research proposal

4000ENG: Research Methods and Statistics

COURSE ASSIGNMENT Assessment 2: Students will work on groups to submit a coherent research proposal that reflects critical review of the literature reporting on a certain engineering topic. Report Due Date: 11:59pm, 2nd June 2016 Submit Report through: Turnitin via Blackboard Length of Report: 4000 words (7-8 pages, excluding reference list) Weighting: 50%

Overall Objective The assignment contributes in part to a total understanding of the scientific research process, from initial definition of the research problem, generation of research questions and hypotheses and recommendations for undertaking the research. The overall objective of your assignment is simply for you to give a comprehensive, well structured, and methodical approach, with adequate supporting literature references, on HOW the particular selected research topic needs to be researched, with specific reference to the research problem, research questions, research hypotheses, research methodology including theoretical and empirical examples throughout all the stages of the scientific research process. The student is NOT expected to conduct actual research in the selected topic.

Research Topic Students may select ANY research topic(s) for completion of their assignments based on the following criteria: 1. The topic has relevance to the Engineering field 2. The topic has been the focus of a journal publication 3. The identified publication (refer to point 2, above) and the supporting literature are relatively recent (publication date is 2011 - Present) You will be working in groups of no more than 4 students.

4000ENG: Research Methods and Statistics

Assignment Details Before starting this assignment please read the following Assessment Marking Criteria. Each assignment must be presented in typical report format. Students must present supporting material from at LEAST six (6) relevant references (with a citation format APA 6th) which are academic articles published in journal(s) with an SCI Impact Factor (for example, Journal of Automation in Construction is of a SCI IF 1.812). Your literature review is in reality a type of research, thus it should conform to the anatomy of a typical scholarly article consisting the following components:

 Title  Author information (name, student number, affiliation, etc.)

 Abstract  Introduction

 Methods  Discussion

 Conclusion  References

The Assignment relates to the research design stage of the scientific research process and includes course learning material introduced in Weeks 8 through to 11, covering topics such as:

 Engineering research project design.

 The construct of engineering research.  The engineering research topic and problem.

 The appropriate logical reasoning approach.  The literature review leading to the research questions  Engineering research questions and hypotheses.

 Research methodology and methods application.

Write a formal report describing in detail HOW your particular selected research topic needs to be researched, including appropriate theoretical and empirical examples explaining your approach to identifying the research problem, conducting a preliminary literature review and assessment, adopting the appropriate logical reasoning approach, generating specific research questions, formulating research hypotheses, and deciding on what your intended research methodology would be. You submission will be checked for duplication of other authored material.

4000ENG: Research Methods and Statistics

Additional Requirements Assessment marks will be given in accordance with each assignment’s assessment sheet for content, presentation, brevity, format, and logic. Marks will be deducted for poor referencing, inadequate paragraph numbering, surplus words and irrelevant detail.

Criteria & Marking 1. This assignment will be assessed utilising a holistic marking scheme as below 2. Resubmission of an assessment item is not allowed 3. An assessment item submitted after the due date, without an approved extension, will be penalised. The standard penalty is the reduction of the mark allocated to the assessment item by 10% of the maximum mark applicable for the assessment item, for each working day or part working day that the item is late. Assessment items submitted more than five working days after the due date are awarded zero (0) marks.