COMM50 Postgraduate Study & Research Methods

Week 3 Tutorial: Quantitative Research Methods Task 1 Imagine you have been asked to carry out a research study that is to look at the effects a new headache medicine has on driving ability.

Consider and answer the following questions: (a) What variables (things) will you need to measure in your experiment? (b) How will you measure these variables? (c) Explain the design of your study and how you will set-up the experiment(s). (d) How many individual experiments will you conduct and why? (e) How will you examine the data you collect? (f) How will you present the data and results of your work?

Task 2 Think about an area of computing that interests you and note down some of the key words or phrases associated with that area. Use these notes to try to form research questions or hypotheses. Try to formulate at least five research questions or hypotheses. For example: Key Words Question / Hypotheses Wi-fi, security, SSID, corporate Does encryption provide corporate networks with networks, encryption, access adequate security from wireless intruders? point, war driving Access points that broadcast SSIDs are more likely to be insecure. HCI, web design, layout, Do users perform better with graphical or non-graphical colouring, buttons, text, useruser interfaces? centred design, usability, Web sites that employ user-centred design receive more acceptance, performance hits. Would your proposed research topics require quantitative of qualitative research methodologies to address them? Why?

COMM50 Postgraduate Study & Research Methods

Completing the Tutorial You must work on this task alone. Approach each of the tasks one at a time. Dont start the following task until you have completed the previous one. Some tips for conducting your literature search and review: Take time to think about the questions you are dealing with. When you come up with an answer, try to examine it in a critical manner. Does it really solve the problem? Are there any possible flaws or ambiguities in your solution? Try to make your explanations (especially of the research study in Task 1) clear and concise. As you think about it, youll realise there are many issues and factors that will need to be acknowledged and possible controlled in your proposed experiment. Dont be afraid to carry-out miniature literature searches as part of completing Task 2. You will find this useful and it will help refine your search skills. When you have completed the two tasks in this tutorial, you should submit it as a Word document via the Week 3 Tutorial Submission Box on the Moodle site. The exercise will be reviewed in the following tutorial session.

COMM50 Postgraduate Study & Research Methods