Pearson

Higher National in
Computing

Unit 13: Computing Research Project

ASSIGNMENT
BRIEF

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This Assignment Brief is the property of
THE MILLENNIUM UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Higher National Certificate/Diploma in Computing
Assignment Brief
Pearson Reg. Number
Student Name
Unit Number and Title Unit 13: Computing Research Project
Academic Year 2022-23
Unit Tutor Awais Amir Niaz
Assignment Title Research in Computing
Issue Date 19-Sep-2022
Submission Date Synopsis Defense – 15-Nov-2022 – Final Defense 15-Dec-2023
Submitted On
Internally Verified?  Yes  No
IV Name Mir Wajid Ali
IV Date 13-July-2022
Student Declaration
I solemnly declare that the work submitted for this assignment is my own and research sources
are fully acknowledged.

Student Signature: Tutor Signature:

Date: Date:

Submission Format

The submission is in the form of two documents:

Part 1 Evidence Guidance

This part will call for a proposal comprising of the following:
• Research Question(s) or Hypothesis
• Supported with Literature Review
• Research Method for Primary and Secondary Research
Part 2 Evidence Guidance
This part will require following evidence
• Research Presentation
• Full Research Report
• Observation Sheet / Witness Statement
Part 3 Evidence Guidance
This part will require following evidence
• Report

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You are required to submit your work for plagiarism checking. No work will be considered if it
contains plagiarism more than the acceptable level defined as per TMUC’s plagiarism policy.

Unit Learning Outcomes:

LO1 Examine appropriate research methodologies and approaches as part of the research
process.
LO2 Conduct and analyse research relevant to a computing research project.
LO3 Communicate the outcomes of a research project to identified stakeholders.
LO4 Reflect on the application of research methodologies and concepts.
Assignment Brief and Guidance:
Scenario:
National Incubation Centre – NIC is a research group particularly involved in IT oriented researches
and they are keen to give opportunities to new researchers from educational sector.
TMUC and NIC have come up in a collaboration and making TMUC as one of its chapters in Pakistan.
Hence the students of TMUC are automatically eligible to be titled as Junior Researchers for NIC
funded research programs.
During the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic, the importance and significance of remote working
has become evitable. Some organizations already had a culture of remote working but mostly
organizations, in fact, countries, moved to this approach during the lockdowns. Hence, this mass
scale adaptation of this approach has developed number of opportunities as well as concerns in
the existing models that needs to be addressed.
As a research student of HND Computing Programme, you are also titled as a Research Associate
and have associated with the group researching on the theme of “Remote Working”.
In this regard, the Principal Researcher, who is also your supervisor, has assigned you the task to
come up with a research topic related to the theme and link it with your specialization in HND
(i.e. Security, Software Engineering, Application Development etc.).
To develop your understanding and to facilitate you with the selection of topic, following areas
of Remote Working are given below:
• Digital transformation strategies
• Monitoring and productivity tools, their uses and implications
• Key security concerns when working remotely

Guidance:
This will be a formal research and you will be submitting your research for panel review at
multiple stages hence, you must ensure that you follow are proper research approach while
documenting and presenting. In this regard, you are required to approach your Department in
TMUC and get the templates for Topic Selection, Research Presentation, and Research Report.
Evaluation:
Your evaluation would be as follows:
1. Selection of Topic as per the theme: - You will appear infront of the panel for your topic
selection by the 3rd week of your research.

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 2. Synopsis Defense: - You will appear infront of the panel for your Synopsis defense by the
16th Week of your research.
3. Final Defense: - You will appear infront of the panel for your Final defense by the 35th of
your Research.

Research Activities
This research will be divided into 3 parts.
Part 1 – Setting up a Research Environment
The word limit for this part is 6000 words however there will be no penalty on exceeding this
limit. Your requirements for this part are:
• Come up with a research topic that is aligned to the theme
• Develop a research proposal including:
o rationale of the research
o research question(s) or hypothesis
o supported literature review of not more than 6 years old resource
o significance of research
• Examine different research methods and approaches and select the one that you feel, is
most appropriate and best suited for your research. You may Use Saunders’s research onion
as a guide to establishing a methodological approach towards your evaluation. Also
examine the different data collection and analysis tools and come up with your choice of
methods for your research based. Support your selection with justification.
• Once you are done with the proposed methodology, you should begin your primary and
secondary researches using your selected suitable methodology and analyze the findings
using appropriate analytical tools.
• Write your own critical evaluation of the methods and approaches that your have used for
this research and document any pros and cons, benefits and challenges that you faced
while using the selected approaches.
Part 2 – Communicating outcomes to the Stakeholders
In this part, you will communicate your research outcomes mainly at two points:
1. Synopsis Defense – you will present your preliminary research on prescribed format to the
panel/stakeholders and will communicate your proposed methodology, topic and initial
discussion on research. This will be done on and after the 16 th week of research.
2. Final Defense – you will present your final research on prescribed format to the
panel/stakeholders and will communicate your research outcomes, their alignment with
the actual objectives etc. This will be done on and after the 35 th week of research.
Part 3
The word limit for this part is 1500 words however, you will not be penalized for exceeding this
limit. You are required to include a section titled “Future Recommendations” in your final
research report and give a reflection of the following:
• Effectiveness of research methods used to meet the actual research objectives
• Personal experience with the research methodology used and any alternate methodology
that could be more supportive than the selected one
• Future potential improvements in the research

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Please access HN Global for additional resources support and reading for this unit. For further
guidance and support on report writing please refer to the Study Skills Unit on HN Global.
Link to www.highernationals.com

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 Grading Criteria
Learning Outcome Pass Merit Distinction
LO1 Examine P1 Produce a research M1 Evaluate different D1 Critically evaluate
appropriate research proposal that clearly research approaches and research
methodologies and defines a research methodology and make methodologies and
approaches as part of question or hypothesis justifications for the processes in
the research process supported by a choice of methods application to a
literature review. selected based on computing research
philosophical/theoretical project to justify
P2 Examine chosen research
frameworks.
appropriate research methods and
methods and analysis.
approaches to primary
and secondary
research.

LO2 Conduct and P3 Conduct primary M2 Discuss merits,

analyse research and secondary research limitations and pitfalls
relevant for a using appropriate of approaches to data
business research methods for a collection and analysis.
project computing research
project that consider
costs, access and
ethical issues.
P4 Apply appropriate
analytical tools,
analyse research
findings and data.
LO3 Communicate P5 Communicate M3 Communicate D2 Communicate
the outcomes of a research outcomes in outcomes to the critical analysis of
research project to an appropriate manner intended audience the outcomes and
identified for the intended demonstrating how make valid, justified
stakeholders audience. outcomes meet set recommendations.
research objectives.
LO4 Reflect on the P6 Reflect on the M4 Analyse results in D3 Demonstrate
application of effectiveness of recommended actions reflection and
research research methods for improvements and engagement in the
methodologies and applied for meeting future research resource process
concepts objectives of the considerations. leading to
computing research recommended
project. actions for future
P7 Consider alternative improvement.
research
methodologies and
lessons learnt in view
of the outcomes.

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