BUSN20016 - Research in Business

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides the essential skills and techniques for designing, implementing and evaluating research in business contexts. It provides an in-depth introduction to the critical thinking and planning required in the initial stages of a thesis or research project. You will undertake research problem definition, design a research project, development of a literature review, consider qualitative and quantitative methods, measurement concepts, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, reporting and presentation of results with the final outcome of the unit being the development of a research proposal. This unit is designed as the pre-requisite for the work you will undertake in your final year capstone unit Professional Project.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the unit.

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Practical and Written Assessment 20%
2. Practical and Written Assessment 30%
3. Written Assessment 50%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.24% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 34.34% response rate.

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.

Source: Examining exam responses
Feedback
Build basic statistical skills
Recommendation
Develop a simple Excel sheet that has built in formulas to allow students to experiment with real and dummy samples. This has now been done in T2.
Action Taken
This spreadsheet is now part of current standard practice in the unit.
Source: On-campus lecturers
Feedback
Textbook uptake was very low, and subsequently some elements of basic in this unit were being missed
Recommendation
Substitution of required readings available on the Moodle site instead of textbooks is recommended. This has been instituted for the first time in T2 2025.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: As part of the CC74 Master of Management for Engineers (MME) Five-Year Course Review (FYCR) completed in T1 2025, the review panel recommended that all CC74 MME units be reviewed, including BUSN20016 Research in Business. The current UUP BUSN20016 was approved for T1 2016, and it is therefore due for a review and update. Thus, a UUP for BUSN20016 should be approved for delivery in T1 2026.
Feedback
Review the unit and create an Update Unit Proposal (UUP) in due time for implementation in T1 2026.
Recommendation
The unit is to be reviewed from different perspectives, including but not limited to the impact of AI on content and assessment, Unit Overview, Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs), and Graduate Attributes (GAs). Rationales for GAs must be included, as they are now mandatory. The review of the unit should also be conducted from the perspective of the courses for which the unit is delivered.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. formulate problems in business studies into a concise and precise research question;
  2. develop and employ ethical practices that consider social, cultural and legal responsibilities of researchers and the research process;
  3. critically evaluate published academic research, identify secondary data sources, and review extant literature, to develop a theoretical framework for a business problem or opportunity;
  4. choose and apply the appropriate research strategies (qualitative and/or quantitative) and techniques to best address the research problem;
  5. demonstrate the application of data analysis techniques and measurement concepts; and
  6. prepare and communicate a comprehensive research proposal.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Practical and Written Assessment • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • • • • •
2 - Communication • • • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • • •
4 - Research • • • • • •
5 - Self-management • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • • • • •
2 - Practical and Written Assessment • • • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • • • • •