Category: 01 – What is “Research”?
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What is a Dissertation?
It is a document that defends a hypothesis. Based on sound collection of evidence from both literature and collected data. Evidence gathered from appropriate sources, presented in coherent structure, drawing valid, reliable and justified conclusions. Degree-related project must contain work the student has carried out, not just other people’s work.
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Triangulation
Need significant body of evidence to support hypothesis. If taken from literature, read extensively around subject and gather wide range of correlative sources. If evidence is from own work, number of data sets required from different circumstances to ensure experiments/observations are repeatable. This approach is called triangulation – sets of evidence from various sources supporting…
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Sources – Your own data
Data can be collected from experiments and observations. Need to present in clear and concise manner that is easy to understand while including all relevant information. Usual to show data in graphical format so it is easier to interpret. Common data has standards of measurement, e.g. data communication; average data rate, lost packets, end-to-end delivery…
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Sources – Literature
Source of evidence must be clear. If it is from literature then it must be referenced. Must use the referencing method specified by publisher in order to get scientific paper published. Harvard referencing is one of main standards used in I.T. literature. Recent versions of MS Word have the option of setting Harvard as the…
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Things you have discovered during your research
Collecting data from an experiment provides evidence. e.g. monitoring section of Internet and collect statistical data on amount of traffic. Can be presented in research paper. Review reliability and repeatability to ensure data is acceptable.
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Things that other people have discovered
Body of knowledge is vast, can be found in: academic journals conference papers books etc. Source material for what is already known.
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Evidence
In science, everything has to be supported by evidence – no evidence, no scientific theory. Hyperspace is an example of science fiction as there is no evidence that faster than speed of light travel is possible. In the future, if this becomes possible then it will be science fact as there will be evidence to…
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Delivery
What will be delivered? Typically an academic paper (WRT the degree course, it will be the dissertation).
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Milestones
Project will need to be completed in stages and should have a schedule with dates and deadlines. This is a project plan. Large projects may require full project planning tools and techniques. Smaller projects may only require a Gannt chart. Helps ensure that work is done in correct order and to avoid stalling (when progress…
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Products
What will you produce to illustrate that you have met your objectives? The artefact could be something like a device or piece of software. Tim Berners-Lee produced a web server and client to show his hypothesis would work (Internet and hypertext). Alternative artefacts could include results from experiments which could then be used to produce…