Sharyn Roach Anleu
Professor of Sociology
School of Social and Policy Studies
Fellow of the Academy of the Social
Sciences in Australia
GPO Box 2100
Adelaide SA 5001
Tel: 08 8201 2122
Sharyn.roachanleu@flinders.edu.au
CRICOS Provider No. 00114A
Dr Debra King
28 May 2012
President,
The Australian Sociological Association
Email: admin@tasa.org.au
Dear Dr King
RE: Draft Threshold Learning Outcomes for Sociology: Consultation paper
Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback and commentary on the above document.
Members of the Discipline of Sociology at Flinders University (Dr Suzi Adams, Mr Daniel
Chaffee, Professor Anthony Elliott, Dr Eduardo de la Fuente, Emeritus Professor Riaz Hassan, Dr
Mary Holmes, Dr Constance Lever-Tracy, Dr Nik Taylor and myself) appreciate the efforts that
the Association has taken in regard to preparing this document and welcome the way in which it
will inform the sociology curriculum.
We would like to make a few comments.
I. Table 3, point 3: We would like to see the language strengthened, recognising that it is an
important balancing act between being too prescriptive on the one hand, but not being too general.
There are some instances where social research is conducted, in various public and private
organisations or proposed in the context of grant applications from individuals who may have
little training or knowledge of sociology or sociological research methods. Some staff members
have read grant applications from academics outside sociology that seem to view an empirical
project as involving a survey and some interviews, without any clear connection to a set of
research questions. Some more emphasis on the logic of social research and the importance of
systematic design and data collection would be helpful. We suggest the following amendment:
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the sociological research process and the diversity of
approaches to research. In particular, students should understand the logic and stages of
social research: ethics, methodology and methods, the importance of systematic
collection/creation of data, and the interpretation of findings.
II. As the scope and range of what gets included in the term ‘empirical’ research can be quite
broad, there needs to be a definition of ‘empirically based social research’.
III. In the Introductory section to the document we would like to see some more elaboration of the
relationship between sociology and the social sciences in general. As one of the social sciences,
sociology has traditionally had a strong theoretical and methodological connection with
anthropology, political science, history, human geography, gender studies, social psychology,
organization studies, demography, public policy and social policy studies. Sociology also
contributes to wider intellectual debates about society, social organization and the patterns
underlying different social worlds.
IV. A few more minor points:
At p. 6, the meaning of point 3. Engagement is not entirely transparent and we suggest
clarification.
p. 7, line 3 ‘variety oftopics’ change to ‘variety of topics’.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on this document. If you would like any further
clarification please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Yours sincerely
Sharyn Roach Anleu on behalf of members of the Sociology Discipline
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