CULT3001 Applied Social Research Assessment

1.1 An Introduction to this Subject

In this subject students continue their education in social research, building on HUMN 2066 Investigating and Communicating Social Problems. Students gain experience in using tools and techniques for the collection, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data using real world examples. They gain experience in using various primary and secondary sources of data and designing the collection of data through surveys and interviews. Students will also examine the application of research to, for example, program evaluation and policy development, thus preparing students for professional contexts as generators and critical consumers of social research.

1.2 What is Expected of You

Study Load

A student is expected to study an hour per credit point a week. For example a 10 credit point Subject would require 10 hours of study per week. This time includes the time spent within classes during lectures, tutorials or practicals. Note for Summer Terms: As Summer subjects deliver the same content and classes over a shorter period of time, the subjects are run in a more intensive mode. Regardless of the delivery mode, the study hours for each subject in Summer will be around 30 hours.

Attendance

It is strongly recommended that students attend all scheduled learning activities to support their learning.

Online Learning Requirements

Subject materials will be made available on the Subject’s vUWS (E-Learning) site (https://vuws.westernsydney. edu.au/). You are expected to consult vUWS at least twice a week, as all Subject announcements will be made via vUWS. Teaching and learning materials will be regularly updated and posted online by the teaching team.

Special Requirements

Essential Equipment: Not Applicable Legislative Pre-Requisites: Not Applicable

Policies Related to Teaching and Learning

The University has a number of policies that relate to teaching and learning. Important policies affecting students include:

•  Assessment Policy
•  Bullying Prevention Policy and
•  Guidelines
•  Enrolment Policy
•  Examinations Policy
•  Review of Grade Policy
•  Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy
•  Disruption to Studies Policy
•  Student Misconduct Rule
•  Teaching and Learning - Fundamental Code
•  Student Code of Conduct

Academic Integrity and Student Misconduct Rule

Western cares about your success as a student and in your future career. Studying with academic integrity safeguards your professional reputation and your degree. All Western students must:

• be familiar with the policies listed above;
• apply principles of academic integrity;
• act honestly and ethically in producing all academic work and assessment tasks; and
• submit work that is their own and acknowledge any sources used in their work.

Each time you submit an assessment, you will declare that you have completed it individually, unless it is a group assignment. In the case of a group assignment, each group member should be ready to document their individual contribution if needed. You will also declare that no part of your submission has been:

• copied from any other student’s work or from any other source except where appropriate acknowledgement is made in the assignment;
• submitted by you in another (previous or current) assessment, except where appropriately acknowledged, and with prior permission from the Subject Coordinator;
• made available to others in any form, where individual work is required;
• written/produced for you by any other person.

The Student Misconduct Rule applies to all students of Western Sydney University including Western Sydney University programs taught by other education providers. You must not engage in academic, research or general misconduct as defined in the Rule or you may be subject to sanctions. The University considers submitting falsified documentation in support of requests to redo, resit or extend submissions, including sitting of deferred examinations, as instances of general misconduct.

More information on studying with integrity is available on the Study with Integrity webpage. It is your responsibility to apply these principles to all work you submit to the University.

Avoid using external ’support’ sites or other external help

To avoid the risk of your assignment being shared without your knowledge, do not upload your assignment to any external sites for spelling, grammar or plagiarism checks. Your safest option is to use the free services provided by Library Study Smart or Studiosity.

Avoid using any websites that:

•  allow sharing of assignments or other material
•  reward sharing of material with credits, tokens; or access to additional materials/features/services;
•  provide answers to textbook or assignment/exam questions;
•  provide free sample assignments; and/or include order buttons and prices; and/or
•  invite you to submit your assignment for plagiarism or grammar or other checks.

Engagement with academic cheating sites will be regarded as misconduct. Academic cheating services often market themselves as ’support’. Engagement with these sites includes:

•  Sharing assignments or course material;
•  Using online tools provided by these sites to check for plagiarism, grammar or spelling; and/or
•  Purchasing writing services, or obtaining a copy of an assignment.

Uploading your work to these sites may lead to your work being shared with others with or without your knowledge and consent.

The Australian Government monitors current and past students’ use of academic cheating services, and may report student material found on these sites or other forms of engagement to universities.

Current students with items found on academic cheating sites face sanctions under the Student Misconduct Rule. Outcomes for graduates may include revocation of award. For more information see https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/currentstudents/current_students/student_misconduct_rule.

More advice can be found on the Study with Integrity webpage.

Need help?

If you are having difficulties with understanding or completing an assessment task, contact your Subject Coordinator as soon as possible. Western also has a range of academic support services, including:

• Library Study Smart: book a one-to-one Zoom consultation with a literacy expert. You can discuss how to develop your assignment writing and study skills or seek assistance to understand referencing and citation requirements. Check the Library Study Smart website for how-to study guides and tools.
• Studiosity: Upload your assignment draft to Studiosity within vUWS to receive writing feedback within 24 hours.
• Online workshops, programs and resources: From maths and stats help to academic literacy and peer support programs, the University has a range of resources to assist.

Please also remember that there is a range of wellbeing support available - from counselling and disability services to welfare.

2 Assessment Information 2.1 Subject Learning Outcomes The table below outlines the learning outcomes for this unit. Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:

2.2 Approach to Learning The subject is delivered by means of weekly online learning material and a weekly three hour tutorial/workshop. Additional online material: This subject is vUWS supported, with tutorials/workshop readings, activities, homework tasks and assessment resources available online. Tutorials/Workshops: You must register for a tutorial/workshop and attend the tutorial/workshop for which you are registered. This is a practical research subject with all activities completed in the tutorials/workshops (and for homework) subject to assessment. It is therefore imperative that you attend class. If you cannot attend a tutorial/workshop you must notify your tutor immediately.

2.3 Contribution to Program Learning Outcomes

Western Sydney University Graduate Attributes

2.4 Assessment Summary The assessment items in this Subject are designed to enable you to demonstrate that you have achieved the Subject learning outcomes. Completion and submission of all assessment items which have been designated as mandatory or compulsory is essential to receive a passing grade.

Feedback on Assessment

Feedback is an important part of the learning process that can improve your progress towards achieving the learning outcomes. Feedback is any written or spoken response made in relation to academic work such as an assessment task, a performance or product. It can be given to you by a teacher, an external assessor or student peer, and may be given individually or to a group of students. As a Western Sydney University student, it is your responsibility to seek out and act on feedback that is provided to you as a resource to further your learning. Note: Before you receive your results for each piece of assessment they may be moderated. Moderation is a process whereby the unit coordinator regulates the marking of individual markers to achieve consistency in the application of unit objectives, performance standards and marking criteria. Marks for an individual piece of assessment will not be changed after you have your mark or grade. You should note that, consistent with the Criteria and Standards Based Assessment policy, the final marks for the cohort may be also adjusted if results are very high or low or there are inconsistencies between groups.

2.5 Assessment Details 2.5.1 Critical Review (1) - application and evaluation of real world research

Overview: The first assessment (Critical Review #1) is an exploratory exercise in which students use skills developed through their online learning and in tutorials to examine a ’real world’ research report of their choosing. The chosen research report MUST be an example of qualitative social research.

Step 1: Students must find a published research report. The report must:

•  Be relevant to their area of study (policing, criminology, social work, tourism, planning etc)
• Discuss research that used qualitative methods (data collection and analysis). This can be part of a mixed method design
• Have been published in the last 10 years (post 2012)
• NOT be a journal article (instead look for government, nonprofit or other organisational report)
•  NOT be a report used in CULT3001 Applied Social Research for teaching purposes i.e. in online learning material, tutorials or workshops.
•  Students must find their own report.

Step 2: Students are required to write a 1,000 word critical review of the published research report. The review must:

• Identify who has done the research (organisation, institution, individual, group of individuals etc) and why the research was undertaken (e.g. to inform policy, to evaluate a program)
• Identify the research question/s and aims
• Provide a brief summary of the qualitative method (including data collection and analysis)
•  Evaluate the success of the research project
• Use at least 5 relevant and well chosen academic sources

In evaluating the success of the research project, the critical review should: 1. Determine whether the research answered the research question and/or achieved the research aims 2. Discuss the relevance of data collected, method of data collection (e.g. sampling methods, confidentiality), if the data was appropriately and thoroughly analysed, and if the results were clearly presented in the report 3. Discuss limitations of the research e.g. research bias, researchers’ qualifications, sampling and exclusions.

2.5.2 Critical Review (2) - applications and evaluations of real world research

Overview:

The second assessment (Critical Review #2) is an exploratory exercise in which students further their skills as critical consumers of research in addition to developing their own research skills. In the second assessment, students review media reporting of quantitative social research as well as the original research being reported.

Step 1: Students must find a media article (newspaper report, magazine article, television/radio transcript) that had reported on published quantitative research. The media article should be relevant to their area of study (policing, criminology, social work etc). The media article (and the research being reported) cannot be one used in tutorials for teaching purposes. Students must find their own media article/research report.

Step 2: Students must find the original published quantitative research that was cited in the media article. The original published research MAY be in the form of a journal article or report.

Step 3: Students are required to write a 1,000 word critical review.

The review must:

1. Discuss how the media article has used the published research including:

•  What information/data did they use from the published research and why?
• What message is the media article trying to communicate?
•  Has any data/information of the published research not been included in the media article?
•  Why do you think this information has been excluded? Does the author provide justification?
•  Has the media article provided adequate insights into the published research?

2. Evaluate the strengths and limitations of the original published research. Your evaluation should make reference to:

• the research question
•  the research method (e.g. sampling, procedures, analysis)
•  the results
•  whether or not the strengths and limitations you identified were addressed in the media article.

3. Propose alternate methods of data collection and/or analysis that could address the limitations of the original published research

4. Use at least 5 relevant and well chosen academic sources to support arguments made.

2.5.3 Portfolio of data analyses and critical reflections

Overview:

The third assessment is a Portfolio task that demonstrates students’ competence in collecting, analysing and inter- preting qualitative and quantitative data. Students are to present 2 data sets (1 x qualitative, 1 x quantitative) that

they generated in class and discuss the meaning that can be drawn from them in the 1, 000 word component.

Step 1: Students must select 1 example of qualitative data and 1 example of quantitative data that they generated in workshops/tutorials. Analysis of reports used for Assessment 1 & 2 CANNOT be used.

Step 2: Students are required to write 500 words for EACH data set that ’tells the story’ of the data they have presented. This should include:

• How the data was generated (summary of method).
• Their interpretation of the data i.e. what does the data SHOW/MEAN? How does it answer the research question? (analysis)
• Suggestions for how the findings could be used e.g to inform policy, identify patterns in social phenomenon

Step 3: Present the two data sets directly below each 500 word written component following the instructions on format