According to Refrew and Bahn (2000:71), archaeologists (and indeed most scientific professions) will usually follow a research design, a procedure that has four broad stages, in order to achieve their objectives. These are:

1) Formulation of a question or hypothesis
2) Collecting and recording evidence
3) Processing and analysing the evidence, and
4) Publication of the results.
(Refrew and Bahn, 2000:71)

This assignment has been no different. It was decided in late August to investigate the archaeology of the landuse of the city of Armidale, which was part of step one. The collecting and recording of evidence was then performed over the following weeks, with frequent visits to libraries, archives, and Armidale City Council, with a lot of help and information being supplied by numerous other people who have been involved in other studies of the area. Processing and analysis of the evidence then followed, but, as Renfrew and Bahn (2000:71) state as a common factor in research design, this stage and the collecting of evidence often blended together as analysis raised further questions that needed new evidence to answer. These stages could also continue into the future, as not everything that could be asked and answered was able to be done within this study. Finally, the publication of the results has been done in the form of this webpage. Publication is an important aspect of any research, which is often neglected (Renfrew and Bahn 2000:71, and Leis quoted in Mackay and Karskens 1999:2)

Lastly the project represents an example of problem based learning. With this project we have formulated an archaeological research design that not only produced relevant and insightful results but that has also demonstrated the benefits of this approach for undergraduate training. While a feature of national tertiary programs elsewhere undergraduate research remains an uncommon component of university learning strategies in Australia. The project provides one model for this mode of training in the context of an Australian University Humanities program