BUSN20016 - Research in Business

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides the essential skills and techniques for designing, implementing and evaluating research in business contexts. It provides an in-depth introduction to the critical thinking and planning required in the initial stages of a thesis or research project. You will undertake research problem definition, design a research project, development of a literature review, consider qualitative and quantitative methods, measurement concepts, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, reporting and presentation of results with the final outcome of the unit being the development of a research proposal. This unit is designed as the pre-requisite for the work you will undertake in your final year capstone unit Professional Project.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

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 - 2025

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

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 6-credit Postgraduate 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

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

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 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 86.84% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 39.58% 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: In class and via email.
Feedback
Feedback on practical scholarly literature search techniques was positive.
Recommendation
Provide live demonstrations of research techniques during lectures.
Action Taken
This continues to be implemented, and 'live' demonstrations during lecture periods is common.
Source: Based on low levels of lecture engagement.
Feedback
Low participation rates in lecture classes.
Recommendation
Consider the introduction assessments linked to in-class activities.
Action Taken
Participation in T2 has shown signs of improvement as a result of 'tips for Assignment 2' (the online exam) being exclusively revealed in lectures.
Source: Unit coordinator
Feedback
Assessment update.
Recommendation
Assessments will be revised and updated where necessary.
Action Taken
There have been small adjustments to the Assessments. In particular, Assessment 2 has been modified to include a mixture of multiple choice and open text questions, marked by the unit coordinator.
Source: Examining exam responses
Feedback
Build basic statistical skills
Recommendation
Develop a simple Excel sheet that has built in formulas to allow students to experiment with real and dummy samples. This has now been done in T2.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.