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1 | > **DRAFT** — under teacher review. |
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| 3 | # Explaining vs Describing Your Data Collection |
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| 5 | Hamilton College · Year 12 · 2026 |
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| 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | The jump from 7–8 to 9–10 on Indicator 1 (Data Collection) comes down to a single word in the rubric: **"explains"** instead of **"describes"**. Every year, students hit 7–8 and can't understand why — it is almost always this. |
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9 | > [!TIP] |
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| 10 | > Read your `data-collection-plan.md` and circle every sentence that contains the word *"because"*. If there are fewer than three, you are *describing*, not *explaining* — and you will cap at 7–8 regardless of how thorough the plan is. |
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12 | --- |
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| 13 | ||||||||
| 14 | ## The rubric in plain language |
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| 16 | | Band | What the rubric actually says | What that means in practice | |
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| 17 | |---|---|---| |
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| 18 | | **7–8** | *Describes how the data collected will be used to determine user characteristics and the technical environment* | You say **what** the data is for. "I used interviews to find out what features users want." | |
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| 19 | | **9–10** | *Explains the use of the selected data collection methods* | You say **why** this method was the right choice for this kind of data. "I chose interviews over surveys because I needed qualitative insight into workflows that users couldn't easily articulate in a questionnaire." | |
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| 21 | The word "explains" requires a **reason** — not just a statement. |
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| 23 | --- |
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| 24 | ||||||||
| 25 | ## Side-by-side: same plan, two different bands |
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| 27 | The scenario: a student whose project is a school assignment tracker. They used interviews and a survey. |
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| 29 | ### 7–8 version (describing) |
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| 31 | > I used an interview with my client to find out what features they wanted in the assignment tracker. I also used a survey to ask students which subjects gave them the most homework. These helped me determine the requirements for the system. |
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| 33 | **What's missing:** There is no reason given for *why* an interview was chosen over, say, a survey. There is no reason given for *why* a survey was used for students rather than interviewing them. The student is describing what happened, not explaining the decision. |
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| 35 | ### 9–10 version (explaining) |
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| 37 | > I chose an interview for my initial data collection because my client — a teacher — needed to articulate complex workflow preferences that a survey's fixed-choice responses couldn't capture. A face-to-face conversation allowed me to follow up on unexpected answers in real time. I then chose a survey for the broader student group because I needed **countable data** — specifically, which subjects generated the highest homework load — and a survey's closed-ended questions give me numbers I can rank. Interviewing 30 students would have been impractical in the available time, and quantitative data served the purpose better here. |
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| 39 | **What's there:** Each method has a **reason** tied to the *type of data needed* and the *practical constraints*. The student is not just listing methods — they are justifying each one against the alternatives they did not choose. |
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| 41 | --- |
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| 42 | ||||||||
| 43 | ## The formula for an "explaining" sentence |
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45 | ::: success |
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46 | > I chose **[method]** over **[alternative method]** because I needed **[type of data / depth / scale]**, and **[method]** allows me to **[specific advantage]**. |
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48 | Write one of these for **each** of your three or more data collection methods. If you can't complete the sentence, you do not yet know why you chose that method — and the examiner will ask. |
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| 49 | ::: |
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50 | |||||||
| 51 | --- |
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53 | ::: danger |
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| 54 | **Common traps** |
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55 | |||||||
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56 | - **"I used interviews because they are good for qualitative data."** — Still describing (a general property of interviews), not explaining your specific choice. Add: *why did this project need qualitative data at this stage?* |
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| 57 | - **"I chose three methods to get a variety of data."** — *"Variety"* is not a reason. Name what each method adds that the others cannot. |
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| 58 | - **"I used surveys because they are easy to send out."** — Convenience is not a justification the rubric rewards. Reframe: *a survey allowed me to reach all 80 students in the year level simultaneously, which an interview schedule could not achieve within the one-week collection window.* |
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| 59 | ::: |
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60 | |||||||
| 61 | --- |
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| 62 | ||||||||
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63 | ::: info |
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| 64 | **Why VCAA cares** |
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66 | The C2-1 validation is a **presentation** — the examiner will ask follow-up questions. A student who has only described their methods will struggle to answer *"Why didn't you just use a survey for everything?"*. A student who has explained their choices has already answered that question in their own plan. |
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68 | Practise saying your explanations *out loud* before the validation. If you stumble, rewrite. The rubric rewards understanding, not recall. |
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| 69 | ::: |
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70 | |||||||
| 71 | --- |
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| 72 | ||||||||
| 73 | ## See also |
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| 75 | - C02 Resources: [external reading and videos](/sd/Resources/C02-Resources) |
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| 76 | ||||||||
| 77 | --- |
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| 78 | ||||||||
| 79 | ← Back to [VCE Software Development Hub](/sd/VCE%20Software%20Development%20Hub) |
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