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14 views

Topic 4

Uploaded by

bhattibaba118
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ICT615

Information Technology Research


Methods

Topic 4
Research Proposal and Survey Research
Acknowledgement
of Country
We acknowledge the Binjareb people of the Noongar nation as
the traditional custodians of this country and its waters and that
Murdoch University stands on Noongar country.

We pay our respects to Noongar elders, past and present and


acknowledge their wisdom and advice in teaching and cultural
knowledge activities.
COVID-19
student protocols.
Personal If you’re unwell don’t come
Visit MyMurdoch Student Portal to stay up-to-date. to campus. Stay home, get
Health tested and see a doctor.

If you’re diagnosed with


Please wipe down all
Computer COVID-19 or have been in close

Labs
surfaces after you have Reporting contact with a confirmed case,
used them. stay home and let your unit
coordinator know.

Be kind, respectful and


Behaviour supportive to people in Physical Stay 1.5 metres apart
at all other times.
our University community. Distancing

Leave space for people Wash your hands with


Entering soap and water regularly,
+ Exiting
when entering and Hygiene and cough and sneeze
leaving buildings.
into your elbow.
Readings and resources

Required reading:
• Oates Chs 7 & 15

• Cooper, D. R. & Schindler, P. S. (2001) The research proposal. Business


Research Methods (pp.88-109).

4
Learning objectives

After completing this topic you should be able to:


• Describe the purpose of a research proposal
• Describe what survey research is
• Define the following terms in the context of survey research: population, sampling
frame, sample, response rate, pre-test and pilot
• Be aware of a range of sampling techniques
• Explain the advantages and disadvantages of survey research

5
A research project commonly includes the following
phases:

6
The purpose of a research proposal

1. To present the problem to be researched and its importance


2. To discuss the research efforts of others who have worked on related
problems
3. To define the data necessary for solving the problem
4. To suggest how the data will be gathered, treated, and interpreted
(ie. what, why, how, where)

7
Thesis Research Proposal - One Possible
Format
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Research Design
• Conclusions
• References
• Appendices
8
Research design
Once the research problem is specified, need to determine
how the aims will be achieved and/or research questions
answered.
Creating the research design includes choosing a research
strategy or approach. For example:
• Survey
• Design and creation
• Experiment
• Case study
• Action research

9
What is survey research?

In survey research the same kinds of data are obtained


from a large group of people, entities or events in a
standardised and systematic way.

Data generation approaches include:


• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Observation
• Document analysis

10
Planning surveys

When planning survey research need to:


• Decide on data requirements – what data will you need to answer the
research questions?
• Decide on data generation method
• Obtain sampling frame
• Determine sampling technique
• Design data collection instruments – e.g. questionnaire or interview
questions

11
Question

What advantages and disadvantages are there with


these ways of collecting data in survey research?
• Printed questionnaires
• Online questionnaires
• Face-to-face interviews
• Telephone interviews

12
Population, sampling frame and sample

Population of interest - the group that you wish to


generalize your research to - e.g. all Australian IT
professionals
Sampling frame – list from which sample will be drawn.
Should contain whole population of interest –student list
Sample - subset of population included in the study.
Will use information collected from the sample to try to
characterize the population – so sample must be
representative of the population.

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• Question: Would the membership list of the ACS work
as a sampling frame for all Australian IT professionals?

14
Sampling techniques

• Probability sampling techniques – every element in the population


has a known non-zero probability of selection:
• Random sampling – sample randomly selected from population of
interest. Every item in the population has the same probability of
being in the sample.
• Variations with random selection at some point
• Systematic sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling

15
Sampling techniques (ctd)

• Non-probability sampling techniques – probability of any member


of the population being chosen is unknown:
• Purposive sampling - deliberately hand-pick sample
• Snowball sampling – find one person from the target population, then ask for
suggestions about other people relevant to the research
• Convenience sampling – the researchers simply select respondents who are
convenient for them – e.g. easy to reach or willing to help

16
Sample size?

These factors impact on the sample size aimed for:


• Size required to generalise to whole population (can use
sample size calculator – e.g.
http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm)
• Requirements of statistical analysis techniques
• Practicality – what can you realistically do

Actual sample size also influenced by response rate

17
Question:

You send out 942 questionnaires to randomly


selected members of your target population and
get 205 back.
• What is the response rate?
• What are the implications for your research?

18
Designing questionnaires

Need to plan and design:


• Form of administration – self-administered or researcher-administered
• Questions:
• open questions vs closed questions
• types of scales (Y/N, quantity questions, agree/disagree on Likert scale, ranking etc.)
• question content and wording
• Layout and structure – explain purpose, how to complete and return etc.
Clear layout

19
Questionnaire question and response
examples

• What gender are you? (M/F)


• How old are you? (years)
• What computing platform do you use (e.g. Apple - Mac
OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux or other)
• Please rate your level of IT skill (Poor … Excellent)

20
Measuring a variable with multiple items

Perceived Vulnerability (7 point Likert scale: 1 = strongly


disagree, 7 = strongly agree)
• I could be subject to a serious information security threat
• I am facing more and more information security threats
• I feel that my computer could be vulnerable to a security
threat
• It is likely that my computer will be compromised in the future
• My information and data is vulnerable to security breaches

21
Before collecting the data
• Pre-test with group of respondents to identify any
problems with questions
• Pilot test - trial all procedures and instruments for study

Refine as needed

22
Advantages of survey research

• Can provide a wide coverage so that results are


representative of the wider population
• Can be cheaper than some other approaches
• Can collect data faster than with some other approaches
• Studies can be replicated relatively easily
• Can determine the relationships between variables

23
Disadvantages of survey research

• Can lack depth


• May be an overemphasis on what can be counted and
measured quantitatively
• Does not provide as rich description of a situation as
case study research
• Snapshot of particular points in time
• Does not establish cause and effect – MORE NEXT
TOPIC

24
Learning objectives revisited

• What is a research proposal?


• What is survey research?
• How do probability and non-probability sampling
techniques differ?
• What are the advantages of survey research?
• What are the disadvantages of survey research?

25
Thank you

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