Sample 7113ICT Research for IT Professionals Assignment

7113ICT Research for IT Professionals Assignment Sample

Assignment Requirements

The Research Plan must show a clear connection between the research question and the associated focus/objectives, and the method and techniques of data collection and analysis to be used to achieve those objectives. How well this is done contributes significantly to the coherence of the work and conveys to the reader that the author of the proposal has the competence to execute the research project successfully. The body of the report should be at least 3000 words. Please note that the references, direct quotes and appendices are not included in the word count.

Required Components

• Background to the problem
• Literature review showing the relationship to previous works
• Research question (including the broad research question and the sub-questions)
• Aims and significance of the research
• Research strategy, approach and methodology
• Data gathering and analysis techniques
• Rigor, validity, reliability and ethics
• Research schedule/timeline
• References

• Clarity of the statement of the research problem (including the clarification of the underlying assumptions)

• Clarity of the research question(s) derived from the problem statement

• Rationale for conducting the study (including significance, relevance to theory and practice, relationship to previous research, own contribution)

• Review of literature and theoretical frameworks (relationship to previous research)

B. Well-reasoned and balanced choice of research methods (35%)

• Research strategy and design (including data collection and analysis) well justified given the
underlying assumptions.

• Evaluation of the methodology discussed in the relevant field with respect to the problem domain (e.g. software engineering, information systems, artificial intelligence, computer science, multimedia)

C. General Level of Scholarly Analysis (25%)

• How well the issues covered in the course have been mastered.
• How well the overall plan is developed.
• Evidence of critical reading and evaluation of relevant literature.
• Comprehensive knowledge of issues illustrated by the selection of literature.
• Evidence of explanation and analysis (not description) where appropriate.

D. Communication and Referencing (20%)

• Logical development of argument.
• Clear structure and organisation.
• Fluent writing style.
• Correct spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• At least 3000 words.

Solution

Background To The Problem

In today's marketplace, business analysis is a relatively powerful tool that assists business organizations to reduce the amount of risk which might be the result of different activities and can be short-term or long-term. Moreover, the business analysis also helps in understanding the exact requirements of a business, possibilities of organizational IT systems, development and execution of a business project etc (Žemgulien? and Valukonis, 2018). Therefore, the people who are assigned for performing such critical and in-depth analysis of a business or the business analysts have a major role in enhancing the business performance.

Modern-day business organizations have advanced and powerful IT systems that help in the collection and analysis of business operations-oriented data. But at the same time, they tend to generate enormous volumes of data that sometimes become quite difficult for the business analysts to handle, understand and interpret. Business analysts and the professionals of an IT department within an organization have a very close relationship with one another in terms of their work (Täuscher and Laudien, 2018). Precisely it can be said that their works and operations are inter-related. Therefore, it is mandatory that both professionals must work collectively to achieve the organizational aims and objectives for best assignment help.

The real problem arises when business analysts are incapable of handling the amount of data produced by the IT systems or the IT departments. This can lead to significant problems and in fact, put forward various hindrances that ultimately lead to degraded performance (Palepu et al. 2020). Some of the main hindrances faced by the business analysis in doing their daily business research are because of reasons like over-ambitious and vague business requirements, difficulty in understanding and interpreting the business requirements, generation of an enormous volume of data that are difficult to manage and interpret, allotment of inadequate time for conducting the analysis, etc.

Literature Review

Skills that business consider important for business analysts

Business analysts work with the organisation to help them to bring improvement in their system and process. Analysis and research are conducted to bring solutions to problems that arise in the business to help introduce the system to their clients and business. Indian IT sector and enterprise business analyst has emerged as the main business practice. They refer to understanding the changes that business requires along with evaluating the impact of these changes, facilitating communication and documenting among the stakeholders who are involved and analysing and identifying requirements. They contribute actively to the sustainability and profitability of an organisation. The significant role of business analysts is to guide the organisation to bring improvement in their quality and process of services and products (Pillay, 2018). Business analysts are responsible for making new models that will help in supporting the decision in the business by working closely with information technology teams and financial reporting to implement strategies and initiatives to optimise cost and improve costs. According to Robert, half technology the skills that business analysts should include defining business requirements as well as putting them to shareholders. They should have proper knowledge about reporting, variance analysis, pricing, monitoring and planning, forecasting and budgeting. According to (Shah, 2017) the role of a business analyst is to act as a link or bridge to translate, analyse and interpret between what is typically referred to as the business group in the company and the technology team (Verma et al. 2019). It is also set by them that business analysts perform driving changes and facilitates them to understand the goals and problems of the organisation and should analyse requirements and solutions.

Best place for learning specific skills for business analysts

For learning this specific skill for business analysts, a graduate or bachelor degree is an individual should have adequate knowledge about programming language and should have good negotiation and communication skills. They should create an interactive report with the help of several business intelligence tools. Individuals can have a certification that is offered by international institutes of business analysis which include certified business analysis professionals will be greatly beneficial. A bachelor’s degree is typically needed for most business analyst positions. A Master's degree in BA(business analyst) can also be useful for a more advanced position. But having a bachelor degree is the first and foremost step to become a business analyst as per the United States Bureau of labour. Individuals should have the proper background in psychology or marketing, finance, economics, a business may prove useful. For pursuing a BA position at the management level or any higher-level individual should complete an advanced degree such as masters in business administration program or masters in business analytics. A person can achieve qualification from some other industries such as the project management institute, international institute of business analyst and institute of a management consultant. These courses are offered if the individual has completed their master degree or has a working experience of BA for several years. A person can acquire or learn these skills from work experience with organisations which will help their business analyst skill. They conducted analysis and research to bring solutions to business problems.

Relationship between business analysts and IT professionals of an organization

Business analysts are professionals who analyse an organisation or business by documenting its processes and system, identifying risk, providing solutions and accessing its business model. The role of business analysts can be understood which helps to bring changes in the organisation by identifying the requirements and recommending a proper solution to those requirements for providing value to the shareholders (Ariyarathna and Peter, 2019). In a simple form, it can be said that day is the discipline that helps the company to solve the existing problem by identifying, analysing and solving them. In several organisations, the only solution to deal with issues is by altering the existing process or method or technique that is not workable. This is what BA does- identifying and solving business problems. In the IT or information technology Sector, the BA belongs to the product development team and they are responsible for identifying and analysing the abdomen of the business and documenting its processes and system. They also outline the requirements of the business and match the software that is implemented with the business model (Muntean et al. 2019). The main function of IT business analysts is to analyse and solve the issues using information technology solutions. Their role is the link to a bridge between IT and business. In this role, the business analysts may also communicate with the quality assurance and development team.

Measure that can be taken to mitigate the reason that hinders business analysts from doing accurate daily business research

? Business analysts can face several challenges such as conflict with the stakeholders when a team develops a new approach that is relevant to the present business process (Omar et al. 2019). This conflict can be solved if the team is required to understand the reason for resistance to the new solution. Business analysts should study the requirements and process to prepare a solution. They can prepare a business case document for users which demonstrates the answering users' questions and new solutions.

? The undocumented process can also be a challenge for business analyst from doing accurate daily business research. Business analysts should be familiar with the consequences of lack of documentation on the project or who documented the process and procedure (Pröllochs and Feuerriegel, 2020). For solving this business analyst should identify the decision-maker and key system users. After that, documentation with proper description is made which will demonstrate the difference and processes for users with different responsibilities. Business analysts should concentrate on the requirements of business instead of the position of the users.

? Problems can arise if stakeholders change their requirements and this problem can happen daily. The business analyst should properly understand what is the main reason for this problem (Vidgen et al. 2017). If the reason is some external company alteration in the current process of business it can be solved by accepting the new requirements while postponing the deliverables of the planned project.
Research questions

? Broad Question

What are the primary reasons that hinder business analysts from doing accurate daily business research?

? Sub-questions

1.What are the specific skill sets that business organizations consider important for business analysts?
2.What is the relationship between business analysts and IT professionals of an organization?
3.Does a disconnection exist between what business analysts consider significant and what they know?
4.What are the best places for learning or acquiring the specific skills that business organizations consider important for business analysts?
5.What can be done to reduce or eliminate the reasons that hinder business analysts from doing accurate daily business research?

Research Aims

? To depict the primary reasons that hinder business analysts from doing accurate daily business research.

? To determine the specific skill sets that business organizations consider important for business analysts.

? To understand the relationship between business analysts and IT professionals of an organization.

? To identify the disconnection existing between what business analysts consider significant and what they know.

? To recognize the best places for learning or acquiring the specific skills that business organizations consider important for business analysts.

? To determine the ways or things that can be done for reducing or eliminating the reasons that hinder business analysts from doing accurate daily business research

Significance of the Research

The business analysis finds its importance in identifying and articulating the requirements for changing the working procedures of business organizations. The role of business analysts is imperative for the growth and development of an organization. They help in identifying and defining the solutions for maximizing the value that is delivered by a business organization to its stakeholders (Aithal, 2017). There are several functions of a business analyst such as evaluating the business requirements, developing appropriate documentation, recognizing key areas for improvement, establishing organizational policies and strategic planning. Therefore, it can be easily understood that business analysis along with people who do that i.e business analysts play a crucial role in the overall development of an organization.

Any company could leverage business analysis for achieving its strategic objectives by recognizing and adopting the particular changes suggested by the business analysts. Not only does it help in the enhancement of the overall organizational performance but also helps the organisation to achieve a significant competitive advantage. However, this process is quite complex and difficult to execute in an appropriate manner. This process demands specific skill sets of the business analysts that are important for analysing the business scenarios (Yayici, 2021). Moreover, in modern times almost all business organizations have their personalised and efficient IT department that helps to collect and manage vital business data. This accumulated data is forwarded to the business analysis on the basis of which they commence the remaining procedure. But with the technical advancements at bay, it is obvious that the IT systems produce enormous volumes of data which are sometimes different to manage, handle and processed by the business analysts (Rivera et al. 2018).

The process of business analysis is considered to be a rigorous one and therefore there are certain challenges associated with it. Some of the main challenges faced by business analysts are over-ambitious and vague business requirements, difficulty in understanding and interpreting the business requirements, generation of enormous volumes of data that are difficult to manage and interpret, allotment of inadequate time for conducting the analysis, etc (Gray, 2019). Therefore, this specific research finds its significance in determining the possible reasons that obstruct business analysts from doing accurate daily business research. Moreover, it will also help in depicting the specific skill sets that a business organization demands from their analysts. Furthermore, this research will also help in finding various solutions that will help business analysts in commencing their day-to-day business research in the best possible manner and without any hindrances.

Research strategy, approach and methodology

Research Strategy

The research strategy used for this research is the quantitative survey method which is widely used in various business researches and also enables access to a significantly higher number of survey participants (Understanding different research perspectives, 2021). The research strategy requires the development of a meaningful questionnaire for getting the answers to the various research questions and the questionnaires appeal to the respondents without being too difficult to understand and the quantitative survey method had been beneficial in accurately investigating the relationships between the business analysts and the IT professionals along with the pinpointing various concerns associated to the accurate business research daily.

Research Approach

The research approach selected for this research is the inductive approach which has the objective of generating meaning from the collected data set for identifying the patterns and relationships which are required for answering the research questions as well as highlighting the various dimensions of the central issue (A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative Evaluation Data - David R. Thomas, 2006, 2021). The approach is flexible since it has also provided the researcher with the ability to use the existing theories and previous works in the process of formulating research questions that are to be explored in the research.

Research Design

The descriptive research design is being utilised in this research since it aims at describing the present status office-specific identified variable and the research project is designed for providing structured and systematic information regarding the various problems that are being faced by the business analyst in accurately e undertaking the business research from time to time. The descriptive research design is used since it involves the development of a research hypothesis through the collected data instead of beginning with a hypothesis and the analysis of the collected data through surveys is utilised for developing the hypothesis and getting exploring the various research questions systematically.
Data gathering and analysis techniques

Data Collection

? Survey- The data collection method used in the report is a quantitative survey method which was used for determining the skills that were considered to be the most significant as well as the most essential in the engineering sector (DATA COLLECTION METHODS, 2021). The participants in the survey consisted mostly of various engineering graduates who rated the value as well as the performance of every object which was required for their appropriate professional practice. A pilot survey, which is moreover a mini-survey in which the researcher provides a questionnaire for a comparatively smaller size of sample than the total audience being targeted, was also conducted before the data collection for ensuring the reliability of the instruments of the survey (Blog, 2021). The participants of the pilot survey were six researchers, business analysts, as well as teachers and the input received from them was utilised for enhancing the sample along with identifying some attribute terms or fuzzy abilities.

Data Analysis

The data analysis approach used in the research is the mixed data analysis approach which consists of,

? Primary: The method of data analysis being used as the primary data analysis which is the analysis of the data that is collected for a specific research study and the analysis of the primary data is making sense out of the data that has been collected for answering the various research questions or critically evaluating the research hypothesis (Primary Data Analysis - SAGE Research Methods, 2021). The data collected through the quantitative survey method as well as the pilot survey analysed for understanding the various reasons involved in hindering accurate business research daily for the various business analysts.

? Interpretive case analysis approach: This approach is used by researchers for integrating the data utilizing developing various conceptual categories and supporting or challenging the various assumptions given in the case studies regarding the problems of inaccurate business research. The interpretive case analysis approach will also be beneficial in guiding the research which outlines the various problems and challenges on the way along with helping the researcher in understanding the issue through a broad range of perspective which will help in giving a better outlook towards the research questions.
Rigour, validity, reliability and ethics
The consideration of the various ethical issues is a significant part of this research while forming the evaluation plan and the various ethical considerations for this research are,

? Informed consent: This addresses the fact that the participants of the quantitative survey and pilot survey are made aware of the purpose of the research and how their response will be utilised (Ethical considerations, 2021). Appropriate informed consent has been taken from every candidate of the quantitative survey as well as the pilot survey regarding the use of the response throughout the research for exploring the research questions.

? Confidentiality: Another major ethical consideration is the confidentiality of the information that has been collected from the candidate and the data collected from the quantitative survey as well as the pilot survey for this research are being accessed by only the program coordinator which will be ensuring the identifying and collected information from being excluded from any published documents or report.

? Anonymity: The ethical consideration of anonymity has been considered since the identity of the various participants of the quantitative survey and the pilot survey are unknown to the whole research team. This has been considered necessary for the research since various candidates have insisted on this aspect while using their response during the data analysis for exploring the research questions.

? Voluntary participation: All the candidates of the quantitative survey had voluntarily participated without any external influence or force and the participants are free in withdrawing their participation whenever they want and that will not impact their involvement in future programs.

Reference List