Is a Master of Research qualificaton appreciated in Australia?
In the Australian context a Masters by Research is typically a 2 year research project. I.e., it is intended to be smaller in scale and scope than a PhD (which is notionally 3 years, although often takes more).

The degree to which students do Masters versus PhD research degrees varies quite a bit across disciplines. I have a casual impression that a masters by research might be more common in engineering/computing disciplines, but I could be wrong. In contrast, in my discipline of psychology, almost all research students do a PhD (or start a masters with the intention of upgrading to a PhD).

A few points


Some people do a masters by research if they want to do a PhD but did not do an undergraduate thesis (e.g., an honours thesis). Thus, the masters gives them the research experience that they need to then enrol in a PhD.
Some people enrol in a masters by research with the intention of upgrading to a PhD. This can be a requirement where the student does not meet the entry requirements for a PhD (e.g., grades not high enough). If the student demonstrates good progress in the early period of candidature, they may be permitted to upgrade.
A third group of people start a PhD, but decide part way through that they are unable to complete a project at the scale of a PhD. They then may apply to submit a Masters thesis. Similarly, one outcome of submitting a PhD thesis for evaluation is that the PhD is not awarded but a masters is (this is clearly an undesirable outcome).
Other people simply want to get some research experience, but they do not wish to do a project as big as a PhD.


If you are wishing to get an academic position, a PhD is usually required.