| CODE | SCE5106 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Research Methods for Systems and Control Engineering | ||||||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Systems and Control Engineering | ||||||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit presents research skills to students required when undergoing research projects. Both qualitative and quantitative research skills are presented. Through qualitative research skills, techniques for understanding and defining research problems are presented, while seeking knowledge from various sources, evaluating research publications, writing of research reports and documentation, delivering oral presentations and designing surveys. Through quantitative research skills, techniques required for quantitative analysis are presented such as statistical analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis, parametric and nonparametric testing and categorical data analysis. Study-Unit Aims: The overall aim of the study-unit is to impart to students the fundamental skills required to indulge in scientific and technical research. Such skills include qualitative and quantitative research skills. Hence the overall main aim of the study-unit can be further subdivided in sub-aims which include: - Motivate the need to understand and define a research problem; - Motivate the need to seek knowledge from various sources; - Evaluate research publications, write research reports and documentation, deliver oral presentations and design surveys; - Motivate the need to apply statistical analysis, including models, distributions and test statistics; - Explore data techniques such as graphing, grouping data, testing normality and homogeneity of variance; - Motivate the need to carry out correlation analysis through the use of scatter plots, bivariate correlation and partial correlation; - Motivate the need to carry out regression analysis which involves linear model analysis, least-squares estimation, goodness-of-fit, predictors, outliers and residuals; - Motivate the need to carry out parametric testing including t-Test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), post-hoc tests; - Motivate the need to carry out nonparametric testing including Wilcoxon rank-sum test, Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test; - Motivate the need to carry out categorical data analysis including chi-square test, likelihood ratio and Yates's correction. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - recognise research as a process of investigation, understanding and development of knowledge by illustrating and describing appropriate examples of such cases; - recognise research as a process of analysis, by exploring and carrying out the relevant tests on the data for data analysis purposes; - identify and select the generic skills required to indulge in research activities by applying them effectively to fulfil the research objectives; - interact and communicate in an ethical manner by means of standard research methodologies through oral presentations, and writing of reports. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - define research problems and formulate research hypothesis; - compile a literature review by searching for existing knowledge from various resources; - evaluate and critically appraise research publications; - collect experimental data through survey design; - learn several software skills including R and SPSS for qualitative research and Latex software for documentation; - carry out quantitative research to analyse the collected experimental data; - write research reports and documentation; - compile research documentation in latex as a learning tool for publications; - present and deliver oral presentations. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Valiela I. (2000). Doing Science: Design, Analysis and Communication of Scientific Research (1st ed). New York: Oxford University Press. - Ebel H. F., Bliefert C. and Russey W. E. (2004). The Art of Scientific Writing: From Student Reports to Professional Publications in Chemistry and Related Fields. Weinheim: Wiley VCH. - Field A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics (3rd ed). Los Angeles: SAGE. - Field A., Miles J. and Field Z. (2012). Discovering Statistics Using R (2nd ed). Los Angeles: SAGE. - Lamport L. (1994). LATEX: A document preparation system: user's guide and reference manual (2nd ed). Canada: Addison Wesley. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Independent Study, Discussion & Online Le | ||||||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Alexandra Bonnici |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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