UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2017/2018
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/ BACHELOR OF BUSINESS IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 2209: RESEARCH SKILLS & DESIGN KCA 300: RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
FULL TIME/PART TIME/DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: AUGUST, 2018 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE: 30 MARKS (COMPULSORY)
a) Define the following terms 4 Marks
i. Research problem
ii. Research design
iii. Plagiarism
iv. Hypothesis
b) Describe the following documents 4 Marks
i. Research proposal
ii. Research report
c) Explain why it is wrong to set out to prove or disapprove a hypothesis. 2 Marks
a) Describe four attributes of good research 4 Marks
d) Discuss any four purposes served by research 4 Marks
e) List any two open source software for each of the following 2 Marks
i. Anti-plagiarism
ii. Citing and referencing
f) Read and understand the frequency table below, then answer the questions that
follow
Score (x) Frequency (f)
30 3
40 3
45 2
50 6
60 2
80 3
90 1
Required:
i. Complete the table so that you will be able to do part (ii) through (iv)
4 Marks
ii. Calculate the mean 2 Marks
iii. Calculate the variance 2 Marks
iv. Calculate the standard deviation 2 Marks
QUESTION TWO: 20 MARKS
g) Suppose you are having problems identifying a research problem. State and explain
four areas where you would look around to get started. 4 Marks
h) Discuss six guidelines that you would follow when in order to come up with a
legitimate research problem. 6 Marks
e) The following are data observed in a certain attained in a research methods test
distribution
31 21 34 32 50 31 22 44 47 76
56 76 72 80 93 66 64 60 65 23
45 56 77 66 55 37 87 92 37 44
33 47 58 64 48 88 82 85 33 51
67 95 55 54 39 77 82 36 44 27
Required:
i. Group the scores in classes of width 10. 2 Marks
Complete the table such that you will be able to draw the histogram and the frequency
polygon 8 Marks
QUESTION THREE: 20 MARKS
No research effort is complete without a careful and exhaustive review of the material
related to the topic under study. With that fact in mind answer the following questions.
a) Define the term literature review 2 Marks
b) State and explain five reasons why it is important to carry out the literature
review. 5 Marks
c) Discuss four indicators of an adequate scope of the reviewed literature.
8 Marks
d) Discuss five sources of literature that you are likely to contact when reviewing
your literature. 5 Marks
QUESTION FOUR: 20 MARKS
a) Define the following terms commonly used in the research design context.
4 Marks
i. Population
ii. Sample
b) Briefly discuss the following sampling techniques 4 Marks
i. Random sampling
ii. Stratified sampling
c) Discuss the general criteria for any research design irrespective of the branch of
research. 4 Marks
d) Describe the various forms of validity of measuring tools 4 Marks
e) Describe the various forms of reliability of measuring tools 4 Marks
QUESTION FIVE: 20 MARKS
a) Differentiate between the following types of research
i. Qualitative Vs quantitative research 2 Marks
ii. Basic Vs Applied research 2 Marks
b) Describe the main sections in research proposal 5 Marks
c) Define the term data interpretation 2 Marks
d) In your own view what do you think is the significance of interpreting data?
4 Marks
e) Describe the interview method of data collection as well as the tools used in this
method 5 Marks
