Proposals for Research Projects and Research Papers

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers
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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Topics
• Selecting a research topic
• Producing a research proposal
• Producing a proposal for a research paper
• For additional information see
• How to research by Blaxter, Hughes and Tight,
  Chapter 2

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Selecting a Research Topic
• Blaxter, Hughes and Tight highlight twelve issues
  to bear in mind when choosing a research topic
• 1. How much choice you have
• 2. Your motivation
• 3. Regulations and Expectations
• 4. Your subject or field of study
• 5. Previous examples of research projects
  (papers)
• 6. The size of the Topic

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Selecting a Research Topic (Continued)
• 7. The time you have available
• 8. The cost of research
• 9. The resources you have available
• 10. Your need for Support
• 11. Access issues
• 12. Methods for Researching

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Selecting a Research Topic
• Remember
• Nearly everything will take longer than you
  expect
• There are always some problems
• So -  Be realistic
• Try and keep things as simple and straightforward
  as possible

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Producing a Research Proposal
• This will be covered in detail in the sessions
  that support the project phase of your MSc. 
• What you will need to produce for your project is
  a Terms of Reference

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Terms of Reference
• For our projects these usually consist of four
  sections that address -
• Background and Overview
• Objectives
• Resources
• Constraints
• Plus you will expected to produce an outline set
  of plans that detail how you expect to carry out
  the project.

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Terms of Reference
• You will need to detail
• Stages,
• Order of activities,
• Deliverables, and
• Times 
• Normally this is done by means of a Schedule and
  a Gantt chart

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Producing a Proposal for a Research Paper 
• We will consider the use of
• EXTENDED ABSTRACTS

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Extended Abstracts (Paper Proposals)
• Often required by conference organisers to
• Help them do some initial planning
• Organise reviewing
• Provide advance feedback to authors
• Some conferences do their paper selection only on
  extended abstracts
• If the extended abstract is accepted, then your
  paper is guaranteed acceptance
• Often all a keynote or invited speaker needs to
  produce is an extended abstract. (not a full
  paper!)

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Extended Abstracts (Paper Proposals)
• A promise of what will be delivered 
• Often written in the future tense as it
  describes what will delivered, not what currently
  exists. 
• Should contain information on
• Scene setting (places work in context)
• Outline Contents (Structure)
• Particular Highlights 
• Plus
• A good title (can help get attention )
• Initial references (to give an indication of the
  quality of research and support the proposed
  contents of the paper)

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Example extended abstract and initial references
• A good title (can help get attention )
• How the Regulation of Software Engineering and
  the Texas Licensing Model Will Act as Catalysts
  for the Greater Professionalism and Higher
  Software Quality

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Scene setting (places work in context)
• The software industry, when considering quality,
  has tended to concentrate on two aspects the
  product itself (the software) and the processes
  involved in producing that product. Assessing the
  quality of the product is fraught with
  difficulties since not only is the final product
  - the executing code- intangible, but as many
  authors have pointed out quality itself is hard
  to define and almost impossible to measure
  directly. Thus the industry has tended to
  concentrate on the production process and argue
  that
  
  
  
  
  
  A quality process
  should lead to the production of a quality
  product It does
  not matter how well this argument may apply to
  traditional production line processes it is not
  necessarily the holy grail with regard to
  software. However, what is very clear from case
  study literature is that, whether one is
  concerned with product or process, a third vital
  ingredient is people. It is thus people rather
  than product or process that should be regarded
  as fundamental to any quality regime. In
  addition, with the end of the Millennium we are
  seeing moves to license Software Engineers in
  parts of the United States (US). This licensing
  and associated regulation of the Software
  Engineering profession is likely to lead to major
  changes relating to computer personnel and the
  ways in which they work.

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Outline Contents (Structure)
• Within the paper the following will be
  considered
• 1.Regulation and Certification Developments and
  the Facts covering Software Engineering Licensing
  in Texas, US.
• 2.Formal Requirements of Professionalism
• 3.Examples of how non professional attitudes
  impinge on Quality
• 4.Approaches that will improve the current state
  of the industry

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Particular Highlights
• Particular attention will be paid to
• Rules of the Texas initiative to give Software
  Engineers a license to practice. Reference will
  be made to the different levels of Software
  Engineering expertise and the potential for
  professional development. The case will be made
  that there could be extra incentives and long
  term rewards for top grade Licensed Software
  Engineers. This could be especially true for
  those working in the areas of speciality, safety
  critical, trust-worthy, or real time systems.
• Finally conclusions will be presented regarding
  the essential components and requirements that
  relate to the teaching of principles of value and
  ethics to computer personnel. This should help to
  move ethical training forward with the aim of
  producing professional software engineers and
  computer scientists in the future who will both
  be ethically aware and astute and capable of
  making socially responsible decisions.

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Initial references (to give an indication of
  quality of research) (note this abstract was
  written in 1999)
• Selected references
• Bellinger, B (1998) Debate Weighs Licenses for
  Software Engineers. Electronic Engineering.
  Times. 09/21/98, Issue 1026, (152), CMP Media
  Inc. pp.1-3.
• Clegg, C et al. (199), The Performance of
  Information Technology and the Role of Human and
  Organisational Factors. Report to the Economic
  and Social Research Council, Swindon, UK.
• IEEE (1998) Software Engineering Standards
  Committee - Computer Society Standards Impact
  1999!. IEEE, US. On-line. Available from
  http//computer.org/standard/impact/Program.html
  January 15. 1999.
• Martin, D, C. Martin, D, H. (1990) Professional
  Codes of Conduct and Computer Ethics Education.
  Social Science Computer Review. 8. (1) pp. 96.

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Initial references (Continued)
• Mead, N, R. (1997) Issues in Licensing and
  Certification. 10th Conference on Software
  Engineering Education and Training. IEEE. USA.
  pp. 150-160.
• Speed, J, R. (1998a) Software Engineering An
  Examination of the Actions Taken by the Texas
  Board of Professional Engineers. Online. US.
  Texas Board of Professional Engineers. Available
  from http//www.main.org/peboard/softw.htm.
  December 21, 1998.
• Speed, J. R. (1998b) Ethics and the professional
  engineer. Online. US, Texas Professional
  Engineer, February 1998 Volume 2, Issue 1,
  Sections I-VIII, October 12, 1998. NCEES,
  Available from http//www.ncees.org/licensure_
  exchange/feb/engineerethics.htr. December 1,
  1998

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Initial references (Continued)
• Texas Board of Professional Engineers. (1998)
  Board Establishes Software Engineering Discipline
  - The Texas Board's Software Engineering
  Statement dated 10/12/98. Online. US. Texas Board
  of Professional Engineers. Available from
  www.main.org/peboard/sofupdt.ht December 16,
  1998.

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Proposals for Research Projects and Research
Papers

• Your Proposal (worth 10 of module assessment)
•  You will be marked on
•  Your proposal (approximately one side of A4)
• Initial references (5 to 8 should be sufficient)
• Grading Scheme Used
• NA NOT ATTEMPTED
• US UNACCEPTABLE STANDARD (FAIL).
• S- BELOW STANDARD EXPECTED OF HONOURS GRADUATES
  STUDYING A MASTERS LEVEL COURSE (MINIMAL PASS).
• S STANDARD EXPECTED OF HONOURS GRADUATES
  STUDYING A MASTERS LEVEL COURSE (SOUND PASS).
• S ABOVE STANDARD EXPECTED OF HONOURS GRADUATES
  STUDYING A MASTERS LEVEL (DISTINCTIVE PASS).
• E NO IMPROVEMENTS CAN BE IDENTIFIED (FULL MARKS).