Foundations of research methods and practices to conduct research in a practical setting,
including insights into legal, social, ethical and professional issues applicable to computing projects.
Lessons learnt and key outcomes
Via the units mentioned below, I learnt to appreciate and apply the fundamentals of software engineering best practices and project management frameworks, critically assess their suitability throughout the SDLC and learn from case studies involving software engineering project-related failures to devise, manage, and deliver successful software engineering-related projects adopting robust and modern principles, best practices, and methodologies. These techniques involved appropriate definition of requirements as per the key user personas, tailored design to meet their prioritised needs and wants, robust design, software implementation and testing, gathering their early feedback, and enhancing the software throughout the SDLC, including via user acceptance testing (UAT). Furthermore, I learnt and applied various project management methodologies in traditional and modern SDLC models, such as TOGAF and Agile (both Scrum for delivery implementations and Kanban for fast-paced discovery-/hypothesis testing-related work), to build a working prototype of a remote-controlled race car-related game as a software application. In this team project, I learnt the importance of leveraging the team members' passion, skills, and expertise to design and deliver a software systems to meet key users' requirements whilst promoting diversity and inclusion in car racing, and complying with applicable data privacy regulations considering the storage and processing of required personal data, such as the European Union (EU)’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Unit 1: Scientific Investigation and Ethics
Research aims to explore, describe, and explain a situation or topic. The scientific method is a key approach to guide the research endeavours and investigation in a cohesive and empirical direction. Thus, it involves observing, formulating hypotheses, reasoning, and testing. Reasoning can be deductive or inductive, and either methods lead to inference, i.e., reaching a conclusion that is grounded on reasoning. Nevertheless, research does not only involve scientific investigations, but also balancing ethics, especially when people are involved. To understand and appreciate the importance of ethics in research, an ACM case study on "Dark UX Patterns" was evaluated. You can download my post as a part of a group discussion by clicking 'LEARN MORE' below.
Unit 2: Research Questions, the Literature Review and the Research Proposal
Defining the focus of the research is time-consuming, but pivotal to set the research up for success. A research idea is initially formulated and then specific research questions are derived, which should be leveraged to write a research proposal. As a part of this proposal, critically reviewing the literature to understand the current knowledge in the chosen field and identify gaps to fill wih own research is fundamental to add value to knowledge. You can download my responses to my peers during the first collaborative discussion by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 3: Research Methods
In this unit, I learnt various research designs (exploratory and conclusive, including descriptive research) and methods (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research). The focus of the research I aim to pursue is conclusive and quantitative, thus focusing to analyse data quantitatively and leveraging such numerical insights to inform the delineation and selection of a course of action to predict medication safety. In this week, I had the chance to ponder on the discussion with my peers during the previous two units and provided a summary post, which can be downloaded by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 4: Case Studies, Focus Groups and Observations
This unit enabled me to learn tools to perform data collection, which are leveraged mainly in qualitative research, but also in quantitative research. Case studies, focus groups, quantitative and qualitative observations were investigated, and their advantages and drawbacks were analysed. You can read my outline of the review of relevant literature pertaining to quantitative research by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 5: Interviews and Survey Methods
This unit enabled me to gain in-depth knowledge of methods for conducting interviews and gather information as a part of qualitative research, including performing surveys. In this unit, I wrote a reflective post on the Cambridge Analytica-related scandal, assessing the implications and impact of gathering users' data without their informed consent, which you can download by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 6: Questionnaire Design
During this unit, differences between questionnaires and surveys were analysed and discussed. Furthermore, four potential supervisors were contacted and two of them were identified as willing to supervise my project in the final dissertation, which will involve Machine Learning on Apache Cassandra. Dr Cathryn Peoples and Dr Stefania Paladini will be my first and second supervisors respectively. You can read some advantages that Cassandra databases can bring when developing and delivering Machine Learning-driven applications by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 7: Validity and Generalisability in Research
In this unit, I had the chance to appreciate the value of assessing and guaranteeing validity, generalisability, and reliability when conducting research, to ensure a practical translation of research findings. In this week, I shared an initial post on the importance of providing accurate information when undertaking research and the ethical implications of not doing so. During this unit, I had the opportunity to write and submit my literature review on Machine Learning-driven technologies to predict medication safety for major depressive disorders or severe depression, which you can download by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 8: Inferential Statistics
In this unit, I had the chance to appreciate the value of statistical inference, thus leveraging a quantitative analysis of the data to derive statistically valid inferences/conclusions about the population of interest. In this week, I shared my peer responses on the previous week's collaborative discussion. During this unit, I had the opportunity to perform various exercises on inferential statistics and interpreting their results, as well as writing an outline for my research proposal presentation, which you can download by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 9: Analysing Qualitative Data
In this unit, I had the chance to appreciate the value of leveraging appropriate statistical tests and data visualisation techniques to respectively analyse qualitative data and portray salient insights from them. In this week, I shared a summary post on the second collaborative discussion. During this unit, I had the opportunity to carry out various exercises leveraging statistical tests and representing inferences via various visualisation techniques, which you can download by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 10: Research Writing
In this unit, I had the opportunity to practise on research writing and reporting, as well as drafting and presenting my research proposal. Thus, in this week, I created a transcript of my presentation on leveraging Machine Learning to predict medication safety for depression regardless of its degree of severity. During this unit, I had the chance to create and deliver a presentation on this topic, which you can download by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 11: Professional Development – Your e-Portfolio
In this unit, I could focus on reflecting upon my personal and professional development throughout this module. Thus, to summarise the knowledge and skills I gained, I created a skills matrix representing the skills of interest and the extent of competence in each of them before and after taking this module on Research Methods and Professional Practice. Furthermore, I carried out a SWOT analysis to further ponder on my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats towards delineating an action plan to continue my personal and professional development, which you can download by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Unit 12: Project Management and Managing Risk
In this unit, I learnt further about project management methodologies and frameworks for risk management. Furthermore, I wrote my overall module reflections, which you can read by clicking ‘LEARN MORE’ below.
Reflections on Research Methods and Professional Practice
In this reflective piece, I summarised what I learnt on Research Methods and Professional Practice in this module, the work I carried out throughout it, and their impact on my personal and professional development. Click ‘LEARN MORE’ below to read it.