EDUC 7054 - Research Design

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2014

This course provides an introduction to designing a postgraduate research project including reviewing literature, identifying a research focus, constructing feasible research questions and proposing a project outline.

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Course Details

Course Code	EDUC 7054
Course	Research Design
Coordinating Unit	School of Education
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	1.5hr Lecture & 1.5hr Seminar per week
Incompatible	Educational Inquiry
Assessment	Research proposal presentation (20%), reflective blog postings and essay (40%), critical review or research proposal (40%)

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Michelle Picard

Dr Michelle Picard

Phone: 08 8313 0855

Email: michelle.picard@adelaide.edu.au

Campus: North Terrace

Rooms: Floor 11, Room 7, Nexus 10 Building, 10 Pultney Street, North Terrace

Office hours: 2 – 4:00 Wednesdays

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Develop a research focus and convey research goals clearly in oral and written form

2. Demonstrate self-evaluation skills through engaging in reflective practice and clearly articulating insights gained in oral and written form

3. Access resources necessary for individual and group research projects

4. Use print and electronic resources effectively to convey research goals

5. Evaluate and synthesize written materials

6. Critically review key research content in spoken and written form

7. Interact and network effectively with peers

8. Demonstrate ethical research considerations in both research practices and communication.

9. Demonstrate an understanding of how ontology, epistemology, methodology and data collection and analysis methods work together in a well-designed research project (Education students only)

最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised.	1,3,4,6,8, 9
The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner.	2,3,4,5,6,8
An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems.	2,3,7,8, 9
Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication.	1,2,7,8
A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies.	3,4,8
A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life.	3,6,7, 9
A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community.	2,3,8,9
An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities.	2, 8, 9

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course is built around a series of lectures covering the fundamental research design processes. These are complemented by seminars addressing the practical application of these processes. Related assignments are designed to consolidate the learning of key principles and development of skills in the appropriate research design processes.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

1 x 1.5 hour lecture/ workshop per week (x12) = 18 hours
1 x 1.5 hour seminar per week (MEd) or additional reading = 18 hours
1x 4 hour reading per week (x12) = 48 hours
1 x 1 hour online discussion board/wiki participation per fortnight (x6) = 6
6 hours preparation for single slide and seminar presentations = 6 hours
1 x 30 hours research and writing of reflective essay (x1) = 30 hours
1 x 30 hours critical review or research proposal (x1) = 30 hours
Total = 156

Learning Activities Summary

Week & Date	Lecture/ Workshop	Seminar
1: 3 March	Understanding the nature of research. (all)	Designing a group project question. Understanding the role of reflective practice in research. (all)
2: 17 March	The context of research and research project presentations (all)	Research paradigms & causation. (MEd)
3: 24 March	EndNote seminar: Lucy Zuzolo. Downloading or entering citation information. (all)	Effective searches and caching of sources: databases, evaluating quality of sources, Discipline-based library and search engine introduction. Taking notes.(all)
4: 31 March	Visit subject librarians and set up a search strategy. Group appointments advising on project. (all)	Critically examining discipline-specific texts, exploring document macro-structure, and conducting genre analysis (micro-level) on introduction stage of an article (all)
5: 7 April	Introducing a research focus through the literature. Writing an introduction to group project. (all)	Introduction to validity & Reliability in Quantitative & Qualitative Research (MEd).
6: 28 April	Reviewing literature, building an argument, categorising and contrasting. (all)	Exploring exemplars and selecting appropriate methodologies in harmony with research paradigm. (MEd)
7: 5 May	Developing a theoretical framework and language in theoretical framework and methodologies. (all)	Planning of research paradigm, research design, data collection and analysis appropriate to research questions Reliability and Validity (continued).(MEds)
8: 12 May	Ethics: integrity and good practice, (all).	Validity and reliability and ethics in quantitative and qualitative research. Fitness of purpose and its link to validity, reliability and ethics (MEd).
9: 19 May	Codes and completing ethics documentation, analysing case studies (all).	Exemplars of data collection and analysis methods (MEd).
10: 26 May	The research process and developing a research proposal and presentation (all).	Exemplars of data collection and analysis methods (MEd).
11: 2 June	Presenting seminar of research proposal (all except MEd)	Presenting seminar of research proposal (MEd)
12: 16 June	Examination of assessment items and evaluating exemplars	Presenting seminar of research proposal (remaining students)

Specific Course Requirements

Note that at least 80% attendance at seminars is compulsory and that students must complete at least 3 assessment items (i.e. the presentation of the research proposal (group or individual), critical review OR research proposal AND reflective essay.

The 最新糖心Vlog's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

This course follows criterion-based assessment. This means that student grades are determined by the standard of work in terms of meeting a number of criteria that represent the requirements for a particular course. In other words, work is judged according to a pre-determined standard of task completion rather than by comparing it to the work of other students undertaking the same course.

Assessment Related Requirements

Students who are unable to provide justification for non-attendance will fail the course. Also completion of AT LEAST the group seminar presentation and either the critical review and reflective essay OR the research proposal are mandatory.

Assessment Detail

Assessment task	Task description	Due date	Weight	Learning Objectives
Reflective journal & essay	Students will produce 2000 to 3000 words of reflective blog entries. This will either consist of 10 entries of 200 - 300 words each OR 5 entries of 400 to 600 words each AND 1000 word essay based on application of selected session themes to student’s own field of research (Formative Summative)	Week 2- 11 (individual weekly reflections) Reflective essay due: Week 13	40% or 20% for students doing alternative assessment*	1,2, 4, 5,6 and 8
Seminar presentation & participation	Short presentation of a critique on selected readings and a final presentation of the research proposal (Formative & Summative)	Weeks 5, 11 & 12 (activities)	20%	1,3 4,5,7 and 9
Critical review	3000 word+ essay critically comparing two or more research articles on the same topic and leading to a research focus and question (Summative)	Week 4 (notes), 6 (group introduction) & 13 (individual document)	40%	4,5 and 6,8,9
Alternative to critical review: Research Proposal	5000 word research proposal following appropriate Faculty template	Week 13	60%*	4,5 and 6,8,9

Submission

All assignments must be submitted electronically either as blogs or as email attachments to the lecturer by 12:00 midnight of the Friday of the due week.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

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