CO4820 Critical Analysis

Assignment Part 2

The proportion of marks is (Part 1), 40% (Part 2), 60%

Learning Outcomes for the module:

1 Source and read academic literature and be able to critique its purpose and value

2 Construct a well referenced and critical review of literature

3 Design, carry out and report an experiment or survey

4 Demonstrate an awareness of a variety of different research methods

Part Two – Doing research (60%)

For this part of the assignment you are to carry out a small research study.  This should either be a survey or an experiment. In this work you are required to submit a plan for your work which has to be agreed with your tutor before embarking on your study (for details see further down in this rubric)

If you do an experiment, then you are doing a piece of work where two or more variables are manipulated (e.g. use of method 1 versus use of method 2) and a variable is measured in the hope to discern a difference.  If you are doing a survey your aim is to have testable questions that will expose differences across a group of respondents – aim for at least twenty respondents to improve your writing.

When you have finished your research, you will be given an opportunity to have a small group meeting in January before handing in your final version for the due date.

You are to write your results up as a research paper for a venue that you have agreed on with your tutor.  In addition to having the work marked by the tutor of the course, the tutor will, subject to the work being of at least a merit standard, submit the final paper, with you – to the venue you have chosen.  Should the paper be accepted for publication the University will not guarantee to fund attendance at a conference but there may be funds available in a competitive bidding process.

The paper should follow a standard format – the ACM format is one such format that you might use. You may choose a different format depending on the audience for your work.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Work for final submission should be through the blackboard web portal.

The plan for the study should be sent by email to the tutor as soon as you are ready to have it approved.  This plan should outline:

• What the question is /questions are that you are studying?
• What the study will involve – i.e. What will be made, who/what will be involved, how will it be done
• What sort of analysis is being planned for the paper

There is no special format for this except that it should be as concise as possible and preferably submitted within an email as text rather than as an attachment.

Grading Criteria

Marks will be awarded based on the learning outcomes highlighted above.

To obtain 50%, you must have:

• Submitted a plan for the work and had it agreed by the tutor
• Carried out a reasonably well-planned study (experiment or survey) and documented it in an appropriate way including reasonable background literature, an understandable structure and appropriate use of citations and references
• Evidenced an understanding of scientific method, of the impact of methods and of general research rigour.

To obtain 60%, in addition to the above, you must have:

• Clearly critiqued the findings from your work by appropriate referencing to other studies
• Presented your findings using descriptive statistics and charts as appropriate

To obtain 70%, in addition to the above, you must have:

• Submitted work that is of publishable quality in terms of structure and clarity
• Applied appropriate statistical tests to the work and reported the findings in an appropriate way

To obtain 80%, in addition to the above, you must have:

• Written work that, as a complete article, is worthy of publication in a peer reviewed academic venue