KF7028 - Research Methods and Project Management

Learning on this module will be through engagement in lectures, workshops and action learning set seminars. Lectures will cover the relevant research tools, techniques and approaches and project management theory and practice to support your construction of your project proposal and to plan, control and monitor a project, as well as how to work in action learning sets and how to reflect on the use of peer support and tutor feedback.

You will be supported in the lectures and workshops by tutors who will provide feedback on your work. In your workshops you will learn in groups called action learning sets to aid your development and to help solve problems. You will be guided in the action learning sets by your tutor, but primarily they will be driven by your student group. Your individual project proposal will be supported on a 1:1 basis by an allocated tutor based on your area of interest.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Deploy comprehensive knowledge and understanding of appropriate techniques and tools to plan, research and manage a computing technical project

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
2. Systematically identify and analyse a complex computing problem and produce a project proposal to solve it, considering professional, ethical, social and legal issues
3. Appreciate and apply appropriate techniques, tools and knowledge to support effective project management, research and advanced scholarship

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
4. Demonstrate independent research and enquiry skills at an appropriately advanced level in the construction of a computing project proposal
5. Critically appraise the processes used in the development of a computing project proposal

Summative assessment
There will be two summative assessments for the module.
1. For the first (worth 80% of the marks for the module) you will produce a project proposal, which will enable you to justify, plan, monitor, control and execute a project at master’s level. The proposal will be fully justified, constructing a rationale within the computing body of knowledge for the project.

You will be expected to use relevant research and project management tools, which would include an evaluation of general and commercial risk and techniques to support the project proposal and to aid the execution of your plans. The project proposal will assess MLOs 1, 2, 3, 4.

2. For the second assessment (worth 20% of the marks for the module) you will write a professional reflection critically analysing how you have developed the project proposal. The reflection will assess MLOs 5.

You will receive written feedback on both of the summative assessments.

Formative assessment
You will work in the group action learning sets and on your own individual draft work for your project proposal; this will provide opportunities for formative assessment to help you and your tutors assess your progress. You will receive verbal feedback on your formative work from your tutors.

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This module will familiarise you with the nature of research and project management and the processes involved. Research approaches and methods will be covered, including literature evaluation and review. Work within computing is centred on a project environment. In this module, you will explore and use a number of tools and techniques that are in use in the field of project management to ensure that projects are completed successfully.
As an integral part of this module you will develop a range of academic skills that will support you on this and other modules. In particular, this module will provide essential preparation for your master’s level project. By the end of this module you will have constructed a project proposal which can be executed in a master’s project. This will contain a brief literature review justifying a research question, establish aims and objectives, and provide a plan of execution, an evaluation of risk, using tools and techniques in project management, including an outline of deliverables (both artefacts and products).