HPCOS81_Tut102_2024

Tutorial Letter 102/2024

Research Methods and Proposal
HPCOS81

Year module
Assignment 1, 2, and 3

School of Computing

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The prefixed topic for all HPCOS81 students for 2024 is given below. All the
assignments will be based on this topic. Your final research proposal portfolio
submission must also be on this topic.

The Design, Use and Impact of Computing during the Covid-19 crises

Introduction & Background

Covid-19 has had a phenomenal impact on society at different levels, both locally and
internationally. For computing disciplines, it has offered both opportunities and major
challenges. The so-called ‘new normal’ has necessitated radical transformation of the
workplace, predominantly influenced by the need for ‘social distancing’ (Dwivedi et al.,
2020). Companies had to rethink their business models and business processes (Carroll &
Conboy, 2020; Bunker, 2020; Papadopoulos et al., 2020). Knowledge workers seem to have
simply shifted to digital conducted work (Wang et al., 2020), but the future of knowledge
work may still seem unclear.

Education institutions worldwide had to innovate with new technologies, business processes,
policies, and ways-of-working to work remotely (Davison, 2020). Universities have saved on
electricity costs and venue hire, but at the same time had to assist its employees with
technologies to work from home. Online teaching seems to be more efficient and beneficial
to students (Dwivedi, et al., 2020; Davison 2020). Researchers are challenged to reconsider
the way they do research and collect data (Davison, 2020). New software products had to be
developed, for example Covid-19 tracking software (Dwivedi, et al., 2020; Fahey & Hino,
2020) and software to facilitate the doing of online exams and assessment. Companies like
BetterExaminations (www.betterexaminations.com) and Zoom have seen a phenomenal
growth over the last year (Haider & Rasay, 2020). Social issues of the pandemic include the
role of social media in assisting families and communities to remain in contact (Fahey & Hino,
2020).

Recent trends in Cybercrime seem to be closely linked to Covid-19 (Naidoo, 2020). Much fake
research has also emerged, leading to an ‘infodemic’ and misguided science, which has
impact on decisions related to public health and businesses, and even affecting data-analytics
and forecasting exercises (Bunker, 2020; Van Der Walt et al., 2020; Ågerfalk et al., 2020;
Fahey & Hino, 2020). Combatting these trends may offer even further business opportunities
for the IT Industry.

Issues related emerging and developing regions are also highlighted. For example, Luciano
(2020) reflects on problems related to delivering government services and emergency aid,
Venkatesh (2020) reflects on issues related to the most vulnerable in society and economic
concerns (see also Papadopoulos et al. 2020), and Pan and Zhang (2020) ask how we can be
more responsible as researchers in our quest to help inform society on reaching sustainable
development goals.

These are all interesting trends and directions for research, but also opportunities to critique,
reflect, ask questions about. We have also seen special issues in prominent computing

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journals, for example the European Journal of Information Systems (Ågerfalk et al., 2020) and
International Journal of Information Management (Dwivedi, et al., 2020).

Ågerfalk et al. (2020) ask; “Who would be better suited to critically appraising the extent to
which current technologies and use of those technologies can help overcome this crisis in the
short term, and also examine how best we can utilise technology to recover in the long
term?” (p. 203). Following this call by Ågerfalk et al. (2020), this year’s HPCOS81 topic looks
at issues related to the design, use and impact of computing during the Covid-19 crisis, but
also to propose directions to overcome, recover, and innovate. Contexts in which the topic
may be studied include local emerging communities, education, small business success and
failure, IT startups, government and corporate IS strategies (Papadopoulos et al., 2020).
Studies may examine ‘behavioural, temporal, societal, and organisational aspects of the
pandemic’ (Ågerfalk et al. 2020, p. 204).

Topic references:
1. Ågerfalk, P.J., Conboy, K., & Myers, M.D. (2020). Information systems in the age of pandemics:
COVID-19 and beyond. European Journal of Information Systems, 29(3), 203-207.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2020.1771968
2. Bunker, D. (2020). Who do you trust? The digital destruction of shared situational awareness
and the COVID-19 infodemic. International Journal of Information Management, 55.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102201
3. Carroll, N., & Conboy, K. (2020). Normalising the “new normal”: Changing tech-driven work
practices under pandemic time pressure. International Journal of Information Management, 55.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102186
4. Davison, R.M. (2020). The transformative potential of disruptions: A viewpoint. International
Journal of Information Management, 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102149
5. Dwivedi, Y.K., Hughes, D.L., Coombs, C., Constantiou, I., Duan, Y., Edwards, J.S., Gupta, B., Lal, B.,
Misra, S., Prashant, P. and Raman, R. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on information
management research and practice: Transforming education, work and life. International
Journal of Information Management, 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102211
6. Fahey, R.A. and Hino, A. (2020). COVID-19, digital privacy, and the social limits on data-focused
public health responses. International Journal of Information Management, 55.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102181
7. Haider, A., & Rasay, S. J. (2020, June, 4). Zoom's massive growth amid COVID-19 set to continue
after pandemic, analysts say. S&P Global Market Intelligence. Available online at
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/zoom-
s-massive-growth-amid-covid-19-set-to-continue-after-pandemic-analysts-say-58907516.
8. Luciano, E.M. (2020). Information management hits and misses in the COVID19 emergency in
Brazil. International Journal of Information Management, 55.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102194
9. Pan, S.L., & Zhang, S. (2020). From fighting COVID-19 pandemic to tackling sustainable
development goals: An opportunity for responsible information systems research. International
Journal of Information Management, 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102196
10. Papadopoulos, T., Baltas, K.N. and Balta, M.E. (2020). The use of digital technologies by small
and medium enterprises during COVID-19: Implications for theory and practice. International
Journal of Information Management, 55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102192
11. Naidoo, R. (2020). A multi-level influence model of COVID-19 themed cybercrime. European
Journal of Information Systems, 29(3), 306-321,
https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2020.1771222

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12. Van der Walt, W., Willems, K.A., Friedrich, W., Hatsu, S., and Krauss, K.E.M. (2020). Retracted
Covid-19 papers and the levels of ‘citation pollution’: A preliminary analysis and directions for
further research. Cahiers de la Documentation/Bladen voor Documentatie, 74(3-4).
https://www.abd-bvd.be/fr/cahiers-de-la-documentation/2020-3-4/
13. Venkatesh, V. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19: A research agenda to support people in their fight.
International journal of information management, 55.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102197
14. Wang, B., Schlagwein, D., Cecez-Kecmanovic, D. and Cahalane, M.C. (2020). Beyond the factory
paradigm: Digital nomadism and the digital future (s) of knowledge work post-COVID-19.
Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 21(6), 1379-1401.

Please take note:

• All due dates are fixed. No Assignment Due dates Unique No

extensions will be granted Assignment 1 (MCQ) Friday, 17 May 820215
to any late assignments. 2024, 5:00 PM
Assignment 2 (MCQ) Friday, 5 July 820286
• Please use your mylife 2024, 11:00
email address to PM
communicate via email. Assignment 3 (Written) Wednesday, 7 820434
August 2024,
• The Portfolio (Assignment 11:00 PM
6) will be your Assignment 4 (MCQ) Thursday, 12 820448
Examination for the September
module. No extension will 2024, 11:00
be given for the portfolio. PM
Assignment 5 (MCQ) Friday, 4 888209
• There is no supplementary October 2024,
examination (portfolio) for 11:00 PM
this module. Assignment 6 – Final Monday, 2 888416
Research Proposal Portfolio December
• Year mark will be 49% of 2024, 11:00
your final mark and PM
consists of:
o Assignment 1: 15%
o Assignment 2: 15%
o Assignment 3: 40%
o Assignment 4: 15%
o Assignment 5: 15%

• Portfolio mark will be 51% of your final mark and consists of:
o Assignment 6: 100%

• Research takes time, please ensure that you have enough time for each
assignment.

• Please take not that downtime of the systems can happen around peak
submissions days. You are strongly advised to submit your assignment at least
two days before the submission date.

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• Please read through all the posted material, announcement and discussion
forums. Most of the questions will be answered within these communications.

• If you require a letter from UNISA for study leave: Complete the Exam Request
Letter (under Study Resources) and email to me for signature. This is only
applicable to Assignment 6 (Final Portfolio).

• There will be online video Live Video lectures Dates

sessions hosted on Microsoft Using Google Scholar, Unisa library, tba
Teams. The time and dates will Referencing
be sent via the announcements Doing literature reviews, Finding tba
to your mylife email addresses. knowledge gaps, Research contributions
Take note that in cases that the Structuring research proposals, tba
Designing research questions,
online technology gives
Choosing methods
problems the session will be
Writing academically, in text tba
recorded and uploaded.
referencing, Plagiarism & patch-writing

Assignment 1: Getting started and building blocks

NOTE: this is a compulsory assignment.

Admin
Format: Multiple-choice questions
Submission date: 2024-5-17

Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to introduce you
to research and a research environment and teach you how to make a success of your
research.

Outcomes
At the end of this assignment cycle you should be able to do the following:
• Set up a research environment
• Know what research is
• Plan time and events
• Use the Unisa Library to find articles or journal papers
• Understand Google Scholar
• Understand referencing tools and methods

Documents

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You need to use the following documents during the execution of the activities for this
assignment:
• Learning Unit 1 on Moodle (HPCOS81/Study Resources)
• Other documents and online resources can also be found under Study
Resources.

Outputs
After this assignment, you should have knowledge about the following:
• Finding articles on the Unisa Library site
• Using Mendeley
• Using References
• Using Google Scholar

Assignment 1 – What to do

Task 1: Finding articles

1.1 Log onto the Unisa Library site.

1.2 Search and download (save) the 14 articles in the reference list from the
HPCOS81 topic on page 2 of this document (Study Resources folder on Moodle).

Task 2: Install referencing manager software (Mendeley)

2.1 Register, download and install the referencing manager software (Mendeley).
2.2 Import the 14 articles from task 1 into your referencing manager software.
2.3 Ensure all meta data is correct (name of authors, title of publication, etc…). You do
this by making sure that the content in the article corresponds with what Mendeley
summarises. Mendeley training videos and readings are available under Study
Resources/Mendeley Resources on Moodle. Further training will be offered by the
Librarian in the course of the year. Announcements on sessions invites will be sent out
timeously.

Task 3: In-text referencing

3.1 Install the plug-in tool for Mendeley software.

3.2 Create an MS Word document.
3.3 Save the document with the following name: Getting Started_HPCOS81_ "your
student number".
3.3 Test the plug-in tools in MS Word.
3.4 Rewrite the first sentence of each article (not the abstract) in the Word document
and include the reference for each sentence in the document.

Note: This document will not be submitted with Assignment 1, but will be the first draft
of your Assignment 3.

Task 4: Additional articles

4.1 Search and save 25 more academic articles on your topic of interest from the
Unisa Library site. Remember your topic must be connected to “The Design, Use

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and Impact of Computing during the Covid-19 crises”. Make sure that the articles
are good quality and usable.
4.2 Import the 25 articles into your referencing manager.

Task 5: Do Assignment 1 (Multiple Choice Questions)

Tip: Ensure you have access to the 14 articles in Task 1.

Assignment 2: Plagiarism & Literature Review

NOTE: this is a compulsory assignment.

Admin
Format: Multiple-choice questions
Submission date: 2024-7-5

Purpose

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The purpose of this assignment is to instruct you on the different types of literature
reviews and to give you the opportunity to execute your literature review plan.
The assignment also addresses an in-depth understanding of Plagiarism and ‘patch-
writing’.

Outcomes
At the end of this assignment cycle you should be able to:
• Understand academic writing
• Compile a literature review
• Reference literature
• Understand plagiarism & Patch-writing
• Understand tasks related to Turnitin.

For instruction on how to submit your assignments through Turnitin go to:

Note that Turnitin is embedded in Moodle and there is no need for Turnitin
registrations by students. Turnitin will be done automatically for the submitted written
assignments (Assignments 3 & 6)

Documents
You need to use the following document during the execution of the activities for this
assignment:
• Learning Unit 2 (Study Resources on Moodle)
• Other documents and online resources under Study Resources.

Outputs
• Clear understanding of a literature review.
• Clear understanding of plagiarism and Turnitin.

Do Assignment 2 (Multiple Choice Questions)

Assignment 3: Literature Review + References and Turnitin

NOTE: this is a compulsory assignment.

NOTE: There is no extension for this assignment.

Admin
Format: Written
Submission date: 2024-8-7

Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to instruct you on academic and scientific writing.

Outcomes
At the end of this assignment cycle you will have an overview of how to write your
research proposal scientifically.

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Documents
You need to use the following documents during the execution of the activities for this
assignment:

• Learning unit 1 (under Study Resources)

• Learning unit 2 (under Study Resources)
• Learning unit 4 (under Study Resources)
• Information about Academic Writing that will be circulated and shared on
Moodle. A lot of e-tutor virtual lessons will cover this assignment.

Outputs
• Clear understanding of academic writing of a Literature Review.
• Clear understanding of a Research Question, Objectives and Deliverables.

Action
Use Turnitin before final submission of Assignment 3.

Assignment 3:

Submit a written document on the topic of

interest stated above (p. 2):

(Note: Actual headers of sections in

Assignment 3 may differ depending on the specifics of your topic.)

Section 1: Front Matter (Template available under Study Resources, i.e.,

“HPCOS81_Assignment 3_TitlePage _2024”)

Title of the research proposal, page with your name, student number and course code
and your Turnitin score (should be less than 30%).

Section 2: Table of Content (must be auto generated)

Section 3: Introduction
• This section provides an introduction to your research (½ page).

Here you introduce the topic you are focussing on and the context in which you plan
to study the topic.

• Provide some insight on the background of your research (½ page).

Introduce the key issues, problems and themes that have emerged from the
literature you have read. Focus on the knowledge gaps and problems that others
have highlighted. Also introduce the methodologies that others have used in their
research.

Section 4: Problem statement

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• Problem statement (+/- five sentences) – Based on what you have read from
the previous sections, articulate the problem issues you are focussing on.
• Research question – Articulate the main research question. This should align
with the title.
• Research sub-questions (two or three sub-questions that align with the main
research question). For each of these questions, also articulate a purpose
statement, e.g. ‘The purpose of this question is to …’.
• Research objectives – each of these should broadly align with the sub-
questions.
• Research deliverables (expected outcomes) – if you answer the research
questions and address the objectives, how do you expect the reader will
benefit?
Section 4 should not be longer than 2 pages.

Section 5: Literature review

Develop the literature review section:

1. Introduction – explain the approach you followed to do the literature review
and the key themes you used to do searches on Google Scholar and the library
website (½ page)
2. Define the topic of interest and what you will focus on (½ page)
3. Discuss some of the main themes emerging from the literature (½ page).
4. Explain the importance of focussing on and studying this topic
according to literature (1 page)
5. Summarise your review of literature in some sort of framework, diagram,
or narrative (½ page) to show the relevance of your topic.
6. In order to confirm your research questions for the reader, elaborate on
the possible gap(s) you identified (1 page) and how your research will
overcome this gap(s).
7. Conclusion (½ page)
Section 5 should not be longer than four pages.

Section 6: References (35 or more references)

Section 7: Appendixes

Appendix A: Add a screenshot of your home page of your referencing software

Appendix B: Add a screenshot of your signed plagiarism pledge
Appendix C: Turnitin submission receipt (optional, since all written submissions will be
automatically subjected to Turnitin)

Please note:

Please take note that the use of Turnitin is compulsory within the module. No
Assignment/Portfolio will be marked if there is not a Turnitin submission.

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Your Turnitin score should be under 30% (references included).

Please contact: [email protected] for any Turnitin issue, e.g., non reflection of
Turnitin percentage after your assignment 3 submission.

The following negative marking scheme will be used in the marking process. Marks will
be deducted as follows:

• 0% - 30%: 10 marks will be deduted

• 31% - 40%: 20 marks will be deducted
• 41%- 50%: 30 marks will be deducted
• 51% – 60%: 40 marks will be deducted
• >60%: 50 marks will be debuted

Marking rubric:

Title page (5)

Unacceptable Acceptable
Table of content (5)
Unacceptable Acceptable
Problem statement (10)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Research question (5)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Research sub questions (10)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Research objectives (5)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Literature Review (25)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Conclusion (5)
Unacceptable Acceptable
Completed reference (15)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Grammar (10)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Layout of the document (5)
Unacceptable Below Expectations Meet Expectations Above Expectations
Appendix A: Add a screenshot of your home page of your referencing software
Not submitted Submitted
Appendix B: Add a screenshot of your signed plagiarism pledge
Not submitted Submitted
Appendix C: Turnitin submission receipt
Not submitted Submitted

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Note: Negative marking will be used for:

• Turnitin not used. (optional)
• -5 marks for each appendix not attached.

Assignment 4-6 will follow soon….

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