Course Title: Research Methods for Engineering & Related Disciplines

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Research Methods for Engineering & Related Disciplines

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
OENG1085	City Campus	Research	120H Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2014, Sem 1 2015, Sem 2 2015, Sem 1 2016, Sem 2 2016

Flexible Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
OENG1085	City Campus	Research	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	RSCHYr2017 ()

Course Coordinator: Professor Dinesh Kumar

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 1954

Course Coordinator Email: dinesh.kumar@rmit.edu.au​

Course Coordinator Location: 105.09.007

Course Coordinator Availability: by appointment

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

• The student should have a degree in Engineering or related disciplines.
• A body of knowledge that includes the understanding of recent development in one or more disciplines.
• Knowledge of research principles and methods applicable to the field of work or learning.
 

Course Description

This course will enable higher degree by research candidates to plan and conduct advanced research in order to create new knowledge in the engineering field and related disciplines. In this course you will:
• Further develop their knowledge of the philosophy and practice of research in the field of engineering and related disciplines.
• Be exposed to a range of literatures pertinent to Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science fields.
• Deepen their understanding of the broad range of methods and techniques for research in the engineering and cognate fields and the processes for critically evaluating each method for the purposes of designing a research project.
• Refine their critical and creative thinking and communication skills to the high level required from professional researchers in these fields.

 

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

By the end of this course you will be able to:
• Critically evaluate a range of research methods and techniques and be able to create a convincing written rationale for selecting them.
• Craft research questions pertinent to the fields of engineering and related disciplines, based in an extensive knowledge of the relevant literature.
• Design a research project of appropriate scope for a higher degree by research candidature.
• Write a literature review which supports a research project and states clearly the project’s contribution to knowledge
 

Overview of Learning Activities

During this course you will participate with colleagues and experts in online resources. You will work in small groups and communicate while in the classroom settings. 

There will be minimal lectures. The style of this course will be problem based learning. 

 

You will discuss your own research ideas, and that of others. You will learn the need for publishing and given an exposure to the process. Issues related to evidence, rigour, and significance of the research will be discussed. Research ethics, authorship, and misconduct issues will be considered. Employment and associated issues post research studies will be discussed. 
 

Overview of Learning Resources

There is no one set text for this course, but Research Methods for Successful PhD (Rivers publishers) is recommended. List of references will also be provided by lecturers offering different topics of this course. 

 

Overview of the course:

There will be 39 hours of interactive style lectures where the some of the topics that will be covered are:

Purpose of and definition of research

Aim of research degrees,

Identifying the different stake-holders, and their roles

Expectations of students and their supervisors.

Purpose and Method for assessing research outputs

Style of writing for publications, and other reports.

Method for literature review, critical review of literature.

Research integrity

Experimental design and data analysis

Hypothesis, research questions and methodology

Research planning and milestones

Research Proposal

Potential of conflicts, methods for resolution and University rules

Communication- Formal and Informal.

What after PhD? How to start planning for the future.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment of this subject will typically be in four parts:
1.Participation in the discussions. 
This will develop and assess the communication skills of the student. It will assess their team working capability, and ability to work to time schedules. 

2. Submission of the assignments. 
These assignments are designed to test the written communication skills and their skills at developing their research proposals. 
 

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or the Disability Liaison Unit if you would like to find out more.

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies and procedures which are described and referenced in a single document here.