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ASSESSMENT GUIDE
COMM5000
Data Literacy
Policy Analysis of Family Carers:
Descriptive Insights & Causal Impact
Milestone 1 Information
Term 1, 2026
Assessment Summary
Assessment Task
|
Weighting
|
Due Date*
|
Course Learning Outcomes
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Milestone 1: Case Study Preliminary Insight Development (due in Week 4 25%)
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2 5 %
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Week 4 (Sunday 11:59 PM)
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1, 2
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Milestone 2: Case study project proposal
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2 5 %
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Week 7 (Sunday 11:59PM)
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1, 2, 3, 4
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Case Study business report
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50%
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Week 11 (Friday 11:59 PM)
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2, 3, 4, 5
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* Due dates are set at Australian Eastern Standard/Daylight Time (AEST/AEDT). If you are located in a different time-zone, you can use the time and date converter. UNSW Business School
Assessment Administrative Details (Check Course Outline/Moodle)
Turnitin
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You can find out more information on the Turnitin information site for students.
Late Submissions
The parameters for late submissions are outlined in the UNSW Assessment Implementation Procedure. For COMM5000, if you submit your assessments after the due date, you will incur penalties for late submission unless you have Special Consideration (see below). Late submission is 5% per day (including weekends), calculated from the marks allocated to that assessment (not your grade). Assessments will not be accepted more than 5 days late.
Extensions
You are expected to manage your time to meet assessment due dates. If you do require an extension to your assessment, please make a request as early as possible before the due date via the special consideration portal on myUNSW (My Student profile > Special Consideration). You can find more information on Special Consideration and the application process below. Lecturers and tutors do not have the ability to grant extensions.
Special Consideration
Special consideration is the process for assessing the impact of short-term events beyond your control (exceptional circumstances), on your performance in a specific assessment task.
What are circumstances beyond my control?
These are exceptional circumstances or situations that may:
• Prevent you from completing a course requirement,
• Keep you from attending an assessment,
• Stop you from submitting an assessment,
• Significantly affect your assessment performance.
Available here is a list of circumstances that may be beyond your control. This is only a list of examples, and your exact circumstances may not be listed.
You can find more detail and the application form on the Special Consideration site, or in the UNSW Special
Consideration Application and Assessment Information for Students.
CASE STUDY INFORMATION-- Data-Driven Policy Analysis for Australia’s Family Carers: From Descriptive Insights to Causal Impact Evaluation
Policy Context: Australia's Family Carers
Australia relies on 2.8 million informal carers providing essential support to family members with disabilities and age-related needs. These carers forgo an average of $392,000
in lifetime earnings and $175,000 in superannuation. They show double the psychological distress rates (32.5% vs 16.9%) and often reduce work hours or exit employment.
Government policies like Carer Payment and Carer Allowance provide income support but fall short. Carer Payment covers less than 30\% of average earnings, forcing financial trade-offs.
The National Carer Strategy 2024-2034 sets a 10-year vision to build a ``carer-ready Australia” through four pillars: recognition, support, sustainability, and flexibility. Key goals
include increasing carer workforce participation by 20%, reducing financial disadvantage, and embedding carer supports in employment systems by 2034.
Understanding caregiving's labour market impacts enables targeted policy design. Statistical analysis quantifies these trade-offs, identifies high-need groups, and evaluates payment effectiveness for better resource allocation.
From a welfare view, equitable support prevents poverty among carers, who are mostly women balancing care and work. Policymakers must evaluate carer payments' impact on mental health, employment, and life satisfaction to design sustainable welfare.
This research paper is a good read if you are interested in this topic in general:
Effects of Informal Caring on Labour Market Outcomes of Carers: Evidence from HILDA
Your role as a Data Scientist
You work as a Research Analyst at a leading independent economic research institute that delivers data-driven studies to inform public policy. Your team has
secured funding from government and philanthropic sources to examine family carers' labour market outcomes using longitudinal survey data.
Your institute's 10-year research agenda focuses on quantifying caregiving trade-offs, evaluating program effectiveness, and identifying evidence-based policy solutions. This study contributes to the national
Accessing Your Personalised Dataset
Your unique 3,000-observation sample is available through UNSW OneDrive:
• Navigate to: https://unswmy.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/z3067466_ad_unsw_edu_au/IgA2mtYJMEW_S7hRq60NBmFSAXhZ0dHEQOP3OX6k2Lumbhk?e=wJR6N1}{UNSW
OneDrive
• Locate your file: z[YourStudentID].csv (e.g., z5735648.csv)
• Download only your assigned dataset
Understanding Synthetic HILDA Data
You analys
e synthetic HILDA data derived from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. HILDA has tracked 17,000 Australians across 19 waves (2001--2024), documenting economic and personal well-being trajectories.
Synthetic data characteristics: Statistically generated to exactly replicate real HILDA distributions, correlations, and relationships without using actual respondent records. Privacy-protected for teaching. Each student's random 3,000-observation sample yields population representative results.
Key Variables Reference
MILESTONE 1: Preliminary Insight Development
Report details
Week 4, Sunday 11:59PM
2
5
%
Report: This is individual work. Reports will be checked for plagiarism.
Max 1000 words (not including tables, graphs, and references)
Via Moodle course site
Description of Milestone 1 assessment task & Stakeholder Policy Brief
Research Objective: Diagnostic analysis to quantify carer labour market disadvantage and payment coverage gaps. Expected output: Policy brief with executive visualisations
for institute publication and stakeholder briefings.
Address the following stakeholders’ research questions (RQ).
Stakeholder Research Questions
Research Question RQ1.
Welfare Agency concern: ``Our budget targets priority groups. How do mental health and employment outcomes vary across age (20-40, 41-60, 60+), gender, and metro/regional location? Which demographics warrant expanded income support?''
Descriptive Statistics Needed:
• Mean and SD of mental_health_mcs by age group, gender, region_metro
• Percentage employed by age group, gender, region_metro
Research Question RQ2.
Treasury Evaluation: ``Current payments cost $7B annually. Where do recipients versus non-recipients show the largest gaps in income, hours worked, and life satisfaction by state and demographics? Which regions justify increased funding?''
Descriptive Statistics Needed:
• Median annual_income by carer_payment (0/1), state, gender
• Mean hours_worked by carer_payment, state
• Mean life_satisfaction by carer_payment, state
• Gap calculations (recipient - non-recipient) for each metric
Research Question RQ3.
Workplace Policy Unit: ``Employers need flexible work guidelines. How does caregiving intensity (hours/week) correlate with employment rates and income loss across low/medium/high care levels?''
Descriptive Statistics Needed:
• Percentage employed by care intensity bins (0, 1--10, 11--30, 30+ hours)
• Median annual_income by care intensity bins
• Mean hours\_worked by care intensity bins
• Correlation coefficient: care_intensity vs hours_worked
Research Question RQ4.
Health Department:``Family health shocks trigger caregiving. Post-shock, how do mental health scores, life satisfaction, and work hours differ across education levels and family types? Where should we target prevention?''
Descriptive Statistics Needed:
• Mean mental_health_mcs by family_health_shock (0/1) and education quartiles
• Mean life_satisfaction by shock status and education level
• Mean hours_worked by shock status and marital_status
• Difference in means (shocked - not shocked) for each subgroup
Research Question RQ5.
Program Integrity Team: ``30% of eligible carers receive no payment. What proportion shows zero payments despite high care intensity or disability support needs? Profile these coverage gaps by age, location, and gender.''
Descriptive Statistics Needed:
• Percentage with carer_payment=0 AND high care intensity (>median)
• Percentage with carer_payment=0 AND disability_support=1
• Breakdown by age group, state, gender of missed cases
• Count and percentage of the total sample
Milestone 1 Resources (Available on Moodle)
• COMM5000_Master_Template (Excel)
• COMM5000_Policy_Brief_Rubric (Excel)
• COMM5000_Master_Template_Instructions (pdf)
• Week3_RQ1_Excel_Formula (pdf)
• COMM5000_Excel_Compliance_Checklist (Excel)