UGR 200 Introduction to Applied Research

3 credits

This course teaches undergraduate students across a broad range of academic disciplines to use critical-thinking skills to seek innovative solutions to real-world problems and integrates an industry experiential activity, which may include formal research, applied research, or work-based learning. Students devise a research project and learn components of the scientific method as well as engineering and design research principles. Topics include the research process, literature review and information literacy, hypothesis formation and testing, experimental design, data collection and analysis, communication of findings, and research ethics. Where appropriate, students will collaborate with industry, other departments, and the Innovation Lab at Lake Washington Institute of Technology to incorporate design principles and produce prototypes. Students are encouraged to present research findings in-house at Lake Washington Institute of Technology Research Symposium or at other regional conferences.

Prerequisites: ENGL 099 (or placement into ENGL& 101 or higher) and MATH 098 or MATH 099 (or placement into any course with MATH& as the prefix)

Course Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Describe the purpose of applied research
Identify the various components and methods of the research design process
Complete a literature review on the topic of their proposed research
Identify the need for and social value of their proposed research
Design and present a research proposal
Compare and contrast the classification, strengths, and limitations of various research methods
Identify a research method or methods appropriate to their research topic and available resources according to nature and purpose of study
Apply basic tools and skills used for technical/scientific writing
Prepare a plan for collecting and analyzing data to support their proposal
Apply research ethics

Total Hours: 30 Theory (Lecture) Hours: 30