DATA3730 Introduction to IT research Course description

Project relevant to research: The student group will carry out an IT project as part of a research project at OsloMet or another research or educational institution. Completion of the course requires work on the project corresponding to two days a week over a 12-week period. If the project is carried out during the summer, the work must correspond to four days a week over a six-week period.

In addition to the projects on offer, the individual or student group can find their own relevant research project within an existing project at OsloMet or another research or educational institution. In this case, students must receive formal approval of participation from the head of the research project and have a defined a sub-project that the student/group will work on. The sub-project must be formally approved by the course leader as relevant and as having a suitable theme and scope. If the research project is not carried out at OsloMet, the head of the research project must appoint a project supervisor. In addition, each student group will be assigned an internal supervisor at OsloMet.

This elective course will only run if a sufficient number of students a registered.

No requirements over and above the admission requirements.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• understands the basic problems relating to carrying out a research project, including professional and research ethics, methods of cooperation, hypothesis formulation and experiments
• has a basic understanding of financing, reporting and the organisational structure of a research project
• understands the possibilities and challenges related to the generalisation of research results

Skills

The student is capable of:

• applying scientific methods, including basic qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies
• searching for, applying and referring to relevant scientific literature
• critically reflecting on the connections between research questions, research design and choice of method

General competence

The student is capable of:

• defining a research issue, research question and relevant methodology
• completing a scientific experiment through e.g. user testing, experiments, questionnaire surveys or prototype implementation
• assessing the quality of the different aspects of a scientific study

Supervision sessions with an internal and/or external supervisor. The students will work in groups of three to five students on a project, which is part of a research project at OsloMet or another institution, in cooperation with the research project’s participants and the relevant research group.

The course can be carried out individually by agreement with the course coordinator.

The projects are chosen/assigned at the start of the semester.

The following coursework is compulsory and must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• A compulsory Orientation Meeting.
• A project outline that describes how the group will organise their work on the project.
• A standard learning agreement must be entered into between the project provider/supervisor and the student(s), and this must be approved by an internal supervisor before the project can begin.
• Three minutes of meetings from the supervision meetings held during the project period.

The deadline for submitting the project outline and the minutes of the meetings will be presented in the teaching plan, which is made available at the beginning of the semester.

A portfolio exam consisting of:

1. A written project report, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 3000 words +/-10 %

2. An oral presentation, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A

The exam result cannot be appealed.

The portfolio is assessed as a whole and given a single grade, but both the project report and the oral presentation must be passed in order for the portfolio to receive a grade E or higher.

For group projects, all members of the group receive the same grade. Under exceptional circumstances, individual grades can be assigned at the discretion of the project supervisor(s) and Head of Studies.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F.

Two internal examiners. External examiners are used regularly.