SYSE-812 Human Factors Engineering Semester Project
Overview
For this project you will select an area of research, write a critical review and present it in the class. The
primary purpose of this project is to help you develop an independent critical thinking skill so that you
can read published research reports with a critical and informed eye.
Requirements
This project has three main parts:
(1) selecting an appropriate area of research;
(2) writing a review according to the guidelines described below;
(3) presentation of the study you reviewed.
Selecting an Appropriate Area of Reserch. The topic you select for this project should be
related to the research question or problem that you are exploring in this course. In addition, the articles
you select should be an example of qualitative research that meets the following specifications:
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It should be published in international journals / conference proceedings.
It should be current--published within the past 5-10 years. (However, important studies
that were published more than ten years ago are acceptable.)
Ideally it should use / develop some theoretical models.
Writing the Review. The review of your selected topic should be a concise, thoughtful
discussion of the main features of the study and of important questions that the study might raise for
researchers. Your review should have four main parts:
A brief overview of the study in which you succinctly describe the study and its relationship to
important issues, trends, or questions in the area of HFE you are exploring.
A description of the methodology of the study, including the research question; the subjects,
population, setting, or activity being studied and how they were selected; the methods of data collection
and analysis; and the results. This section should also include discussion of the major assumptions or
theoretical perspective(s) informing the study design.
An evaluation of the study in which you discuss whether the design of the study adequately
addresses the problem or question being addressed by the researcher(s) and in which you identify
aspects of the study that are especially effective or problematic. Your evaluation should be guided by
the following questions:
Do the authors adequately establish the significance of the research question(s)?
Are the methods of data collection and analysis appropriate to the research question(s)?
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Are the conclusions reasonable, given the methods of data collection and analysis?
Are there any significant methodological weaknesses in the area?
Do you see any ethical concerns with these studies?
Keep in mind that the primary goal of your review is not to judge whether the topic was good or
bad but to examine it carefully in order to understand better the complexities of educational research.
Presentation. On the assigned day, you will present your reivew. The purpose of this
presentation is to raise significant questions about your specific article and about research in general.
In other words, you are not simply presenting your review; rather, you are posing questions you
encountered in reviewing your article for your classmates to consider and discuss. You should expect
the presentation to take approximately 15 minutes.
Additional Requirements.
Please note that you will have to submit a clean, readable copy of your critical review on MS
Teams before the due date.
Submission Guidelines
Your written review should be approximately 1500-2500 words. You must cite atleast 10 studies.
Your writing need not be strictly technical or overly formal, but keep in mind that this is an academic
assignment that should follow the general conventions of academic writing. Moreover, your writing
should be clear, accurate, and relatively error-free. All submission will be passed through TURNITIN
for plagiarism check.
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