DATA3730 Introduction to IT research Course description

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.

This elective course will only run if a sufficient number of students a registered. Projects are subject to availability; students who have DATA3710-90 as a mandatory course on their study plan will be prioritised in the event of limited projects.

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

This course will provide a nuancing of various principles of behavior and relate these principles to the understanding of complex human behavior.

Coursework requirements from MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212, and MALKA214 or equivalent must be approved to participate and submit coursework requirements in MALKA215.

On successful completion of the course the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge:

Knowledge

The student can

• describe and discuss radical behaviorism as a philosophy of science
• describe and discuss important aspects of verbal behavior
• describe and discuss verbal governance and contingency shaping of behavior
• describe and discuss principles involved in joint Control
• describe and discuss important aspects of stimulus equivalence
• describe and discuss the naming hypothesis
• describe and discuss Relational Frame Theory
• describe and discuss problem-solving, thinking, remembering, and higher-order classes of behavior

Skills

The student can

• analyze variables influencing complex human behavior

In the BSCA specialisation, campus-based lectures, discussion from readings, exercises and Interteaching are the main teaching methods. Literature from the curriculum for the Interteaching sequences are announced at the university’s digital learning platform. In the BSII specialisation, the main teaching method is digital course sequences, and feedback on details of course content, and supervised discussion groups will be available during pre-determined time periods. Feedback on written assignments is used in both specialisations.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• 3 individual written assignments submitted digitally, each with a maximum length of 6000 characters, including spaces. References are to be included in the 6000 characters.

Individual home examination, 5 hours. Exam questions are in English. Students may submit their exams in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.