This unit is offered as a mandatory unit in the Bachelor (Honours) program. It is co-taught with FIT5185 IT Research Methods which is a mandatory unit in the Masters (Honours) programs and the research stream of the new Masters coursework programs to be offered from 2014. FIT5143, a 0 point clone of FIT5185 is a mandatory unit in MPhil.

17/10/2019 Update to reflect the new delivery format and that all coursework masters students now take the associated unit FIT5125.

5/10/2018: Update to prerequisites to allow Software Engineering students to enrol as an approved elective. Effective 2019.

03/09/2018: CE Updated contact hours to 2 hour lecture and 2 hour tutorial to clarify timetabling.

12/06/2017: Admin - updating location of offering to reflect actual campus offerings at the ADE's request.

09/01/2017: Admin - CE updated unit learning outcomes (objectives) effective Semester 1, 2017.

Sept 2015: Updated for course architecture. Name changed. Effective 2016.

9/1/2014 - Admin change, edit synopsis at ADE's request.

14/05/2014 - Admin update: minor change to learning outcomes (as approved by ADE).

16/10/2013 - Administrative change adding FIT5125 to prohibitions.

This unit has been updated as part of a review in 2013 of research training units in the Faculty. The changes aim to provide more flexibility and to enable the unit and its co-taught unit FIT5185 IT Research Methods to better meet the needs of the different cohorts of students who take them. It is a mandatory unit in the Bachelor's Honours program. Its co-taught unit FIT5185 is a mandatory unit in the Masters (Honours) program, and will be a compulsory unit in the research stream of the new Masters coursework programs being introduced from 2014. FIT5143, a 0 point clone of FIT5185, is a mandatory unit in MPhil. Changes have been made to Learning Outcomes, Unit Content, Teaching Methods and Assessment. Changes to be implemented from Semester 1 2014.

4/5/2020: As the MSA course 4307 Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences is in teach-out, the MSA offering of this unit has been re-coded to FZA4005 effective Semester 1, 2021. These units will be managed by South Africa and therefore no separate Monatar entries will be made

24/09/2020 Admin: Update to include new assessment and teaching approach fields as per Handbook requirements.

This unit is a core unit for all FIT Bachelor (Honours) students. It provides an introduction to research philosophies and paradigms, research design, research ethics and IT research methods and techniques in the disciplines of computing science, information systems and information management. It both develops research skills essential to undertaking an Honours thesis in a Bachelors degree, but also introduces more research methods and skills that are required by IT professionals working in industry.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. review and critique research literature (from a wide range of sources), research designs and research findings in a sub-discipline of IT;
2. communicate research findings orally and in writing, online and using video, in research and industry settings;
3. explain the ethical and professional issues that may arise in IT research and demonstrate them in practice;
4. identify and explain major research philosophies and paradigms;
5. evaluate, select and justify research methods and techniques of data collection and analysis appropriate to particular research designs and projects in sub-disciplines of IT;
6. analyse and describe the technical, professional and socio-economic contexts that motivate research, and the implications of research outcomes;
7. design and carry out a rigorous and ethical research project and produce a report explaining the project, its design and interpretation of the results.
8. apply research skills to operate effectively as a member of a research project team.

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This unit exposes students to research across the range of IT sub-disciplines. It provides broad coverage of the issues, concepts, methods and techniques associated with Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Management research. It introduces students to major research paradigms, the principles of research design, research ethics, and research methods and techniques of data collection and analysis appropriate to IT research generally and to their sub-discipline specifically. It covers oral, written, online and video research communication skills. Skills developed and knowledge acquired from this unit will prepare students to conduct and communicate their own research, as well as to be knowledgeable and critical interpreters of research more generallly.

Recommended resources

Reading list: There is no required textbook for this unit. See the Library list on Moodle. Lists of additional readings will be provided for each module.

Technological requirement

Students may be required to use Web browsers, text processing, spread sheets and slide presentation packages to complete their assignments, media production tools and statistical analysis software. These are available in University computer labs.

On-campus

The unit comprises 12 weeks, one 3-hour studio per week, with a summary 1 hour lecture at the end of each week.

Studios contain 60 students, and for the same cohort up to 4 studios can be run in parallel in adjacent flat classroom spaces.

Students will prepare for studios each using online learning material.

Students will work in groups between 2-6 students in studios (depending on the activity).

Work conducted after the studio each week will form the basis for the assessment.

In-semester assessment: 100%

Students will develop a portfolio of work linked to the workshop. This may include: reviews of research literature; qualitative and quantitative method research designs, findings and analyses; research proposals; workshop presentations; presentations of research (oral, written, online and/or video).

1. Assessment tasks for weeks 1 to 3 - 20% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
2. Assessment tasks for weeks 4 to 6 - 20% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
3. Assessment tasks for weeks 7 to 9 - 20% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
4. Assessment tasks for weeks 10 to 12 - 30% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
5. Online weekly quiz - 5% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
6. Online weekly communication activity - 5% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Minimum total expected workload is 12 hours per week comprising:

Tutorials of 20 students per tutor are conducted in classes of 60 to allow for key summaries and maximum use of tutor expertise (note these are not workshops).

FIT