Grade descriptors and other information concerning grading are contained in the Macquarie University Assessment Policy.

All final grades are determined by a grading committee, in accordance with the Macquarie University Assessment Policy, and are not the sole responsibility of the Unit Convenor.

Students will be awarded a final grade and a mark which must correspond to the grade descriptors specified in the Assessment Procedure (clause 128).

To pass this unit, you must demonstrate sufficient evidence of achievement of the learning outcomes, meet any ungraded requirements, and achieve a final mark of 50 or better.

Quiz

The Quiz is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of key concepts from the initial parts of the unit. The Quiz will be conducted through iLearn and will be a mixture of multiple choice and short answer questions. The Quiz is not timed, but all responses will be automatically submitted at the due time. No late submissions will be permitted unless special consideration has been granted. No further submissions will be accepted after the results are returned and feedback is released.

Research Evaluation Form information

The Research Evaluation Form is designed to help you with the process of planning your empirical project. It consists of a series of short answer questions, to which you will be required to write a response. Responses may include Stata syntax. The questions contained in the form will be made available in Week 1. All submissions are to be through Turnitin in iLearn.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (OF THE TOTAL POSSIBLE MARK) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.

For example:

For any late submissions of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration. 

Final examination information

The final exam for this unit is currently scheduled to occur on Macquarie University campus. Students are expected to make themselves available for the final exam, in line with the Assessment Policy and Procedure.

This will be a 2-stage exam, with a team-work component. The exam will be a mixture of multiple choice and “fill in the blank” short answer questions. The procedure is such that you will first sit the exam individually, and then immediately afterwards in the same time slot you will do the exam again in groups of approximately four. The exams will then be graded such that 90% of the score comes from the individual attempt, and 10% from the group attempt, unless the individual attempt is better than the group attempt, in which case the student will get 100% of their score from the individual attempt.

The Unit Convenor will be allocating all students to groups. The group allocations will be posted to iLearn in the week prior to the exam. All allocations will be completely random and based on a random number generator.

If a student misses the exam due to illness or other unavoidable circumstances they can sit a supplementary exam which will contain only an individual component, with no group component. If a student has special circumstances such as the need for a longer testing time, they will sit the individual exam at the same time as the rest of the group, but they may start the exam earlier to enable them to finish the individual component with enough time to commence the group component with the rest of their group.

Students who are unable to sit an examination must submit an Application for Special Consideration form (supporting documentation from a medical or health care professional clearly stating the reasons for the absence from the exam must be attached to your submission). The only exception to not sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption. In these circumstances you may wish to consider applying for Special Consideration.

If a Supplementary Examination is granted as a result of the Special Consideration process, the examination will usually be held one week after the original examination date. 

Supplementary Exams are only offered to students who have satisfactorily completed all other assessments for the unit and were unable to sit the final exam because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption.

You are advised that it is Macquarie University policy not to set early examinations for individuals or groups of students. All students are expected to ensure that they are available until the end of the teaching semester, which is the final day of the official examination period.

Illness or Significant Disruption to Assessments

In the event of illness or significant disruptions during an examination or timed assessment, students must promptly cease their work. If the incident occurs in a classroom setting, they must inform the supervisor or invigilator immediately. If the disruption takes place outside the classroom, it should be reported immediately to the appropriate course authority. Subsequently, students are required to submit an application for special consideration.

Students who have already submitted an assessment or participated in an examination or timed assessment without reporting any issues during the assessment process will only be considered for a second opportunity to undertake that assessment only under exceptional circumstances. The decision to grant a second opportunity will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with careful consideration given to the nature and validity of the exceptional circumstances that significantly affected their performance in the initial assessment. A statement of fact cannot suffice as evidence in such cases.

As a student enrolled in this unit, you will engage in a range of online and face to face learning activities, including readings, videos and live Q&A sessions. Details can be found on the iLearn site for this unit.

Textbooks

There are two textbooks for this unit, both available through the Library:

Tabachnick, B., & Fidell, L. (2019). Using Multivariate Statistics (7th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

Keith, T. Z. (2019). Multiple regression and beyond: an introduction to multiple regression and structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Please note that the previous editions of the textbooks will be acceptable for use in this unit. Page numbers may differ from those noted for the most recent editions, and you should check carefully with the library holdings of the prescribed editions that the content is equivalent.

Additional reading

There is an additional reading for the week on power and sample size:

Lachin, J. M. (1981). Introduction to sample size determination and power analysis for clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials, 2, 93-113.

Classes

Thirteen weeks: 12 x 2-hour lecture and 1-hour demonstration, with final examination held in the Week 13 lecture slot. The only exception to this is Week 7, where the scheduled class time falls on a public holiday. For that week, online recordings will be made available, and you may choose from one of two optional modules: 1) multi-level modelling or 2) qualitative research methods. Please take whichever module is most of interest to you, or if you already have a thesis supervisor allocated, discuss with them which of those modules would be most beneficial for you to take.

Lectures will involve demonstrations of Stata procedures, using various examples. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptop with Stata installed, but this is not required. Theoretical issues will also be discussed during the lectures.

Practical exercises will be set each week for students to undertake in their own time. The following week there will be a demonstration session in addition to the lecture in which the lecturer will show (live) how they would approach the exercises. Students are encouraged to bring their own laptop computers to demonstration sessions to follow along. Questions are encouraged during this session in particular.

This version of the unit is “In person scheduled weekday”. Students should not attend on-campus classes if you are unwell or have any cold and flu-like symptoms. Ensure you follow the most recent University COVID-19 advice https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs/information-for-students

Technology Used

Active participation in the learning activities throughout the unit will require students to have access to a tablet, laptop or similar device. Students who do not own their own laptop computer may borrow one from the university library.

Social inclusion at Macquarie University is about giving everyone who has the potential to benefit from higher education the opportunity to study at university, participate in campus life and flourish in their chosen field. The University has made significant moves to promote an equitable, diverse and exciting campus community for the benefit of staff and students. It is your responsibility to contribute towards the development of an inclusive culture and practice in the areas of learning and teaching, research, and service orientation and delivery. As a member of the Macquarie University community, you must not discriminate against or harass others based on their sex, gender, race, marital status, carers' responsibilities, disability, sexual orientation, age, political conviction or religious belief. All staff and students are expected to display appropriate behaviour that is conducive to a healthy learning environment for everyone.

In the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, professionalism is a key capability embedded in all our courses.

As part of developing professionalism, students are expected to attend all small group interactive sessions including clinical, practical, laboratory, work-integrated learning (e.g., PACE placements), and team-based learning activities. Some learning activities are recorded (e.g., face-to-face lectures), however you are encouraged to avoid relying upon such material as they do not recreate the whole learning experience and technical issues can and do occur. As an adult learner, we respect your decision to choose how you engage with your learning, but we would remind you that the learning opportunities we create for you have been done so to enable your success, and that by not engaging you may impact your ability to successfully complete this unit. We equally expect that you show respect for the academic staff who have worked hard to develop meaningful activities and prioritise your learning by communicating with them in advance if you are unable to attend a small group interactive session.

Another dimension of professionalism is having respect for your peers. It is the right of every student to learn in an environment that is free of disruption and distraction. Please arrive to all learning activities on time, and if you are unavoidably detained, please join activity as quietly as possible to minimise disruption. Phones and other electronic devices that produce noise and other distractions must be turned off prior to entering class. Where your own device (e.g., laptop) is being used for class-related activities, you are asked to close down all other applications to avoid distraction to you and others. Please treat your fellow students with the utmost respect. If you are uncomfortable participating in any specific activity, please let the relevant academic know.