Reference no: EM132310994

Behavioural Security Research Project

This assignment is intended to provide you with the experience of undertaking and writing up a complete research project. As you know from Assignment 1, whilst much has been written about behavioural security, there is still more research needed. Many previous findings have been inconclusive, and IT security continues to be a problem.

For this project you are provided with a set of data relating to users' passwords and their perceptions of security threats. It has been collected from users of the Internet who have web accounts. The study was designed as an experiment where the treatment group were exposed to password security information and training.

Your first task is to formulate a research question or several related research questions that relate to this topic and can be answered using the set of data. You will be helped to analyse the data in order to answer your research question(s). You will give a brief presentation to the class outlining your proposed research (in class Week 13) this will allow you to get feedback on your research questions, hypotheses and preliminary results. You will also write up your results in the format of a conference paper (to be submitted Week 14).Possible research questions might include:

• Does exposure to password security information and exercises improve intention to comply with password guidelines?
• Does exposure to password security information and exercises improve password strength?
• Does gender influence password security?
• What factors influence intention to comply with password guidelines?
• What factors influence password strength?

You need to work in the same groups where you finish assignment 1.

You will be given:

1. Information about how the data was collected (Appendix 1 in this document)

2. A list of all the variables included in the dataset (Appendix 2 in this document)

3. A data set containing the raw data (in both SPSS (.sav) and Excel format (.xls)) -download from the ICT615 LMS site

4. A copy of the survey used to collect the data - can be download from the ICT615 LMS site
If you find that you need more information about the way in which the data was collected just ask me.

You need to:
1. Undertake background reading to review the relevant literature. You can use studies you find for assignment 1, but you cannot just copy and paste the literature review from assignment 1 to assignment 2. You need to rewrite and restructure the writing based upon your work in assignment 2.

2. Decide exactly what research questions you want to answer (and generate hypotheses if appropriate)

3. Consider how the data should be analysed in order to enable your research questions to be answered

4. Get the data analysed (if the results you need aren't included in the Topic 9 Data Analysis Session, I can do it for you, or I can help you do it)

5. Present a brief outline of your research/paper in class

6. Write up your research in the form of a paper suitable for publication at a conference.
Note: Stages 2 to 4 can be done in collaboration with the rest of the class, but the presentation and research paper should be created in group.

Presentation:

The presentations should be approximately 5 minutes in length (with a maximum of 10 minutes) and given during the Week 13 class. The presentation will be worth 10% of the mark for the Project.

The presentation should include:
1. Background literature
2. Justification for the research
3. Research questions (and hypotheses if appropriate)
4. Any preliminary results you have
5. Discussions (e.g., implications for research and practice) (highly recommended if you have any results, though not listed in the rating sheet)

Research Paper:
The research paper you submit should include the following sections:
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
• Provide enough background
• including a brief statement of the problem you are investigating
4. Literature Review - brief review of the literature relevant to the problem
5. Research hypotheses - include your hypotheses in this section (and make sure that you provide a justification for each of them)
6. Research design - you can copy as much as you like from Appendix 1.
7. Results - create your own tables - don't just cut and paste the SPSS output, clearly state what you found and whether each hypothesis is supported or not
8. Discussion (Implications for theory, practice, limitations and opportunities for future studies)
9. Conclusion
10. References (referencing should be in APA or IEEE style)

Attachment:- Assignment Project.rar