ICT615
Information Technology Research Methods
ICT615 Assignment 2
Research Project
Submission instructions: You should submit your assignment to the submission link on the ICT615 LMS
site. No email submission will be accepted. Late submissions may not be marked unless an extension has
been obtained.
You should submit your assignment as one Word document. So your work doesn't get mixed up with
others, ensure that your name is on the assignment and use a filename that identifies it. Only one final
report needs to be submitted per group. You must keep a copy of the final version of your assignment
as submitted and be prepared to provide it on request.
The University treats plagiarism, collusion, theft of other students’ work and other forms of
dishonesty in assessment seriously. Instances of academic misconduct include Submitting work that
has been produced by someone else or either in part of whole using Artificial Intelligence tools. For
guidelines on honesty in assessment, including avoiding plagiarism, see
[Link]
This assignment is intended to provide you with the experience of undertaking and writing up a complete
research project. As you know from Assignment 1, whilst much has been written about the topics, there is
still more research needed.
For this project, you are provided with data relating to the topics.
Your first task is to formulate a research question or several related research questions that relate
to the topic and can be answered using the data set. You will be helped to analyse the data to answer
your research question(s).
1. You will give a presentation to the class outlining your research work and answer questions about
your overall work (in-class Week 14).
2. You will also write up your results in the format of a conference paper (to be submitted in end of
Week 13).
This is a GROUP assignment.
This assignment is worth 30% of your final grade
Submission dates
• Oral Presentation in Week 13 – Check LMS for date
• Research Paper in Week 13 – Check LMS for date
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WHAT TO DO
You will be formed with a group and must work in the assigned group. You may be assigned to
work on a topic different to what you have worked on in Assignment 1.
You will be given:
1. Information about the topic
2. Information about how the data was collected
3. A list of all the variables included in the dataset
4. A data set containing the raw data in SPSS (.sav)
You need to:
1. Undertake background reading to review the relevant literature. You can use studies you find for
Assignment 1 (if relevant), but you cannot just copy and paste the literature review from
Assignment 1 to Assignment 2. You need to rewrite and restructure the writing based on your
work in assignment 1 (if relevant).
2. Decide exactly what research questions you want to answer (and generate hypotheses if
appropriate)
3. Consider how the data should be analysed to enable your research questions to be answered.
4. Get the data analysed.
5. Present a brief outline of your research/paper in class and be prepared to answer relevant
questions and explain your overall work.
6. Write up your research in the form of a paper suitable for publication at a conference.
Presentation: is worth (10%) of the total mark in the Unit.
The presentations should be 6-7 minutes ONLY in length and given during the Week 14 class.
The presentation should include:
1. Background literature
2. Justification for the research
3. Research questions (and hypotheses if appropriate)
4. Any preliminary results you have
5. Discussions (e.g., implications for research and practice) (highly recommended if you have any
results, though not listed in the rating sheet)
• Questions/Answers: The group will be required to answer questions related to their overall work on
the research project. The group will be assessed based on their ability to respond to questions with
clarity and depth of understanding.
Research Paper: is worth (20%) of the total mark in the Unit
The research paper you submit should include the following sections:
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
• Provide enough background
• Include a brief statement of the problem you are investigating
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4. Literature Review – a brief review of the literature relevant to the problem
5. Research hypotheses – include your hypotheses in this section (and make sure that you provide a
justification for each of them)
6. Research design – you need to provide all necessary information.
7. Results - create your tables – don’t just cut and paste the SPSS output, clearly state what you found
and whether each hypothesis is supported or not.
8. Discussion (Implications for theory, practice, limitations and opportunities for future studies)
9. Conclusion
10. References (referencing should be in APA style)
Make sure that you cite previous work properly!
Length: Approximately 2500 - 3000 words
The Marking rubric is provided on the following pages
7 levels of achievement as follows:
(HD- Full mark), HD (>80%), D (>70%), C (> 60%), P (50%), N (Fail >0%), N (Fail 0%)
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Criteria HD (99%-80%) D (79%-70%) C (69%-60%) P (59%-50%) N (49%-1%)
Title and abstract (5%) Have a clear and Have a clear and Have a clear and Have a clear and Have a clear and
informative title. The informative title. The informative title. informative title. informative title. No
abstract clearly describes abstract includes some The abstract includes The abstract includes a abstract or it is unclear
the background, the background, the overall some background and a brief description of the and confusing.
overall aim, and the aim, and the results of the brief description of the study.
results of the study. study. study.
Introduction, Literature Include 20+ relevant Include 20+ relevant Include 15+ relevant Include 10+ relevant Include less than 10
Review (10%) articles (not any articles articles (not any articles articles (not any articles articles (not any articles relevant articles (not any
(Please do not simply dealing with the issue but dealing with the issue but dealing with the issue but dealing with the issue but articles dealing with the
copy from assignment 1 those closely related to those closely related to those closely related to those closely related to issue but those closely
to here) the article) the article) the article) the article) related to the article)
Excellent introduction: has Good introduction: Reasonable introduction: Has introduction: state the No introduction
external sources to Discuss the importance of Discuss some objective of the essay Reporting some studies;
strongly support the the issue; clearly state the background; clearly state Simply reporting the hard to follow
importance of the issue; objective of the essay the objective of the essay results of one study after
clearly states the objective Identified appropriate Starting to synthesise the another
of the essay material and synthesised research results, but
Identified appropriate the research findings well. some sections still read
material and synthesised like reporting the results of
the research findings well. one study after another
Critically evaluate the
study, and identify the
gaps (the gap links to your
study)
Hypotheses (25%) Provides strong Provides some Provides some Provides very simple Hypotheses were only
justification based on justification based only on justification to support justification to support listed and not justified.
literature and theoretical literature to support all some/all hypotheses, but some/all hypotheses, and
grounds to support all hypotheses. No such justification is not such justification is not
hypotheses theoretical perspectives based on literature or based on literature or
were considered. theory theory
Methods (5%) The methods are clearly The methods may not be The methods are The methods are Methods are not provided
articulated and logically strongly articulated and appropriate for testing the inappropriate for testing or are merely listed
organised. logically organised, but hypotheses but were not the hypotheses and are
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Appropriate for testing the they are appropriate for clearly explained and not clearly explained and
hypotheses. testing the hypotheses. logically organised. logically organised.
Clear description of data Clear description of data Data collection Data collection
collection procedures. collection procedures. procedures are indicated. procedures are not
indicated.
Results (20%) Include correct descriptive Include correct descriptive Include correct descriptive Include correct descriptive Include incorrect statistics.
statistics about the & inferential statistics. & inferential statistics. & inferential statistics. Copy table from SPSS, no
sample and correct Create own tables; report Create own table; report Copy table from SPSS; or little explanations.
inferential statistics. results in the correct results but miss some report results but miss section is unclear or
Create own tables; report format information some information poorly organised, making
results in a correct format Clearly organised and Clearly organised and Generally clear and it difficult to understand.
with no errors. easy to follow with a easy to follow but may organized section, with The analysis of results is
Section is exceptionally mostly logical flow that lack some cohesion or many errors but. superficial, lacking depth
clear and well-organized, aids understanding. have minor organisational Attempt was made to or thorough exploration of
with a clear and logical Results mostly address issues. present findings in a data and alternative
flow that makes it easy to research questions and Results overall address logical sequence, explanations.
follow. hypotheses, with some research questions and following the research
Results directly address minor deviations or hypotheses but may lack objectives or hypotheses.
all research questions and omissions clarity or relevance in The results are analysed
hypotheses, providing The results are analysed some areas adequately, with a basic
clear and relevant findings in-depth, with excellent The results are analysed exploration and
The results are analysed exploration and comprehensively, with a interpretation of data, but
in-depth, with thorough interpretation of data, solid exploration and may lack depth or
exploration and including consideration of interpretation of data, but thorough consideration of
interpretation of data, potential alternative may lack some depth or alternative explanations.
including consideration of explanations. consideration of
potential alternative alternative explanations
explanations.
Discussion (25%) Provide an in-depth clear Provide a clear discussion Provide some discussion Provide some discussion No or little discussions.
discussion of the results of the results of the results of the results
Discuss the implication for Discuss the implication for Discuss the implications
theory, practice, theory, practice, of your study.
limitations and limitations and
recommendations for recommendations for
future studies. Use future studies.
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references to support your
arguments.
Presentation & Writing Has no grammar Has few grammar/ Has a few grammar/ Has quite a few Has many
Proficiency (10%) /spelling errors spelling errors. spelling errors but does grammar / spelling grammar /
All paragraphs are free of All paragraphs are largely not impact Reading. errors, hard to follow spelling errors,
grammatical, spelling or free of grammatical, Paragraphs contain some sometimes. hard to follow.
punctuation errors. The spelling or punctuation grammatical, spelling or paragraphs include Paragraphs contain
writing style is concise errors. (˂5 errors) The punctuation errors. (5-10 several grammatical, numerous grammatical,
and succinct and makes writing style is concise errors). The writing style spelling or punctuation spelling or punctuation
all the relevant, salient and makes the most may be too wordy at errors that distract the errors (˃15 errors). The
points. Within the relevant, salient points. times, go off-topic, or lack reader (10-15 errors). The style of writing is either
allocated word count. Within the allocated word salient points. Within the writing style is either too too wordy and/or makes
A complete, consistent, count. allocated word count. wordy, goes off topic or none of the salient points.
and accurate reference A complete and consistent A complete and mostly lacks the salient points. Word count either under
list is provided for all reference list is provided consistent and accurate Word count either under or over allocated 500
sources, following the for all sources, with only reference list is provided or over allocated 500 words +/-10%.
APA format. The in-text minor inaccuracies, for all sources, following words +/-10%. Lacks complete,
citations accurately match following the APA format. the APA format. A mostly complete, consistent, and accurate
the end-text citations. consistent, and accurate references for all sources,
reference list is provided following the APA format.
for most sources,
following the APA format.
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