Overview
COMP 494 introduces students to the systematic investigation that attempts to establish facts on a scientific basis. The investigation involves discovery, interpretation, development, and execution of methods that are generic in nature, yet highly applicable to research in computing and information systems.
Topics covered include review of a published article, literature review, identifying a research problem, sampling, measurement, reliability, validity, data collection, statistics, mining, simulation, optimization, graphical modeling, research ethics, survey research, correlational research, experimental research, research methods specific to information sciences, action research, research management, and qualitative research.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to
- formulate research hypotheses.
- review, compare and contrast research outcomes.
- discriminate between different degrees of quality traits of a research article.
- examine statistical methods to conduct data analysis and inference.
- select computational techniques from information sciences for data analysis and inference.
- associate different types of research to computational problems in various domains.
- recommend research management techniques.
Evaluation
To receive credit for COMP 494, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least D (50 percent). There are three assessments: two assignments and one final exam. You must also score 50% in each assessment to pass the course. That is, you must score 50% in each of the two assignments and 50% in the final exam. The weighting of the grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Unit 1: (covering units 1 through 6) | 25% |
| Unit 2: (covering units 7 through 12) | 25% |
| Final exam (with open notes) | 50% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
This course either does not have a course package or the textbooks are open-source material and available to students at no cost. This course has a Course Administration and Technology Fee, but students are not charged the Course Materials Fee.
There is no textbook for this course.
Other Materials
Course materials for COMP 494 are stored in a self-extracting file on the servers at Athabasca University.
At this time the self-extracting file contains the following materials
- Units 1 to 12 of the study guide.
Registered students may download the self-extracting file through the World Wide Web. Additional supporting materials of interest to students may occasionally be made available electronically.
Special Course Features
Computing and Information Systems courses at Athabasca University require that students use computer mediated communications. We expect students to have access to computer equipment with certain requirements.
Special Instructional Features
Delivery of COMP 494 (contacting the tutor, submitting assignments) is dependent on computer mediated communications. Students are required to have access to the World Wide Web.