RSCH20001 - Prepare for Confirmation

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The unit has been designed specifically for provisional research candidates at either Masters or Doctoral level to develop the skills necessary to prepare a quality Confirmation of Candidature (CoC) document with the support of their supervisors. In this unit, candidates will be guided through research terminology, research ethics, and the steps required in the construction of a research proposal. Regardless of discipline area, this unit will provide the knowledge and skills necessary to critically analyse and synthesise relevant literature, explain various research methodologies, and justify proposed methods of data collection and analysis. The assessments in this unit are designed to create a quality literature review and construct a design for a research project.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level Not Applicable
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
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 2 - 2024

Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2025 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 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

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Literature Review or Systematic Review 0%
2. Research Assignment 0%

This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 75.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 44.44% 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 feedback
Feedback
Need to learn more about how to use data bases for literature search
Recommendation
Assignment one changed to ‘Literature search strategy’ and students required to organise an appointment with a librarian to discuss methods to search for literature on their chosen topic.
Action Taken
Two sessions provided by the Library directly into the unit in Week 1 and Week 2.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Need to learn about analysing qualitative data
Recommendation
Include more information and guidance on research using qualitative data including how to conduct a thematic analysis
Action Taken
More direction and resources included on how the conduct a thematic analysis.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
It would be helpful to have all the assessment information in a downloadable PDF format
Recommendation
Include complete information on assessment items into the unit profile as well as on the Moodle site
Action Taken
Unit profile contains all details of assessment tasks together with the marking criteria. These instructions are also repeated on the Moodle site under the assessment tab.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Upload videos to on place every week instead of under the weekly material
Recommendation
Provide a folder on the Moodle site that contains all weekly recorded sessions as well as uploading the videos under the weekly material
Action Taken
One tile on Moodle at the front of the unit is dedicated solely to recordings of Zoom sessions and copies of the presentation slides.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
A few science based exemplars would be good
Recommendation
Include more examples of quantitative and science based research within the teaching materials.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Identify and justify the scope of the search used to select relevant literature for the research project
  2. Appraise and synthesise relevant evidence to develop and support a research question
  3. Integrate theory to identify and justify an overall research approach that aligns to the research question
  4. Apply critical thinking, academic writing, and professional formatting to the development of a research proposal

None to note. 

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Literature Review or Systematic Review • • •
2 - Research Assignment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge • • • •
2 - Communication • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
4 - Research • • • •
5 - Self-management • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • •
7 - Leadership • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8