ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ATTITUDE AND SKILLS IN SKETCHING AND DRAWING

AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS.

Example of a research project proposal

PURPOSE OF STUDY

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the attitude of engineering students towards
sketching and drawing (S&D) is associated with their S&D skills. Insight acquired through this
study is expected to be useful for the development of S&D skills, which is identified to be
relevant to engineering problem solving.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

S&D is one of the tools used in engineering problem solving. For example, one’s ability to
sketch and draw structural deformations under loads is crucial to reaching a good structural
design solution (Fraser, 1981). It is therefore desirable for engineering students to have the
ability to sketch and draw. Training in S&D is one of the obvious methods that could be
employed to develop S&D skills. Development of S&D however may not only be dependent
upon training but could also be associated with students’ attitude towards S&D itself for attitude
has been known to affect outcomes of learning in some cases (Simpson, 1978).

SCOPE OF STUDY

This study will only focus on engineering students who are enrolled in the polytechnic one-year
diploma programme.

RESEARCH METHODODLOGY

Research population/sample

The population for the study will be engineering students in Malaysian higher institutions. The
sample will be a group of selected engineering students from the three engineering disciplines,
civil, mechanical and electrical who are in the final year their engineering programmes.

Proposed data collection method/ instruments

Students’ attitude towards S&D will be measured using an attitude questionnaire while skills in
S&D will be measured using a classroom test. The attitude questionnaire will be administered
prior to the training in S&D and S&D skills will be measured prior to tarianing and after training.
Students will be provided with two weeks training in S&D.
Data Analysis

Data will be analysed quantitatively using the appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical
techniques.

Expected results of the study

It is expected that the results will show an association between attitude towards S&D and S&D
skills.

REFERENCES

Fraser, D. J. (1981). Conceptual Design and Preliminary Analysis of Structures. Massachusetts:

Pitman Publishing Inc.

Simpson, R. D. (1978). Assessing students Behavior in the Cognitive Domain. American Society
of Engineering Education, 397-400.