Reference no: EM133168763
Assignment - Research Proposal
Project - The Impacts of Enforcing the Convention on Cybercrime to deter Distributed Denial of Service Attacks and Network and Displacement effects: A literature study
Task description: You are required to submit a coherent research proposal on a certain engineering topic chosen by your group. The aim of this assignment is to assess your knowledge and understanding related to conducting a research project and skills in writing a research proposal. It includes the delivery of a structured research proposal, which contains the essential elements of a proposal, as discussed in the lectures. This assignment contributes in part to your total understanding of the scientific research process, including initial definition of the research problem, generation of research questions, recommendations for undertaking the research, and dissemination of research findings. The overall objective of this assignment is for you to give a comprehensive, well structured, and methodical approach, with adequate supporting literature references, on HOW the particular selected research topic needs to be investigated.
Research topic: You may select any research topic that has relevance to your Engineering field.
Required elements (structure) of a research proposal:
1. Project title:
As described in the lectures, your title should serve as a ‘mini abstract' of your investigation. Check the examples provided in the lecture slides.
2. Project summary:
Length: 200-300 words. Every proposal should have a summary. The summary speaks for the proposal, provides the readers with their first impression of the project, and, by acting as a summary, provides the readers with their last impression. To present the essential meaning of the proposal, the summary should summarize the significance (need) of the work, the major aim of the project, the procedures to be followed to accomplish the aim, and the potential impacts of the work. Though it appears first, the summary should be edited last, as a concise summary of the proposal. Please refer to lecture notes on how to write an effective project summary.
3. Keywords:
Choose between 3 and 5 keywords related to your study. Please refer to lecture notes on how to formulate effective keywords.
4. Introduction:
An effective introduction discusses the meaningfulness of the study with presentation of the problem or issue. It serves as an argument advocating the need of study for your chosen object and gives a clear insight into your intentions. It is in the introduction section that you will use a persuasive language, convincing the readers that your research is important and will advance knowledge in your field.
The introduction section should cover the following topics in some form:
Contextualization and presentation of the topic/object under investigation: Explain the background of your study starting from a broad picture. This introduction should be at a level that makes it easy to understand for readers with a general science background.
Benefits of the topic/object under investigation: clearly articulate why your research subject is important, highlighting its benefits to the economy, society, environment, etc.
A review of previous studies in the area under investigation with statements of what is lacking in the current knowledge: Provide information about what other researchers have found regarding the subject under investigation (literature review), identifying research gaps in the field (i.e., research needs).
Aims and objectives: Start by providing a single goal statement (the "overarching aim") that explains what the study intends to accomplish, followed by more specific objectives.
A few typical goal statements are:
The overarching aim of this study is to...
... overcome the difficulty with ...
... discover what ...
... understand the causes or effects of ...
... refine our current understanding of ...
... provide a new interpretation of ...
... identify the issues...
... evaluate the impacts of...
... investigate the relationship between...
Example: The overarching aim of this study is to evaluate the impacts of climate change on the hydrodynamic behaviour of the Nerang River, Australia, and recommend adaptation and mitigation strategies to minimise the risks of flooding in the Nerang River catchment.
5. Methodology:
This is where you will outline the strategy for conducting your investigation in order to achieve your aims and objectives. In other words, this is where you will describe your research approach (i.e., how to conduct the study). Note: you are NOT expected to conduct actual research in the selected topic, only describe HOW you plan to do it.
When it comes to constructing your research plan, one of the most important factors to keep in mind is that of alignment between your aim, objectives and methodology. In the methodology section, you must describe clearly how each of the objectives will be achieved. If possible, please use this standard sentence: "Objective 1 will be accomplished through/by....". Then describe the methods and materials used, laboratory set-up, important formulas, tools (e.g., computational models, surveys), data collection process, data analysis, etc.
Consider these aspects when writing your methodology:
Will you have to collect data for your investigation? How will data be collected? Will you use secondary data (collected by other researchers or available through databases)? Will you have to run lab experiments to collect data? Will you conduct field work? How will lab experiments and field work be set up? What measuring instruments will you use? How will the collected data be analysed? What comparisons will be made? What variables will be investigated / correlated? What calculations will be made (show formulas for better understanding)? What resources will you need (laboratories, computer, personnel, instruments, software packages)? Will you interview people / conduct a survey? How will these interviews be conducted? Will you need ethical approval for the survey? Will you use computer modelling and simulation in your analyses (describe your computer models)? Will you conduct a literature-based research? What will you look at in the literature and what comparisons and analyses will be made? Have you linked your methodology with your research aims and objectives? Will you use a case study? If so, please describe the studied area/organisation/project and state why it is important to study this area/organisation/project, and how the results of the project will be useful to other areas/organisations/projects (i.e., the "transferability" concern of a research project).
6. Dissemination of findings:
Describe the strategy that you intend to adopt in order to disseminate the results of your research project, reaching as wide an audience as possible. Example: writing research papers and publishing them in peer-reviewed journals related to your field (what is the target journal, what is its impact factor?), participating in conferences, giving interviews, organising workshops, etc. You must discuss your strategy to reach the scientific community, general public and practitioners.
7. Estimated project timeline:
For this assignment, assume that you are given between 1 and 2 years to complete your project (set the maximum time at your choice). To build the timeline, you will need to map out what you will do and when you will do it (suggestion: weekly, bi-weekly or monthly). Your objectives must also be mapped out in your timeline. You should also include time to prepare and submit publications related to the project, and any other strategy used to disseminate the research findings (for example, attending and presenting a paper in a conference). The timeline may take the form of a chart (like a Gantt chat) or flowchart, or any other organizer you choose.
Consider the following questions when setting up your schedule: When will your research start and finish? Are there particular stages to the research (example, laboratory set-up, data collection, interviews?) What objectives have I set for this investigation? Have they been addressed in the timeline? Is the timetable realistic/feasible? Have I included my strategies to disseminate the findings?
8. References:
It is essential that research proposals include a list of references at the end. Please ensure that all work cited in the text is included in the reference list, and that the dates and authors given in the text match those in the reference list. You must also ensure that all references in your reference list have been cited in the main body of the proposal.