This unit is proposed as part of the introduction of coursework into the PhD programme within the Faculty of Information Technology, and for research Masters students who wish to upgrade to PhD. This unit will be at an advanced level, building on knowledge on research methods gained by students in their Honours (or equivalent) coursework. The unit will focus on various research methods adopted for ICT research with the aim of critically evaluating the philosophical underpinnings and paradigmatic assumptions when designing and conducting research for technical, as well as social advancements of ICT.

Timetabling requirement were missing from course description.

30/11/2017 - Unit disestablished at FEC 5/17 Item 7.3.

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

029999 Information Technology Not Elsewhere Classified

The aim of the unit is to prepare PhD candidates from the Faculty of IT to conduct research across the range of the disciplines that cover Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research, including computer science, software engineering, at the technical end, and organisational and social informatics, which address societal needs in ICT. This unit is an elective unit for students enrolled in the FIT PhD program from January 2013. Students are expected to complete FIT6021 'Advanced research methods 1' first before enrolling into this unit. Students complete the next five workshops from a list of available workshops, after completing five workshops in FIT6021.

On-campus/Block mode

The unit comprises a set of workshops, which address the broad philosophical, methodological and ethical underpinnings of conducting research in ICT, as well as classical and modern approaches to designing data collection and analysis for rigorous and sophisticated ICT research studies.

Both 'Advanced Research Methods 1' unit and 'Advanced Research Methods 2' unit use the same list of workshops, which address the broad philosophical, methodological and ethical underpinnings of conducting research in ICT, as well as classical and modern approaches to designing data collection and analysis for rigorous and sophisticated ICT research studies.

The list of workshops is as follows:

After completing five workshops for the compulsory 'Advanced Research Methods 1' unit, students may opt to do the elective unit, 'Advanced Research Methods 2', by completing the next five workshops in the list.

The topics, the contents and the number of the workshops offered may vary yearly depending on the need of the student cohort. Other workshops may be sourced from outside the Faculty; and these workshops must be approved by the unit coordinator.

The teaching methods will include lectures and/or seminars/practical work to reinforce the learning by actively engaging students. Each workshop will be run over a video-conference room for multi-campus teaching. Moodle will be used to facilitate forum discussion and teaching material delivery.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Each workshop will include an associated assessable task, which will comprise a portfolio of results to contribute 20% to the final assessment. These will comprise written and oral presentations to be performed individually and/or in groups. To pass this unit, students must achieve at least a total mark of 70% from five workshops, and must achieve at least 50% in each workshop.

Each workshop has seven hours of face-to-face contact plus 24 hours of individual study time.

One 4 hour seminar per week to be scheduled in a VC room (just in case ...).

FIT

FIT4005 or FIT5185 or equivalent