
  4. Differentiate the methods of qualitative and quantitative research.
  5. Write academically, both in style and context.

Unit Content

  1. Applications of interpretative research methods.
  2. Current issues of methodology in the social sciences.
  3. Data collection and analysis processes and practices in the social sciences.
  4. Paradigms of research.
  5. Principles of interpretative research methods.
  6. The canons of the natural sciences and their application to the social sciences.
  7. The design of quantitative research studies.
  8. The emergence of the social sciences from the natural sciences.
  9. The principles of quantitative research methods in the social sciences.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 1Not Offered13 x 3 hour seminarNot Offered
Semester 2Not Offered13 x 3 hour seminarNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

Seminar

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentData analysis tasks50%
EssayIndividual assignment50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentData analysis tasks50%
EssayIndividual assignment50%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

RES6101|1|1

School: Education

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Research Preparation: Methods of Research
  • Unit Code

    RES6101
  • Year

    2023
  • Enrolment Period

    2
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Catherine FERGUSON

Description

This unit is designed for students without prior training in research methods in the social sciences. It is assumed that students have not yet begun the design of a postgraduate research study (Honours, Master or PhD) or are at an early stage in the design of that study. For this reason the unit addresses both quantitative and qualitative research methods, recognising that most postgraduate students will choose one or other of these paradigms to frame their inquiries. The unit will provide the foundations and address the fundamental issues in social science research. It cannot encompass every possible research method. Students will be expected to build on these foundations when adopting a particular method for their research study. Students will be expected to develop basic level skills in applications of statistics in the social sciences. It is assumed that students have basic computational skills. Notwithstanding the limitations described above, the unit will require a sophisticated understanding of the basic concepts and issues and students will be expected to contribute at a postgraduate standard of competence.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded RES5101

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Apply simple data analysis processes to quantitative and qualitative data.
  2. Appreciate the methods components of a research proposal.
  3. Critique published research reports.
  4. Differentiate the methods of qualitative and quantitative research.
  5. Write academically, both in style and context.

Unit Content

  1. Applications of interpretative research methods.
  2. Current issues of methodology in the social sciences.
  3. Data collection and analysis processes and practices in the social sciences.
  4. Paradigms of research.
  5. Principles of interpretative research methods.
  6. The canons of the natural sciences and their application to the social sciences.
  7. The design of quantitative research studies.
  8. The emergence of the social sciences from the natural sciences.
  9. The principles of quantitative research methods in the social sciences.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 1Not Offered13 x 3 hour seminarNot Offered
Semester 2Not Offered13 x 3 hour seminarNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

Seminar

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentResearch Design for Quantitative Research50%
AssignmentResearch Design for Qualitiaive Research50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
AssignmentResearch Design for Quantitative research50%
AssignmentResearch Design for Qualitative Research50%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

RES6101|1|2