| Credit |
12 points |
| Availability |
Semester 2, offshore teaching period |
| Old unit code |
300.972 |
| Outcomes |
Students select a substantive topic or phenomenon of personal/professional interest within the broad area of education; clarify their research question; identify the conceptual framework, theory or theories (if applicable), hypotheses (if applicable); identify guiding questions and data-gathering questions (if applicable); outline in detail the methods appropriate to the study, the design (strategy), sample and sampling (if applicable); outline the data collection approaches, and the data analysis approaches; detail the significance of the study; and consider the limitations and delimitations of the study. |
| Content |
This unit, for Doctor of Education students, explores in more depth the methodological approaches appropriate to students' areas of study. In particular, it focuses on qualitative and quantitative methods. Attention is also given to philosophical, historical and comparative approaches to research, and to bringing perspectives from these approaches to bear even when the main approach is qualitative or quantitative. |
| Assessment |
In an 8000-word essay students select a substantive topic or phenomenon of personal/professional interest within the broad area of education, identify a central research question and develop a conceptual framework within which the question can be located. They use the conceptual framework to identify and to review critically relevant contextual and empirical bodies of literature from which emerge a number of major sub-questions congruent with the central research question. Students select and justify an appropriate research method and develop a research design to answer their research questions.
Supplementary assessment is not available in this unit. |
| Unit Co-ordinator(s) |
Associate Professor Elaine Chapman and Associate Professor Simon Clarke |
| Location |
UWA (Crawley), Singapore, Hong Kong |
| Mode |
on-campus |
| Unit Rules |
| Prerequisites: enrolment in the Doctor of Education or the Doctor of Educational Psychology |
| Advisable prior study: a master's degree, preferably in education, with evidence of research ability |
Contact hours—25 hrs (compressed unit)
|
|
| Prescribed Texts |
There are no prescribed texts. In the first and subsequent lecture sessions students are introduced to the sections of the Library dealing with the various aspects of the field of education studies. They become familiar with the location of relevant books, encyclopaedias, handbooks, other reference material and journals.
|
Recommended
reading | |
Hart, C. Doing a Literature Review: Sage Publications 1998
O'Donoghue, T. Planning Your Qualitative Research Project: Routledge 2007
Punch, K. F. Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches: Sage Publications 2005
|
|
|
|
- The availability of units in Semester 1, 2, etc. was correct at the time of going to press but may be subject to change.
- Assistance with study skills, including English language skills, is available free of charge from Student Services for all enrolled students (see http://www.studentservices.uwa.edu.au/ss/learning). Student Services location: Second Floor, South Wing, Guild Village; telephone: 6488 2423.
- Books and other materials wherever listed may be subject to change. Book lists relating to 'Preliminary Reading', 'Recommended Reading' and 'Textbooks' are, in most cases, available at the University Co-operative Bookshop (from early January) and appropriate administrative offices for students to consult. For first-year units the Bookshop will endeavour to make available photocopies of book lists for individual units. Books marked with an asterisk (*) are available in paperback.
|
