Research Methods for Computing and Technology

1. THE COURSEWORK OVERVIEW

This coursework is an individual assignment where the student is to produce a proposal
(according to the format appended) that specifies his or her intention for his / her final
year project.
2. LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this coursework, you should be able to:
Demonstrate, create and interpret knowledge in the area of Computing and
Technology based on appropriate techniques of research applied.
Critically evaluate current research areas and / or related existing solutions to
assist in selecting the Final Year Project title.
Demonstrate the ability to formulate and justify the purpose of appropriate
research questions in the area of Computing and Technology
Produce a detailed research proposal for Computing and Technology which
includes:
Specific and achievable aims / objectives
An appropriate research plan for the project
3. TYPE
Individual Assignment
4. RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORMAT
Refer to the research proposal format appended.
5. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
a. The research proposal should be presented in English using font size 12, Times New
Roman with 1.5 line spacing and should be aligned to justify.
b. The cover page of the research proposal should have the researchers name, student
identification number, the degree the researcher is enrolled in and the title of the
proposed final year project.
c. The research proposal should include the table of contents, with page numbers.
d. The text of the research proposal should not exceed 2500 words.
e. The research proposal should not contain any appendices.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation

Research Methods for Computing and Technology

6. SUBMISSION
a. A softcopy of the research proposal should be copied into a CD or DVD and
submitted together with the hardcopy of the research proposal.
b. Submission of deliverables should be made to the administrative counter on or before
7.00pm, dated July 9, 2015.

7. MARKING CRITERIA
The research proposal will be evaluated in 3 main segments
Problem Definition (Forum 1) 15%
Criteria
Title, Aims and Objectives
Problem Statement & Preliminary Research
Presentation

Marks Allocated
5%
5%
5%

Research Proposal Report 70%

Criteria
Final Problem Background Research and Discussion
Literature Review
Research Questions
Research Design
Personal Reflection
Documentation Standards
Referencing

Marks Allocated
10%
20%
5%
10%
10%
5%
10%

Presentation of Proposal 15%

Criteria
Explanation & Justification of proposal
Q&A
Presentation

Marks Allocated
5%
5%
5%

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation

Research Methods for Computing and Technology

RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORMAT

A proposal would normally addresses the following questions:
What is to be accomplished in the system's project?
What is the reason for the system's project?
How is the system going to be developed?
What tools and/or information would be needed?
1.

Title
The title should be descriptive yet concise. Avoid phrases such as An investigation
of ... or The development of ...... Consider an appealing yet informative title.

2.

Introduction
The researcher should introduce the title to someone who is not from the Computing,
Technology, Multimedia or Games domain area and has little or no knowledge of the
title or the domain. Therefore, the researcher is advised to avoid using jargon or
technical terms in the Introduction. The researcher is discouraged from including
references, citations and / or definitions within the Introduction. It is recommended to
explain the title in lay terms and where possible, use an analogy.

3.

Problem Statement and Problem Background

The research starts by defining the problem statement(s) which will provide the
justification for the proposed title. An effective problem statement should provide the
needed justification for a project. It should identify something which requires
attention or an existing method that is no longer effective.
The researcher should provide some discussion and evidence for the problems
mentioned in the Problem Background subsection. This could be achieved by citing
similar issues by other researchers in published academic literature (e.g. journals,
books). The literature citations would then enable further discussion of similar issues.
Justification of the problem would provide the rationale for the project to be done, be
it the development of a new system / game, the implementation of some new features
within an existing system / game and / or some improvements to the current system /
game using a new technology. The researcher is reminded to ensure that the problem
should not be one that is personal (e.g. from own experience) or specific to a
particular organization. The researcher is also reminded to provide at least FIVE (5)
references in forming the discussion.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation

Research Methods for Computing and Technology

4.

Literature Review
A literature review is an evaluative account of what has been published about a topic
by scholars and researchers. The purpose of the literature review is to enable the
researcher to investigate and critically discuss the topic area (domain). This assists in
providing the foundations for the study and determining what is known or unknown
around the domain. The researcher is reminded that whilst the literature review should
include citations where necessary, the researcher should also provide his / her own
thoughts in the discussion of these citations. Bear in mind that the literature review is
your interpretation and evaluation of current knowledge, therefore you should avoid
simply 'reporting' what the literature says. You are to use at least TEN (10) references
within your literature review, of which at least 70 percent should originate from peer
reviewed academic journals, conference papers and books. The remaining sources
may be obtained from credible websites except blogs and forums which contain
mainly personal opinions.

5.

Research Aims & Objectives

The research aims state the intentions or purposes of the researchers project in
general terms. It should describe the overall ideas presented in the research proposal.
Once the researcher has established the aims, the researcher is expected to formulate
the research objectives. For a computing and technology project, the objectives can
typically be divided into techniques or technology needed to achieve the aims. The
objectives should be achievable and the researcher should take into consideration the
timelines for the final year. The research aims should typically be related to the
development of the system and could be described in terms of the core, enhanced and
special features of the proposed system. The researcher is reminded not to use the
terms core, enhanced and / or special but may state the aims in this order.

6.

Research Questions
The research questions would be derived from the proposed project's aim(s).
Therefore, this section of the proposal should explicitly consist of a set of questions
that identify what information the researcher needs to know in order address the aims.
As the questions will enable the researcher to focus on gathering the required
information later on in the actual project, the answers to these questions are not of
concern at the proposal stage. The researcher is encouraged to categorize the research
questions into domain and technical questions.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation

Research Methods for Computing and Technology

7.

Research Design
The researcher should describe in detail the steps to be taken in attempting to
investigate and answer the research questions. It would normally contain details such
as what specific type of research the researcher will be undertaking in the final year.
The following guidelines will assist you in writing this section:

What data collection method will be used to obtain the needed information?
Why has this data collection method been chosen compared to other methods or
tools?
How does the collected data provide the needed information in relation to your
research question(s)?
What method would be used to analyze the collected data?
How will you research the required technical information for your proposed title?

The researchers design should then develop a proposed work plan using a Gantt
Chart and timeline that would cover the first semester of Level 3.
8.

Personal Reflection
The researcher is encouraged to reflect on potential limitations and alternative
approaches to achieve the study's aims. The potential limitations could be issues (e.g.
technical or algorithm used) that might arise in the attempt to develop one or more
features of the system and how the researcher could achieve the aims using a different
approach(es). In order to achieve this, the researcher will need to reflect on the
objectives and conduct some research in order to recommend the alternative
solution(s).

9.

References
This is a list of all works cited in the proposal and should be written according to the
recognized format and must be consistent throughout the chapter. The researcher
should adhere to Harvard Referencing Style when referencing materials used in the
proposal.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2
Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation