Postgraduate - UnitAPR6035 - Advanced research methodologies in Journalism

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

0 points, SCA Band 1, 0.000 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Journalism
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2014 (Day) Caulfield First semester 2014 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Fay Anderson

Synopsis

The unit explores issues and debates concerning Journalism as a research practice, referencing debates in social theory and cognate humanities disciplines including historiography and anthropology, and engaging with quantitative and qualitative methods; methodological reflexivity and verification of empirical evidence; research integrity, ethical codes and accountabilities; the spatio-temporality of research practice and power relations in knowledge production. Students engage in online collaborative learning activities, and produce 9000 words of work for assessment.

Outcomes

At the satisfactory conclusion of the unit students should be able to:

demonstrate a sound understanding of a set of debates in social theory broadly relevant to their research field;
demonstrate a sound understanding of a set of prominent issues in contemporary journalism studies;
analyse and expound the key contemporary debates in journalism ethics;
identify the points of difference between journalistic and scholarly codes of ethics and prescribe when they respectively apply;
participate effectively in collaborative face-to-face and/or online learning activities at a sustained high level;
demonstrate a clear understanding of the relationship between theory, methodology and analysis in research;
demonstrate a clear understanding of the points of continuity and difference between scholarly and journalistic research practice;
produce written work for assessment of a quality appropriate to doctoral studies.

Assessment

Structured online collaboration: 20%
Unstructured online collaboration: 20%
Contribution to resource database: 20%
Major essay: 40%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Fay Anderson

Workload requirements

2 hours class contact and 20 hours private study including online collaborative and written assessment tasks, per week.

Off-campus attendance requirements

Off-campus students will have access to recordings of on-campus seminars and other electronic resources, and are required to be fully engaged in the online collaborative learning and assessment activities.