Research Skills Report: BTEC HND Computing, Unit 7 Research Skills

This report delves into the crucial aspects of research skills, exploring various methodologies, data types, and sources. It examines the differences between qualitative and quantitative research, justifying the selection of appropriate research designs, approaches, and philosophies. The report addresses potential challenges and ethical considerations in research, emphasizing the importance of primary information and referencing styles. Furthermore, it presents a research proposal focused on the future of operating systems, outlining the research's purpose, objectives, scope, and methodologies. The proposal includes a literature review, hypothesis, data collection methods, and preliminary results, culminating in an analysis of the collected data and thematic interpretations. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the research process, offering valuable insights into conducting effective research and presenting compelling proposals.

RESEARCH SKILLS

INTRODUCTION
Skills are highly required for every human whether he or she is working in research or
any other. In order to make analysis of specific problem statement and derive solution of that,
research skills are the mos significant which are discussed at the present project. The study
shows about different kind of investigation types with the use of proper justification. Problems
which are arisen while doing enquiry and ethical consideration are explained in this case. Apart
from this, the report focuses on source which are used to collect data and information. Beside
this, research proposal on the problem regarding operating system is made in the current project.
TASK 1
1.1 Causes of selecting different research types
Research is based on the qualitative as well as quantitate data which are as follows:
 Qualitative research: In order to collect theoretical data and avoid the numeracy. Along
with this, due to not requirement in order to apply the statistical tools on data set, current
research type is selected by the researcher (Billig and Waterman, 2014).
 Quantitative research: All the data rely under the numerical part and statistical or SPSS
tools like median, average mean, mode, correlation, standard deviation are need to apply
on data set. Then the quantitative research type is taken into account by the analyst to
draw valid conclusion.
1.2 Justification of research methodology which is best for the research
 In order to carry out the proper analysis and research there are different kinds of research
methodology are considered by the scholar which are given as below:
 Research Design: Descriptive is the best method or making a research design because it
gives clear information and analysis about the topic. With the help of this method,
researcher is able to do proper research and derive effective conclusion of the problem.
 Research Approach: In this method, inductive approach is the better than the deductive
approach (Flick, 2015). The reason is that, selected approach provides clear and
systematic study of the research problem. Further, basic concept and description of the
topic is given at initial and it was completed with very specific.
1

 Research Philosophy: The interpretivism philosophy is the best for the present research
because it helps to the analyst in terms of taking justified and authentic data. Along with
this, opinions and behaviour of the respondents are also determined by this current
philosophy.
1.3 Discussing about qualitative and quantitative both data
Qualitative is the method under which theoretical data are included and analysed through
thematic analysis. On the other hand, the data set when mathematical data are collected and
SPSS techniques are used to analyse them is called as quantitative research. At the current
research, qualitative method is undertaken by the scholar because it is supportive in terms of
collecting very authentic as well as realistic data (Silverman, 2016). Moreover, interpretation is
helpful to make appropriate conclusion which are derived from the research problem.
1.4 Explaining problems and pitfalls which can be arise under the research
In order to collect primary data, time and cost both factors create negative impact because
these requires in more quantity. Sometimes the respondents does not provide reliable and proper
responses of the questionnaire which lead to hamper the data collection part. When gathered
information are not adequate then scholar cannot make proper solution of the research and give
recommendations (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Along with this, due to lack of proper
selection of sample data also can hamper to the smooth research.
TASK 2
2.1 Justifying use of sources which are adopted in the research
In the research, there are several numbers of sources are available for collecting primary
and secondary data. At the current case, primary data collection method is taken into
consideration in which different sources are included which are given as below:
 Questionnaire: Under this source of primary data collection, questionnaire are framed
and then distributed between respondents. It is highly authentic and effectual source for
collection, realistic and latest information about the problem. Along with this, in terms of
costs it is very cheap source among all the available resources. In opposite to this,
researcher has to meet physically which is time consuming method.
2

 Focused group: When talking about the other source like focused group then here
qualified and skilled people are invited and gathered by the researcher and then questions
are asked on the topic (Gast and Ledford, 2014). It gives proper information and by using
this, scholars are able to know different opinions and suggestions by which analysis
become easy. On the other hand, side, the group of people charge higher amount, due to
which it is expensive source.
2.2 Evaluating significance of primary information in form of validity and currency
The primary data are highly important for each and every research because it provides
very clear and authentic information from the people and respondents. Questionnaire is one of
the best source to collect valid data. It is less expensive as compare to the focused group. By
using group discussion method, skilled and talented people hired who take more charges. In
which expenses will be raise and not give valid information. Apart from this, when data collected
from focused group then that are little valid but not better than compare to questionnaire (Bauer,
2014).
2.3 Description of the Harvard referencing style
The style of referencing which is used and adopted by the students in order to do citations
or in-texting in their study is called as Harvard. Under this, name of books and journals are
always mentioned in the Italic style and other words remains general. Apart from this, in order to
do citations or in-texts only last name of author and year is used and initials of the writer are
avoided.
TASK 3
3.1 Presenting the research proposal
1. Abstract
The current study is talking about the demand of the specific operating system which can
be in the world in next 10 years. Apart from this, research methods will be use in further study
are mentioned. At the end, discussion of analysis and conclusion is given.
2. Introduction
The present proposal is prepared in order to understand the operating systems which are
used in the computer. Through the project, it can be determined by the researcher that in the
further or upcoming ten years which kind of operating system will Operating system used by
3

people across the world. Moreover, different type of research methods which will be used in the
project are also provided in the present proposal. At the end, discussion of the data analysis as
well as conclusion of the proposal is described.
3. Purpose
Aim:
To analyse operating systems which are widely used by communities at the current time
in the world.
Objectives:
 To assess currently used operating systems in the world.
 To identify mostly adopted operating system by the people from past few years.
 To recommend the firm about widely used operating system in the world by different
community.
4. Problem
In the current era, several kinds of operating systems are taken into account. The problem
of the research is that, company wants to know that in the upcoming ten years which kind of the
Operating system will be mostly used. On the basis of that, it able to prepare operating system
and generate profit (Madhavapeddy and et.al., 2013).
5. Scope and Boundaries
The project has focuses on various kind of aspects which support to the firm in terms of
operating systems. The proposal shows that, in the next ten years which type of the system will
be mostly used by the people in their personal and professional life.
6. Literature review
According to Stallings (2014) the system which helps to the community in order to run
the computer and its functions, mobile phones etc. is called as operating system. Without
availability of the systems any electronic gadget cannot work and operate. At the present era, in
the world different number of systems are used by people in order to operate computer, PC,
laptop, smartphones, servers etc. majority of the community whether rely under the business or
4

others, use the Operating system of smartphones in frequent basis in comparison to others. The
cause behind this is that, mostly used Operating system is very simple and easy to use.
As per the views of Tanenbaum and Bos (2014) in order to running such kind of
Operating system, it will not require any kind of high skills and qualifications When the people
use Operating system like servers and PCs then proper education and complete knowledge of
English language mus be there. The Operating system of smartphones is very easy to operate for
each and every community. Due to all the reasons and factors people like to use smartphones
Operating system in the next times rather than other available operating systems in the software
industry.
7. Hypothesis
The current study is done on the basis of qualitative concept under which any kind of
SPSS tools are not used. Due to this, hypothesis test is not applying on the theoretical data set.
8. Methods
In order to conduct or carry out the research there are several kinds of methods, tools and
techniques are highly supportive and used by the analyst. Methods of research and analysis
which will be used in the project are given as below:
 Research Investigation: In order to investigate about the research problem qualitative
method will be used because the overall study is prepared on the basis of theoretical part
or concept (Research Methods, 2017).
 Research Design: Descriptive tool of research design will be taken into account by the
scholar. In this, the researcher has some level of knowledge regarding to the operating
system and conducting in depth analysis of the future scenario.
 Research Approach: The project provides basic and general description of the operating
systems and its different types. After that, analyse the problem which is introduced for
the current study. Therefore, inductive approach seems highly suitable which will be
adopted for further study (Billig and Waterman, 2014).
 Research Philosophy: In order to collect data and opinions of the respondent like
community of country about use of operating system, interpretivism research philosophy
will be considered by the researcher.
5

 Data Collection: For collected information, primary method will be use under which
questionnaire are prepared and then distributed.
 Data Sampling: Simple random sampling method will be undertaken by the scholar in
which sample of 15 people of the country will be taken (Flick, 2015).
 Data Analysis: The data which are collected through questionnaire will be analysed with
the help of thematic analysis. In this, by taking base to the questionnaire themes will be
frame and then results will be determined.
9. Data source
At the current case data will be collected with the help of primary source which is like
questionnaire. In this, on the basis of problem statement questionnaire are prepared and
distributed among the people of country.
10. Results
Que.1:
Response Respondents
Smartphones 8
Servers 2
Personal
Computer 5
Total 15
Que.2:
Response Respondents
Easy to use 6
Easy to operate 9
Total 15
6

Que.3:
Response Respondents
iPhone OS /iOS 4
Android 7
Windows 3
Blackberry 1
11. Analysis
Theme 1: Smartphones Operating system is the most used by you people current times.
Smartphones Servers Personal Computer
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
8
2
5
Illustration 1: Uses of smartphones in current times
Analysis
It can be analysed from the current graph that shows the majority of people of the country
use operating system of smartphones who are 8 among total 15 respondents. Apart from this, 2
and 5 people using servers and PCs operating system in the present times. Further, higher
weight-age is given to the smartphones Operating system.
Theme 2: The reasons due to which people like to use the smartphones Operating system as
compare to other Operating system.
7

6
9
Easy to use
Easy to operate
Illustration 2: Reasons by which people like to use smartphones
Analysis
According to the views of 9 respondents, it can be said that smartphones Operating
system are highly easy to operate and smooth. Moreover, 6 people say that due to easy system
they are using smartphones and avoid other Operating system.
Theme 3: In the next 10 to 15 years, Android Operating system people would like to use.
iPhone OS /iOS
Android
Windows
Blackberry
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4
7
3
1
Illustration 3: Uses of smartphones in next 10 to 15 years
Analysis
It can be observed from the above graph that, in the upcoming 10-15 years 7 people
would like to use and operate the Android Operating system for smartphones. Further, only 4 and
3 community say that in the next period they will use iPhone OS or iOS and Windows
8

respectively. Moreover, only 1 respondent will give preference to the Blackberry OS. Hence, it
can be said that in the future timing people will use Android OS of the smartphones and avoid to
other operating systems.
12. Discussion
By doing both primary and secondary analysis it can be discussed that, in the upcoming
ten years demand of the smartphones will be increased highly in comparison to other operating
systems. It can be analysed that majority of the people will like to use OS of smartphones like
Android and iPhone in the next era when comparing with other OS of the selected.
13. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the proposal that, majority of the people concern towards the
smartphones rather than servers and PCs. Under the smartphones, they use Android and iPhone
at the majority times. The reason is that, these operating systems are easy to use and light to
carry out. Hence, it can be said that, in the upcoming ten years operating system of smartphones
such as iPhone and Android will be the widely used by people in the world.
3.2 Discussing role of ethics while conducting research
While conducting proper research, ethical consideration must be there under which
different kind of ethics are involved. The data are collected from the people where it is necessary
that information must not to be disclosed in the market because some are related to their
personal. Apart from this, if any respondent not giving his personal details then researcher cannot
force and take information by using gun point (Kumar and et.al., 2013). Hence, data must be
keep safe and record in the software on which password are applied. In addition to this, the
researcher has to avoid misuse of the data for any other purpose other than research and draw
conclusion.
TASK 4
4.1 Covered in power point presentation
4.2 Providing constructive feedback
From the seminar where research is presented, positive kind of feedbacks are provided by
the audience and they will satisfy with the analysis. They give feedback and comments, by using
each and every method in proper manner the analysis is done. Along with this, they say that data
which are collected and used are highly reliable.
9

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the current project that; research skills are one of the most and
highly required for every researcher. Due to lack of such skills, the analyst cannot gather realistic
and proper data and make analysis of that. It can be said that the present study is done on the
basis of qualitative research type where primary data are collected. Moreover, it can be found
that, ethics are highly needed at the time of doing research and gathering information from the
respondents.
10

REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Bauer, G. R., 2014. Incorporating intersectionality theory into population health research
methodology: Challenges and the potential to advance health equity. Social Science &
Medicine, 110, pp.10-17.
Billig, S. H. and Waterman, A. S. Eds., 2014. Studying service-learning: Innovations in
education research methodology. Routledge.
Cotroneo, D. and et.al., 2013, November. SABRINE: State-based robustness testing of operating
systems. In Proceedings of the 28th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated
Software Engineering. pp. 125-135. IEEE Press.
Criswell, J., Dautenhahn, N. and Adve, V., 2014. Virtual ghOperating systemt: Protecting
applications from htile operating systems. ACM SIGPLAN Notices. 49(4). pp. 81-96.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Gast, D. L. and Ledford, J. R., 2014. Single case research methodology: Applications in special
education and behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Kumar, K. and et.al., 2013. A survey of computation offloading for mobile systems. Mobile
Networks and Applications. 18(1). pp. 129-140.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S. M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Madhavapeddy, A. and et.al., 2013, March. Unikernels: Library operating systems for the cloud.
In ACM SIGPLAN Notices. 48(4). pp. 461-472. ACM.
Silverman, D., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
Stallings, W., 2014. Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles| Edition: 8. Pearson.
Tanenbaum, A. S. and B, H., 2014. Modern operating systems. Prentice Hall Press.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A
guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
11

Zhang, Y. and Reiter, M. K., 2013, November. Düppel: Retrofitting commodity operating
systems to mitigate cache side channels in the cloud. In Proceedings of the 2013 ACM
SIGSAC conference on Computer & communications security. pp. 827-838. ACM.
Online
Research Methods, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/research-methods.html> [Accessed on 11th July
2017].
12

APPENDIX
Appendix 1: Research Questionnaire
Research Questionnaire
Demographic information
Name ________________
Gender _______________
Age __________________
Que. 1: Which kind of operating system is the Operating system used by you at current times?
 Smartphones
 Servers
 Personal Computer
Que. 2 Would you like to use the smartphones Operating system as compare to another
Operating system and why?
 Easy to use
 Easy to operate
Que. 3: In the next 10 to 15 years, which type of Operating system of smartphones you would
like to use?
 iPhone OS /iOS
 Android
 Windows
 Blackberry
13