1. Home
  2. Research Skills [PSY5128]

School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Research Skills

  • Unit Code

    PSY5128

  • Year

    2026

  • Enrolment Period

    1

  • Version

    4

  • Credit Points

    15

  • Full Year Unit

     N

  • Mode of Delivery

    Online

  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Ross HOLLETT

Description

The aim of this unit is to consolidate and extend knowledge of research methods gained at undergraduate levels. The course assumes competence with basic descriptive and inferential statistics and with elementary research designs including qualitative techniques. Students will apply this knowledge to critical appraisals of relevant research domains and to generating research questions. Students will further their knowledge of statistical analysis using statistical software and develop an understanding of contemporary issues in research domains.

Prerequisite Rule

Students must be enrolled in course T75, K84 or K86 in order to complete this unit.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Prepare, interpret, and report computerised data output.
  2. Plan appropriate statistical techniques for data analysis.
  3. Recommend appropriate research designs to examine research questions.
  4. Critically evaluate research design, methodology, analysis and conclusions.

Unit Content

  1. Review of data collection procedures and common issues including survey instrument design, psychometric principles, power and sampling issues, participant recruitment methods, data cleaning and screening, data storage, and ethical considerations.
  2. Review of basic research designs (experimental and quasi experimental; survey research methods; observational methods), and basic statistical techniques: t tests, correlations, analysis of variance, regressions, factor analysis, effect sizes.
  3. Critical examination of a range of research methods and research designs used in psychology, including qualitative techniques.
  4. Introduction to advanced statistical techniques including structural equation modelling and alternative analyses including non-parametric, categorical and decision-tree analysis.
  5. Publication principles and issues in research including journal selection, multidisciplinary research, using Field of Research Codes, co-authorship, peer review and research dissemination.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Online delivery supported by discussion groups and video content.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
PresentationResearch Presentation20%
AssignmentMethodological/statistical exercises45%
TestTest35%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

  • Plagiarism: Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).
  • Unauthorised collaboration (collusion): Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).
  • Contract cheating: Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.
  • Cheating in an exam: Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment Procedure - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment Procedure - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

PSY5128|4|1