1. Presentation (10%)
Every student is to present their understanding of the assigned reading materials once during this course. Excellent presentations should aim to go beyond the readings to raise new questions and criticisms for research methodologies
In the case where more than one student has selected the same reading for presentation, you may team up. A common grade will be given to the group for presentation.
The presentation is graded based on the following criteria:
a) Clarity of oral presentation;
b) Clear and cogent structure of presentation;
c) Capacity to captivate attention and to raise questions from the audience.
2. Library Assignment (10%)
The NUS Central Library is a vital resource and archive for research work. The assignment ensuing from the library sessions will constitute this assignment component. All students must attend the library session.
The assignment can be taken in your own time after the library session but must be completed latest prior to or by 10 March, 2017.
3. Research Proposal Draft (30%)
Each student must submit a research proposal draft by 27 February 2017 (a box will be placed on the DOA counter). The draft is aimed at setting your initial thoughts, grounds and premises for undertaking a proposed research project as well as prescribing the means and approaches for its conduct.
In this course, the aim of the research proposal draft is twofold: first, to garner feedback from the instructors, and second, to set up a feasible platform and structure for you to develop your final research proposal (see below). Your research proposal draft is expected to demonstrate the following:
a) A preliminary title
b) Five keywords
c) A clear introduction to your topic and research question(s)
For this section, please refer to the readings of the session: What is (Architectural) Research? What is a Research Question?, and to apply the knowledge from the readings to explain in no more than 500 words how you formulate your research question(s).
d) A clear statement of research hypotheses
For this section, please refer to the readings of the session: Determining the Hypotheses, and to apply the knowledge from the readings to explain in no more than 300 words how you develop your research hypotheses.
e) Preliminary review of literature on your research topic
For this section, please refer to the readings of the session: Literature Review: Identifying Gaps and Raising New Questions, and to apply the knowledge from the readings to explain in 1000 words the state of the art of the field under investigation and identify the current knowledge gaps.
f) Proposed methods for your research (this part can remain sketchy)
You need to refer to the readings of the second part of the module and explain the approaches in which your proposed research should and could be conducted. Should quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods be used? What methods can be adopted and adapted to collect data, enabling analyses and yielding evidence to verify/refute hypotheses and answer research questions.
g) Bibliography (to be sectioned as “books”, “journals”, “newspapers” and other headings) [Citation Standard: Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.), Author-date system to be used]
This draft bibliography is provisional and shall be expanded in the final proposal.
The research proposal draft should be about 2,500 words.
4. Final Research Proposal Assignment (50%)
Each student must submit a final research proposal by 21 April 2017 (a box will be placed on the DOA counter). The final research proposal is the most important assignment in this course. Please take special care and time to write this proposal. We caution against last minute work. The dissertation proposal is a development of your earlier submitted research proposal draft. If you have followed the class closely so far and have been handing up your assignments on time, you should already have the major elements that can be used for this final research proposal. However, each element of the proposal, in particular research methods, should be strengthened.
The final research proposal MUST consists of the following and in the following order:
a) Title of research
b) Abstract of about 150 words being a concise description of intent, topic, question and method.
c) Five Keywords
d) Research Question & Hypothesis
e) Assessment of the Field (include a literature review and significance of the proposed research)
f) Research Methods
g) Anticipated limitations of methods and anticipated ethical issues
h) *Bibliography (to be sectioned as “books”, “journals”, “newspapers” and other headings)
*[Citation Standard: Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.), Author-date system to be used]
The final research proposal, without the bibliography, should be about 3,000 words.
Furthermore, the cover page of your proposal must bear the title of your proposal, your name, and matric number.