A survey of the effects of a fourth year Introduction to Research
Methods course
V.C. Galpin, S. Hazelhurst, C. Mueller, and I. Sanders
Technical Report TR-Wits-CS-1999-14, Department of Computer
Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 1999.
Abstract
Research skills are important for any academic and can be of great
benefit to any professional person. These skills are, however,
difficult to teach and to learn. In the Department of Computer Science
at the University of the Witwatersrand we have for a number of years
included the completion of a research report as part of our Honours
programme. This paper is a case study of how we have implemented an
introductory research methods Honours course to increase our students'
exposure to research and to help them cope better with the research
reports. This course provides an effective way of introducing research
to a relatively large class of Honours students. It has now been given
twice.
Included in this study is a survey of students who took the course in
1999, focussing on the usefulness of the course for the research
report, potential changes to the courses, plans for further research
qualification and usage of LaTeX. Generally, the course was seen as
useful. The results are presented and discussed, and suggested changes
for future versions of the course are described.
Our experience with the course is positive and we believe it has made
a major impact on the way research is done by Honours students. Many
of the problems we encountered with the Honours research reports prior
to the introduction of the research methods course have been
alleviated.
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