HSC Science Extension study plan

Define scientific thinking and distinguish it from pseudoscience and non-science using at least four explicit criteria

Compare inductive, deductive and abductive reasoning and construct one valid example of each

Explain how paradigms and theory change shape what counts as evidence, citing two historical episodes in your own words

Map the structure of Domain 1 into a concept diagram that links observation, hypothesis, theory and law

Evaluate the role of peer review, replication and reproducibility in establishing scientific claims

Analyse at least two case studies of scientific error or fraud and identify the failure point in each

Distinguish correlation from causation and identify confounds in three supplied scenarios

Summarise the ethical frameworks governing research conduct, including consent, animal ethics and data integrity

Identify a researchable question in your own field and justify why it is significant and feasible

Critique three published abstracts to extract the implicit research question, hypothesis and variables

Draft a testable hypothesis with clearly operationalised independent and dependent variables

Write a first draft of the literature review structure with at least eight credible sources located

Design a methodology that matches your research question, justifying qualitative, quantitative or mixed approach

Specify sampling strategy, sample size rationale and inclusion criteria

Construct a data collection instrument or protocol and pilot it with two volunteers

Draft a risk assessment and ethics application outline covering consent, confidentiality and data storage

Build a realistic timeline with dependencies and contingencies for the proposed research

Select appropriate statistical or analytical techniques and justify each against your data type

Identify potential sources of bias and error and state a mitigation for each

Prepare a full research proposal ready for peer feedback

Clean and code a practice dataset and document every transformation decision

Apply descriptive statistics and produce appropriate visualisations for the dataset

Interpret a p-value, confidence interval and effect size correctly without overclaiming

Distinguish statistical significance from practical significance using a worked example

Draw conclusions that are proportionate to the evidence and explicitly state limitations

Structure a discussion that links findings back to the literature and identifies further research

Draft results and discussion sections using precise, non-causal language where causality is not established

Peer-review a classmate's draft using a structured criteria checklist

Assemble the full research report to the required structure and referencing convention

Edit for concision, remove unsupported claims and verify every citation against its source

Prepare and rehearse a short oral defence of the research decisions made

Complete a final self-audit against the marking criteria for all four domains