Unit Synopsis
An understanding of experimental design, statistical methods, ethics and the ability to critically analyse scientific reports is essential for graduates in the sciences. In this unit, you will study experimental design, ethics and commonly used statistical procedures. You will be introduced to hypothesis testing and experimental design, parametric and non-parametric analyses, one, two and multi sample analyses (including one way, two way, and nested ANOVA designs, as well as multivariate analyses), correlation and regression, and data transformation. The learning and teaching strategy uses a clear, conceptual approach, which assumes that you have little or no statistical background.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisite: SCIE11023 Scientific Research Fundamentals or ESSC11004 Study and Research Skills for Health Science or SCIE11024 Science Investigation Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 25% |
| 2. Practical Assessment | 25% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 25% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Student evaluations
The evaluation score for "Useful Feedback" declined from previous offerings.
Ensure each student receives timely and adequate feedback on assessments throughout term.
Timely and adequate feedback provided in 2025
Source: SUTE feedback
Students appreciated the smaller 'bite-sized' delivery of lecture material to help them learn and apply the theory and knowledge.
Maintain current format of content delivery into future offerings.
Content format maintained in 2025
Source: email, moodle
Students again expressed positive feedback regarding the smaller 'bite-sized' delivery of unit content.
Maintain the format of content delivery for 2026
In Progress
Source: email
One student had difficulty downloading/running the computer software for assessment 2.
Issues was resolved with TASAC assistance. The assessment information will be updated in 2026 with this pathway for resolution should students encounter the same/similar problems in the future offerings.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the uses, pitfalls and limitations of parametric and non-parametric statistical tests
- Choose an appropriate statistical test for a set of data
- Correctly use software programs for analysing scientific data
- Know when experiments require ethical clearance and explain the basic principles of ethical experimentation
- Critique scientific reports and research proposals in terms of the quality of their experimental design
- Design realistic experiments with appropriate control and replicates
- Explain the rationale behind statistical testing and probability levels.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | |||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | ||||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | |||||||