BLAR14020 - Built Environment Research

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit represents the culmination of your formal studies as a building professional and seeks to equip you with the necessary research skills to allow you to continue in the challenging, yet rewarding career, of a practicing building professional. In this unit, you will produce a dissertation detailing the results of the research project you will undertake. Between the research project and the dissertation, you will demonstrate your analysis, reflection and judgment skills through solving technical problems, evaluating project processes, outcomes and related learning experiences. The unit will give you an opportunity to develop your personal and interpersonal skills and apply the principles of social innovation to a research project. Note: Prior to the commencement of term and before an enrolment can be accepted, you must confirm with the Unit Coordinator that you have completed the prerequisite research planning unit BLAR14019, that the research remains viable and an academic supervisor is available. Students who have successfully completed BLCN13021 or BLSV14015 should not enrol in this unit.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 4
Credit Points 12
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.25
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite: BLAR14019 Built Environment Research Plan, and Condition: Successfully completed 144 units of credits in the Building Surveying (Honours) or Construction Management (Honours) course.

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 - 2021

Term 1 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2021 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2022 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Online

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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%

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%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 3.3 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 50% 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: Have you Say - student feedback
Feedback
Students feedback included comments like: 'lecturer was very professional and knowledgeable'. AND 'The course restricted the research methods to a literature review which affected the quality of my thesis due to not being able to conduct surveys and interviews.'
Recommendation
The second comment of not conducting survey or interviews was originally excluded because of the ethical approval bring required before these activities could proceed. Given the short timeline for the research and long timeline for ethical approval, students could not receive ethical approval in a timely manner when conducting their research. However, the actual survey and interview process was replaced with a theoretical version of the survey or interview development of responses and their analysis.
Action Taken
The formal ethical approval process was removed from the assignment. The assignment is now a literature review and the formulation of a research question, hypothesis or proposition based on the review of the gathered literature. This is followed by a research-based written discussion of the best method to undertake research, analyse the data with possible drawn conclusions.
Source: Student feedback - have your say
Feedback
Four out of the 9 students responded, and the main negativity was the degree of difficulty of the assignment. These students considered that there were very few positives in learning to write a dissertation and believed that the dissertation had no relevance to construction management and was more relevant to those studying for a master’s or PhD. However, it should be noted that the level of difficulty has not been previously raised.
Recommendation
It is suggested that the assignment be reviewed and compared in terms of the level of difficulty to other research units within the faculty. Students will be made aware of how the development of research skills can benefit their ongoing professional development.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Apply appropriate strategies and social innovation principles to resolve technical problems and evaluate project processes, outcomes and related learning experiences
  2. Develop and evaluate accepted standards of research and scholarship using sound analysis, reflection and judgement to write a concise dissertation
  3. Demonstrate professional practice skills
  4. Employ effective scholarly and professional communication skills.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Written Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
6 - Information Technology Competence
8 - Ethical practice
9 - Social Innovation
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment
2 - Written Assessment