Availabilities:

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast Session 1 Session 1
Lismore Session 1 Session 1
Online Session 1,  3 N/A

Unit Summary

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

12

AQF level

7

Level of learning

Intermediate

Former School/College

Former School of Arts and Social Sciences

Pre-requisites

SOC00118 - Introduction to Sociology AND 36 credit points in any SCU units

Unit aim

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

Learning outcomes

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.

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to: 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 and questionnaire questions
5 code data thematically and categorically
6 compile 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 and questionnaire questions
    • GA6:
  5. code data thematically and categorically
    • GA3:
  6. compile tables and graphs
    • GA3:
  7. write a research article.
    • GA3:

Prescribed texts

  • It is essential that you acquire a copy of this text to be able to complete the practical tasks in this unit: Bouma, G & Ling, R, 2004, The research process, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. ISBN: 0195517466.

  • It is essential that you acquire a copy of this text to be able to complete the practical tasks in this unit: Bouma, G & Ling, R, 2004, The research process, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. ISBN: 0195517466.
Prescribed texts may change in future teaching periods.