CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Parts of Research Methodology:
Project Design
Project Development
Operation and Testing
Procedures
Evaluation Procedures
Project
Design
Project Design

 Project Design discusses the

general plan for the project.
 Project Design is also the
system modelling.
Project Design
 ProjectDesign shows a rough sketch or an
overall view of the entire research project.
 This shows the project prototype
represented in diagrams such as
Flowcharts, Context, Block and/or
Schematic diagrams.
 Thispart briefly introduces the use/s of the
research project in general.
Project
Development
Project Development

 Project Development covers the

step by step process of developing
the project.
 This part shows the methodology of
creating the project through
systematic use of the project model.
Project Development
This section covers the specific procedure
of the actual research project
development.
Researchers can select one from many
standardized and widely acceptable
Software Engineering processes or
Engineering fabrication procedures.
This also presents specific methods and
the set of activities with the required
parameters and expected outputs.
System Development Process
Model
System Engineering Process
Waterfall Model
The Systems Engineering Process
Requirements Definition
Requirement Definitions is intended to
discover the requirements for the system
as a whole.
Three types of requirement defined at
this stage
Knowledge Requirement
Software Requirement
Hardware Requirement
Requirements Definition
Should also define overall
organizational objectives for the
system.
Problems in Requirements
Definitions
 Must anticipate hardware/communications
developments over the lifetime of the
system.
 Hard to define non-functional requirements
(particularly) without knowing the
component structure of the system.
System Design
System Design is concerned with how
the system functionality is to be
provided by the different components
of the system.
The system design process
The system design process
 Partition requirements
- Requirements are analysed and
collected into related groups.
 Identify sub-systems
- Identify a set of sub-systems which
collectively can meet the system
requirements.
 Assign requirements to sub-systems
- Requirements are assigned to sub-
systems.
The system design process
 Specify sub-system functionality.
- Specific functions by each sub-
system are specified.
 Define sub-system interfaces
- Critical activity for parallel sub-
system development.
- This involves defining the interfaces
that are provided and required by each
sub-system.
Problems in System Design
 Requirements partitioning to hardware,
software and knowledge components may
involve a lot of negotiation.
 Difficult design problems are often
assumed to be readily solved using
software.
 Hardware platforms may be inappropriate
for software requirements so software
must compensate for this.
Requirements and Design
 Requirements engineering and system
design are inextricably linked.
 Constraints posed by the system’s
environment and other systems limit
design choices so the actual design to be
used may be a requirement.
 Initial design may be necessary to structure
the requirements.
 As you do design, you learn more about the
requirements.
Sub-system Development
Inthis phase, the sub-systems identified
during system design are implemented.

Normally,some of the sub-systems are

commercial, off-the-shelf systems that
are bought for integration into the
systems.
System Integration
This phase involves taking independently
developed sub-systems and putting them
together to make-up a complete system.
Sub-system faults that are a
consequences of invalid assumptions
about other sub-systems are often
revealed during system integration.
System Installation
Inthis phase, the system is put into the
environment in which it is intended to
operate.
Once the system has been installed, it is
put into operation.
System Evolution
Large systems have a long lifetime.
They must evolve to meet changing
requirements.
Evolution is inherently costly
Changes must be analysed from a
technical and business perspective;
Sub-systems interact so unanticipated
problems can arise;
System Evolution
 System structure is corrupted as
changes are made to it.
Existing systems which must be
maintained are sometimes called legacy
systems.
System Decommissioning
 System Decommissioning means taking the
system out of service after its useful lifetime.
 Sometimes this is a straight forward but some
systems may contain materials which are
potentially damaging to the environment.
 The system engineering activity should
anticipate decommissioning and take the
problems of disposing of the materials into
account during the design phase.
Operation and
Testing
Procedures
Operation Procedure
Operation Procedure is the step by step
process on how to operate the project.
Testing Procedures
Testing Procedure is the step by step
process where all areas of the project
are tested. This is to test if there are
errors or problems within a specific
part of the project and if there is, a
corrective measure shall be applied.
Evaluation
Procedures
Evaluation Procedures

Evaluation procedure is composed of

the evaluation process, steps in
evaluating the project, evaluation
instrument and the statistical treatment
of data gathered.