EDUC 7058 - Research Processes

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2017

This course provides an introduction to post-graduate research processes including managing people and candidature, project planning and ethical research practices. It focuses particularly on the writing up of research project data.

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Course Details

Course Code	EDUC 7058
Course	Research Processes
Coordinating Unit	School of Education
Term	Semester 2
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Incompatible	Research Design or EDUC 7001 Ed Inquiry (MEd students)
Assessment	Annotated bibliography 15%, Critical review article 20%, Class exercise 5%, Class & home exercise 5%, Organising a conference 5%, Presentation of short paper 20%, Research article (3000 words) 30%

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Mr Richard Warner

Richard Warner
School of Education
The University of Adelaide
Level 8, Room 8.07
Nexus 10 Building, 10 Pulteney
Adelaide, 5005 SA
Ph: +61 8 8313 6038
Email: richard.warner@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

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

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

1	Critically analyse research articles in the discipline and take effective notes
2	Identify key information in research articles and write an annotated bibliography
3	Synthesize and analyse research in an annotated bibliography around one topic
4	Identify key methodological elements that need to be reported
5	Write up a short methodology section for a paper
6	Analyse quantitative and qualitative data sets and identify main features for description
7	Communicate quantitative and qualitative data sets visually and in text
8	Communicate a research study in the form of a short paper presentation and document
9	Reflect on own and other’s strengths and weaknesses in peer review sessions

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1, 2, 3, 5
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1, 2, 4, 6, 7
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	7-9
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	8
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	4, 6, 8
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	9

Learning Resources

Required Resources

There is no textbook for this course. Rather students will be required to read selected literature on key research processes covered in the course.

Online Learning

Additional course-related material is available through MyUni.

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course is built around a series of lectures covering the design, writing and presentation of research. These are complemented by seminars addressing the practical aspects of creating research documents/ presentations reporting on primary data.

Workload

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

Workload	Total Hours
1 x 2-hour lecture/workshop per week	24 hours per semester
1 x 1-hour seminar per week or additional reading	12 hours per semester
1 x 3 hours reading per week and Annotated Bibliography	36 hours per semester
Conference preparation in groups	10 hours per semester
Written assignment preparation	74 hours per semester
	Total = 156 hours per semester

Learning Activities Summary

Week	Lecture Topic
1	Deciding on a research focus and annotated bibliographies
2	Critical reviews
3	Systematic reviews
4	The structure of articles and issues in editing
5	Material and methods
6	Quantitative data and results & Organising a conference
7	Qualitative data and results
8	Discussion section
9	Abstracts and reviewing
10	Preparing for the conference
11	Putting it all together
12	Course conference

Specific Course Requirements

n/a

Small Group Discovery Experience

This class focusses entirely on research skills development. Students meet twice at least in small groups to receive individual and peer feedback on their research documents and presentations. Numerous small group activities with the Senior research active academic are included throughout the course.

The University'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

Task Type	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Annotated bibliography in student’s field of interest covering at least 10 research articles (Formative & Summative) 1500 words	Sunday Week 4	20%	1, 2, 3
Identifying important method elements and writing about methods. Class work exercises (formative).	Sunday Week 7	5%	4, 5
Identifying key data elements for description and discussion. Classwork and homework exercises (Formative)	Sunday Week 9	5%	6, 7
Presenting a short paper- 10 minute/10 slides: Including introduction, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion (Formative and Summative)	Sunday Week 12	20%	2,4,9
Writing a systematic review or short research article on an aspect of own project. Including introduction, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion (2000 words)	Sunday Week 13 (one week after end of classes)	50%	8

All assignments should be submitted online through MyUni, using Turnitin where indicated. All assignments must be submitted on the due date unless an extension has been granted. If you have a problem submitting your assignment on time, please talk to the lecturer in advance to see if an extension to the due date is possible. Feedback will be provided via MyUni

Assessment Related Requirements

Note that attendance at seminars is compulsory. Students who are unable to provide justification for non-attendance will fail the course.

All assessments are graded according to assessment grids with descriptors based on The Researcher Skills Development Framework (Willison & O'Regan, 2008) according to the following criteria:

Distinction:
All the qualities of Bands 1 – 5 of the Researcher Skills Development Framework as described in the relevant assessment grid.

Credit:
All the qualities of Bands 1 – 4 of the Researcher Skills Development Framework as described in the relevant assessment grid.

Pass:
A marginal pass including all the qualities of Bands 1 – 3 of the Researcher Skills Development Framework as described in the relevant assessment grid.

Fail:
Less than Band 3 on the Researcher Skills Development Framework as described in the relevant assessment grid.

Assessment Detail

Assessment detail will be provided on introduction of each assignment.

Submission

The tasks are due for submission by 4.00pm on the due dates specified. Submission of assignments after the due dates listed above will receive a penalty. The penalty, which has been set by the Researcher Education and Development unit, will be a deduction of one Band per week (or part of a week) from the original Band awarded. For example, if you are awarded a Distinction for an assignment submitted one week later than the due date, the actual Band you receive will be a Credit. Assignments must be accompanied by an Assessment Submission Sheet, available at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/placeholder.

Students with acceptable reasons (medical or compassionate reasons or as a result of exceptional circumstances) may apply for an extension. The application for an extension must be made in writing to the Course Coordinator (using the Application for Supplementary Examination available from the following URL: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/pdfs/supp_applic.pdf) before the deadline and be accompanied by relevant documentation to support the request. If approved, a new deadline will be set, taking into account the circumstances of the request and the time that would have been lost from studies. Assignments will normally be returned within two weeks of the submission date.

Re-submission of work
Students who have submitted written assessments on time but have not passed may be allowed to resubmit their work. Please contact the Researcher Education and Development unit for more information about re-submission of work.

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.

The Grading Basis used for this course is The Researcher Skills Development Framework (Willison & O'Regan, 2008). Details of the grades/results available in this Grading Basis can be obtained from the following URL: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/tobesetup/. All assignments in this course are co-marked by the designated supervisor in the student’s discipline. A student must receive a pass mark from both their supervisor and Research Design lecturer in order to pass the course. While the supervisor grades the student on content and compliance with the disciplinary conventions, the Research Design lecturer will grade the student on language, document structure, presentation skills and cohesion.

Re-marking of work
Students are able to request a re-mark if they have valid reasons for disputing a mark awarded. Students must first seek and receive feedback from the course coordinator, who will provide further information.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator