1. Save this template to your school network or computer and alter it for your own assessment design or copy the below information into your school-based assessment instrument template.
2. Delete the information that is not relevant to your assessment, e.g. if the task is for Year 11, delete the Year 12 conditions. Information is provided in tables, so to delete, highlight the row you wish to remove, right click, and select Delete Rows .
3. Replace the red text with your school- and task-specific information.
4. Ensure all information has been completed, i.e. no red text remains.
5. Delete this instructional text.
QCAA# 141003
Insert context
This assessment technique is best used to determine student achievement in objectives from the dimensions:
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Knowledge and understanding
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Critical processes
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Communication.
This technique assesses research practices and the outcomes of the application of that research.
A research response may be presented in a variety of modes including written, spoken and/or multimodal.
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Examples include essay, magazine article, paper, research assignment.
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Students provide a response to a specific question or issue.
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The response may be supported by references or, where appropriate, tables of data, diagrams and flow charts.
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The response could be a persuasive argument or informative text.
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Students make a decision regarding the question, hypothesis or issue under investigation and support the decision with logical argument.
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The report may be in response to observations made and conclusions drawn from various sources, including case studies or experimental outcomes.
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A report will normally be presented with section headings. It will often include tables, graphs or diagrams and the analysis of statistical data.
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Action research is an inquiry approach in which a course of action or strategy is suggested and enacted. The focus for the action research is the evaluation of the enacted strategy. Suggestions are provided for improvement or reasons why the action/strategy did or did not work.
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This is a purposeful collection of work that can be used to document a variety of information, ideas and working processes.
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It contains decisions made and reasons or justifications for these decisions.
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Evidence of research, including the collection and sorting of data, must be included.
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Examples may include interviews, debates, webcasts, podcasts, and seminar presentations.
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Examples may include presentations, conferences, and digital presentations.
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Research instruments may require further evidence of how teachers have made their judgments. This may be research notes, journals or drafts. When a research assessment is presented as spoken or multimodal presentation schools will need to consider what further evidence is required to support teacher judgments.
This assessment occurs over a period of time, in class and in students’ own time.
Response length:
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written 800 –1000 words
(word count includes data analysis, discussion and research outcomes/recommendations)
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spoken
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multimodal
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–4 minutes
–5 minutes
This assessment occurs over a period of t ime, in class and in students’ own time.
Response length:

written

spoken

multimodal
1000 –1500 words
(word count includes data analysis, discussion and research outcomes/recommendations)
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5
–5 minutes
–7 minutes
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Establish a focus for the research, or work with the student to develop a focus.
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Allow class time for the student to effectively undertake each component of the research assessment. Independent student time will be required to complete the task.
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Implement strategies to promote the authenticity of student work. Some strategies include annotated notes such as journals or experimental logs, drafting, teacher observation sheets, research checklists, referencing, and reference lists.
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Consult, negotiate, monitor and provide feedback before and during the research assessment.

1. Replace the red text with your school- and task-specific information.
2. Make the standards instrument-specific. (Words may not be added to the standards except to specify the terminology, ideas and theories, data and information, issues, and audiences and purposes.)
3. The following words may be used in the singular: ideas and theories, data and information, arguments, issues, and audiences and purposes.
4. Ensure all information has been completed, i.e. no red text remains.
5. Delete this instructional text.
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The student work has the following characteristics:
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accurate and detailed descriptions and use of a wide range of terminology and factual information
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accurate and thorough explanations of complex ideas and theories
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accurate and detailed descriptions of the complex relationships between facts, ideas and theories.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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accurate descriptions and use
 of a range of terminology and factual information
accurate explanations of some complex ideas and theories
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accurate descriptions of the relevant connections between facts, ideas and theories.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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descriptions and use of terminology and factual information
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explanations of ideas and theories
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descriptions of the connections between facts, ideas and theories.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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accurate interpretation and discerning analysis of data, information, ideas, theories and issues and the relationships between these
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discerning evaluation of complex data and information
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convincing justification of decisions and judgments using significant evidence, effective argument and thorough discussion.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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accurate interpretation and analysis of data, information, ideas, theories and issues and the relationships between these
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evaluation of complex data and information
The student work has the following characteristics:
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interpretation and analysis of
 data, information, ideas, theories and issues and some of the relationships between these
some evaluation of data and information
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effective justification of decisions and judgments using relevant evidence, argument and discussion.
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appropriate justification of decisions and judgments using evidence, argument and discussion.
The student work has the following characteristics:

descriptions and use of some
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 terminology and factual information
simple explanations of aspects of ideas and theories
simple descriptions of some connections between facts, ideas or aspects of theories.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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some interpretation and analysis of data, information, ideas, theories and issues
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simple evaluation of data and information
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simple justification of decisions and judgments using variable evidence, simple argument or discussion.
The student work has the following characteristics:
The student work has the following characteristics:
The student work has the following characteristics:
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discerning selection and organisation, accurate recording and insightful presentation of data and information from a variety of significant sources
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discerning use of mode, genre and language conventions that communicates complex meaning and insightfully achieves particular purposes.
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effective selection and organisation, accurate recording and presentation of data and information from a variety of sources
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effective use of mode, genre and language conventions that communicates complex meaning and achieves particular purposes.
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appropriate selection, organisation, recording and presentation of data and information from sources
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appropriate use of mode, genre and language conventions that communicates meaning and achieves particular purposes.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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some selection, organisation, recording and presentation of data and information from sources
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use of mode, genre and language conventions that communicates some meaning and achieves basic purposes.
The student work has the following characteristics:
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simple descriptions of some
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superficial descriptions of some
The student work has the following characteristics:
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 terminology and factual information
superficial or inconsistent explanations of aspects of ideas or theories connections between facts, ideas or aspects of theories.
simple interpretation of aspects of data, information, ideas, theories and issues
simple evaluation of aspects of data or information
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superficial justification of decisions and judgments using variable and incomplete evidence, argument or discussion.
The student work has the following characteristics:

selection, organisation, recording or presentation of aspects of data or information
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inconsistent use of mode, genre and language conventions that communicates some meaning.
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