STA1507/102/0/2024

Tutorial Letter 102/0/2024

Introduction to research skills

STA1507

Year module

Department of Statistics

Contents

1. Lecturer
2. Study Plan
3. Assignments
4. Examination
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Dear Student

Welcome to the module STA1507: Introduction to research skills and hope that you will find it
both interesting and rewarding. We shall do our best to make your study of this module successful.
You will be well on your way to success if you start studying very early in the year and resolve to
do the assignments properly.

1. Lecturer

Your lecturer responsible for module STA1507 for 2024 is:

Mr Michael Mampana

Department of Statistics

Room 6-04, G J Gerwel Building

Tel. 0116709260

Email: mampam1@unisa.ac.za

P. O Box 392

Science Campus (Florida)

UNISA

0003

2. Study Plan

Distance learning is not easy, and you should not underestimate the time and effort involved. Once you
have received your study material, please plan how you will approach and complete this module. Consult
my Studies @ Unisa for suggestions about general time management and planning skills.

This is a year module offered over 30 weeks and requires at least 120 hours of study time. This means
that you will have to study at least 4 hours per week for this module. Here is a suggested schedule that
you could use as a guideline for studying this module.

Time Activities

Registration until end of May Part 1 of study guide: Research and ethics.

Prepare Assignment 1.

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June Part 2 of study guide: Data collection and analysis, questionnaire

design, reporting on data.

Prepare Assignment 2.

July Part 2 of study guide and preparing for projects.

Prepare Assignment 3.

August - October Project A: Plan a research project.

Project B: Analyse and report on secondary data.

Submit and implement feedback from draft projects.

Submit final projects (Assignments 4 and 5).

3. Assignments
• The closing dates for the submission of the assignments are:

Assignment Assignment Due Date Unique number

Number

01 Assignment 17 May 2024 561741

02 Assignment 28 June 2024 506582

03 Assignment 31 July 2024 506654

Project A 31 October 2024 222396

Project B 31 October 2024 231232

• Formative assessment means assessment of your work while you are still studying. This is
particularly important in distance learning since it might sometimes be the only way you
can get feedback on how you are doing, while you can still benefit from it. In this module,
formative assessment is through the assignments. There are three assignments,
Assignment 1, 2 and 3. In addition to the assignments, there will be self-assessment tasks
which will help you make sure that you have mastered the content correctly.

• Summative assessment in this module is the mark you get for your project. Note that you
will not write an examination in this module.

• Your final mark is calculated from your project mark (which counts for 80%) and from your
year mark (which counts for 20%). The year mark is determined by how well you did in
your assignments, and is the average calculated from your three assignments.
Assignments not submitted on time count as 0%.

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• There is also a subminimum rule, which says that you must get at least 40% in the project
to pass the module; if you project mark is less than 40% then the year mark will not be
taken into account and you will not pass the module.

• The project consists of two subprojects Project Part A and Project Part B, which are
numbered as Assignment 4 and Assignment 5 respectively. Each subproject counts for
50% of the final project mark, that is, your project mark is the average of the two marks.
The content of the projects will be explained in more detail in the tutorial letters containing
the instructions for the project part A and part B. These tutorial letters will be made
available later in the year.
• You pass the module if your final mark is at least 50, and you pass it with distinction if your
final mark is at least 75.
• The contribution of each of the assignments to your year mark is as follows:

Assignment no. % contribution to year mark

1 33%

2 33%

3 34%

Project A 50%

Project B 50%

4. Examination

This module will not have an examination. Your final mark is determined by the two projects.

Enjoy your Introduction to research skills!

Michael Mampana