Using Information and Communication Technology when Presenting a Research Project - Case Study Example

Using ICT When Presenting a Research Project Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Part One 3 Aims of Information and Communication Technology While Presenting a Research Project 3 Ethical Considerations Related to the Use of ICT While Presenting a Research Project Along with Outlining Ways of Addressing Them 4 Consideration of Validity and Reliability of ICT on Presenting a Research Project 6 Justification of the Sources With Respect To Application of ICT on Presenting the Research Project 7 Justification of the Research Method and Any ICT Resources Used For Collecting Data 8 Part Two 9 a) Stages of Research Process 9 b) Examples of ICT Methodologies Involved In Research Plan 12 References 13 Part One Aims of Information and Communication Technology While Presenting a Research Project Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the modern day scenario has increased its importance within the life of people. The application of ICT has become a necessity with respect to the people’s social as well as work periphery. It incorporates a range of software as well as hardware programs and devices including multimedia programs, camera, personal computers and database programs. Effective and efficient application of the ICT results in the advanced and proper flow of information as well as communication (Ncca, 2008). With reference to ICT, its aim while presenting or preparing a research project is given below: ICT endures the capability to transcend time as well as space at anytime and anywhere. Its presence makes it probable to initiate asynchronous learning. Availability of the materials and relevant information becomes possible for 24 hours on a particular day and 7 days in a particular week. Advanced techniques of ICT for instance teleconferencing enables the instructions to be acknowledged concurrently to numerous learners who are disseminated geographically (Mehta & Kasnia, 2011) With the advent of ICT, it has become easier to have access to the required information related to a research project at any time. Hence, the dependence on the availability of books, materials and physical media such libraries has decreased (Kirkwood & Price, 2005) Application of the techniques used in ICT while researching a project helps in gathering the current and latest information from the online sources. With respect to global market scenario, the effective application of ICT helps in the sustainability within the competitive market scenario (Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2013) Ethical Considerations Related to the Use of ICT While Presenting a Research Project Along with Outlining Ways of Addressing Them With the advent of emerging features incorporated with ICT, numerous ethical issues are rising within the modern day scenario (Omogbadegun, 2010). ICT is a combination of the information and the communication facets, thus the combination of the two results in convergence, portability and personalisation. With respect to convergence, it reflects the multiple uses of ICT. Portability reflects mobility of the technical devices anywhere such as tablets and smartphones. Information created accordingly with respect to the preferences reflects the terminology personalisation (Tan, 2002). Ethical issues encompass privacy, property, accuracy and accessibility. ICT is pervasive as it touches every aspect of an individual’s life (Salvi, 2011). Issues related with the use of advanced techniques are termed as technology manipulation. With the advent of modern technologies, there has been a considerable rise in ethical issues as well. Sound, video and photo manipulation has augmented significantly in the modern day scenario. Morphing is the term that is widely used for photo manipulation (Salvi, 2011). Source: (Slide Share, 2013) The above pictorial representation reflects an example of photo manipulation. In order to address such a critical ethical issue, effective measures and technologies must be implemented to reduce the ethical issues related to the ICT. Moreover, there should be a proper blockage with respect to the personal details of an individual. Uploading of photos and personal details on the websites or social sites must ensure proper control measures with respect to accessibility (Broughton & et. al., 2009). With the emergence of internet, it becomes easy for users to gather a wide range of relevant information at ease. Plagiarism is an ethical issue related to the internet. Copying the information from the internet and then pasting it in the research paper is termed as plagiarism (Harris, 2012). A user must go through the information and script it accordingly to his skill and knowledge rather than pasting it. Thus, there exist a number of ethical issues related to the application of ICT which need to be resolved at large (Harris, 2012). Consideration of Validity and Reliability of ICT on Presenting a Research Project Validity and reliability of the information and communication forms an important part in the preparation of a research project (Shenton, 2004). Information that are gathered to design and present the research project must be valid and reliable. Validity of information reflects the expert ratings with respect to the information. This statement further reveals that information is said to be valid when they are derived from a valid source that entails valid data. Validity of information can be established by qualitative as well as quantitative studies. In quantitative study, the use of measurements, graphs and research designs are applied whereas with respect to qualitative application, internal audits, reviews and use of secondary data sources from scholarly articles are applied broadly (Mathiyazhagan & Nandan, 2010). Reliability of information reflects that consistent result will be derived on repeated testing. With reference to the reliability of information, there exist various methods of testing. Classical test theory, Generalizability theory, Item response theory and Observational studies represent the various methods to test the reliability of information. Thus, effective and efficient research project endures proper valid and reliable information to represent a standard quality research project (Mathiyazhagan & Nandan, 2010). Justification of the Sources With Respect To Application of ICT on Presenting the Research Project With reference to the application of ICT in presenting a research project, various sources have been taken under consideration. The application of valid and reliable source helps in designing an authentic research project. With respect to the application of various sources a brief justification is given below (Eng, 2005). Journals: Application or use of authentic journals helps in deriving information researched by renowned scholars. The scholarly articles provide valid and reliable information that help in the maintaining a qualitative research paper (Eng, 2005). Articles: The use of articles ensures valid data. Articles reflect review or research paper of recognised scholars and writers. Application of these sources provides valid data as well as faciliates in maintaining quantitative and qualitative aspects of the research paper (Eng, 2005). Online Sources: With reference to the online sources, authentic and reliable sources incorporate the research study. Blogs and Dot com sites that can be accessed and edited by anyone have been avoided. Organisational sites as well as corporate sites and the presence of authentic write ups within the websites are inclusive within the research study (Eng, 2005). Justification of the Research Method and Any ICT Resources Used For Collecting Data With reference to the research method, quantitative and qualitative methods have been applied to it. The reports, graphs and charts reflect the application of quantitative method to present the research paper. The application of articles, journals and scholar papers reflects the use of qualitative method (Eng, 2005). The application of scanners, internet, online sources, image editing software and relevant database represents the usage of ICT resources. Thus, application of ICT ensures the effective and efficient presentation of the research paper (Eng, 2005). Part Two a) Stages of Research Process With reference to the research paper, to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency various research processes are followed. The various processes involved must incorporate valid and reliable information to ensure the efficiency of the project. There exists mainly five phases for conducting an effective research process. In accordance with the processes involved within research methodology, the various stages are briefly explained below (Summers, 2001). Conceptual phase of the research process entails a flow of activities that provides a strong conceptual base. Conceptualisation reflects the process that develops as well as refines the abstract ideas into valid thesis (Summers, 2001). An activity that incorporates thinking, rethinking, reviewing of ideas and theorising frames an effective conceptualisation of ideas. With respect to creating a conception of a research project, there is a need to go through a structured process. This study further reveals that conceptualisation phase entails four segments. Formulation of the stated research problem facilitates in the determination of the purpose of research study. At first, the research work identifies the scientific problem. Identification of the scientific problems helps in framing a clear concept of the research work. With respect to the formulation of the scientific problem, it reflects the difficult part of the research project. To formulate the scientific problem of the research project highly qualified person is needed. The person must incorporate high creativity, which will enable to formulate the doubts and to ensure efficient reliable sources to ascertain effective database. It is important to determine the scientific problems before ensuring steps for future research process. With reference to ascertaining effective and efficient research study, the review of the scholarly articles and the varied literatures offers insights with respect to information incorporated within the study. Reviewing and analysing the literature paper provides a conceptual understanding to frame the current research project. Application of the literature review sources helps in identifying appropriate measurements for the research study. It further helps in anticipating problems that are common within the research projects. In accordance with segmentation of conceptualisation, the next stage reflects to include theoretical construction related to the future research. Construction of the future research represents the determination of the scheduled timing, duration of the stages involved, duration related to the lifecycle of the research study and tentative date of finishing the research study. Proper plan and formulation of the model related to the research study ensure efficient and effective research study. The presence of the hypothesis helps in determining the phenomenon to be studied. Hypothesis relates specific predictions with respect to the nature as well as the direction of the existence relationship in between the pertinent two variables. Thus, the aforesaid four stages help in determining a conceptualised idea with respect to the research study (Summers, 2001). The next phase related to the process of research study entails construction of the research design to be followed. This phase reflects the preparation of an effective plan to perform the research study. Identification of the variables includes the dependant variables, intervening variables, control variables and the independent variables. These variables provide a proper formulation of the planning process. Construction of the operational definitions related to the variables and selection of the design to analyse the available data form an effective procedure in terms of formulation along with designing of the general plan (Summers, 2001). Empiric phase reflects the implementation of the plan that has been made with the conceptualisation phase. The activities included within the empiric phase encompass derivation of scientific result, sorting of the scientific result and then evaluating the results. In accordance with this phase, it results in production of relevant data in the form of qualitative and quantitative (Summers, 2001). Analytic phase systematically organises data that helps the researcher to efficiently interpret as well as analysed it. Data that are collected with respect to the research study remain in a raw form which cannot be interpreted by researcher, hence the summarised as well as the subjected analysis and interpretation of the data must be incorporated. It is the responsibility of the researcher to examine the accuracy as well as the completeness of the data to derive an efficient and effective research project. This phase further reveals that analytic phase involves the analysis of the quantitative aspects and the qualitative aspects. It also analyses data by applying the statistical method. This phase of the research process also helps in interpretation of the results (Summers, 2001). Disseminative phase represents the process in which the research analysis is presented or published in front of the others to whom it will be useful. The articles, journals, lecture and the final research report represents the disseminative phase. The application of the ICT helps in gathering the valid and relevant data. Application of ICT within the research process aids in the completion and the execution of the required processes at an earliest date resulting in the saving of valuable time period and resources (Summers, 2001). b) Examples of ICT Methodologies Involved In Research Plan The methodologies involved in the research plan entail application of ICT. For collecting the data from reliable sources use of internet acts as a media. Application of internet to collect data reflects the ICT methodologies. Application of scanner to scan the relevant documents for the research project also represents one of the ICT methodologies. The analytical process involved within the research process uses relevant and reliable data for calculation and analysis. The analytical process involved the analysis of quantitative and qualitative aspects. To determine the efficient and effective analysis of quantitative and qualitative data internet acts as a reliable source which represents the methodology of ICT. To interpret data efficiently and effectively, database, spreadsheet and the other techniques reflect the use of ICT (Wangwe, 2007). Application of ICT in the research process along with the research project helps in maintaining a valid database that ultimately helps the researchers to analyse efficiently. Thus, application of ICT in the modern day scenario has facilitated efficient and rapid accumulation of information and pertinent preparation of a research project with required accuracy (Lu & Shulman, 2008). References Broughton & et. al., 2009. Workplaces and Social Networking the Implications for Employment Relations. Institute for Employment Studies, pp.1-47. Eng, T. S., 2005. The Impact of ICT on Learning: A Review of Research. International Education Journal, Vol.6, No. 5, pp. 635-650. Harris, R., 2012. Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers. Virtual Salt. [Online] Available at: http://students.umw.edu/chls/files/2012/10/Anti-Plagiarism-Strategies1.pdf. [Accessed May 20, 2013]. Kirkwood, A. & Price, L., 2005. Learners And Learning In The Twenty-First Century: What Do We Know About Students’ Attitudes Towards And Experiences Of Information And Communication Technologies That Will Help Us Design Courses? Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 257-274. Lu, C. J. & Shulman, S. W., 2008. Rigor and Flexibility in Computer-Based Qualitative Research: Introducing the Coding Analysis Toolkit. International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, Vol. 2, pp. 105–117. Mathiyazhagan, T. & Nandan, D., 2010. Survey Research Method. Media Mimansa, pp. 34-82. Mehta, D. & Kasnia, S., 2011. A Scenario on the Role of ICT in Governance and Education System. International Journal of Computational Engineering& Management, Vol. 13, pp. 100-109. Ncca, 2008. Overview. ICT (Information and Communications Technology). [Online] Available at: http://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/ICT/#1. [Accessed May 20, 2013]. Omogbadegun, Z. O., 2010. Emerging Technologies. Emerging Technologies (ICTs) & Our Businesses. [Online] Available at: http://www.academia.edu/268226/Emerging_Technologies_ICTs_and_Our_Businesses. [Accessed May 20, 2013]. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, 2013. The Structural Transformations towards Sustainable Development. Information and Communication Technology as Backbone for Development. Salvi, M., 2011. Ethical Aspects of Information and Communication Technologies. European Commission, pp. 5-171. Shenton, A. K., 2004. Strategies for Ensuring Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research Projects. Education for Information, Vol. 22, pp. 63–75. Summers, J. O., 2001. Guidelines For Conducting Research And Publishing In Marketing: From Conceptualization Through The Review Process. Journal of the Academy Of Marketing Science, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 405-415. Tan, A. H., 2002. Personalized Information Management for Web Intelligence. Kent Ridge Digital Labs, pp. 1-7. Wangwe, S., 2007. A Review of Methodology for Assessing ICT Impact on Development and Economic Transformation. African Economic Research Consortium, pp. 1-23. Read More