This course will introduce students to contemporary issues in work and employment. 6 topics will be selected because they are current research interests of staff members and, therefore, contemporary research issues. Each unit will focus on an extended contribution from the author about the research reported in the article. They will discuss the challenges and decisions they faced in the research process and how the article took the form it did. In this way, students will become familiar with the complexities of research and writing, thereby preparing them for their dissertation. Students will be encouraged to develop a critical analysis of the process of undertaking research and writing about a topic.

The course is timetabled to run in Semester 2, with 12 formal contact hours delivered face to face.

6 x 2 hour in-person classes over 3 weeks (February)

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Intended Learning Outcomes

1. To familiarise students with a range of contemporary research issues that staff members in the area of work and employment have been working on. Topics may include managing professionals in the public sector, romance at work, organising precarious workers, and others that reflect staff research and publication expertise.

2. To develop an awareness of the complexity of undertaking research in the social world, thereby helping them prepare for their dissertation research.

3. To engage students in the process of critical reflection on the processes of writing about research findings.

4. To extend the critical analysis skills of students in reflecting on published materials (journal articles, reports etc.) through discussion of decisions made during the research and writing process.  

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

1. Critically reflect on the complex processes involved in undertaking research in the social world.

2. Demonstrate an understanding of the complex processes involved in writing about research evidence gained through social research on work and employment, thereby helping prepare them for dissertation research.

3. Critically evaluate the research and writing decisions made that lead to published studies in contemporary areas of debate about work and employment, thereby extending their critical reading skills.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.