Formative Assessments

Unit 1 - Reflective Activity - Ethics in Computing

Read Stahl et al (2016) and Bott (2018) Chapter 1.

In the Stahl et al (2016) paper, the authors state that “many of the authors involved in researching the ethics of computing remain wedded to their disciplinary traditions and fail to provide actionable advice to relevant stakeholders.”

Consider yourself as a relevant stakeholder, a Computing professional working for a company of your choice. Examine how one or more of the ethical issues mentioned affect your role in the company and what actions you would need to/can take. You should justify your stance by also reviewing any papers included in this study or other relevant literature. Your discussion should also highlight the impact your actions would have on applicable legal, social and professional issues. Please note that there is no right or wrong answer here, this exercise is to help you evaluate the legal, social ethical and professional issues that affect computing professionals in industry.

References

Bott, F. (2014) Professional Issues in Information Technology. London: BCS.

Stahl, B. C, Timmermans, J. & Mittelstadt, B. D. (2016) The Ethics of Computing: A survey of the computing-oriented literature. ACM Computing Surveys 48(5): 1-38. Available from: https://dl-acm-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1145/2871196 [Accessed 31 January 2023].

Response

The response to this reflective activity can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Tutor feedback was also provided and can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Unit 2 - Literature Review Guide Questions

A literature review guidance document was completed to assist with planning the literature review

Response

The literature review guide questions and answers can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Unit 3 - Research Proposal Review

Considering your thoughts on your chosen area of interest for your project:

Which of the methods described in this week's reading would you think would suit your purpose?
Which data collection methods would you consider using?

Response

The response can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Unit 4 - Literature Review Outline

The formative task for this week was to submit a brief outline of the literature review. Formal tutor feedback was also provided.

Response

The literature outline can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Tutor feedback was also provided and can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Unit 5 - Reflective Activity - Case Study: Inappropriate Use of Surveys

In 2018, Cambridge Analytica was in the news in the United Kingdom and the USA (Confessore, 2018) for obtaining and sharing data obtained from millions of Facebook users. They obtained the data through innocuous surveys on Facebook (you may have seen this type of survey and probably participated at times). This is probably the highest profile of surveys used for alternative means and, probably, monetary gains. However, this happens often through various media.

Consider how exactly this happened and why it was used. Find one or two further examples of inappropriate use of surveys and highlight the impact of all these examples from the various ethical, social, legal and professional standpoints that apply.

Response

The response can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Tutor feedback was also provided and can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Unit 6 - Data Collection

Think about which data collection tool will be suitable for your area of investigation (in this module and/or in your Project module). How will you collect it and what analysis would you hope to perform? How will this answer your research question?

Response

The response can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

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Unit 7 - Validity and Generalisability in Research

The formative activity for this Unit was the Collaborative Discussion 2 - Initial Post. This is available under the Collaborate Discussion section i.e. Click here

Unit 8 - Summary Measures & Hypothesis Testing Worksheets

Review the additional notes on Inference and then complete the Summary Measures worksheet and the Hypothesis Testing worksheet in Excel or LibreOffice

You will need to provide your interpretation of the results, based on the questions asked and from your analysis of the data.