Ct098!3!2 Research Proposal Format - Assignment - Revised March 2015

Research Methods for Computing and Technology Page 1 of 5

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Level 2 Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation 2015

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.


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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 Marks Allocated

Title, Aims and Objectives 5%

Problem Statement & Preliminary Research 5%

Presentation 5%

Research Proposal Report 70%


Final Problem Background Research and Discussion 10%

Literature Review 20%

Research Questions 5%

Research Design 10%

Personal Reflection 10%

Documentation Standards 5%

Referencing 10%

Presentation of Proposal 15%


Explanation & Justification of proposal 5%

Q & A 5%

Presentation 5%


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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.


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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.


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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.

Documents

Ct098!3!2 Research Proposal Format - Assignment - Revised March 2015