Reference no: EM133051666

CO4820 Critical Analysis - University of Central Lancashire

You are to carry out a small research study, using a survey to gather data from participants. The results of this survey then need to be presented in the form of an academic research paper.

Learning outcome 1: Source and read academic literature and be able to critique its purpose and value
Learning outcome 2: Construct a well referenced and critical review of literature
Learning outcome 3: Design, carry out and report a simple experiment or survey
Learning outcome 4: Critically evaluate different research methods for given situations

This is the list of approved research questions for your coursework assignment. If you wish to address a different question (e.g. on a similar topic, or a different question related to the same topic), you need approval from your module tutor.

1. How do people use ‘health' data from wearable fitness trackers and their phones? Think about maybe different people or different technologies to make some comparisons.
2. To what extent is the level of understanding of cryptocurrency related to technology familiarity?Think about maybe different levels of technology use to make some comparisons.
3. To what extent have voice technologies like Alexa and Google home encouraged people to put down their smartphones? Think about maybe different people to make some comparisons.
4. Which are the preferred technologies for collaborative working within academia and how are they used? Think about maybe different people to make some comparisons.
5. How do individuals choose to use differentonline chat software in different contexts? Think about maybe different people to make some comparisons.
6. What are the notetaking behaviours of attendees at online lectures and how do they compare to (historical or current) behaviours in face-to-face classes?
7. How do individuals decide on which social media apps to use and are there differences according to age or gender?
8. To what extent does understanding about cyber attacks affect users' online behaviour? Think about maybe different people to make some comparisons.
9. To what extent have concerns over data security changed data storage behaviours? Think about maybe different people to make some comparisons.
10. How have people engaged with friends, arts and music online during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how does that compare to (historical or current) face-to-face behaviour?

The Topic

A list of topics has been posted to Blackboard. ONE of these topics needs to be selected. The survey needs to address this topic.
If you wish to develop your own topic, you need approval from your module tutor. Any work submitted on a topic that has not been approved will fail.

Students can work in groups on the same topic.

You should read around your topic, in order to develop a hypothesis (or several) which can be tested by your survey. Within a group, students may have the same or different hypotheses.

2. The Survey

Students can develop a survey as a group. You can use your discussion groups from the seminar classes, or choose other students to work with. A discussion space will be set up on Teams to allow students to find groups. You do not have to work in groups, but this will make it easier to find respondents.

The survey must contain at least 9 and no more than 12, questions.

You need to create the survey using Microsoft Forms, so that it can be distributed to participants.
Participants can only be other students on the Critical Analysis module at UCLan. You can fill out your own surveys, and the Teams space can be used to recruit other participants.

Your survey must be completed by at least 11, and no more than 25, students.

3. Ethics
Once you have decided on your survey questions, each student must read the ethics guidelines and complete the ethics checklist on Blackboard, to confirm that you understand the ethical requirements of collecting data. Your survey is expected to follow these guidelines.
If students have not completed the ethics checklist, or there is evidence of not following them, they will fail this assignment.

4. The Research Paper
The research paper must be individual work. This cannot be completed as a group. Although students may have the same survey questions and data, they are expected to write their own individual report, including their own analysis of the data. Students on the same topic may have worked together to find suitable papers for a literature review, but each student is expected to read papers individually and draw their own conclusions.

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.

In the acknowledgements section of your paper, please name any other students who used the same survey.

Attachment:- Critical Analysis.rar