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Unit of Study SOC20001 - Doing Social Research (2018)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

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Unit description

Introduces students to the principles, objectives and methods of social research. Develops practical skills in reviewing literature, constructing research questions and writing up research for publication. Students practice reading published research and analysing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative data. They will conduct a small piece of research of their own design.

Unit content

Topic 1. Developing knowledge/working in a group
Topic 2. Research design: Principles and stages of research
Topic 3. Developing research questions/objectives
Topic 4. Reading and understanding research reports and journal articles
Topic 5. Variables and their measurement: qualitative data
Topic 6. Data collection and recording; Ethics
Topic 7. Managing and coding qualitative data
Topic 8. Variables and their measurement: quantitative data
Topic 9. Summarising and presenting data
Topic 10. Disseminating research findings

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast Session 1 Session 1
Lismore Session 1 Session 1
Online Session 1 Session 1

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 identify an author's research question, primary methods and key findings in published research articles
2 compose a research question
3 construct a well-integrated literature review
4 construct valid interview questions
5 code data thematically and categorically
6 explain the use of tables and graphs
7 write a research article.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. identify an author's research question, primary methods and key findings in published research articles
    • GA1:
  2. compose a research question
    • GA6:
  3. construct a well-integrated literature review
    • GA6:
  4. construct valid interview questions
    • GA6:
  5. code data thematically and categorically
    • GA3:
  6. explain the use of tables and graphs
    • GA3:
  7. write a research article.
    • GA3:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.