Research methods for cyber security

This module introduces you to the skills and knowledge that you need to undertake the dissertation project. You’ll study key aspects of research methods and develop a topic for your dissertation project. At the end of this module, you’ll produce a report that describes the project, provide an initial literature review and create a project plan.

Topics covered:

• The breadth of the discipline and cyber security research
• Ethical issues in cyber security
• The literature review
• Qualitative, quantitative and experimental research methods
• Setting your research question and writing your dissertation
• Introductions to statistical analysis, data visualisation and qualitative analysis.

Learning outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, you will be expected to be able to:

• discuss the breadth of cyber security research and select a research topic and consider ethics in the research context
• evaluate and select research methods that can be applied to a research or professional project
• undertake a critical literature review, surveying and evaluating sources, assessing and critiquing research and professional material, and apply referencing and citing in reports
• consider quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques and consider appropriate representation of data and results
• plan a project, identifying and justifying tasks or work packages, deliverables, and considering risks and dependencies.

Assessment:

• Coursework, project description and plan (100%)