Assignment workshop: research, planning and referencing

This week’s topics

Assignment workshop: research, planning and referencing

1. Unpacking the assignment brief and criteria
2. Finding and evaluating sources
3. Planning and referencing

What you will be able to do

• 1.1 Critically evaluate various research approaches that are available for solving a problem.
• 1.2 Demonstrate understanding of research philosophies and its influence in data collection process.
• 1.3 Justify the choice of research design, strategy and choice of research method.
• 2.1 Identify appropriate methods for gathering data that aligns with the research design.
• 2.2 Analyse various methods in terms of its advantages and weakness.
• 2.3 Evaluate data collection methods in terms of reliability and validity of research.
• 2.4 Justify a data collection method for a given scenario.
• 3.1 Extract, Transform and Load quantitative data into specialised software packages such as SPSS.
• 3.2 Identify dependant, independent, intervening, moderator, control and extraneous variables.
• 3.3 Develop hypothesis for a given research context.
• 3.4 Evaluate various statistical test for a given scenario and justify the chosen test.
• 3.5 Test the hypothesis with the most appropriate and draw meaningful conclusions.
• 4.1 Evaluate the range of qualitative approaches that are available for undertaking qualitative research.
• 4.2 Appreciate the challenges associated in undertaking qualitative research and the implications in research design.
• 4.3 Demonstrate high level understanding of various qualitative analysis techniques and tools.
• 5.1 Appreciate the importance of research ethics and its contribution to generation of new knowledge.
• 5.2 Identify ethical issues that can arise for a given research scenario and provide relevant recommendations.
• 5.3 Develop an argument and counter arguments on the ethical issues related to data collection, storage, analysis and reporting.
• 6.1 Undertake qualitative and quantitative data analysis for a given dataset.
• 6.2 Develop a report presenting the findings after making appropriate interpretations.
• 6.3 Identify the potential limitations from the analysis.
• 6.4 Highlight the ethical issues that might have occurred during the data collection stage.

Activity

Plan the unit assignment against every criterion; source and reference the evidence.

Study materials

Further resources

• Harvard Referencing quick guide 2025 (York St John University) · PDF · Other, report · for registered students
• Evaluating Information: Applying the CRAAP Test · PDF · Other, report · for registered students
• Writing for Success, ch. 8.1–8.3: Prewriting, outlining and drafting · PDF · Saylor Academy, textbook chapter; pp. 281–318 · for registered students