Final Year Project

Research & Ethics

For All FYPs - SoCT
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Learning Outcomes

At the end of this session, YOU should be able to:

 explain what research is
 explain types of research involved in literature review
 identify the steps in the research process
 relate importance of ethics in research
 comply by Staffordshire University/APIIT Policy
regarding ethics in research
 relate your responsibilities when conducting and
supervising research
 explain APIIT procedures so that you can comply with
ethics in research
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What is research at the undergraduate

level?

The academic culture in which you are participating

requires you to demonstrate your developing knowledge
within any given discipline. This is a project where you
'try out' your opinions, hypotheses, theses within the
context of what others in the discipline also have to say.

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What is Research?

Research -

“systematic investigation and study of materials,

sources, etc., in order to establish facts and reach
conclusions.”

Oxford English Dictionary

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How do you know what to research?

Answer:
Based on your proposal – identified
problem statements or opportunities
- Follow through from the idea generation
workshop

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Research

• ‘systematic investigation and study’

• must be planned (HOW?)
• ‘to establish facts’
• must be from the right source(s) (WHERE?)
• ‘to reach conclusions’
• must have a purpose (WHAT?)

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Types of Research

• Academic Research
Technical Research

• Secondary Research +

Domain Research
• Primary Research

=
Literature Review

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Academic Research

• Academic Research
– That which you find out from other peoples’ research
• Books
• Journal Articles
• White Papers
• original research work, literature review in specific discipline
• written by scholar in subject area, credential given, reviewed by
peers
• Specialised and cited
• available in libraries at colleges/universities,
• articles can be identified by using periodical indexes

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Secondary Research

• Secondary Research
– That which you find out from other peoples’ research
• Other published sources
• Magazines, Newspapers
• informs or entertains on general interest or specialised topics
• written by professional writers, journalists, freelance authors, often
unsigned
• easy to read, usually not cited
• in stores, new-stands, public libraries

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Primary Research

• Primary Research
– That which you find out for yourself - A document, or other
sort of evidence, written during the time under investigation, or
data resulting from original research
• Observation
• Interview
• Questionnaire
• Brainstorming
• Focus Group
• Experiment
Note
It is not mandatory for a student to conduct primary
research.
The need for primary research is dependent on the project
objectives.
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The Research Process (1)

• Establish what you need to know

– Define the scope of what you need to find out – problem definition
• Determine how you can get the information
– ‘Where and how will I find this information?’ – research plan
• Find out what you need to know
– Conduct your research – raw facts (Academic + Secondary
Research on Technical and Domain related matters)

WITH THE RESEARCH FACTS IN HAND START PREPARING ON

PRIMARY RESEARCH

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Research Design

Research Problem What is required?

(objectives)

What type of
Research Design
solutions

System

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Secondary Research
should precede
Primary Research

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Use of Non-Credible Sources

Please ensure that your resources are from credible

sources. Your findings could be disputed if this is
not adhered to.

Examples of sources which are not credible –

wikipedia, personal websites, forums, etc. You may
however, refer to them to obtain some ideas but it
should not make it’s way into your final
documentation.

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Stages of Your Project

– Scope of your project

• ‘What am I going to do?’ – PSF
– Establish what do you need to know to do this
• ‘What is the situation and what are the problem/s ?’ –
“domain”
– Apply research method
– Design a solution
• ‘What do I need to know to solve the problem(s)?’
– Apply research method
– Develop a solution
• ‘What do I need to know to develop a solution?’
– Apply research method
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So is research a Good Idea?

It is wise to learn from your own mistakes

It is shrewd to learn from other people’s

mistakes

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Searching for information –

what people write

Finding references Filtering references

• keyword searches • keywords (unreliable)
• backward: bibliographies • abstracts
• forward: citation indexes • skim read
• what’s available • citation count

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Documenting Research - Example

• Methodology X Findings
promotes/enables A, B & C through
• Project P requires A & B research
Therefore

Project P shall use Methodology Conclusion

X since it support A&B required
for Project P
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Documenting Research (Example)

• RUP because it support use case driven,

iterative and incremental and architecture
centric approach
• Project P has fair amount of risk. Hence, to
mitigate risk Project P has to be developed
Findings
incrementally and iteratively. This will
allow risk to be systematically captured
and resolved early.

Project P shall use RUP since it supports Conclusion

iterative and incremental development
among others required for Project P.
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Resources available to you

Project Handbook

The APIIT library

http://crypto.apiit.edu.my/Library/

ACM

Link to Staffordshire University – via library website

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Summary

Academic Research
Secondary Research Spanning Technical
and Domain Research
Primary Research
 Technical + Domain Research = Literature Review
Steps involved in the research process
Documenting research
Credible Sources

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Question and Answer Session

Q&A

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