SWH4003

Honours dissertation

24 points
* Full-year subject
* Clayton

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject candidates should have developed an ability to locate a researchable problem and to narrow the problem down to a feasible question or questions; acquired skills in locating and critically reviewing literature relevant to a research problem and developed an ability to grasp theoretical issues and relate evidence to a research problem.

Synopsis The honours dissertation consists of three components (i) attendance at weekly supervision (on campus) with a staff member of the department for guidance and support with the dissertation (ii) attendance at a series of dissertation seminars during the course at which candidates will have the opportunity to present their work-in-progress and hear and discuss other candidates' work. Distance education students will be required to attend a dissertation seminar one day per semester during semesters three and four (iii) submission of a dissertation of 18,000 words which is an examination of a social work topic. The dissertation will either take the form of an empirical study focussing on the results of an investigation of the literature and examination of a small sample of participants, or a discursive study which is based mainly on an examination and discussion of the existing literature. The discursive study is expected to make an original contribution to the field.

Assessment One dissertation seminar (45 minutes): 10%
* Thesis (18,000 words): 90%

Recommended texts

de Vaus D Surveys in social research 2nd edn, Allen and Unwin, 1993
Grinnell R M Jnr Social work research and evaluation 4th edn, Peacock, 1993
Minichello V, Aroni R, Timewell E and Alexander L In-depth interviewing: Researching people Longman Cheshire, 1990