Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- formulate their own research question and choose an appropriate research design to examine the question
- assess conditions under which one can properly apply tools for measurement, and systematic ways to make inference and interpret data
- undertake critical evaluations of methodological issues and problems in existing empirical research
- understand various philosophical issues underlying different research approaches
- consider a variety of approaches to research in social sciences and locate their own research within these approaches.
In addition the class will also cover several more practical elements, enabling students to:
- think about the challenges of field work, including the ethical review process at ANU
- develop, refine and present a draft research proposal for their own original research
- develop awareness of resources for PhD study
develop the academic and research skills for success in the proposal, and
the PhD generally.
Other Information
If you are not studying in a program at the Crawford School of Public Policy, please seek permission to enrol from the course convenor. If you intend to undertake major research, you are encouraged to take POGO8096 in Semester 1.
Delivery mode:
On Campus. 5 days of intensive lectures. All lecture notes (PowerPoint slides) and audio recordings will be uploaded to Wattle after each lecture.
In addition, students are required to attend academic and research skills workshops, group discussion sessions, and end-of-semester presentation sessions.
Indicative Assessment
The course is graded as a Pass/Non-pass. The following grade distribution gives an indication of how the decision will be made regarding pass or non-pass.
Participation 35%
Assignment #1 5%
Assignment #2 5%
Assignment #3 5%
Assignment #4 5%
Research Design Paper 45%
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The POGO 8196 course is designed as an intensive learning experience. Each day of the taught course will feature introductory lectures, but you will learn primarily by reading and then discussing that material with your instructor, tutor and classmates. Accordingly, there is a lot of reading for this course. It is expected that you do these readings on the course free days/weekends so that you can discuss the content in class/tutorial the next day. If possible, it is advisable to allocate the week prior to lectures to read. Small assignments are due throughout the two weeks of lectures. These are targeted to reinforce the course content and link it closely to the research proposal. The aim is that by the end of the course you will have the major building blocks for a first draft thesis proposal for oral presentation and subsequent submission for assessment.
Prescribed Texts
There is no official textbook for the class; instead we will draw on different readings for each lecture. Most of these are drawn from books that are placed on reserve in the library. That said I would encourage you to consider purchasing the following books as permanent resource for your ongoing PhD research. The Goertz and Mahoney book is the unofficial textbook for the course, and therefore I strongly encourage you to purchase this book.
· Goertz, G & Mahoney, J 2012, A Tale of Two Cultures. Qualitative and Quantitative Research in the Social Sciences, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
· Brady, HE & Collier, D (eds) 2010, Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards (2nd edition), Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Maryland.
· Gerring, J 2012, Social Science Methodology. A Unified Framework (2nd edition), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
· King, G, Keohane, RO & Verba, S 1994, Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Preliminary Reading
A full syllabus with all required and recommended readings is available. Please contact the Course Convenor to obtain this.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 1
- Unit value:
- 12 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 12.00 | 0.25000 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $7524 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $9132 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2138 | 16 Feb 2015 | 06 Mar 2015 | 31 Mar 2015 | 29 May 2015 | In Person | N/A |