Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences

Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title
Credit Hour
Contact Hours
(per week)
Pre-requisite
Year/ Semester
Status of Course
Course Objectives

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies
3
Lecture 3
None
1/1
Compulsory

The aim of this module is to teach the methodologies and the skills for
conducting research in Information Technology, and to provide advanced
education and training in quantitative and qualitative research methods for
postgraduate students. The general goals of this course are:
a) Philosophy and Research Design: Students will know the underlying
research philosophies and possible research planning and designs
issue in Information Technology.
b) Research Methods: Students will understand how a variety of
research methods, including action research, case study research,
correlation research, descriptive research, comparative research,
experimental research, evaluation, ethnographic research and
grounded theory, can be used in solving societal problems
c) Critical Thinking Skills: Students will have to analyze and critically
evaluate published examples of research in Computing.
d) Communication Skills: Students will write and present a research
proposal and they will develop an appreciation of the challenges of
writing up research work for a thesis, conference paper and journal
article

Course Contents
Chapter 1:

What is a research?

1.1 What research is?

1.2 What is not a research?

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies
1.3 Scientific research
1.4 Objective of research
1.5 Motivations for research
1.6 Significance of research
1.7 Research requirements
1.8 Characteristics of research
1.9 Types of research
1.10

Research Approach

1.11

Research methodology, methods and Techniques

1.12

Effective report writing principles to communicate your research

1.13

Report writing assignment

You should be able to select topic that you will prove your effective
method of writing a report (see assessment section)

1.14

Criteria for Good Research

1.15

Evaluating others research

1.16

Research Article evaluation assignment

You should be able to find recently published article in your convenient
domain and assess it from research definition perspective (see
assessment section)

Chapter 2:

Research Problem

2.1 The research Process

2.1.1

Selecting a topic

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies
2.1.2

Formulation of the research problem

2.1.3

Literature review (Chapter 3)

2.1.4

Developing objectives and hypothesis formulation

2.1.5

Design of Research

2.1.6

Execution of the project : Data collection, analysis and

interpretation

2.1.7

Reporting (Chapter 3 & 5)

2.2 Proposal writing Assignment

Students are expected to produce a valid proposal in Information
Technology (see assessment section)
2.3 Tools of research

Chapter 3:

2.3.1

Library

2.3.2

The Internet

2.3.3

Statistics and Computer based Statistical Tools

2.3.4

Measurement

2.3.5

The human mind

2.3.6

Language skill

Literature Review

3.1 Importance of literature review for research

3.2 Role Literature Review
3.3 Reasons for Literature Review

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies
3.4 The literature review process
3.5 Key purposes of Literature Review
3.6 Skills for effective reading
3.7 Questions to raise during literature review
3.8 The key to a critical literature review
3.9 Categories of literature sources
3.10

Literature sources available

3.10.1 Journals
3.10.2 Books
3.10.3 Newspaper
3.10.4 Reports
3.10.5 Conference proceedings
3.10.6 Theses
3.11

Planning your search strategy

3.12

Conducting your search strategy

3.13

Searching the Internet

3.14

Where to Start Literature Review

3.15

Literature Review types

3.16

Summary

3.17

Literature review writing Assignment

Students are expected to produce a valid literature review document (chapter two)

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies
of the research topic
Chapter 4:

Research Ethics

4.1. Ethical Issues in Research

4.2. Notable examples of unethical Research
a. Nuremberg Code
4.3. Regulation of Research and Protection of Research Participants
a. Respect for Persons
b. Beneficence
c. Justice
4.4. Areas of Scientific dishonesty
a. Plagiarism
b. Fabrication of data
c. Falsification of data
d. Non-publication of data
e. Faulty data-gathering procedures
f. Poor data storage and retention
g. Misleading authorship?
4.5. Ethical issues regarding copyright
4.6. Findings on research ethics
4.7. International laws on research ethics
Chapter 5:

Citation and reference usage during writing research report

1. Introduction
2. Usage
Chapter 6:

Data Collection and Analysis

1. Data Collection (primary and secondary data)

2. Analysis of Data with case studies
Assessment/Evalu
ation & Grading
System

1. Report writing assignment at the end of the first chapter (15%)

Student will select topic which may be one that he/she is interested to work
in the future. The instructor may approve the topic for its relevancy. More
importance is given to the writing skill of the student than the topic itself in
this assignment. Student should produce 5-10 pages of report on the

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies
selected topic.
2. Critical assessment of article (15%)

Student will select article which may be one that he/she is interested to
work in the future. The instructor should approve the article (assess whether
it is published or not; recent or not, journal or conference, workshop article)

Students will assess the article and produce 1 or 2 pages of report focusing
on the analysis of the article from the research perspective (type, methods
and techniques, and evaluation reports)

3. Hypothesis Development (25%)

Student should conduct extensive literature review to find out

research question that one could start to work with?

Student should justify what the problem is? What its application is?
What the research question is? What the hypothesis is?

Student should defend the research identified focusing on the above

topics

(Power point presentation should be prepared to demonstrate the

research problem)

4. Proposal Writing (25%)

Student should define the title of the research properly from their
hypothesis

Student should be able to develop standard proposal in Information

Technology with all the element as shown in the submission Format
(see Form3)

5. Literature Review document production (20%)

Students are expected to produce literature review document (second

chapter of their research work) with all the necessary sections and

Department of Computer Science and Information Technology

College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Wolaita Sodo University
Course Code
Course Title

MSIT 6101

Research Methodologies

subsection

Submission should be made by compiling both the first and the

second chapter together and flow of concepts must be maintained

Literature

General textbooks are not suitable for a module of this kind. The following
are some of the reference that can be used for the purpose.
1. Graziano Antony M, Raulin Michael L., (2004), Research Methods:
A process of inquiry, 5th ed., Pearson Education Group PLC.
2. Leedy Paul D., Ormrod Jeanne E., Practical Research: Planning and
Design, 7thed.
3. Trochim William M.K. (2003), Research Methods, 2nd ed., Atomic
Dog Publishing, USA
4. Kothari C.R. (2004), Research methodology (Methods and
Techniques), 2nd ed., New Age International Publisher.
5. The Research Methodology: http://www.experimentresources.com/research-methodology.html

6. Type of Research: http://www.researchamerica.org/public_opinion?

gclid=CO_rg_jv0aMCFRr6iAoda3FWtg
7. Sage Research Methods Online: http://www.sagepub.com/srmo also
http://www.methodspace.com
8. APA Format and Writing Style: http://www.apa.org
9. Literature Review Article: Cybercrime article for literature
review.pdf