Assessment

Faculty of Information Technology FIT5125

IT Research and Innovation Methods     Semester 1 2025

Assignment 1

Value

This assignment is worth 45%of the total marks for FIT5125

Assignment due date

Friday,11 April 2025 at 4.30pm

Submission method

Submit to Moodle:

• Multiple files as specified in the description of each of the three tasks.

                  Assignment Criteria

This is an individual assessment; it must be your own work and expressed in your own words.

⚐A marking guide is available on Moodle.

⚐ There are specific requirements for file names on your submission (see the instructions for each task).

Assessment rules:

1. Note that plagiarism detection procedures may be applied to each submission. See the University rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and resulting penalties .Any case of plagiarism detected will mean automatic failure of the entire assignment. Note that even where TurnitIn reports a high similarity score, this may simply be the result of text that is part of the original question or a correctly referenced quotation (such cases are not plagiarism).
2. Late submissions will incur a penalty of 5% per day, see: https://publicpolicydms.monash.edu/Monash/documents/1935752
3. Submissions should follow the instructions for each task, described under "What to Submit".
4. Monash policy on Special Consideration is available at:https://www.monash.edu/exams/changes/special-consideration
5. We aim to mark and return work within 10 working days of submission

                   Task A

                        “Planning for ethical research”

Consider the following scenario:

You work for the product team of an Australia-based company that is developing a mobile app designed to track university students’ motivation throughout the semester. The app aims to understand students’ motivation levels as they engage in different courses and provides personalized support to help them stay motivated and succeed. It does so by collecting data on their academic behaviors (such as logins to learning platforms and engagement with course materials), self-reported motivation levels, and interactions with in-app support features.

Your company is preparing to conduct a study to evaluate the app’s effectiveness in boosting student motivation. The study will use the following data sources:

• Log data (e.g.,frequency of app usage, engagement patterns, and interactions with support features)
• Daily voice-recorded diary entries where students reflect on their motivation and app experience
• Post-deployment interviews with students about their experience using the app and the impact
• on their motivation

The study will follow the 4-stage research pipeline:

1. Recruitment
2. Data Collection
3. Data Analysis
4. Dissemination

If successful, the study findings will be used in a campaign by the company’s marketing team to promote the app when it is launched.

Your Task

Your team has been asked to assess potential ethical risks in this study. Your goal is to create a four- slide presentation that shows:

• The two most significant ethical issues at each stage of the research pipeline.
• The mitigation strategies you would recommend to address each of these ethical risks.

Prepare your responses

• Identify Ethical Issues:

For each stage (Recruitment, Data Collection, DataAnalysis, Dissemination),choose two key ethical concerns that are relevant to a corresponding stage of the study.

Clearly describe each concern.

• Propose Mitigation Strategies:

  For each identified ethical concern, provide a clear and relevant strategy that your team would implement to reduce or eliminate the risk.

Create a Four-Slide Presentation

Slide 1: Recruitment – Two ethical issues + mitigation strategies Slide2: Data Collection–Two ethical issues+ mitigation strategies 

Slide 3: Data Analysis – Two ethical issues + mitigation strategies 

Slide 4: Dissemination – Two ethical issues + mitigation strategies

Ensure your slides are clear, concise ,and well-structured(use bullet points where needed).

Submit Your Work

Prepare a PDF file with your four-slide presentation.

 Upload your final presentation by the deadline on Moodle.

                   Task B

“Designing a student survey to evaluate student experiences of the Goalie app”

Being able to design a survey to assess the beliefs, attitudes and experiences of users of technology is a key research skill that all IT professionals should have an understanding of. Consider the following scenario:

You work for the Teaching and Learning team at Monash University. Your team has been approached by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) to evaluate whether the University should officially recommend Goalie, a time management and goal-setting app, as a student support tool.

As part of a small-scale trial,Goal iehas been introduced to students in the FIT5125 Research Methods unit. Your goal is to design a questionnaire to assess students’ experiences and views on the app, focusing on:

• Usability
• Effectiveness Engagement
• Impact on Learning
• Likelihood of Continued Use

AllFIT5125 students will be required to complete your questionnaire in class under the supervision of their academic instructor. The survey should be concise to minimize disruption to regular teaching.

Since the survey is only for internal decision-making, you do not need to seek ethics approval from Monash University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC).

Your task

1. Create Your Questionnaire in Google Forms

• Use only closed questions
• Be concise (no more than 20 questions).

• Focus on key aspects of students 'experieice that are relevant to decision-making (usability, effectiveness, engagement, impact on learning, likelihood of continued use).

  2. Write a rationale (max .500words) explaining

• Why you selected specific questions?
• Why you used certain closed question types and certain paths(if any)?

•  How the survey structure ensures reliability and efficiency?

  What to Submit 1.A PDF document, named "STUDENT-ID-Assigment-1B-survey.pdf", containing a "print" of you questionnaire (using the Google Forms "print" option). 2.A PDF document, named "STUDENT-ID-Assigment-1B-rationale.pdf", a written rationale of no more than 500 words justifying the design of your survey.

  How Much to Write Do not use more than 500 words for the written description of the rational effort he design of your questionnaire.

  What to Know If you have any questions about the assignment, you should submit them as a public post to the Ed forum (under the sub-category" Assignments")so that all students have access to the question and CE or admin tutor's response. This is an individual exercise that forms part of the formal assessment for the unit, you must therefore work alone and follow Monash University’s policies ,procedures and regulations relating academic integrity,plagiarism and collusion(seeMoodle). As this is a formal assessment tutors are not allowed support to directly, however, they can provide feedback on any studio activities (during the studio). This task supports unit learning outome 1 (Demonstrate the ability to frame and design all aspects of the research and innovation pipeline) and unit learning outcome 4 (Evaluate, select and justify research and innovation methods, including data collection and analysis using qualitative and quantitative methods)

                          Task C 

          "Planning and conducting are search interview’

• This assessment task aims to evaluate your knowledge and skills related to planning and conducting researchinterviews.Knowinghowtoconductaresearchinterviewisnotonlyvaluableforconducting qualitative research, but for the many interviews in other settings that you will be required to conduct in your career. The ability to plan and conduct a high-quality interview is an important skill that all IT professionals require.

  Consider the following extension to the scenario described in Task A:  

  The National Union of Students (NUS)is the peak representative body for tertiary students in Australia. It advocates for the rights,welfare, and interests of students at a national level and works to amplify the collective voice of students in government and institutional decision-making processes. The NUS has decided to use Facebook to support student motivation and well-being by encouraging students to interact with each other and with staff, eat healthy and spend more time outdoors. The NUS wants to Trial this approach for Monash University.To do this,the NUS has contracted you to design a set of moderation guidelines for students. Before you do this, you must interview students at Monash University about issues that might inform the design of these guidelines.

  Your task

1. Create an interview schedule for a semi-structured interview with students attitudes and beliefs about issues that might inform the moderation guidelines.
2. Recruit and interview a fellow student in English (from any unit, program or course at Monash University).Make sure that you create an appropriate consent form and that your interviewee signs the consent form before you interview them(you should not submit the signed form but keep it safe).Then, make sure that you record the interview.
3. Manually transcribe the interview. Use a modified form of verbatim transcription in which you record everything that you and the interviewee say, except for non-verbal utterances (e.g., "ums and ahs", coughs,sneezes,etc.).That is,just transcribe the actual  words that both you(as interviewer)and your fellow student (as interviewee) said.

⚐Your interview must be atleast 15 minutes long.

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