Course Resources Archive

This module aims to give students an in-depth study in the practical and theoretical skills required to read, understand, and undertake academic research in the computing-related disciplines. This includes planning and preparing a detailed proposal for a project suitable for a Master’s dissertation. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are studied and practical data collection and analysis is also included. Research paradigms and research ethics for research with or without human participants are outlined and explored.

The research process; critical reading of academic literature; academic writing and research reporting; qualitative research methods, data analysis and data summary; quantitative research methods and data collation; descriptive statistics and presentation; inferential statistics; data analysis software; project planning and proposal; research ethics.

By the end of the module, students should be able to

1.     identify, through bibliographic search and critical analysis, suitable research materials;

2.     critically analyse and evaluate academic research papers;

3.     write research reports in an academic style following the university standard referencing system1.

4.     identify, through critical analysis and application, the key elements of a project and write these in the format of a proposal;

5.     critically analyse and evaluate data from both qualitative and quantitative research;

6.     carry out statistical analysis and interpretation on data using different research designs;

identify and implement a suitable research paradigm for a specified project within computing-related disciplines.

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.