Overview
This advanced course develops the principles and practices required to design, evaluate, and communicate research in data-enabled professional settings. Students examine the research cycle from problem formulation and literature review through design selection, measurement, sampling, data collection, analysis planning, interpretation, and dissemination.
The course addresses exploratory, descriptive, correlational, experimental, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, cross-sectional, mixed-methods, and implementation-oriented designs. Emphasis is placed on causal questions and estimands, construct operationalisation, validity, reliability, bias, confounding, effect modification, missing data, power, precision, feasibility, sampling frames, recruitment, protocol development, preregistration, stakeholder engagement, community participation, and ethical review.
Applied assessments require students to critique published research, formulate answerable questions, develop a complete research proposal, construct a data management and analysis plan, anticipate threats to inference, and communicate design choices to technical and non-technical audiences.
Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate research questions, literature, and practical problems to identify answerable and appropriately scoped objectives.
- Synthesize evidence to justify exploratory, descriptive, correlational, experimental, quasi-experimental, longitudinal, cross-sectional, mixed-methods, and implementation-oriented designs.
- Construct operational definitions, measurement strategies, sampling plans, recruitment procedures, and data collection protocols aligned with stated research objectives.
- Evaluate validity, reliability, bias, confounding, effect modification, missing data, power, precision, and feasibility in proposed and published studies.
- Distinguish association from causation by specifying causal questions, estimands, assumptions, and appropriate analytic strategies.
- Develop a preregistration-ready research protocol incorporating ethical review, data governance, stakeholder engagement, and community considerations.
- Design an analysis-ready data management and analysis plan that addresses reproducibility, data quality, confidentiality, and dissemination.
- Defend research design choices and communicate methodological limitations clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Workshop | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 2 hours | Fortnightly | All semester |
| Practicum | 2 hours | Fortnightly | Second term |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Published study critique portfolio (2 × 10%) | 20.00% |
| Assignment | Research question and design brief | 15.00% |
| Deliverable | Data management and analysis plan | 15.00% |
| Tutorial | Proposal presentation | 10.00% |
| Test | Practical research design test | 15.00% |
| Capstone | Complete research proposal | 25.00% |
Prerequisites
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.
