Research Methods for Computing and Technology Page 1 of 5

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. LEARNINGOUTCOMES
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 linespacing and should be aligned to justify.
b. The cover page of the research proposal should have the researcher’s 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 Page 2 of 5

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. MARKING CRITERIA
The research proposal will be evaluated in 3 main sections:

Problem Definition (Forum 1) 15%

Criteria Marks Allocated
Title, Aims and Objectives
Problem Statement & Preliminary Research
Presentation

Research Proposal Report 70%

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

Presentation of Proposal 15%

Criteria Marks Allocated
Explanation & Justification of proposal 5%
Q&A 5%
Presentation 5%

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2 Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation
Research Methods for Computing and Technology Page 3 of 5

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 and creative, 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
citations and diagrams within the Introductionsection. It is recommended to explain
the title in lay terms and where possible, use an analogy.

3. Problem Statement

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.

4. Problem Background
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
problemshould not be onethat 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 Page 4 of 5

5. 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.

6. Project Aims & Objectives

The research aims state the intentions or purposes of the researcher’s 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 through
the functionalities of the proposed system. 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, enhancedand specialfeatures of the proposed
system. The researcher is reminded not to use the terms core, enhanced and / or
specialbut may state the aims in this order.

7. 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 domainand technicalquestions.

8. Research Design

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Level 2 Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation
Research Methods for Computing and Technology Page 5 of 5

a. 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 you use to analyze the collected data?
 How will you research the required technical information for your
proposed title?

The researcher’s design should then develop a proposed work plan using a
GanttChart and timeline that would cover the first semester of Level 3.

9. 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 different
approaches. 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).

10. 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