ADS707 - Researching and Working with Communities A
Unit details
| Year | 2014 unit information |
|---|---|
| Enrolment modes: | Trimester 1: Online |
| Credit point(s): | 1 |
| EFTSL value: | 0.125 |
| Unit chair: | V Ware |
| Prerequisite: | Nil |
| Corequisite: | For students who commenced prior to 2014: Nil For students who commenced from 2014: ADS701 for students enrolled in courses A511, A611 or A727 |
| Incompatible with: | Nil |
Note:You will need to access substantial learning resources and experiences in CloudDeakin (Deakin’s online learning environment). Compliance with the Standards in computing, connectivity and student capability are a condition on your enrolment. | |
Content
This unit forms the first part of a sequence of two subjects designed to enable students to work effectively with research and program methodologies in community development. Researching and Working with Communities A introduces the main paradigms that inform thinking and acting. Part B provides subsequent in-depth practice of research and programming methods.
“Researching and Working with Communities A is deliberately inter-disciplinary. It maps and navigates elements from the fields of research, philosophy, evaluation, project planning, needs analysis, management, and intercultural communication. A key aim of the subject is to recognise the Western worldview as one of many culturally-constructed ways of knowing, doing and being, and its implications for what ‘community’ and ‘development’ is.
The research paradigms of positivist, pragmatic, constructivist, transformative are investigated. The dominant scientific model is reviewed in terms of its benefits, such as economic and technological growth, as well its unintended consequences, such as ecological and community un-sustainability.
You will gain awareness of the opportunities and challenges that arise when we try to communicate across different worldviews.
Contemporary research and intervention practices of the community development sector will be critically investigated. Is there a method for researching and working with communities? Specific ‘development models’, are explored, including: human rights, gender, participatory, technology-transfer, governance, local area planning, sustainable, learning, and indigenous methodologies. A problem-based approach is used to explore contextual factors such as agency location, mandate and resources.
You will research and work-with a community by creating a culturally-relevant artefact, and seeking endogenous feedback on its appropriateness. The stage will then be set for ‘Researching and Working with Communities B’ indepth practice in the methods of qualitative and quantitative research, needs analysis, acting, planning, organising and relating.
Assessment
Two assignments of not more than 5000 words:
Part A, essay, 2000 words, 40%
Part B, essay, 3000 words, 60%
Unit Fee Information
| Student Contribution Rate* | Student Contribution Rate** | Fee rate - Domestic Students | Fee rate - International students |
| $755 | $755 | $2184 | $2815 |
* Rate for all CSP students, except for those who commenced Education and Nursing units pre 2010
** Rate for CSP students who commenced Education and Nursing units pre 2010
Please note: Unit fees listed do not apply to Deakin Prime students.