Partnering Students in Practical Research

While G08 universities are marketed as research intensive, there has been little opportunity for Bachelor of Social Science students enrolled at the University of Adelaide to receive dedicated research training. Social Research Advanced (SRA) was designed for students to experience and practice the various stages in the research process from design, literature review, ethics, field work, and finally, the writing of the research report. Student response to driving their own research was that it provided a more dynamic, practical and ‘hands on’ approach to understanding and ‘doing’ social research. This “learning by exuberance” (Nygaard, Højl & Hermansen, 2008) finding resonates with other academics from different disciplinary backgrounds who have included student research projects in their teaching (Frishman, 2001; Hequet, 2010; Bernard, 2011).