Overview
In this unit you will build upon previous learning and skills related to research methods, by planning and conducting a supervised group research project. You will be required to collaborate with your assigned research group to deliver a primary study, a systematic literature review, or a service improvement initiative. You will submit an individual manuscript using the structure of an academic journal, and you will collaborate to design and deliver a group oral presentation. You will learn essential research skills that will be useful in your development as an autonomous evidence-based practitioner.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
To enrol in this unit you must be enrolled in the CB85 Course and meet the following pre-requisites: ALLH11009 Research Methods for Health Professionals ALLH12006 Evidence Based Practice for Health Professionals PSIO13002 Professional Physiotherapy Practice 1 PSIO13003 Professional Physiotherapy Practice 2
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Email
Recorded lectures in Term 1 were useful and aligned to resources provided. It would be useful to release these at the start of term to allow students to work around clinical placement block dates.
It is recommended that recorded lectures and resources are released at the start of term to enable students to complete the learning tasks in advance or after clinical placement blocks.
- Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental research concepts related to qualitative and/or quantitative research.
- Perform a comprehensive search and critique of published academic literature to identify relevant evidence on a defined research topic.
- Design and conduct a research project incorporating relevant research design theory and data analysis, and in consideration of the ethical issues related to the research topic and the research population.
- Write an individual manuscript using the format of an academic journal and effectively and professionally communicate research findings in a variety of formats and in a manner suitable for the intended audience.
The learning outcomes in PSIO14006 are linked to the Australian Physiotherapy Council's "Accreditation standard for entry-level physiotherapy practitioner programs (December 2016)"; Domain 3: Program of study; Standard statement: Program design, delivery and resourcing enable students to achieve the required professional attributes and competencies; Criteria 3.5: Graduates are competent in research literacy for the level and type of the program.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Electronic Focused Interactive Learning (eFIL) - 0% | ||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||
| 3 - Research Assignment - 65% | ||||
| 4 - Group Work - 25% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- EndNote (bibliographical software). You MUST use EndNote bibliographic software to format your references for the dissertation. This software is available to all students and is available for Windows and Mac users.
- Covidence or Rayyan (this will be discussed with you during the term)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
l.heales@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 10 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Introduction to Research Project
Module 1: Developing a Research Question
Chapter
Refer to the Unit Moodle site for prescribed readings and resources.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 17 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Module 2: Developing a Research Protocol
Module 3: Developing a Search Strategy
Chapter
Refer to the Unit Moodle site for prescribed readings and resources.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 24 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Module 4: Screening and Selecting Studies
Module 5: Assessing the Quality
Chapter
Refer to the Unit Moodle site for prescribed readings and resources.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 31 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Module 6: Extracting the Data
Module 7: Synthesising the Evidence
Chapter
Refer to the Unit Moodle site for prescribed readings and resources.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 07 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Module 8: Assessing the Certainty of the Evidence
Module 9: Reporting the Findings
Chapter
Refer to the Unit Moodle site for prescribed readings and resources.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 14 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 21 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Module 10: Disseminating the Results
Chapter
Refer to the Unit Moodle site for prescribed readings and resources.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 28 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Working on your Systematic Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 05 May 2025Module/Topic
Working on your Systematic Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 12 May 2025Module/Topic
Working on your Systematic Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 19 May 2025Module/Topic
Working on your Systematic Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 26 May 2025Module/Topic
Working on your Systematic Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 02 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Working on your Systematic Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Online Quizzes Due: Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 09 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 16 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Electronic Focused Interactive Learning (eFIL)
You are required to watch two pre-recorded lectures around the fundamentals of qualitative and quantitative research methods, and complete a ten (10) item Online Quiz to assess your knowledge. You are permitted to complete the quiz as many times as required to achieve a minimum of 80% or greater. Once you have completed this quiz with a minimum of 80%, you will have completed this EFIL assessment task.
Weighting: 0% (Pass/Fail)
Restricted Resource Policy: While completing this online assessment, you are not permitted to use Generative AI tools.
Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
Complete the EFIL Online Quiz prior to the due date.
Your marks are provided immediately on completing the EFIL Online Quiz.
All questions are marked numerically, and an overall percentage mark is awarded for the EFIL Online Quiz. Completion of the EFIL Online Quiz with a minimum of 80% is required to pass this unit and will contribute to 0% of the total unit grade.
- Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental research concepts related to qualitative and/or quantitative research.
2 Online Quiz(zes)
This assessment item will consist of ten (10) Online Quizzes with one quiz at the end of each Module. You will be required to complete the quiz after watching or attending the Module lecture. Each quiz will consist of five (5) questions with a maximum time limit of ten (10) minutes. You will be permitted only one (1) attempt for each quiz. Each quiz may consist of true/false and multiple choice questions based on the content from each Module.
Weighting: The Online Quizzes will contribute to 10% of the total unit grade (1% per Module).
Restricted Resource Policy: While completing this online assessment, you are not permitted to use Generative AI tools.
10
Other
Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
All ten (10) Online Quizzes must be completed by the due date.
Results will be returned to students immediately after the completion of each online quiz.
All questions will be marked numerically, and an overall percentage mark will be awarded for each Quiz. The average grade of all ten (10) quizzes will be used for this assessment item.
- Demonstrate knowledge of fundamental research concepts related to qualitative and/or quantitative research.
3 Research Assignment
In Term 1, you will be allocated and assigned a group research topic and academic supervisor by the Unit Coordinator. You will work in groups of three or four students. All groups will work with their academic supervisor to conduct and report a systematic review on their allocated topic. The topic areas will include, but are not limited to, areas of physiotherapy including; cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neurological. Your supervisor may not be on the same campus as you. As a group you will complete all components of the systematic review with guidance from an academic supervisor. You will submit your systematic review as your research assignment in the format similarly required of an academic journal. The Introduction, Methods, and Results of your systematic review will be identical for all group members and will contribute to the group component of the mark. The Discussion and Conclusion will be an individual component, and will be graded individually. The systematic review must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.docx), with a maximum word count of 4000 (excluding abstract, tables, figures, and reference list). EndNote Reference Manager must be used for citation and reference listing, and APA 7th Edition must be used for referencing. A template will be provided to you on the Unit Moodle page. You must include the PSIO14006 Research Project Declaration Form at the start of your Systematic Review.
Restricted Resource Policy: You are permitted to use Generative AI tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot) to assist with items such as brainstorming, learning new concepts, summarising information, assignment structure, searching and screening (e.g., duplicate identification), and editing (e.g., Grammarly). Any content generated or influenced by AI must be clearly referenced following CQUniversity Guidelines for Referencing Artificial Intelligence (available on the Unit Moodle page). Failure to reference AI-generated content appropriately may result in a case being raised for the suspicion of academic misconduct. You are reminded that your submission should reflect your understanding and synthesis of ideas, and all content must be reviewed for accuracy. Over-reliance on AI-generated content may impact the quality of work, impacting on your grade.
Your Research Assignment is due 4:00pm Friday 5th September, 2025.
Results and feedback will be made available within two weeks of submission of the Research Assignment.
The Research Assignment will be marked and moderated by members of the academic staff using a rubric.
A detailed marking criteria will be available on Moodle, and will be based on the following rubric categories:
- Abstract (5%)
- Introduction (15%)
- Methods (20%)
- Results (20%)
- Discussion and Conclusions (Individual Component) (25%)
- Academic writing, organisation/structure, formatting, and referencing (15%)
- Perform a comprehensive search and critique of published academic literature to identify relevant evidence on a defined research topic.
- Design and conduct a research project incorporating relevant research design theory and data analysis, and in consideration of the ethical issues related to the research topic and the research population.
- Write an individual manuscript using the format of an academic journal and effectively and professionally communicate research findings in a variety of formats and in a manner suitable for the intended audience.
4 Group Work
As a group of three or four students, you will present the findings of your systematic review to peers, academic staff, clinicians, and members of the community at the Physiotherapy Research Symposium. This conference style oral presentation will be a maximum of 15-minutes duration, plus up to 5-minutes of question time. All members of the group are required to present for an equivalent duration (for example in a group of 3 students, each member will present for ~5 minutes). This presentation must be prepared in Microsoft PowerPoint and should include the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Take Home Message(s). Your group will be marked on the entire presentation, with an individual component being your specific communication (e.g., clear and engaging tone, appropriate eye contact, steady and consistent pace).
All students must attend on your respective campus and in person with your entire group. All students must be attired in your full clinical uniform. The Physiotherapy Research Symposium will start promptly at 8:30am, with students expected to arrive at 8:00am for set up.
Restricted Resource Policy: You are permitted to use Generative AI tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot) to assist with items such as brainstorming, learning new concepts, summarising information, presentation structure, and editing (e.g., Grammarly). Any content generated or influenced by AI must be clearly referenced following CQUniversity Guidelines for Referencing Artificial Intelligence (avaialble on the Moodle page). Failure to reference AI-generated content appropriately may result in a case being raised for the suspicion of academic misconduct. You are reminded that your submission should reflect your understanding and synthesis of ideas, and all content must be reviewed for accuracy. Over-reliance on AI-generated content may impact the quality of work, impacting on your grade.
The Physiotherapy Research Symposium will be held on the 10th October (Friday Week 12 of Term 2).
Results and feedback will be made available within two weeks of Physiotherapy Symposium.
The Group Presentation will be marked and moderated by members of the academic staff using a rubric.
A detailed marking criteria will be available on Moodle, and will be based on the following rubric categories:
- Introduction (20%)
- Methods (20%)
- Results (20%)
- Discussion and Take Home Message (20%)
- Visual presentation, organisation/structure, grammar and referencing (10%)
- Communication (Individual Component) (10%)
- Perform a comprehensive search and critique of published academic literature to identify relevant evidence on a defined research topic.
- Design and conduct a research project incorporating relevant research design theory and data analysis, and in consideration of the ethical issues related to the research topic and the research population.
- Write an individual manuscript using the format of an academic journal and effectively and professionally communicate research findings in a variety of formats and in a manner suitable for the intended audience.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
