CO4820 Critical Analysis - University of Central Lancashire

A survey has been conducted, gathering data from participants. You will be provided with the data from this survey and will use it to write a report in the form of an academic research paper.

The Topic

The data provided is from a survey of Secondary School pupils in the UK, aged 11-16. The results of the survey can be found on Blackboard.

Your report needs to answer the following research question:

RQ1: Do teenagers prefer different software depending on whether they are male or female?

You will need to specify clearly in the first sentence of your introduction which of the Research Questions you are answering. Details are below for how each question should be addressed.

RQ1: Do teenagers prefer different software depending on whether they are male or female?

If you choose to answer RQ1, you should refer to paper 1 on Blackboard (Ekaputra et al., 2013) and also ensure you refer to questions 3, 6 and 12 from the survey. You must show evidence you have read the paper described here and you must also reference at least four other papers as part of your write up. You may refer to other questions from the survey.

RQ2: Do teenagers prefer different hardware depending on whether they are male or female?
If you choose to answer RQ2, you should refer to paper 2 on Blackboard (Nair, 2007) and also ensure you refer to questions 3, 4 and 5 from the survey. You must show evidence you have read the paper described here and you must also reference at least four other papers as part of your write up. You may refer to other questions from the survey.

The Research paper

The paper must follow the format specified in the ACM template that is posted on Blackboard. This specifies the sections that should be included (e.g. abstract, introduction, literature review, method, results, discussion and conclusion). The paper should be no more than 4 pages, not including the references.

The paper is expected to present an introduction to the topic and literature review of related academic work. You should aim to reference between 5 and 10 good quality sources. The research question and hypothesis should be identified clearly. The survey design and method should be explained. A table of key results must be included.The data gathered should be analysed to see if your research question can be answered.

Your paper must include the following:
• Introduction making it clear which research question has been chosen, and discussing background literature on the topic, including the paper specified for your research question and other relevant sources
• A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of using surveys in this context to gather data
• A critique of the survey design, including the wording and presentation of specific questions, and what the survey designers need to be aware of
• A discussion of the ethical issues that are involved with research of this type, and practices that the researchers should have used in gathering this data
• A method section giving example details of how this survey may have been conducted in an appropriate and ethical manner
• Results and discussion, showing how the research question has been answered by this study

Attachment:- Critical Analysis.rar

4-5 pages report