Planning my Research Project.

As in project management, it is suggested that a GANTT chart be used to help organise and monitor the progress of a research project. In my case, for example, this could be as follows:

The project is divided into several sections of development, execution and evaluation but as a first time researcher I am quite aware that I will need to be flexible with these timings.

Although the student participants won't be at the university until the beginning of April, development work will begin in February. During February and March I plan to continue research on mobile assisted language learning and develop the tools for the students to use. At the beginning of April when the students return I will ask all of my second semester engineering students to complete a background survey on mobile learning. In the following week they will then be invited to participate in the study and briefed on their role. The students will then begin using the mlearning tools and after approximately 7 weeks I will interview the students to gather data on their experiences so far. These interviews will also be an opportunity to improve anything or fix any problems within the materials. The second stage of the study will then see the students continue to learn with the tools until the end of the semester. They will then be interviewed again to gather final attitudes and experiences to mobile assisted language learning.

The analysis of this data will be done using EvaSys for the quantitative data and Weft QDA for the qualitative data. As I have never done qualitative analysis before this will be my first time using such a tool but I hope it will not cause any problems. As far as possible, the chapters for my thesis will be written as the project progresses to ensure that I can finish as quickly as possible.


Sources.

Bell, J. (2010) Doing your research project. (5e) Maidenhead: Open University Press

Cohen, L. et al. (2011) Research methods in education. (7e). Abingdon: Routledge.