Rmpp Unit 10
Published:
Learning Outcomes Achieved
- Produce and evaluate critically the resulting research proposal for the chosen topic.
Research Proposal Presentation
This week, the second main assignment was due, which was the presentation of a research proposal (I based mine on my dissertation topic). I received the following feedback:
Thank you for the submission of your research proposal.
The assignment required a PPT presentation in a video format of your choice, covering the main points of a proposal, and namely, RQs, methodology, and some pointers to the theoretical framework underpinning your research. You had the opportunity to submit a draft for formative feedback, and I do hope you made good use of the possibility.
This was a good presentation. Below you will find a breakdown of the grade:
Knowledge and Understanding
You demonstrated a quite good understanding of the chosen topic.
All the key sections of the presentation are present but not all are equally developed. The background could have been expanded (e.g. what is the % of legacy systems adoption across sectors? This is important information to have). There was evidence of critical analysis in all the key sections of the presentation.
Presentation and Communication Skills
The research questions were set clearly and along with the aims and objectives.
Criticality
The methodology is well designed and promising.
To engage the audience, the presentation needs some improvement – adding, for instance, more points to your slides and visuals when explaining the methodology –at times, not totally clear (often, mixed-methods approach is by definition more complex, and requires more in-depth handling).
The references are fine, but could be expanded.
Two final points:
-the presentation is on the short side of the spectrum. A couple of minutes more would have addressed the above-mentioned point.
- we mark blind to endure fairness. I haven’t applied any penalty, just to be clear, but it is something you might want to keep in mind if you plan to continue your studies :)
Good job. You’re now ready for your actual project and could use this as a starting point.
This feedback is useful- for starters, I didn’t realise that my methodology wasn’t clear. I thought the diagrams would be a good point of reference, but I now think that they don’t clarify my methodology, because they contain too much detail. As the feedback mentions, I could have expanded more on the slides and perhaps used a more diverse set of visuals, alternatively, maybe I could have kept the diagrams simple but elaborated on them verbally. Another key thing to note is that I didn’t introduce the topic of legacy software by discussing its prevalence- a good introduction should contain this, and it’s something I’ll add to my final dissertation so that readers unfamiliar with the topic at least understand its relevance to industry.
I was worried about the time limit for the presentation so I focused on keeping it short, but I think that’s a mistake- taking more time will make the presentation longer, but it is a better option because it means that the audience will understand my points better, and thereby will remain focused- if things aren’t clear, it’ll be harder for someone to stay focused.
The last, but most important piece of feedback I got, was that mixed-methods needs in-depth handling. I didn’t think of my research in this way, but this feedback changed my thinking and I now realise that mixed-methods research makes methodology design more complex because I need to somehow integrate qualitative and quantitative findings for analyis. Furthermore, I can’t integrate or analyse them in an arbitrary way- there has to be a solid academic basis for the analysis that I use, and this might be a challenge to find. As a result, when I’m writing my literature review for my dissertation, I’ll make notes on the methodologies that scholars use, to better guide my own research design. In the worst case, I think I might use quantitative or qualitative research exclusively- if something is wrong with my research design and I don’t discover it fast enough, it will be very difficult to recover and fix my research.
By completing this assignment, I achieved learning outcome 4 because I created the research proposal, but also reflected on the feedback as a means of critically evaluating it. I am now confident that my research is headed in the right direction.