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2025 unit information
2025 Only:
Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)*
From 2026:
Trimester 2: Burwood (Melbourne), Waurn Ponds (Geelong), Online, Community Based Delivery (CBD)*
Nil
1 x 1-hour on-campus lecture per week
1 x 1-hour on-campus seminar per week
1 x 1-hour online lecture per week (recordings provided)
1 x 1-hour online seminar per week
Students will on average spend 150-hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities for this unit.
This will include educator guided online learning activities within the unit site.
*Community Based Delivery (CBD): only for students of the National Indigenous Knowledges, Education, Research and Innovation NIKERI Institute (located at the Waurn Ponds campus)
This unit focuses on the methodologies that underpin rigorous, ethical, and impactful social research.
In a world flooded with information—including misinformation and misleading data —ASC250 equips students with the conceptual tools to critically evaluate and distinguish between trustworthy research and data compromised by flaws, biases, or manipulation.
Students will explore how to identify good and bad data, understand research design, and connect theory, methodology, and data collection. Through thematic analysis, qualitative interviews, survey design, and basic quantitative survey design and data analysis, students will gain practical skills to investigate social issues and generate reliable evidence.
A student-led survey project and two research reports—one qualitative and one quantitative—offer hands-on experience in applying these concepts. By bridging theory and practice, ASC250 empowers students to critically assess data, address societal challenges, and apply research skills in their future careers.
Identify different research methodologies and the part these play in interpreting and understanding social life
GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
GLO2: Communication
GLO4: Critical thinking
Evaluate a range of research methodologies and be able to present arguments on the pros and cons of each research method
GLO3: Digital literacy
Apply basic skills in qualitative data analysis and be able to design, collect and analyse these kinds of data
GLO6: Self-management
Apply basic skills in quantitative data analysis and be able to design, collect and analyse these kinds of data, and demonstrate basic competencies in computer-assisted data analysis
GLO5: Problem solving
Evaluate different research designs and be able to select the appropriate method to solve research problems
Engage constructively with wider communities and apply different research methods to offer solutions to social issues
GLO7: Teamwork
The assessment due weeks provided may change. The Unit Chair will clarify the exact assessment requirements, including the due date, at the start of the teaching period.
The texts and reading list for ASC250 can be found via the University Library. Note: Select the relevant trimester reading list. Please note that a future teaching period's reading list may not be available until a month prior to the start of that teaching period so you may wish to use the relevant trimester's prior year reading list as a guide only.
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study and their study discipline, and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
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For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current Students website.
