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Research Methodologies
Assessment - Critical Literature Review
Learning Outcome 1: Identify Challenges and opportunities for Research and Development (R&D) in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Sector.
Learning Outcome 2: Critically examine relevant literature and the industry landscape to identify gaps and formulate research questions and objectives pertinent to the ICT domain.
Learning Outcome 3: Integrate ethical principles related to the design of R&D solutions.
Task Summary
This assessment task is designed to enhance your skills to critically assess the studies that have been conducted on your research topic and to synthesise the findings in a coherent manner. You will write a critical literature review, which is the base for and will lead towards defining your Research Proposal (Assessment 3). This assessment task is the beginning step of your research design and will play an important role in carrying out your research.
Context
Research is an iterative process. The abstract, research statement, research gaps, research question(s), aims and objectives may well change depending on what is discovered during your literature search, the methodologies chosen and proposed methods. Feedback from the Learning Facilitator will also help you refine these elements.
The purpose of a literature review is to gain an understanding of the existing body of research, current industry ICT trends and debates relevant to a particular topic or area of study. It involves the presentation of the accumulated knowledge in the form of a summary and a critical evaluation of the sources accessed. This summary presents an analysis of the points presented in academic and/or professional sources and an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, by conducting a literature review, you can acquire knowledge about the foundational and important concepts, research methods, and experimental techniques used in your relevant field of study. You also gain an insight into how researchers apply the concepts learnt in the course to real world problems. Another great benefit of producing a literature review is that, as you progress in your writing of it, you develop a better understanding of how research findings are presented and discussed in your discipline of study. In addition, conducting a literature review helps to strengthen the currency of the knowledge-base in a given field of study.
For this assessment task, you must produce a critical Literature Review. This task is formative in nature and is the starting point in working towards your final Research Proposal (Assessment task 3). Each assessment task in this subject is designed to build your proficiency level in research methodologies and is not a stand-alone task. The Critical Literature Review is designed to provide academic substantiation and methodology rationale to your Assessment 3 Research Proposal-a report and presentation you will deliver in Week 12.
Task Instructions
Write a critical literature review-an analysis and evaluation of published and unpublished materials which helps establish the current challenges and issues related to the topic under study. It should provide the reader with an overview of the research that has been already carried out on the topic and what challenges are yet to be overcome. It will also help identify research gaps.
You should address the following:
Point out gaps in the literature or identify problems / issues to be solved.
Highlight key issues essential to your ICT research.
Summarise relevant academic/ professional resources and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses to demonstrate your critical understanding of the literature.
Demonstrate that your research is rigorous and up-to-date by engaging with seminal and current work.
Guidelines to carry out a critical literature review:
Browse discipline specific or area specific recent papers from reputable sources (academic and professional). (Note: 80% of the papers reviewed must be credible and reputable)
Current sources published within the last 5 years are the best ones to consider since they reflect the newest discoveries and help avoid duplication of work, theories, processes, or best practices.
A minimum of 8 recently published peer-reviewed sources including journal
articles, books, and conference papers are to be considered. (Note: 80% of the papers reviewed must be journal articles, books, and conference papers)
On the left-hand side, go to the "All databases" link and, once there, use the Popular Databases on the right-hand side. These links give you access to peer- reviewed papers that you may use in addition to those that you can locate in the main search area.
Avoid using online blogs and non-peer-reviewed sources. Edited books are a
good source of information because they have undergone an editorial process.
The APA 7th referencing style guidelines should be used for both in-text referencing as well as the reference list.