Research Methods - Introduction.

This module is crucial preparation for the dissertation. The work that you do in this module will feed directly into the dissertation, and will provide the basis for the choice of a dissertation tutor. You will be specifying a research project, carrying out strategic planning and conducting some early parts of your research.

This work of this module is centred on the production of a workbook, the outline of which is specified in the assignment section below. You must fill in each of the sections as specified and hand it in with a cover sheet attached - this cover sheet is a record of your tutor's acceptance of your research project as valid. Your tutor will sign off each of sections 1 to 4 during the semester as you complete them, sections 5 and 6 will be signed off after you hand in your workbook at the end of the semester. A workbook handed in without sections 1 to 4 signed off by your allocated tutor (not someone who you happen to meet in a corridor) will receive a failure mark. You should get these sections signed off one by one, since your tutor may require you to re-think your ideas at each stage. The signing off of a section indicates that the work book is passable up to that stage; a final mark will only be allocated to a complete work book. Your tutor may informally let you know how well you are doing stage by stage.

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1. Notes and Supporting Materials.

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2. Lecture and Tutorial Programme.

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3. Assignment.

Here are the contents for your workbook:

• Section 1: Identify a suitable area for research (250 words max). In this section you should identify a general topic area in which you wish to research, and you should produce a justification for researching this area based on the content of your pathway, your academic interests, and your future vocational ambitions. You should also indicate how you came to know about this topic area.
• Section 2: Identify and analyse a recent research paper in your topic area (500 words max). You should find an academic paper in your topic area (it should be reasonable recently published - say in the last 5-10 years) which can act as a model for the conduct of your own research. You should give a brief precis of this paper, identifying and describing: the main question pursued and hypothesis tested, the research methodology and strategy (or design) used, the main publications cited, the principal findings, and any conclusions drawn.
• Section 3: Specify research question and tentative hypothesis (250 words max.). In this section you should specify your research question in precise terms, and tentatively indicate the hypothesis which you are trying to test.You should explain why this is a useful project to pursue, and to whom the answer to your question might be of use. You should also explain why you think that the question can be answered within the resources of time, knowledge and technology available to you.
• Section 4: Outline Research Methodology (500 words max.). In this section you should specify your research methodology. This should include a description of your overall research orientation (e.g. qualitative organisational research, software engineering experimentation, creating and evaluating a media product, etc.), and your overall practical research strategy (the overall design of your research). You should also describe any special techniques and tools which your strategy involves. You should also supply an outline research plan in the form of a Gantt chart, or other appropriate diagrams. You should you should use your strategy and the known time constraints of your course to produce a plan of your research activities and timings up until April of the year you finish your course.
• Section 5: Literature Search (1000 words max.) In this section you should briefly describe the search processes which you went through to find literature relevant to your project (background theory, related work done by others, etc.); you should also list the most important works which you have found (8 or 10 titles should be sufficient) and give a brief indication, for each work, of why it is useful for your project.
• Section 6: Pilot/Feasibility Study (1000 words max.) In this section you should give an account of your pilot or feasibility study. This study is an initial approach to your research question and may involve a variety of fragmentary activities (initial designs, software experiments, initial interviews, creation of mock-ups, etc.). Each activity which you perform should be described and its outcome evaluated. You should also add an indication of whether you still think you have a feasible research project, or whether you think that your question may have to be modified or reinterpreted.

• Section 1 - 10%
• Section 2 - 15%
• Section 3 - 10%
• Section 4 - 15%
• Section 5 - 25%
• Section 6 - 25%

Your completed workbook must be handed in by the last Friday of the semester - Friday, Week 12.

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4. Assessment Criteria.

Student Id:

Pathway:

 

Research Area: has identified a research area appropriate for pathway and experience has outlined the topics and key works that define an academic area has produced, in words or diagrams, a coherent map of the relationships between the topics of the chosen academic area	/10	Comments:
Research Paper: has identified a research paper in chosen academic area has identified a paper with most of the 'classic' elements present (corresponds to our approach) has understood the purpose and structure of the paper has outlined the content of the paper, and can use it as a model for own work	/15	Comments:
Research Question: question clear and focused, and of appropriate scope for student project context of question understood and terms defined outcomes of research of benefit to identifiable organisation and/or research community effort and timescale appreciated by student	/10	Comments:
Research Methodology and Strategy: range of different research methodologies understood by student appropriate research methodology selected and outlined has formulated practical strategy around methodology strategy is appropriate for answering question range of auxiliary techniques and methods considered auxiliary techniques integrated into strategy has translated practical strategy into a timetable of activities	/15	Comments:
Literature Search: has searched appropriate databases/libraries/web resources has formulated appropriate search terms and parameters has identified a reasonable body of relevant literature has some sense of possible measures of relevance of literature has applied relevance measures and evaluated literature has identified some key resources	/25	Comments:
Pilot/Feasibility Study: has identified some early activities from strategy for pilot study activities seem reasonable as check on feasibility has carried out activities with due diligence and planning activities have shown some concrete outcome has reflected on pilot study and validated and/or refined original question	/25	Comments:

 

Final Mark:

Moderated:

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