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HIP102 Research Skills Guide

Step 1: Your assessment task

Before you begin searching for information for your assessment, it’s essential to clearly understand the task and the topic you need to research. This process is called topic analysis.

Here’s how to get started:

  1. Review Your Subject Outline: Check the assessment details provided in your Subject Outline to understand the requirements and expectations.
  2. Clarify Any Uncertainties: If you’re unsure about any aspect of the task or topic, don’t hesitate to contact your subject coordinator for guidance and clarification.

Watch the video below to learn more about topic analysis:

Your HIP102 assessment task

HIP102 assessment task:

In this assessment you will begin to explore the different research paradigms and methods used in research. For this task you are required to select two articles published in the last 10 years on a particular topic of your interest. The articles must report two distinct research approach or methodology to answer the research question. One of these articles needs to include Australian First Nations people as research participants.

To demonstrate how to develop a search strategy and locate journal articles, in this guide we’ll use the example topic “allied health.”

You can easily adapt this example to a topic relevant to your field of study or personal interest. Simply replace “allied health” with your specific area of focus (e.g., “occupational therapy,” “exercise science,” “physiotherapy,” or “podiatry”) to locate articles featuring primary research in your chosen field.

Keywords and synonyms

Once you understand your task and have selected a topic, you then need to plan your information search. Start by brainstorming and identifying keywords and synonyms. Keywords are the terms that describe your topic. 

  1. Start with your key topic and concept words from your topic analysis.

  2. Then make a list of synonyms. Remember to include spelling variations.

Keywords Synonyms
allied health health professions, health science professions
research approach

qualitative research, quantitative research, mixed methods, research methods
Australian First Nations people First Nations, Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal Australians, Torres Strait Islanders

 

Charles Sturt University acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which its campuses are located, paying respect to Elders, both past and present, and extend that respect to all First Nations Peoples.Acknowledgement of Country

Charles Sturt University is an Australian University, TEQSA Provider Identification: PRV12018. CRICOS Provider: 00005F.