FIT4005 IT Research and Innovation Methods

How FIT4005 is assessed

What FIT4005 covers

Twelve chapters follow the twelve teaching weeks, from framing a research question and planning ethics through interviews, statistics and intellectual property to the design methods that carry an idea to delivery.

The twelve weeks move through four families of method: framing research (why methods matter, ethics, the literature), qualitative methods (questionnaires, interviews, thematic analysis), quantitative methods (configuring a study, descriptive and inferential statistics), and communicating and protecting new knowledge (intellectual property and the design methods of the Double Diamond).

The grade comes from two written assignments worth 40% each and weekly studio quizzes worth 20%.

Assignment 1 draws on Weeks 1 to 6 and has three tasks: ethical risks across a research pipeline, a closed-question survey with a rationale, and a recorded semi-structured interview with a two-level coding scheme. Assignment 2 draws on Weeks 7 to 12. Each quiz is five minutes in the studio, and the best eight of the ten graded quizzes count.

What the unit rewards throughout is justified choice: naming the method, tying it to the research question, and stating what it cannot tell you.

Worked example · free

Plan a mixed-methods evaluation of a new campus app feature

Key terms

Research question

A specific, clear, relevant and feasible question that guides the research process and decides which data and methods are needed.

Research ethics

The principles and practical safeguards that protect participants and data, built on merit and integrity, justice, beneficence and respect.

Data custodianship

The responsibility for storing, protecting and managing collected research data, including how it is treated once the study closes.

Literature review

A structured account of prior work that sets context, synthesises findings by theme and identifies the gaps that motivate new research questions.

Closed-ended question

A questionnaire item with predefined answer options, such as yes or no, multiple choice, a Likert scale, a rating scale or a ranking.

Semi-structured interview

An interview guided by a schedule in which the interviewer may skip, rephrase, reorder or add questions and prompts in response to the participant.

Thematic analysis

A qualitative method that codes data and develops themes capturing patterns of meaning across a data set, following six phases.

Triangulation

Combining findings from several sources or methods so that the weaknesses of one are offset by the strengths of another.

Inferential statistics

Statistical methods that use a representative sample to draw conclusions about a wider population, usually by testing hypotheses.

Double Diamond

A design process model with four phases, Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver, alternating divergent and convergent thinking.

FIT4005 FAQ

Questions students ask in each FIT4005 chapter

Why does a technology professional need research methods?

Because product decisions turn on questions such as whether a redesign changes user behaviour or how a new algorithm compares with the old one. Answering those reliably needs a method chosen for the question, not opinion or habit. Chapter 01 · What Research Is and Why Methods Matter

Where do the four ethical values come from?

They come from Australia's National Statement, the national guideline for human research ethics, issued in 2007 and revised in 2018. The lecture presents merit and integrity, justice, beneficence and respect as criteria for judging situations that no specific guideline covers. Chapter 02 · Research Ethics Across the Research Pipeline

Should a review in an IT project be chronological?

The Week 3 lecture says a purely chronological review is not generally considered appropriate in IT and computer science, because it reaches current work late. Group sources by theme and, if helpful, keep a time order inside each theme. Chapter 03 · Searching and Reviewing the Literature

When is a questionnaire the right tool?

The Week 4 slides list four conditions: you have a good idea of what answers to expect, respondents can read the items or have them administered, you want counts and frequencies, and you want to generalise to a larger population. Chapter 04 · Designing Surveys and Questionnaires

Which interview type does Task C require?

Task C asks for a 15 to 20 minute semi-structured interview with a fellow Monash student, recorded on Zoom after a signed consent form, ending with a proper closure. The schedule needs an introduction, questions and prompts. Chapter 05 · Planning and Conducting Research Interviews

How is thematic analysis different from content analysis?

The Week 6 materials describe content analysis as categorising what is said and how often, while thematic analysis centres on what participants meant and the motivations underneath, developing patterns of meaning across the data set. Chapter 06 · Thematic Analysis of Qualitative Data

What makes a research question good?

The Week 7 slides list four properties: it guides the research process, it is specific and clear, it is relevant, and it is feasible. Two questions from one brief should also be distinct from each other. Chapter 07 · Configuring a Research Study

Does Week 8 require mathematical derivations?

No. The lecture describes its approach as conceptual and practical, focused on applying measures rather than deriving them. You should be able to compute and interpret the measures and choose a suitable chart. Chapter 08 · Descriptive Statistics and Data Visualisation

Why does representativeness matter so much?

The Week 9 slides state that valid statistical inference depends on the sample resembling the population it stands for. That is why random sampling is used: it reduces the bias that would otherwise make conclusions about the population unreliable. Chapter 09 · Inferential Statistics and Hypothesis Testing

When should IP be considered in a research project?

The Week 10 lecture says IP has to be considered when planning research, not just afterwards. Data collection, analysis, design activities and dissemination can all affect what you may later claim or publish. Chapter 10 · Intellectual Property in IT Innovation

How is design different from research in this unit?

The Week 11 lecture says research gathers evidence to understand reality and asks what is happening and why, while design gathers evidence to improve reality and asks what could happen and how. Each depends on iteration, feedback and evidence. Chapter 11 · Discovering and Defining Design Problems

What does SCAMPER stand for?

The Week 12 lecture expands it as Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate and Reverse: seven prompts that each transform an idea to see whether a stronger version appears. Chapter 12 · Developing and Delivering Design Solutions

How to prepare for the assessments

Treat the unit as a toolkit of justified choices. For each week, write one sentence on what the method is good for and one on what it cannot show; those sentences become the rationale paragraphs both assignments need. Build Assignment 1 in the order the weeks run: ethics before collection, the questionnaire from mini-topics, and the interview schedule with the coding scheme in view.

Arrive at each studio having done the pre-workshop material, because the five-minute quiz follows the week's distinctions closely. For the second half, practise reading data before testing it: describe centre, spread and outliers, then ask whether the sample can support a claim about the population.

Finish with intellectual property and the design weeks, since Assignment 2 is the only written task that lists the intellectual property outcome.

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