The document provides guidance on creating an Independent Research Project (IRP) in three parts: a project plan, project diary, and final product. It discusses picking a focused topic related to course content and ensuring accessibility of resources. Various primary and secondary research methods are described, including surveys, interviews, questionnaires, case studies, observations, and literature reviews. The importance of organization, ethics, methodology, and keeping a diary are emphasized. Students are advised to develop a research proposal and timeline, and consider issues like validity and bias. The document offers examples and guidance on conducting different research techniques.

1. Steps to Create a

2. The IRP consists of 3 parts:
 The Project Plan:
 Provides an initial summary and outline of
the complete research process.
 The Project Diary:
 Is a record of an ongoing process; records
values, attitudes and feelings; reflects
honesty on problems encountered and their
solutions; records conversations, contacts,
readings and sources of secondary data;
and reflects the proposed timeline.

3. The IRP consists of 3 parts:
 The Product:
 Is to be research based and independent,
derived from a student’s own work. It may be
presented in a diversity of formats, such as
a written report, electronic presentation,
video presentation, oral report or multimedia
presentation.

4. Step 1 -Picking a Topic
 The topic chosen for the focus of the IRP should be
related to the course content in one or more of the
following areas:
 Resource Management
 Individuals
 Groups
 Families
 Communities

5.  Choose a topic you are interested in.
If you don’t like your topic and are doing it because it
seems easy (or some other reason) you will be less likely
to want to work on it.
 Make sure the topic is focused & specific. If the topic
is too broad you can end up overwhelmed with
information.
 Try to relate your topic to wellbeing, if possible.
Remember SPEEPS- social, physical, emotional,
economic, political and spiritual wellbeing. Wellbeing
is such a huge part of what CAFS is about. By picking a
topic related to wellbeing you will practice writing about it,
which will help for the trial and HSC exams.
 Resources need to be accessible locally and available
to you (primary and secondary resources)

6.  Your topic can be written as a hypothesis,
or as a research question.
 What is a hypothesis?
 A research topic is often written as a hypothesis.
It is a positive statement of what the
researcher expects to find out, or an idea that
he or she wants to test.
 Some examples of hypotheses in CAFS:
 -Bullying in schools is out of control
 -Australian sporting stars provide good role models
for teenagers
 -Working parents are the majority users of child
care
 -Gender-stereotyping is highly evident in the media

7. Some Examples”
 The media portrays unreal images of women
 The literacy level of migrants impacts on employment opportunities
 What are the influences of birth order on an individual’s behaviour?
 What are the effects of verbal bullying?
 The media encourages the sexualisation of children.
 The children of migrants are encouraged to follow their parent’s culture in preference to
following Australian culture.
 What are the impacts of domestic violence on children?
 What are the impacts of divorce on children?
 Are individuals who have been abused as children more likely to use drugs in
adulthood?

8. Step 2 – Be Organised
 Establish a system that works for you
and have the following items:
 A display folder
 IRP diary
 USB drive
 Document storage folders
 A folder on your desktop
 cbettiol@parra.catholic.edu.au
 edmodo

9. Step 3 –Develop a research proposal
 This is due on 25th October
 The proposal:
 Defines the research question
 Identifies the method to be used
 Outline the time period for conducting the research
 You need to:
• Recognise the proposed research topic and related question and
hypothesis.
• Explain why the topic was chosen.
• Identify possible secondary sources of data specific to your topic and
explain what they are about.
• Describe your choice of primary research methodologies that will be used
to collect data
• Briefly outline issues such as sampling, validity, reliability, and bias which
you may need to overcome.
• Develop a clear and realistic timeline of your research.

10. Things you will need to do from now
till you start the Product
 Need to develop questionnaires
 Need to interview people and hand out and get
back questionnaires
 Make telephone calls and arrange interviews
 Research the internet
 Visit the library and ask the librarian if she could
help you find 2 research papers in journals
based on your question
 Keep your questionnaires and info in a folder
 Always write in your diary!!!!!

11. Other questions that need to be
considered in your proposal
 Introduction outlining:
 Why you have chosen your research topic
 Your research question
 The research methods you will use
 Data needed outlining:
 The information you need to answer your question
including: statistics, descriptions and definitions,
literature to be reviewed

12. Other questions that need to be
considered in your proposal
 Research methods explaining:
 The data collection methods you will use e.g.
questionnaires, interviews, observations, case
studies.
 How you will conduct you’re your research
including: number of individuals to be involved,
time and location
 Timeline

13. Develop a timeframe
Week of the Project Details of what to be done
1 – 10th October Start Diary and formulate a question
2 – 17th October Develop a research proposal
3 – 24th October Hand in a research proposal (26th) and investigate
secondary resources, take notes DIARY CHECK
4 – 31st October Develop a questionnaire, check with teacher
5 - 7th November Interview people and get back questionnaires
6 – 14th November Write literature review section of the report, collate
interview results
7 – 21st November Analyse date and produce tables, etc, (need to hand
up diary to Mr Bettiol) DIARY CHECK
8 – 28th November Write first draft and Have IRP proofread
9 – 5th December Write second draft of IRP (check acknowledgments,
bibliography and appendices)
10 – 12th December Hand in IRP and Diary.

14. Research Proposal
 Introduction – statement of the problem
 Literature review – background
 Rationale
 Methodology
 Timeline
 Significance – expected outcomes
 References
 Your proposal needs to be written/typed
just like a essay or research paper.

15. Step 4 – Write in your diary
 Your diary is a record of the steps you take during the
development of your IRP.
 Need to record:
 Details of methods used
 Important dates and people or places that can help in the
research.
 Document research from beginning to the end.
 Records values, feelings and attitudes
 Reflects on honesty on problems encountered and their
solutions
 Records conversations, contacts, readings and sources of
secondary data.
 Reflects timeline.
 An example in text on page 166.
 http://mashable.com/2011/09/02/diary-journal-iphone/#245715-
Momento

17. Step 5 – Use a variety of sources of
data – Primary and Secondary
 Your first step should be to search for
secondary sources for what has already
been written about your chosen topic.
 For example:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/edmodo/MrBettiol/edwa
rds_etal.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=0CRWCTVCWB1
7SQPJGB82&Expires=1318932943&Signature=c
bJ2BP1ncpHzgp5hcyn%2FV8%2FiKi0%3D
 edwards_etal.pdf

18.  Libraries are a good place to start, such as
your school, local library, TAFE or Uni
 Look at the Internet (Google), computer
programs, television, podcasts, books,
journals, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets,
etc
 Search within these websites:
 ABC, SBS, Channel 9, Australian Bureau of
Statistics.
 This preliminary reading should help you
formulate the questions you want to ask in
your own research and is the beginning of
your literature review.

19.  As you find information, you should record
the name, source and publication details so
that it is available later when compiling your
bibliography.
 Later on in the research process you may
also use some of this secondary data for
comparison, discussion and analysis in your
results.

20. Collecting and recording data
 Primary research – important but also time
consuming. It is carried out first hand by
researchers and may involve in undertaking
interviews, carrying out observations,
distributing and collecting questionnaires or
developing a case study.

21.  Secondary research – sources that are
gathered by someone else. The information
has been processed in some way.
Secondary sources are often used to
support or add to the findingsof primary
research.

22. PRIMARY SOURCES
SURVEYS
INTERVIEWS
QUESTIONNAIRE
OBSERVATIONS
CASE STUDIES
RESEARCH
METHODS
SECONDARY SOURCES
STATISTICS
ANNUAL REPORTS
INTERNET
CD ROMS
BIOGRAPHIES
NEWSPAPERS
JOURNALS
VIDEOS / DVDS
GENERAL TEXTS

23. Quantitative and qualitative
research
 Research methodologies can be classified as
either quantitative or qualitative. Often a
combination of methodologies is used in a
research project.
 Quantitative research collects numerical data
and is sometimes referred to as research with
numbers. Focuses on measuring, collecting
and drawing relationships between facts
through statistics. The methodologies include
questionnaires, interviews and experiments.

24.  Qualitative research is concerned with
collecting information in a social context and
looks at interactions and relationships
between individuals and groups.
 Qualitative research is used to gain insight
into people's attitudes, behaviours, value
systems, concerns, motivations, aspirations,
culture or lifestyles.
 Includes observations, case studies,
interviews and questionnaires.

25. Step 6 – Consider ethics and issues
in research
 Privacy
 Respect for subjects of research
 Integrity of researcher
 Integrity of data
 HSC regulations
 Scholarship principles and practices
 Acknowledging sources
 Plagiarism
 Copyright
 Working with others

26. Step 7 – Research Methodology
 Depending on the purpose of the research,
particular research methodologies are used to
conduct it. Some methodologies are more
appropriate than others for studying particular
topics.
 The literature review helps to direct research to
be done.
 Survey
 Interviews
 Questionnaires
 Case Study
 Observation

27. Step 7a – Conduct a suitable
primary Research methodology
 Use either quantitative data or qualitative
data.
 Survey
 A survey is the process of conducting a study
involving a number of individuals or subjects.
 A survey uses either interviews or
questionnaires, conducted among a few or
many people.

28.  Interview
 The researcher talks to various respondents in person or over the
telephone, asking them questions about a particular topic.
 Interviews are usually conducted on a one-to-one basis, but
sometimes the researcher might have a focus group where
approximately three to eight people come together and are
interviewed simultaneously.
 The respondents’ answers are recorded in some way; either on a
checklist, in brief notes taken by the researcher, or by an audio or
video-recording.
 The researcher and the respondent should be clear on the
purpose of conducting the interview, and the researcher needs to
be well prepared and plan clear, unambiguous questions.
 The researcher must be careful not to dominate the discussion or
bias the answers by over-interpreting them.
 A structured interview is quite formal, with predetermined
questions being asked in the same sequence to all respondents.
 An unstructured interview is informal and tends to be more
flexible. Respondents are able to express themselves more
freely through discussion of topic areas, rather than answering
specific questions.

29.  When planning and carrying out an interview
researchers need to:
1. Decide on what information is needed and from whom.
2. Plan and write the questions using broad-based
questions on a checklist.
3. Decide on the sample size and the method of collection.
4. Prepare the recording method for the interview.
5. Pilot the interview (practise it on someone similar).
6. Conduct the interviews among the respondents.
7. Analyse the results.
Do 1,2 and 3 from above
What are the advantages and disadvantages of carrying
out an interview?

30. Questionnaire
 Gathering information from people using a planned set of
questions. The questionnaire may be oral, whereby a
researcher asks the respondents questions and records
the responses on a tally sheet, or written, whereby the
respondents record their own answers on the
questionnaire sheet.
 The questions may be closed - which limits possible
responses, or open -with the respondents able to express
opinions and make comments.
 Questionnaires can be used in many research situations.
They can be distributed to large populations and thus
provide a useful amount of data. They are reasonably
easy to interpret, especially those with closed questions.
They do require a lot of planning and preparation, however,
and respondents need to be made aware of the purpose of
the questionnaire.
 http://patienteducation.stanford.edu/research/cdquest.pdf

32. When developing and conducting questionnaires
researchers need to:
1. Decide on what information is needed and from
whom.
2. Design the questionnaire, with a limited number of
questions and a combination of closed and open
questions where possible.
3. Decide on the sample size and the method of
collection.
4. Pilot the questionnaire.
5. Conduct the survey in the required population.
6. Analyse the results.
Do 1,2,3 from above
What are the advantages and disadvantages of conducting a
questionnaire?

33.  Case Study
 The detailed investigation of one issue, such as a
person, an event, a community group or an institution.
A range of research techniques including interview,
observation and questionnaire may be used to
assemble the range of information needed about the
single issue.
 They are especially useful in finding out how and why.
 They usually require supporting research, and
generalisations are not often possible based on the
limited information gathered.
 They are often subjective and researchers can find it
difficult not to become involved and thus influence the
findings.

34. When developing a case study-based project
researchers need to:
1. Choose an appropriate topic to investigate and
a time period to cover it.
2. Decide on the appropriate research techniques
to use.
3. Plan and prepare the necessary materials for
collecting and recording data.
4. Carry out selected research techniques.
5. Collate the results collected.
6. Analyse the results.

35.  Observation
 Involves watching and recording what is seen.
 Can reveal a lot about group dynamics not always possible
with other methods.
 Participant observation involves the researcher taking
part in the group and observing from within. The
researcher has full access to the group and therefore gains
more knowledge and greater disclosure from members.
 Researchers tend to be subjective and are often biased,
and the researchers presence and actions may influence
the group’s dynamics if group members detect what the
researcher is there for and do not act naturally.
 Observations are time consuming.
 Non –participant observation involves the researcher
observing the group without participating. Researcher
more objective and finds it easier to record what is seen.

36. When developing an observation-based
project researchers need to:
1. Choose an appropriate site or group to
observe and a time period to cover it.
2. Decide what specifically to observe.
3. Design a data-recording sheet.
4. Conduct the observation.
5. Analyse the results.

37. Literature Review
 Involve researching books, articles, seminar papers,
websites or other secondary sources that contain material
about an issue. The ‘literature’ refers to any form of
information that has already been published in a particular
topic area.
 The aim of the literature review is to provide some
background information about the topic so that research
discussion makes more sense.
 All research should begin by reviewing existing sources so
that the researcher can learn from the work of others and
focus on what needs to be researched.
 All the materials accessed as part of the literature review
must be referenced and included in the project’s
bibliography.

38. Homework
 Bring at least 3 sources to class
tomorrow which would help you write up
a Literature review. You will be starting
that in class tomorrow.
 Books
 Articles
 Seminar papers
 Websites
 Journals

39. The introduction should include:
 the nature of the topic under discussion (the
topic of your thesis)
 the parameters of the topic (what does it
include and exclude)?
 the basis for your selection of the literature
The Introduction

40. The Body
The body paragraphs could include relevant paragraphs
on:
 historical background, including classic texts;
 possible approaches to the subject (empirical,
philosophical, historical, postmodernist, etc);
 definitions in use;
 current research studies;
 current discoveries about the topic;
 principal questions that are being asked;
 general conclusions that are being drawn;
 methodologies and methods in use;
 … and so on.

41. The Conclusion
The conclusion should include:
 A summary of major agreements and
disagreements in the literature
 A summary of general conclusions that are
being drawn.
 A summary of where your review sits in the
literature

42. How to write the review
1. Divide a sheet of A4 paper into 3 sections. Label the sections
Introduction, Main body and Conclusion.
2. Under the heading Introduction, write a sentence to summarise
your research topic. Add a brief summary of the literature that
provides the background to your research and sets the scene.
3. Under Main body, decide how you'll organise your literature review:
perhaps by theme, methodology or chronologically.
4. Hint: think about how the previous research on your topic has
developed. How has the subject developed over time? What are the
important landmarks or key studies?
5. Think about how you will use the literature to support your
hypothesis, but where possible, also include literature that offers a
different view point.
6. Remember: don't just report what's been written. You need to be
critical and make judgements about the validity and worth of
previous research.
7. Under Conclusion, re-state your research proposal, and write a
couple of sentences about why your research is important and
relevant in the context of the existing research. Think about how
your research is unique and what it will add to the existing literature
in the area.

43.  Enabling programs are a common and successful strategy for improving
educational opportunities and subsequent success for disadvantaged students
in the USA (Tripodi 1994), UK (Davies & Parry 1993), New Zealand (James
1994) and Australia (Postle, Clarke & Bull 1997).
 In the USA these tend to be intensive summer programs offered prior to
enrolment for ‘at risk' ‘minority' students; while for the UK, New Zealand and
Australia they tend to be pre-enrolment programs that facilitate access to higher
education by mainly mature students who lack conventional entry qualifications,
generally because of a background of disadvantage. (A distinction will be
drawn here to smaller scale ‘bridging programs' that address only very specific
aspects of preparedness, for example, bridging Mathematics programs for
enhancing the Maths skills of students entering technical fields. Although these
often represent important equity initiatives, their tight focus and relatively short
duration serve to distinguish them from the broader and more intensive enabling
programs that are the focus of this paper.)
 In an extensive study of the Scottish Wider Access (SWAP) Programs, Munn,
Johnstone & Robinson (1994) noted that such access programs have been:
'remarkably successful in attracting traditionally under-represented groups in
higher education' (p.73).

44. Analysing and Interpreting data
 Analysis and interpretation of the data
collected is a very significant part of the
research.
 It makes sense of the data and gives
meaning to the research findings. You need
to refer back to the research question to
help organise your data and focus your
analysis.

45.  Analysing involves clarifying the data and
highlighting important points, trends, common
elements, unexpected outcomes and
relationships between factors.
 When analysing quantitative data this will
usually mean tabulating the data and
establishing the mean, median, mode and
range of research results.

46. Setting Out Your IRP

47. Cover page

48. Table of Contents

49. The remainder
 Abstract
 Acknowledgements
 Introduction (Approximately 250 words)
 Literature Review (Approximately 400 words)
 Methodology (Approximately 500 words)
 Results and Findings (How ever much it takes!)
 Analysis and Discussion (Approx. 600 words)
 Summary and Conclusion (Approx. 300 words)
 Recommendations (approximately 100 words)
 Bibliography
 Appendix