What are projects
• Projects can be defined as ‘something which has a beginning and
an end’ (Broad Definition)
• Projects can be defined as a sequence of planned activities having a
beginning and an end (i.e., they occur within a specified time
frame) – with a purpose being to bring about a beneficial change by
making some kind of contribution.

Computing project types
• Research-based: A research-basedproject involves a thorough
investigation of a particular area; improving your understanding of
that area, identifying strengths and weaknesses within the field,
discussing how the field has evolved, and acknowledging areas
suitable for further development and investigation. This kind of
project will involve some form of literature search and review, and
would be suitable for taught bachelor’s or taught master’s courses.

Computing project types
• Development: Development includes the development of, not only
software and hardware systems, but also of process models,
methods, algorithms, theories, designs, requirement specifications,
and other interim documents.
•
•

•

Evaluation: This category encompasses all projects that involve some form of
evaluation as their main focus.
Industry-based: An industry-based project involves solving a problem within
either an organization or another university department.
Problem solving: A problem-solving project can involve developing a new
technique to solve a problem, improving the efficiency of existing approaches
or an evaluation of different approaches or theories in different situations.

What is research?

1. Research
• Research is a systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses,
suggests new interpretations of data or texts, and poses new
questions for future research to explore.
• Original investigation undertaken in order to gain knowledge and
understanding
• Originality
• Gain/contribution
• Knowledge and understanding

1.1 Originality
• Originality is simply and in general doing/producing something
that has not been done before.
• An original research is the one that produces new knowledge
instead of summarizing what is already known in a new form.

• Areas of Originality
•

•

Tools, techniques, methods, procedures: New tools and
techniques may be applied to existing problems or try new
procedures and methods in contexts where they have not
been applied before
Exploring the unknown: A field that no one has thought to
investigate before may be investigated. It is rare but extremely
valuable.

Ways of Originality
• Areas of Originality
•

Exploring the unanticipated: A field of research that has been looked
at many times before may need to be investigated because of
obtaining unexpected results or exciting new directions as yet
unexplored.

•

The use of data: Data may be interpreted, used or applied in different
ways in alternative areas that have not yet been investigated.

1.2 Gain /Contribution
• Gain’ is an unfortunate term because it does not allude to the fact
that research should actually lead to a contribution to knowledge.
• Usage of ‘Contribution’ is a better that research should add to world
knowledge so that it is accessible to all and not just yourself.

1.2 Gain /contribution

1.2 Gain /Contribution
• Body of knowledge represents world understanding, theories,
concepts, models, the sciences, the arts and so forth. This
knowledge is stored in books, journal articles, conference
proceedings, documents, reports, the Internet, art, peoples’ minds
and more.
• Your own knowledge and understanding is always a subset of body
of knowledge.

1.2 Gain /Contribution
• Expansion to your knowledge shows that you can obviously learn
new things that others already know.
• You can make contributions to world knowledge from your research,
such as inventions, new theories and so on. This will be addition to
body of knowledge.

1.3 Knowledge and understanding
• Data: Factual elements describing objects or events. It is raw.
• Information: Processed data providing some insights into meaning
of objects/events of interest.
• Knowledge: results of experience organized and stored inside each
individual’s own mind (Orna and Stevens, 1995): Provides higher
level of understanding of things.
• Wisdom: represents your ability to put your knowledge into
practice

1.3 Knowledge and understanding

1.3 Knowledge and understanding

2. The research process
There are four types of the research process:
A. SEQUENTIAL-1: Steps are as follows
1. Identify the broad area of study.
2. Select a research topic.
3. Decide on an approach.
4. Plan how you will perform the research.
5. Gather data and information.
6. Analyse and interpret these data.
7. Present the results and findings.

2. The research process
There are four types of the research process:
A. SEQUENTIAL-2: Steps are as follows
1. Review the field – i.e., perform a literature survey.
2. Build a theory – based on your understanding and interpretations of the
field.
3. Test the theory – does it work?
4. Reflect and integrate – i.e., update your ideas based on your ‘tests’ and
contribute

2. The research process
B. GENERALIZED
It is identical to the sequential process in that a defined sequence of
activities is performed one after the other. This model recognizes that
not all stages are applicable and some steps may require performing in
different ways depending on the nature of research.

This means it may identify alternative roots that may be taken
in different stages depending on the nature and outcome of the
research.

2. The research process
C. CIRCULATORY
This approach recognizes that any research is really one part of a continuous
cycle of discovery and investigation. The circulatory interpretation also permits
the research process to be joined at any point and recognizes that the process is
never-ending.

D. EVOLUTIONARY
This approach takes the circulatory interpretation one step further and recognizes
that research must evolve and change over time not necessarily in a circular
pattern or repeating same forms of analysis and interpretation. The outcomes of
each evolution impact on later ones to a greater or lesser extent.

...The research process

Orna and Stevens (1995: 11)
define a process that is
circulatory at the top level and
evolutionary within the main
search/investigation stage of
the process.

3. Intellectual discovery
When you are looking for questions to answer
and answers to those questions, you will often
follow a complex process of inductive and
deductive reasoning.

• Inductive reasoning (Tümevarım)
• Deductive reasing (Tümdengelim)
•
Inductive + Deductive (for comlex
problems)

3. Intellectual discovery
Inductive reasoning (Tümevarım)
•

You start with your observations of the world and come to general conclusions about it. In other
words, you build models and theories based on your interpretation of the world.

•

The interpretation will depend on the data and information you can draw from the world, the
subject/problem you are studying and, importantly, what you already know and believe.

•

The knowledge that you can obtain from what you are studying is referred to as epistemology
(Cornford and Smithson, 2006: 61).

•

You can either draw general conclusions from what you observe and from what you are studying
and apply them to other things (positivism), or you can only induce knowledge unique to yourself
and the particular situation under study (anti-positivism).

3. Intellectual discovery
Deductive reasoning (Tümdengelim)
•

You start with your knowledge and understanding of the world and predict likely observations
within it, even though you might not have encountered them before.

•

Deductive reasoning is affected by your theory of reality, your own personal understanding of
the world and your underlying assumptions about what you are investigating. This is referred to
as ontology. Different people might deduce different things as their understanding differs from
your own and they see things in different ways.

3. Intellectual discovery
Inductive + Deductive (for comlex problems)
•

When you need to follow a complex chain of inductive and deductive reasoning.

Other approaches
• Random guesses: This is a similar technique to brainstorming whereby you try to solve a problem by
generating a number of potential solutions at random. Hopefully one of them will make sense and work.

• Analogy: Is the problem similar to anything else that already has a solution or explanation?
• Inversion: Try to look at things from the opposite angle.
• Partition: Break the problem or situation down into smaller, more manageable and understandable parts.

4. Classifying research
Research can be classified from three different perspectives as follows:
• Field (AI, Mobile computing, Cloud Computing)
• Approach (Case study, experiment and survey)
• Nature of research
• Pure theoretical development
• Research that reviews and assesses pure theory and evaluates its potential
for practical application
• Applied research that has some practical application and outcome

Nature of research
•
•

Pure theory: Developing theories to explain things without necessarily linking
them to practice- inductive reasoning
Descriptive studies:
•

Portraying the current status of a situation or phenomenon, casting light on current issues
or problems thru a process of data collection
• Reviewing and evaluating existing theory and knowledge in a field
• Testing existing theories
• Describing the state of art, or looking for limits in previous generalizations
• Way of doing: Observational, Case Study, Survey
Example: What is the impact of the global financial crisis 0f 2007-09 on fitness industry in the
UK?

Nature of research
•

Exploratory studies: exploring a situation or a problem. Useful for finding out
what is happening, seeking new insights, and generating ideas and
hypotheses for new research, exploring a situation or problem (surveys,
literature searches, interviews)
•
•

•

Usually, no past data is available
For example: What are the reasons of decline in sales in 2017?

Explanatory: explaining or clarifying something or some phenomena and
identifying relationships between things. Seeking an explanation for a
situation or a problem, but not necessarily, in the form of a causal
relationship,
-experiments

Nature of research
•

Casual studies: Asessing the effects that one or more variables have on
another. The independent variables are those which might be having an
influence on the dependent variable in which you are interested. In these
studies you would manipulate the independent variables and monitor
changes to the dependent variable.

•

Resolving a problem with a novel solution and/or improving something in one
way or another
Developing or constructing something novel

•

5. Research methods
•

5.1 Action research – involves the carefully documented study of an attempt by you to solve a problem
and/or change a situation. It involves working on a specific problem or project with a subject or, more
usually, an organisation and evaluating the results.

•

5.2 Experiment – involves an investigation of casual relationships using tests controlled by yourself.
It refers to a research method where there are two specific groups or else variables that are used to
test a hypothesis. It can be categorized under quantitative research, as it provides statistically
significant data as well as an objective, empirical approach.

•

5.3 Case study – is an in-depth exploration of a particular situation, problem, company or group of
companies. It is a method where an individual, an event, or a case of significance is being studied in
depth.

5.3 Case studies
•

Case studies offer an approach that does not require a strict boundary between the
object of study and its environment.

•

Case study is an empirical inquiry (also in software engineering) that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the
boundaries between the phenomenon and its context are not clearly evident.

5.3 Case studies
•

Case studies usually generate a large amount of subjective data that
you must analyse and interpret in order to produce meaningful,
accurate and fair conclusions. You should also be aware of your own
influence on the case study if it is performed directly.

•

Case studies do not generate the same results, as controlled experiments
do, but they provide a deeper understanding of the phenomena under
study and no experimental control or manipulation is used.

5.3 Case studies

...Case study examples
•

The case study is understanding experiences of evaluating and selecting a requirements
management tool (RMT) for a software development company.

•

The study investigated the state-of-practice in the target organization to identify and prioritize
needs, and the study identified the need to improve the management of requirements.

5.4 Survey Research
•

Survey is usually undertaken through the use of questionnaires or interviews.
It allows ‘the collection of a large amount of data from a sizable population in
a highly economical way’ As part of a survey you might have to identify
samples and sample sizes, design questionnaires and define interviews as
appropriate.

5.4 Survey search
• Survey is the “collection of standardized information from a
specific population, or some sample from one, usually, but not
necessarily by means of a questionnaire or interview”
• Surveys provide an overview rather than depth in the studied field.
• Here are the two specific techniques of survey research:
• Questionnaires
• Interviews

Data collection techniques in surveys
A. Interviews
a. Personal interviews
Face-to-face contact to the other person or persons.
b. Telephone interviews
This method of collecting information consists in contacting
respondents on telephone itself.

Steps to be considered in interviews
Selecting interviewees.
Preparation.
Questionnaires.

Have an agenda for the interview.
Structured replies.
Note taking

Confidentiality
Logistics of the session.
Characterization.

Ethical issues.

B. Questionnaires
Questionnaires are useful means of obtaining data from a large
number of subjects. Like interviews they can also be undertaken at
different stages of your project and can also be used for case studies.
Some questionnaries methods:

1. The target audience

•

Questions are for the target audience:

•

Who are you intending to send your questionnaire to? How will you target them?

2. Medium
Some questions:
• What format will your questionnaire take? Will you send out postal
questionnaires?

•

Will you send the questionnaire through email (embedded within the email or as
an attachment)?

•

Will you establish the questionnaire as a page (or series of pages) on a web site?

3. Response rate
• How will you persuade your humans to complete and return the
questionnaire?
4. Layout and size
• Try to keep your questionnaire as short and as simple as possible.
One way to achieve this is to consider carefully every question you
are putting into the questionnaire.

5. Question types
Open questions require extended answers from the respondent.

Closed questions provide specific answers to questions that the respondent can select from.

6. Question order
The order you place your questions in a questionnaire can influence
respondents and affect your response rate.
• Don’t put difficult or embarrassing questions at the start of the
questionnaire.
• Go from general to specific questions.
• Go from factual to abstract questions.
• Go from closed to open questions.
• Leave questions regarding personal information until the end.

7. Respondent details
• For example, you may need to know how different levels or
experience of employee within a company react to a software
system, so knowing their job title and/or when they started working
for the company is important.
8. Draft and redraft
• You might want to develop a questionnaire and send it out to a
limited number of respondents to see what feedback you
receive.You might then redraft the questionnaire in light of these
responses – rephrase questions, restructure the layout, and so on.

C. Observation
Observation ‘involves the researcher in watching, recording and analysing events of interest’.

• Firstly, it is an expensive method.
• Secondly, the information provided by this method is very limited.
• Thirdly, sometimes unforeseen factors may interfere with the
observational task.

Issues to be considered in observations
Arrangements: How will you go about arranging an observation? What permission will you need to
obtain? Are there any ethical issues that you will need to address
Recording : How will you record the situation or event that you are studying? You might record
your observations in real time – by tape recording, videoing or making notes. Alternatively, you
may simply observe the situation and record what you remember of that situation later.
Participation: Will you actually get involved in the situation you are studying or will you act as a
‘disinterested’ observerHave an agenda for the interview.
The Hawthorne Effect: Between 1924 and 1933 a series of experiments were undertaken at the
Hawthorne works of the Western Electric Company, Chicago. These experiments involved the
manipulation of various working conditions to investigate their effect on worker productivity

...Research methods
Classification of Research Methods according to time frame
• Cross-sectional – snap shot of a situation
• Longitudinal – data collected over a period of time

...Research methods
Classification of Research Methods according to its nature
(Berndtsson et al. (2018)
•
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:
It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides
insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.
It enables a researcher to
1. Gain new insights about a particular phenomenon
2. Develop new concepts or theoretical perspectives about the phenomenon
3. Discover problems that exist within the phenomenon
•
•

QUANTATIVE RESEARCH: Quantitative research methods are associated with measuring
things on numeric scales. It is the simpler to define and identify. The data produced are generally
numerical, and they are analyzed using mathematical and statistical methods.
If there are no numbers involved, then it is not a quantitativeresearch.

6. Quantitative vs Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative approach adopts experimental methods. The conclusion is
reached after following the rigorous process of observation made from
experimentation performed on the object.
• Quantitative research methods are designed to produce statistically reliable
data that tells us how many people do or think something. It’s a studyinvolving
the use and analyses of numerical data using statistical techniques, which can
include:
1. The generation of models, theories and hypotheses
2. The development of instruments and methods for measurement
3. Experimental control and manipulation of variables
4. Collection of empirical data
5. Modeling and analysis of data

6.1 Characteristics of quantitative research
1. Quantitative research is about quantifying the relationships between variables.
2. The research study can usually be replicated or repeated, given its high reliability.
3. All aspects of the study are carefully designed before data is collected.
4. Data are in the form of numbers and statistics, often arranged in tables, charts, figures, or
other non-textual forms.
5. Researcher uses tools, such as questionnaires or computer software, to collect numerical data.

6.2 Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages of quantitative research
•

It can be used when large quantities of data need to be collected.

•

The result is usually numerical and hence considered more “objective”.

•

The data is considered numericaland usually generalizable to a larger population.

Disadvantages of quantitative research
•

Results need to be calculated using Excel, or data analysis software.

•

The larger the sample the more time it takes to collect data.

•

The larger the sample, the more time it takes to analyze the data and analyze results.

•

The quantitative data ignores a very important human element.

6.3 Quantitative design elements
1.

Variable
•
A variable is anything that can vary and identified in the hypothesis or research question.
•
Quantitative designs have at least 2 types of variables:
2. Independent variable (IV)
•
The variable that is controlled or manipulated by the researcher.
•
The variable that is thought to have some effect upon the dependent variable.
3. Dependent variable (DV)
•
The variable that is influenced or changed by the independent variable. A variable that
which is measured.
Example:
Study examining if TV violence increases aggression in children.
IV: TV violance DV: Children’s aggression

8. Why research is important?

9. Why is research experience valuable?
• Helps to foster faculty-student collaboration
• Have the opportunity to share in a professional
researcher's work
• Learn how he or she formulates a significant
question
• Develops a procedure to investigate it
• Evaluates and shares results with the scientific
community

Choosing a project and writing a
proposal

Choosing Project
Identifying your project can be the most difficult stage of all.
When choosing your project, important principles to be considered
are as follows:

• You must be capable of doing the proposed project in the time
available. You must ensure that your project is not overly
ambitious and that you have all the relevant skills needed (for
example, don’t choose a project in an area where you have
failed subjects before).

• As part of your project you may want to broaden your
knowledge by developing new skills or enhancing existing
skills. If so, be sure to allow sufficient time for these tasks.

▪

Choose a project that interests you. Remember, you
will
for

be
working
probably
six

on
your
months
or

project
more.

It is important that you enjoy your work and do
not become bored or lose motivation during this time.

• Consider your personal development and choose a
project that will assist you in your goals. Personal
development planning is defined by The Higher
Education Academy (2008) as
‘a structured and supported process undertaken by an
individual to reflect
upon
their own learning,
performance and/or achievement and to plan
for their
personal, educational and career
development’
• Your personal development plan may help you identify a
project or choose from a number of ideas you might be
considering. Projects that support you in
reaching your personal goals would take priority over
those that do not. When choosing
a
project,
consider your future career plans/goals. This may
influence your project choice.

• Your project should have a serious purpose and a clear outcome
that will benefit someone.

• By securing a real client for your project you will get a much
clearer, more relevant set of project objectives. You will also be
more motivated, knowing you are working for someone other
than yourself (you won’t want to let them down).

• Having a real client will also help with your project’s
management as you will be expected to produce deliverables to
the client by specific dates.

• Your project should have a clear outcome (in terms of
deliverables) that focuses your work and direction. Without a
clear target, you may lose your focus and motivation as your
project progresses.

• Your project should link suitably with your degree course. Your
project should have sufficient scope and quality to fit the
requirements of your course.

• Your project idea should be something that interests you, but not
a personal issue about which you may have a subjective view
that could affect your perspective and influence your results.

• The resources you require for your project should be available
or can be obtained.

Techniques and Information
Sources

• Lecturers’/departmental lists
• Industrial projects
• Past projects
• Talking with colleagues
• Reading around subject areas
• Clustering
• Brainstorming

CHAPTER BREAKDOWN
Once you have an idea for your project, it is good to identify how your

project will break down into a number of chapters for the final report.

If you have difficulty identifying a number of specific chapters for your

final report, it may mean you are unclear about the project’s detail and
don’t really understand what it is you hope to achieve.

Breaking down your project into chapters will also give you an indication
of its scope. If you can identify only two or three chapters, maybe your
project is not sufficiently broad. Conversely, if you can identify ten or more
chapters you may be trying to do too much.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

The ‘so what?’ test
• To ensure that you do not pursue a project that has little value,
take the ‘so what?’ test (Herbert, 1990: 7). Ask yourself, Is the
topic meaningful? If you complete the project successfully, will
it be of value to anybody? What contribution will it make?

Justification

You should be able to explain your project and justify it (that is,
pass the ‘so what?’ test) in simple terms to EVERYONE?
Even if your explanation is too technical or deep for the average
person to understand, if you can explain it in simple terms
indicates that the topic is clear to you.

Numerating your
understanding
If you can put a number on how much you know about your chosen
subject; it means that you have, at least, a concept of that field of study

and an awareness of its magnitude.

If you have no idea what your understanding is, you have no idea of your
subject area’s depth or breadth and to undertake a project in this area
would be very risky.

Numerating your
understanding

This principle was initially presented by Lord Kelvin, who stated:
«When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in

numbers, you know something about it: when you cannot measure it,
cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is inadequate and
unsatisfactory.»

Numerating your
understanding

This idea, of being aware of the sum total of your
understanding about a specific topic, is sometimes
referred to as metaknowledge.

Contacts.
• When you identify the contacts you require for your project, are
they available, accessible and willing to help? For example, do
you have contacts within a local company who have volunteered
to help you with a case study?

• If not, your project will face problems that need to be dealt with
sooner or later.

What do you already know?

Orna and Stevens (1995: 29) suggest that, as you identify your
research area, you also think about what relevant information
you already know or have access to.
You might also identify what you want to learn by conducting
your project.

Ethical issues
Most institutions have procedures in place to assess, evaluate,
monitor and control ethical issues when approving student projects.
Most projects in computer science and information systems
generally do not raise ethical issues.
However, if you plan to involve others in your project in any way
you may well need to obtain ethical clearance for the project from
your department, university etc.

Data protection
If your project will handle any personal information relating to living people,
you need to be aware of the Data Protection Act (DPA) and its restrictions
on your project.
The main principles of data protection include:

• Data should only be used for the specific purpose for which it was
gathered in the first place.

• Individuals have the right to access data held about them.
• Data may not be disclosed to third parties without permission of the
individual.

• If personal data are kept, these data must be appropriately protected.
• Personal data should be kept for no longer than necessary.

9. Arrange contents list, index.
Leave the completion of an index (if one is required) and your
contents list until the end.

Only then will you know the exact content of your report and all
page numbers.

Recruiting participants for projects
• Selection criteria – should be unbiased and lead to
a reasonable cross-section of participants.

• Permission that will be required from participants
should be clear.
• Financial incentive or otherwise to take part (which
may affect the objectivity of the results)?
• Decision on whether participants be able to
withdraw at any stage (this should be allowed) or
not should be taken.

Vulnerable groups
• children, pregnant women, people with a mental illness,
prisoners, people over 65, etc should be protected.
Ethical clearance is needed to ensure that the result of the
project will not affect this group of people.

• The data collected from this group of people should be
carefully analyzed.

Training

you or participants of the project may require training in order to
undertake the project (for example, from hardware or software
applications to dealing with vulnerable groups)?

Preparing a project proposal

•

In most institutions, you are required to prepare a proposal for
your project so it can be assessed for acceptability.

•

Proposal can serve as a contract between you, your department
and project supervisor.

•

In many cases, projects can and do change direction as they
proceed; as you become more aware of the topic area and the
problem which you are investigating.

•

If this were the case, you would need to obtain permission for
significant changes and possibly have to submit a new proposal.

Two golden rules for preparing the proposal
•

Follow any guidelines precisely. Most institutions
require specific information; for example,
project
title, project objectives, resource requirements and so
forth. Failure to complete these sections may mean your
proposal is rejected without even being read,

•

Proofread thoroughly and get someone else to check it.
Any errors or omissions will appear sloppy and put
your commitment and proposed project in a bad light.

There are no universal standards for project
proposals, although all proposals should include

certain pieces of information. This content emerges
from your proposal’s implicit content and explicit

sections.

Implicit content
Introduction to the subject area.
Current research in the field.
Identify a gap.
Identify how your work fills the gap.

Identify risks and solutions.

Explicit sections
• Title: This should be clear and concise. Try to avoid using
acronyms if possible.

• Aims and objectives:
Aims identify at the highest level what it is you hope to achieve with
your project.
Objectives identify specific, measurable achievements that build
towards the ultimate aim of your project. They are more precise than
aims

Expected outcomes/deliverables
•

This section of your proposal will identify precisely what you
intend to submit at the end of the project.

Keywords
• Keywords are used to identify the topic areas your project draws on.
People use keywords to see at a glance what subjects your project relates
to which might not be clear from your project’s title alone.

•

The first page of the report needs to have an introduction.

•

You will explain the problem and show the reader why the
report is being made.

•

You need to explain how the details of the report are arranged.

Introduction/background/overview
•

This section provides an overview of your project and
introduces the background work to it.

•

In this section you might wish to include reasons why you
feel you are a suitable candidate for performing the project
(why you feel you can do it, what skills are required and
how you fulfil these requirements), why the topic interests
you specifically, and why you chose the project in the first
place.

•

This section might also include an introduction to the
industry or organisation being investigated or evaluated.

Related research
•

This section identifies other work, publications and research
related to your topic.

Type of project
• You might wish to identify the type of project you are
undertaking, for example, research-based, development,
evaluation, etc.
• However, make sure these terms are recognised
provide more detail if appropriate.

and

Research questions and hypotheses
The project proposal may also include the research question
you intend to investigate and, hopefully, answer to some
extent within your project.
Computing projects do not necessarily set out to answer
particular questions, but for some projects (particularly
research degree projects) a statement of your research
question is essential.

Methods
Research methods would include action research, case study,
survey and experiment

Resource requirements
Resource requirements for the project include hardware,
software and access to particular computers

Project plan

• This emphasises project is ‘feasible’ in the time allowed;
• The best way to present a project plan is by using a
visual representation such as a Gantt chart.

Style
The style of writing that you adopt to present your report can be discussed from three
points of view.
• First is the actual presentation style of your report – for example, its layout, font size
and so on. This kind of style was discussed earlier.
• Second is the style of grammar that you use within your report. Quite often good
reports can be ruined by poor grammar. The author’s meaning is unclear as ideas and
results are hidden within long complex sentences that include excessive words and
jargon.
• The third point of view is overall content structure and this will be discussed
further later.

Reviewing your proposal
The second golden rule for preparing a project proposal states that
you should proofread your complete proposal thoroughly for
spelling mistakes, omissions and grammatical errors.

Choosing your supervisor
1. What are their records in terms of student completions?’
2.‘What are their views on the management of student research –
and, in particular, the supervisor’s role in it?’
3. ‘How eminent are they in their specialisms?’
4.‘In addition to being knowledgeable about their subjects, have
they high competence in research methodology?’
5. ‘How accessible are they likely to be?’

LITERATURE SURVEY

What is meant by the‘Literature’?

2

Literature broadly is any collection
of written work

3

Literature Survey
What it is not?

What it is?

• Not an essay/paper
• Not state or prove your main
points

• Major works
• Narrow topic
• Reviewed

4

Readers will ask questions suchas...
• What research question(s) are you asking?
• Why are you asking them?
• Has anyone else done anything similar?

• Is your research relevant to research/practice/theory in your field?
• What is already known or understood about this topic?
• How might your research add to this understanding, or challenge existing
theories and beliefs?
5

Literature Survey
• The initial foundation for your project is a literature survey.
• It increases the quality of the work
• This survey has two main components:
- a literature search
- a literature review
• A skill related closely to both of these components is referencing.

6

Literature search
• The literature search represents the mechanics of looking for, sorting,
managing and digesting the available research material.

Literature review
• The literature review represents your written understanding, critical
evaluation, conceptualisation and presentation of the material you have
obtained.

Referencing
Skill related closely to both of these components is referencing.
7

Literaturesurvey
A literature survey acts as an introduction to your project.

Purpose:
• It justifies your project – i.e., it shows that your project is worth doing; the
area that you are investigating is recognised and meaningful.
• It sets your project within context by discussing and critically evaluating
past and current research in your area.
• It provides other researchers with a starting point from which they can
understand how your project evolved and to identify what literature is
relevant to your project in order that they can continue where you left off.
8

Importance of the LiteratureSurvey
• Sometimes students start their projects at
the ground floor (withot looking at the
foundation)
• This can often prove to be disastrous

9

Literature Survey: Context
• It is very important for any academic project
to justify its content by identifying how it fits
into a broader context.

10

Literature Survey Steps
Step 1: Define/Redefine your purpose
Step 2: Extensive research
Step 3: Keep note of bibliographical details
Step 4: Thoroughly read the literature
Step 5: Analyse your research
Step 6: Write the literature review
Step 7: Edit your writing
Step 8: Tick of your checklist
Step 9: Goto Step 1 if necessary

Evaluate Material

11

Literature Survey: Process
Two distinct, concurrent stages:
• Search
• Review

12

Literature Survey Process
• The starting point for literature survey is the definition of your
literature search,
• It begins to identify the boundaries (very important) of your literature search
and the topics you are interested in and provides a starting point from which
to focus on appropriate research material.
• This definition might be as simple as your subjective understanding of your
project area and might lead you to popular texts in your field. However, you
may be more focused and limit your search definition to key authors, specific
journals and/or particular research articles.
• Alternatively, you might want to use a conceptual model such as a
relevance tree, spider diagram or research territory map whereby the
relationships between topics within your project are identified.
13

Literature Survey: Process
• The second field is to begin to perform your literature search. The literature
search will provide you with material that requires your critical evaluation.
• The critical evaluation will provide you with a firm understanding of your
chosen subject area and will form the basis of the next stage of the process –
your literature review.
• Note that these two stages are not independent You will perform some of these
tasks in parallel.
• Your literature search will provide you with material that requires your
critical evaluation.
Search → Critical Evaluation →Review
14

Literature Survey: Cycles
• uncover more questions and misunderstandings than you started
with.
• other issues you had not considered may appear to be influencing
your project and justify further investigation.
• too broad with your initial aims and decide to focus on one particular
aspect that interests you.
• or; too focused on a particular issue and need to broaden your
search.

15

Literature Survey: Cycles cont...
• Whatever the case, you will find that you are moving back into the
cycle once again by refining and redefining your search for material.
• Once again, you may define your search explicitly or maintain a
subjective understanding of material in which you are interested.

16

Literature Survey: Cycles cont...
• The cycle thus proceeds as you continue to search and evaluate the
literature, focusing ever more closely on information relevant to your
project.
• This iterative process highlights the fact that the literature review is
not something that you can write everything you read. It must
develop over time.

17

Literature Survey: Cycles cont...
• Although you will have to stop work on your literature survey at some
point and move onto the main content of your project, you may well
find that you are making changes to your literature review right up to
the end.
• This will be inevitable as you should continue to gather and evaluate
material throughout the lifetime of your project to keep your
understanding of the field fresh and up-to-date.
18

What is literaturesearch?
• Literature search is is a ‘systematic gathering of published information relating to
a subject’.
• SYSTEMATIC: A literature search should not be performed in an ad hoc manner, but should be
approached in a structured and professional way.
• PUBLISHED: The material which you trace should be recognized. In other words, the material is not
merely somebody’s opinion you happened across through a conversation in a corridor, or a block of
un-refereed text downloaded from the Internet.

• It is a key step for research
• Comprehensive literature searching involves capturing the key literature about a
topic so that you can synthesise it and learn about key trends and gaps in
particular subject areas.
• Literature search: looking for, sorting, managing and digesting the available
research material.
19

Two Golden Rules
When performing a literature search:
• Allow plenty of time – it can, and probably will, take a long time.
Therefore, you should start as soon as possible, avoid procrastinating
and steer clear of material unrelated to your chosen topic.
• Ensure that you make note of the full reference of any material you
obtain. This will save a significant amount of time at the end of your
project.

20

Literature Search: Advises
• Be selective and focus in on precisely those articles and books that are
specifically relevant to your work.
• Begin (obviously) with the title, move on to the contents listing, and scan
the index for keywords that are important to you.
• Ensure that you make note of the full reference of any material you
obtain.
• Read the abstract and keywords, look at the list of references at the back
(are key works cited? Are there useful references you can use?)
• Move on to reading the introduction and the summary/conclusions and
if relevant read the whole document carefully.
21

Source of information
• Literature is presented in a number of different formats. Some forms
are more accessible than others and some are recognised as being
more ‘academically’ valuable and worthy.
• Books: will probably prove to be the good starting point for your
literature survey. However, they may be out-dated and out of line
with current thinking in your field. Generally speaking, books are
refereed and do provide a suitable basis for a literature survey.
• Journals: contain (normally refereed) articles discussing up-to-date
issues in their field. Journal articles will also tend to be quite specific –
focusing on developments in detailed areas of a particular topic.
22

Source of information
• Conference proceedings: contain articles and papers that have been
presented at national and international conferences. The quality of
articles in conference proceedings varies widely.
• CDs and and DVDs: these days material is being presented on CDs and
DVDs. They generally present information from other sources in a
more easily accessible format.

23

Source of information
• Company reports and documentation: can provide valuable information
reports for case studies. However, care must be taken with these kinds of
material as they might be subjectively biased in favour of the company
and may contain information that you cannot use as the company does not
wish it to be made public.
• Theses: are the published reports/dissertations of PhDs and MPhils. They
represent the work of a research degree and provide a contribution in their
particular field. Not only will they provide you with ideas on current
thinking in a particular area but they will also provide a useful source of
relevant references. Theses are sometimes difficult to obtain

24

Source of information
• Manuals: Within technical computing projects, manuals may prove to
be a valuable source of information.
• Software: Any software that you require for your project, such as
software tools, libraries and reusable components, should be
obtained as soon as possible
• The Internet The Internet is a valuable source of information but it
must be treated with caution.

25

Tracing the information
• The best place to start any literature search is in your own institution’s library.
• Internet Although you should be careful when using the Internet to access literature for your project, the Internet is a valuable tool
for tracing articles and information.
• Intute (http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/).
• ISI Web of Knowledge(http://wos.mimas.ac.uk/).
• Research Navigator (http://www.researchnavigator.com/).
• ACM Association of Computing Machinery (http://www.acm.org).

• The Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies (http://liinwww.ira.uka.de/bibliography/).
• IEEE Computer Society (http://www.computer.org).
• Lecture Notes in Computer Science (www.springer.de/comp/lncs).
• DBLP bibliography (http://dblp.uni-trier.de).
• HCI Bibliography (http://www.hcibib.org).
• IngentaConnect (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/).
• Neuron AI directory (http://www.neuron.co.uk/).
• Free on-line dictionary of computing (http://foldoc.org/).
• IBM Systems Journal (http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/).

• Journal of Digital Information (http://jodi.tamu.edu/).
26

What is literaturereview?
• A literature review is an overview of current knowledge, allowing you
to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing
research

• Literature review provides your written understanding, critical
evaluation, conceptualization and presentation of the material you
have obtained.

27

How to Structure a LiteratureReview
• A common way to approach a literature review is to start out broad
and then become more specific.

28

• to refine your research question and objectives;
• to highlight research possibilities that have either been explicitly
identified by other authors or have possibly been overlooked in the
past;
• to avoid repeating the work of others;
• to identify research methods and strategies that may be usefully
applied in your own research.
• To become thoroughly familiar with your topic.

29

Other important reasons for reviewing the literature
1. provide an up-to-date picture of the research area of interest.
2. help you learn whether other researchers have already addressed and
answered the research problem you are proposing.
3. offer new ideas, perspectives, and approaches that may not have occurred
to you.
4. show you how others have handled methodological and design issues in
studies similar to your own. (originality - discussion)

30

Other important reasons for reviewing the literature
5. help you interpret and make sense of your findings (discussion)
6. help you tie your results to the work of those who have preceded you.
(discussion)
5. reveal inconsistencies between studies(discussion)

6. provide suggestions for further research
7. provide current limitations in the field

31

Writing literaturereviews
• Figures 5.6 and 5.7 help to illustrate how a literature review should be presented.
• Figure 5.6 shows a particular research field that a student wishes to discuss as part of
their literature review.

32

33

34

When writing your literature review remember what it is not:
• It is not a report that lists all the papers and books you have read
whether they are relevant or not. You must be selective about that to
which you refer.
• It must not dedicate a page or paragraph to each article in turn
merely reporting on their content. Haywood and Wragg (1982: 2)
refer to this as ‘the furniture sales catalogue, which everything
merits a one-paragraph entry no matter how skillfully it has been
conducted’ (see Figure 5.6).

35

Managing information
• The best way to begin managing your research is by using the conceptual model you have created
of your subject area (using relevance tree or spider diagram) to identify the topics in which you
are interested and how these topics link together. You can use this model to arrange articles and
books that you obtain into some sort of order.
• When you are reading articles highlight key phrases, sentences and paragraphs by underlining
or using a highlighter pen.

• Try to record references in the correct format from the start – this will enable you to use them
directly when you complete your project later on.
• Another useful idea is to make brief notes on the front page of articles and within the papers
themselves.

36

Critical evaluation
When you read an article or a book, consider the following points:
• You should try to think how the article could contribute to your own work.
• What kind of article is it – a review paper, an evaluative paper, a theory paper, a practical paper, a
case study, etc.?
• What can you gain from the article – ideas, techniques, useful quotes?
• Is the author well recognised in his/her field? Is the author an authority in this area?
• What contribution is the article making? What kind of contribution is it? Can it make a
contribution to your own project? If so, how?
• How does the article fit within its context? How does the article fit into and support the context
of your project? How important is the article in its field and your own? Does the paper classify
and summarise its field in a clearer or more logical way than has been done before? How does it
fit into your conceptual understanding of the field?

37

Critical evaluation
• Do conclusions follow logically from the work that has been presented? Are the arguments logical?
Do they follow one another? Are they supported or contradicted by the work of others? Are
alternative conclusions consistent with the discussion?
• Can you differentiate fact from unsubstantiated opinion? If there are opinions in the article do you
agree with them? Are these opinions supported by logical arguments or other authors?
• What do you feel about what has been written? Do you agree with statements that are made? Are there
any counter-arguments? Does the article contradict other viewpoints or support the status quo? How does
the article relate to other literature in the field?
• What references does it use? Are these appropriate, relevant and up-to- date? Which references can you
use? Is the article referenced by other authors?
• Are there limits to what the author is suggesting? Is his/her argument applicable only in certain cases?
• Can you use the results from the article in your own work? How do these results contribute and fit into
their field and your own?

38

PROJECT PLANNING
AND
RISK MANAGEMENT

1.1. General Introduction
• Without an appropriate project plan in place there will be little direction, it will be
very difficult to control where the project is going and the project will not be
completed on time.
• Without an effective risk management potential project risks cannot be identified,
managed and controlled any potential risks.

3

1.2 The project process

4

1.2 The project process
• Time, resources, cost, scope and quality are five elements inherit to all projects.

Two main project activities
• Project management activities: are concerned with planning how you will
undertake your project, controlling your project as it is progressing,
checking your progress, meeting milestones, monitoring deliverables and
managing risk.
• Product development activities. are involved with the actual project work
itself.
5

1.2 The project process

• The final stage of the project process is the project’s product (outcome)
- a report
- a thesis or dissertation
- a presentation
- fully documented computer program and an associated user guide
- new model or algorithm
- a literature survey
- a case study, etc.
There are two aspects to this ‘product’
• it will have a certain scope (what it covers, what it does – i.e., what it
achieves)
• a certain level of quality (how well it does it).
6

1.3 project stages
• The five main stages are

1. Definition
2. Planning
3. Initiation
4. Control
5. Closure.
7

• Project Planning and Project Definition are directly related to the project
inauguration which means the beginning or introduction of the project.

• The aim is to ensure that various project tasks are

well-coordinated and

they meet the various project objectives including timely completion of the
project.

• They are about the activities to be performed before starting to work on
the main part of the project, called as the product development activities.

8

• Project definition is the preliminary stage of this process. You must decide on
your project and get it approved.

• In addition, this stage also includes establishing a more detailed project
definition in order to prepare the base of project planning.

• Project planning is a step in which you must determine how to fulfill your
aims choosing the right approach, it is an ongoing effort throughout the
Project Lifecycle

9

2. Definition
• The purpose of project definition is to clearly specify what it is hoped to
achieve with the project.
• Project definition and initial project proposal are closely linked.
- Both should be written at the start of your project
- Project proposal aims to get the project accepted, project definition will help
to clarify what it is intended to be achieved.
• Project definition must identify the aims and objectives of your intended work

10

2. Definition
Defining the project aim and objectives
• Project should be defined in terms of project’s aim/goal and project objectives.
• Project’s aim/goal is defined at the top level and all projects have one major
aim.
• Objectives identify significant measurable achievements towards the ultimate
aim of your project.

11

3. Project planning
Project planning is performed through a series of six steps that utilise a number of
project management techniques:
1. Work breakdown
2. Time esitmates
3. Milestone identification
4. Activity sequencing
5. Scheduling
6. Re-planning
12

3.1 Work breakdown
Work breakdown structures (WBSs) are used to break the project down into lower
and lower levels of detail to reveal exactly what work will be needed to do to
complete the project.
• As you the project is breaked down it should be ensured that tasks at all levels are
separate from one another and an activity in one part of the structure is not
repeated or revealed within another area of work.
• A general rule of thumb for stopping work brakdown is that you should continue to
break your project down into activities that take no less than around 5% of your
project’s total effort.
13

3.1 Work breakdown

14

3.2 Time estimates
• When a project’s aims and objectives are identified it provides little indication of
exactly how long the project will take to complete.

• When the project is broken down into a number of tasks it is much easier to
estimate how long the project will take.

15

3.2 Time estimates

16

3.3 Identify milestones
• Milestones are significant steps towards the completion of a project.
• They help to appreciate the progress by providing intermediate reference points.
• This enables the manager to assess, at the earliest opportunity, how he/she ise
progressing against the planned schedule.
• To identify milestones, project’s work breakdown structure should be focused
and any key stages that appear to be significant breakthroughs in project’s
progress should be identify

17

3.3 Identify milestones
• Identify any key stages that deem to be important in projects’s progress. E.g.,
Milestone 1 = Completion of the literature survey

18

3.4 Activity sequencing
The network that can be used to identify the order in which the work should be
performed is called activity network/sequencing.
There are two forms of activity network as follows

- Activity-on-the-node networks
- Activity-on-the-arrow networks

19

3.4 Activity sequencing

20

3.4 Activity sequencing

-An Example of Activity-on-the-arrow diagram

21

...Activity sequencing

22

3.5 Scheduling
Tools used for scheduling, unlike activity networks, do not show the relationships
between tasks, but do explicitly show the durations of activities and identify
instances when tasks are performed simultaneously.

23

3.5 Scheduling
• Gantt chart
• Shaded regions = slack/float time

24

...Scheduling with MS Project

25

3.6 Re-planning
• Re-planning simply means that go back through your plans, adjusting and
rescheluding them accordingly.

26

3.7. Rolling wave planning
A technique that can help when the project is not all that clear is rolling wave planning.
Rolling wave planning means that instead of detailed plan at the project’s inception is not
constructed a skeleton plan is developed, which only identifies the key stages of the
project. As a skeleton plan is relatively broad it can be suitable for many projects.
The planning detail ebbs and flows (like a rolling wave) as the project progresses and
making decisions on where to go and what to do next.

27

3.8. Project Initiation Document (PID)
The project initiation document is a document that draws together many of the sections
discussed above in one place, representing a definitive overview of the project – its
purpose, objectives, outline, plan, risks, etc.

It can form a contract in terms of defining:
• What is the proect aiming to achieve?
• Why is it important to achieve it?
• Who will be involved and what are their responsibilities?
• How and when will the project be undertaken?

28

...Initiation
There is no standart for PID. Following components of the project form a basis for PID

◦ Title
◦ Aim and objectives
◦ Expected outcomes/deliverables
◦ Introduction/background/overview
◦ Project type
◦ Related research
◦ Research question/hypothesis
◦ Methods
◦ Resource requirements
◦ Project plan
29

Components of Project Planning
1. Project Scope Definition and Scope Planning

2. Project Activity Definition and Activity Sequencing
3. Time, Effort and Resource Estimation
4. Risk Factors Identification
5. Cost Estimation and Budgeting
6. Organizational and Resource Planning
7. Schedule Development
30

Components of Project Planning
8. Quality Planning

9. Risk Management Planning
10. Project Plan Development and Execution
11. Performance Reporting
12. Planning Change Management
13. Project Rollout Planning

31

Benefits of Project Planning
• Manage your time more effectively, decide on priorities for your project at
different stages and give you clear direction and motivation.

• Help to see clearly the point where you are and the distance to the finish
point.

• Manage risk in your project effectively using a defined risk management
process.

• Identify, manage and control any potential risks to your project.
32

3. Control – Risk Management (RM)
• Risk management is a process that is inexorably linked to project
management; it runs in parallel with PM and follows a similar process
• Stages of RM
1.
2.
3.
4.

Identify risks
Assess impact of risks
Alleviate critical risks
Control risks

33

If your project requires that you stand on the edge of a cliff, then there’s a risk that
you could fall. If it’s very windy out or if the ground is slippery and uneven,
then falling is more likely.

34

4.1 Identify risks
• These risks can be individual events (Event-driven risks)
◦ Hardware failure
◦ Supervisor’s leave of country

• Evolving risks
◦ Underestimating the time it will take you to develop part of your system
◦ Deteriorating relationship with your client, etc.

• Further classification
◦ Technical
◦ Non-technical

35

4.2 Assess impact of risks
• Impact of the risk on the project
◦ 𝑅i𝑠𝑘𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 = 𝐿i𝑘e𝑙iℎoo𝑑 𝑥 𝐶o𝑛𝑠e𝑞𝑢e𝑛𝑐e
• Turner (1993: 256) goes on to provide a quantitative measure for assessing the risks to
your project.
• A risk’s likelihood is classed according to a three-point scale –Low/Medium/High.
• Similarly, a risk’s consequence is measured on a five-point scale – Very
Low/Low/Medium/High/Very High.
• Turner assigns numbers to these measures as shown in Tables 4.2 and 4.3.

36

...Assess impact of risks
• 80/20 rule = Approximately 20% of risks will cause approximatley 80% of your
problems
• Classify risk impact values

37

...Assess impact of risks
• RAG grading (RiskImpact 1-5, 6-10, >10)
• RED = Quit project, Amber = Caution, Green = No problem
Consequence
Likelihood

38

4.3. Alleviate Critical Risks
1. Avoidance: Change to a more familiar RM
2. Deflection (transfer): Contracting: hiring someone outside your company to complete
the work when it would decrease project risk.
3. Contingency: Plan ahead
Some solutions:
◦ Insurance: a response to certain risks such as fire, property, or personal injury (e.g. pure risks) is to
purchase insurance. Insurance exchanges an unknown risk for a known risk because the consequences
of the risk are known.
◦ Secondary risks: Included in risk response planning should be an analysis of the new risks created by the
risk response strategies selected. Frequently, what is done to mitigate one risk will cause other risks to
occur.

39

4.4 Controlling risks
• Risk control corrects deviations from planned risk actions. Once risk metrics and
triggering events have been chosen, there is nothing unique about risk control.
• Risk control melds into project management and relies on project management
processes to control risk action plans, corrects for variations from plans, responds to
triggering events, and improves risk management processes.
• Checkpoints: One strategy you can adopt is to identify specific checkpoints in your
project’s progress, when you will re-visit your critical risk list and adjust it according
to your latest understanding.

40

Globalizing World and Trade
• Developing Technology
• Customer Expectations
• Economic Competition

QUALITY

2

What Does the Customer Want?

✓ Good design - looks and style
✓ Good functionality - it does the job well
✓ Reliable - acceptable level of breakdowns or failure
✓ Consistency
✓ Durable - lasts as long as it should
✓ Maintainability - good after sales service
✓ Value for money

3

Quality in Software
According to the IEEE Software Quality is :
➢ The degree to which a system, component or process meets
specified requirements, meets customer or user
expectations.
Software Quality Factors
✓ Correctness
✓ Reliability
✓ Efficiency
✓ Usability
✓ Maintainability
✓ Flexibility
✓ Testability
✓ Reusability

4

...Quality in Software
Customer Expectations

Fast and Accurate Response

Economic Competition

Adaptation to the Globalizing World

STANDARD
5

What Is Standard?
• It is the path that is decided to do something.
• It is an «agreed way of doing things»
• Level of quality
• Something used as a measure, norm, or model in comparative
evaluations

• This may involve the manufacture of a product, the
management of a process, the provision of a service or the
supply of materials.

6

• To meet global market requirements.
• To improve the quality of products and services.
• To make fewer mistakes.
• To ensure that failures quickly arrive at resolution.
7

What is Standard?



 Standards are generally directed to software
development processes but there may also be productrelated standards
 Standards protect their validity for a long time.
 They are not about spesific programming languages and
Technologies

Software Standards


 Software standards play an important role in quality
management
 They define the required attributes of a product or
process
 Types of standards
*International standards
*National standards
*Organizational standards
*Project standards

Standards in Software
A software standard is a standard, protocol, or other common format of a document, file, or
data transfer accepted and used by one or more software developers while working on one or
more than one computer programs.
Standards to be Used in Software Development
•
•
•
•

Process standards
Coding standards
Security standards
Quality standards

10

Process Standards
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

➢ Analysis
➢ Design
➢ Implementation
➢ Testing
➢ Maintenance
➢ IEEE/EIA 12207 The Life Cycle Process
Standards
➢ EIA = Electronic Industries Alliance

11

Coding Standards
➢ Use of Comments
➢ Function names, Class names
➢ Source code file naming
➢ Degree of complexity involved
➢ Examples:
➢ MISRA C/C++
(https://www.misra.org.uk/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=w_S
yhpkf7xA%3D&tabid=57)
➢ JSF++ (http://www.prqa.com/coding-standards/jsf-av-c/)
➢ High-Integrity C++
(http://www.codingstandard.com/section/index/)
➢ CERT Secure Coding Standard (http://www.openstd.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1255.pdf)

12

Security Standards
ISO/IEC 15408 Common Criteria
ISO/IEC 27001 Inf. Security Management Systems

13

Quality Standards
Quality standards are determined by international organizations. The main organizations are:

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) : The international organization
established by the International Electrotechnical Commission with the aim of carrying out
all the technical and non-technical standards in the fields of electrical and electronic
engineering.
IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission): Is a non-profit, non-governmental
international standards organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all
electrical, electronic and related technologies.
CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) : Is a process level improvement training
and appraisal program.

W3C :W3C standards define an Open Web Platform for application development that has the
unprecedented potential to enable developers to build rich interactive experiences, powered by vast
16
data stores, that are available on any device.

What is ISO?


 ISO is the world's largest developer of International
Standards
 It has a membership of 162 national standards bodies.
 ISO provides being concurrence on solutions that supply
both the requirements of business and the needs of
society

Who develops ISO standards


 ISO standards are developed by comprising experts
from the industrial, technical and business sectors
 Expert groups can be joined by representatives of
government agencies, consumer associations, nongovernmental organizations and academic circles, etc.
 Members can observe the standards that are developing,
offering comments and suggestions.

ISO/IEC outline Structure



ISO/IEC →JTC1→ SC7


 SC7 delivers standards in the area of software and
systems engineering that meet requirements.
 These standards play a supporting role in the process
 System engineering is defined as an interdisciplinary
approach to make customer needs and expectations a
solution and supports this solution .



Standarization in Turkey
It is a full member and the only representative of these organizations in our country. ISO
issues a certificate and the institution responsible for that country translates it into its
own language. TSE is responsible for this work in Turkey.

TSE's Tasks
➢ Prepare standards and projects

Public and private sector

➢ Make scientific technical studies

About international standards

➢ International Standard Organizations

To cooperate

➢ Encourage

Quality and work in accordance with the standards

➢ Established

Products, Procedures, Service Standards

20

Turkey's First Standard Today
(KANUNNAME-İ İHTİSAB-I BURSA)
BURSA BELEDİYE KANUNU

Prepared by II. Sultan Bayezid Han
Defter suretidir.
Padişah emri:
Bursa'da olan meslek erbabı ve bilirkişileri toplayıp, her
meslekte alınan, satılan ve işlenen çeşitli kumaşların,
giyeceklerin ve diğer şeylerin tümüne konulmuş narhların
zaman içerisinde her bir cinsin fiyat değişiminin teker
teker yazıldığı ayrıntılı bir defter hazırlayın. Ben tahta
çıktıktan sonra narh ne şekilde uygulanmıştır? O
zamandan beri aynı şekilde mi uygulanmıştır, yoksa
değiştirilmiş midir? Değiştirilmişse sebebi nedir? Şimdiki
uygulama nasıldır? Etraflıca incelenerek şüpheli ve
bilinmeyen bir tarafı bırakılmasın. Acele olarak detaylı bir
şekilde yazıp gönderiniz. Gönderdiğiniz bu defter
kanunname
olup gerektiği anda ona müracaat
edileceğinden kesinlikle narhın eksik bir çeşidi kalmasın.
21

What Is Quality Management?
Quality Management System Elements
✓ Organization chart
✓ Responsibilities
✓ Methods
✓ Data management
✓ Processes
✓ Customer happiness
✓ Continuous improvement
✓ Product quality
✓ Maintenance

22

• Globally accepted quality management
• Aim is customer satisfaction
• Meet many requirements like
- Customer satisfaction level.
- Analysis of data.
- Effective management of process etc.
23

• Specifies minimum requirements.
• The contiditions are universal (all sectors).
• Tells what to do, NOT how to do it.

24

Who Can Apply for ISO 9001
Standards?
• There is no sector or scale limitation.
• All organizations can apply.

25

ISO Quality Certificate
- It is a certificate obtained by the instutions
comply with the ISO standards and have
been working in this field.
- Main objectives;
- Provide customer satisfaction;
- Quality of products.
- Services after purchase.

26

Validation of ISO Certificate
- Valid for 3 years.
- Planned controls held every year.
- If there is no problem, the certificate is renewed.

27

Benefits of ISO Certificate
- Increased customer satisfaction .
- Step towards to corporating.
- More interested.

28

Important Standard I

 Project Management
 IEEE 1058-1998 IEEE standard for software project
management plans.
 This standard determine the content and rule of
Software Project Management Plans(SPMP).
 But this standard does not limit developing an SPMP
with a certain technique.


 Every organization that are using this standard develops
some procedures and practices .
 There are some factors that influence application of the
standard .

Important Standard II

Glossary
*ISO/IEC/IEEE 24765:2010 Systems and
Software engineering
-Vocabulary
 provides a common vocabulary applicable.
 It was prepared to collect and standardize
terminology.
 offers detailed references.This makes research easier.

Important Standard III


 Requirements Development
*IEEE Std 830, IEEE Recommended Practice for
Software Requirements Specifications
* IEEE Std 1233, IEEE Guide for Developing
System Requirements Specifications

Important Standard IV


Testing
* IEEE 1008-1987 IEEE standard for software unit
testing
 There are three important purposes.
1.to determine an approach software testing for reliable
software engineering practice.
2.to explain the software engineering concepts.
3.to provide resource information to testing approach..


*IEEE 829-1998 IEEE standard for software test
documentation
 This describe a set of basic software test documents.
This standard determine the form and content of test
documents particularly. the required set of test
documents are not specified.

Important Standard V


 User Documentation
* IEEE 1063-2001 Std
 This standard clarify minimum .
 These content is inclusive of printed and electronic
documents.
 Videlicet, It applies primarily to technical substance
rather than to style.

Important Standard IV


 System Life-Cycle Processes (ISO/IEC 15288)
- Provides;
 - Support the definition of processes.
 - Control & improve standards.

ISO IEC 25021 Software Quality Certificate
Completed software released to the market is the standard to question the quality by
considering certain criteria. The software contains instructions for compliance assessment of
the software that the test documentation should contain.
Which software is applicable?
✓ Text processing software
✓ Calculation software
✓ Database programs
✓ Graphics Software
✓ Software with technical functions
✓ Utilities

37

Advantages of Standardization
The use of standards has many potential benefits for
any organization and customer.
• Suitable for both small and large organizatons.
• The organization functions are in a disciplined and
systematic way.
• It provides an efficient management process in
terms of budget and schedule, reach of quailty
goals and turnover management.

...Advantages of Standardization
• Fewer failures in quality of service.
• Provides an objective proof in terms of
quality and increases the confidence in the
organization.
• Ensures clear processes and communications
structures and increases the involvement of staff,
which reduces the pressure of work.

...Advantages of Standardization
• Regulation
•
•
•
•
•

Cost effective compliance
Customer assurance
Reduced product liability
Risk management
Governance

• Maximizing Revenue
• Improved speed to market
• Product acceptance
• Product life cycle management

...Advantages of Standardization
• Cost Optimization
•
•
•
•

Reduced transaction costs
Product/process interoperability
Flexibility in supply chain
Best practice and management systems

• Business Opportunities
•
•
•
•

Developing new markets and future sales
Influence technology change
Influence industry evolution
Structure regional/international competition

• Certification attracts new customers.

Disadvantages of Standardization
• Small organizations perceive them as being
orientated towards large organizations and don't
adopt existing standards.
• Small firms have a negative perception of process
model standards in terms of cost, documentation
and bureaucracy.

Customer Benefits
• Improved quality and service.
• Delivery on time.
• Right first time attitude.
• Fewer returned products and complaints.
• Independent audit commits quality.
• Reduced rework and frustration.
• Reduced maintenance effort.
• Greater management control.
• Better handling on what is done.
• Increased satisfaction.

ETHICAL AND SOCIAL
ISSUES IN INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGIES
Clip-art: http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/ethics-clip-art

What are Ethics?
> Ethics are principles of right and wrong that can
be used by individuals acting as free moral
agents to make choices to guide their behaviour.

> Technology introduces capabilities that were
impossible several years ago. This is particularly
true with respect to information technologies and
biotechnologies.
> Information technology is moving so fast that
situations arise in which it is not clear what is
ethical behaviour.
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Ethical Principles
• Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you (başkalarına sana davranılmasını istediğin gibi davran)
• Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: If an action is not right for
everyone to take, then it is not right for anyone
• Descartes’ rule of change: If an action cannot be taken repeatedly,
then it is not right to be taken at any time
• In Turkish: «Etik» vs « Ahlak»

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Some ethical rules
> Be fair

> Be reliable
> Be faithful
> Respect others
> Have civic responsibilities

> Accept the equality of human
being
> Share other’s grief and
sorrow

> Look for the best
> Embrace fair distribution of
resources

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Does Ethical equate to Legal?
> Four Choices
> LEGAL – ETHICAL
> LEGAL – NOT ETHICAL

> NOT LEGAL – ETHICAL
> NOT LEGAL – NOT
ETHICAL
>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGE0ifAIXQA

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Legal - Ethical
> Purchasing a copy of MS Office 2010 and using it for
personal home use.
> Purchasing an Android game from Google Play Store and
using it on your device.

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Legal - Not Ethical

> Using copyrighted software in a country that disregards
copyright laws.
> Disclosing confidential information in an email or on a
website.
> Spam
> Removing content from Facebook without subscriber’s
permission and consent.
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Not Legal - Ethical
> Making a backup copy of software for archival
purposes, even if prohibited
> Using a computer for some social protest or civil
disobedience cause, in conflict with a user agreement

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Not Legal – Not Ethical
> Pirating software for profit.
> Downloading music with no permission nor payment and it in
a commercial compilation.

> Cracking into websites for phishing.

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James H. Moor (1985)
> Computers provide us with new capabilities and
these in turn give us new choices for action. A
central task of computer ethics is to determine what
we should do in such cases, i.e., to formulate
policies to guide our actions.
> Professionals face new ethical questions
because the use of computer technology.
> "vacuum of rules or policies“ leaves these computer
professions with no guidance
> Advocates a coherent conceptual
framework within which to formulate a
policy for computer ethics
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Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical
Issues
> Computing power doubles every 18 months: Dependence on
computer systems increases, and it becomes more cost effective
to process massive amounts of personal information.

• Rapidly declining data storage costs: Lowers the cost of
creating huge national databases composed of private
information; lowers the cost of storing and using illegal
music files

• Data-mining advances: Increases the ability of firms
and governments to track the movement of citizens
throughout life

• Networking advances and the Internet: Remotely
accessing personal data

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Software Licenses
> There are four types of software licenses:
> Public Domain
> Freeware
> Shareware
> All Rights Reserved

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Public Domain License
> Public domain software has no owner and is not protected by copyright law.
> It was either created with public funds, or the ownership was forfeited by the
creator.
> Can be copied, sold, and/or modified.
> Often said to be of poor quality/unreliable but some highest quality software
has PDL.

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Freeware License
>Freeware is copyrighted software that is licensed to be copied and distributed
without charge.

>Freeware is free, but it’s still under the owner’s control.

> The Software may be installed and used by the Licensee for any legal
purpose.
> The Software may be installed and used by the Licensee on any
number of systems.
> The Software can be copied and distributed under the condition that original
copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty will stay intact,
> The Licensee will not charge money or fees for the Software product, except to
cover distribution costs.
> The Licensee will not have any proprietary rights in and to the Software. The
Licensee acknowledges and agrees that the Licensor retains all copyrights and
other proprietary rights in and to the Software.
> Use within the scope of this License is free of charge and no royalty or
licensing fees shall be paid by the Licensee.
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Shareware License
> Shareware is software that is distributed free on a trial basis
with the understanding that the user may need or want to pay
for it later.

> Purchasing (the right to use) the software may also get you a
version with more powerful features and published documentation.

> Some software developers offer a shareware version of their
program with a built-in expiration date (after 30 days, the user
can no longer get access to the program).

> Other shareware (sometimes called liteware) is offered with certain
capabilities disabled as an enticement to buy the complete version
of the program.

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All Rights Reserved License
> May be used by the purchaser according the exact
details spelled out in the license agreement.
> You can’t legally use it -- or even possess it -- without the
owner’s permission.

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Conducting An Ethical Analysis
> Identify and clearly describe the facts.
> Define the conflict and identify the higher order values
involved.
> Identify the stakeholders.
> Identify the options that you can reasonably take.
> Identify the potential consequences of your options.

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Management Actions Regarding IS and
Ethics
> Most firms do not have an IS - specific code of ethics.
> There is disagreement whether an IS - specific code is needed or a more
general code of ethics.
> It is recommend an IS -specific code of ethics that addresses ethical
issues are needed.

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Computer Ethics for Computer Professionals
> Competence – Professionals keep up with the latest knowledge in
their field and perform services only in their area of competence.
> Responsibility – Professionals are loyal to their clients or
employees, and they won’t disclose confidential information.
> Integrity – Professionals express their opinions based on facts, and
they are neutral in their judgments.
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Professional Codes of Conduct
> Promises by professions to regulate themselves in the
general interest of society.

> Announced by associations such as the American Medical
Association (AMA), and the American Bar Association
(ABA).

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2
3

The ACM Code of Conduct

According to the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) code, a computing professional:
- Contributes to society and human well – being.
- Avoids harm to others.
- Is honest and trustworthy.
- Is fair and takes action not to discriminate .
- Honors property rights, including copyrights and patents.
- Gives proper credit when using the intellectual property of others.
- Respects other individuals’ rights to privacy.
- Honors confidentiality.

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