For students in an undergraduate honours program or a higher degree by research, this course is the first stage of a coherent academic program at Masters level (leading to PhD) which includes development of research skills, of research question(s) for the thesis, and completion of the thesis in that order. Thus, this course is compulsory for those students and should normally be attempted as the first course in their program.

This course is also available as an elective to those students in the Master of Taxation. The study guide for Research Methods in Taxation and Business Law comprises five modules:

Module 1 - Overview of research

Module 2 - Approaches to legal research

Module 3 - Quantitative methods

Module 4 - Qualitative methods

Module 5 - Mixed methods.