Phase 2 Exam Drill: Methodologies & Literature Review
90 Exam-Style Questions covering Modules 3 & 4 (Research vs Software Methodologies, Dec 2024 Exam Q4 & Q5, SLR, PRISMA framework, IMRaD limitations, and Harvard citations). Click "View Model Answer" to reveal the exact marking criteria.
Part 1: Foundational Questions (Questions 1 - 30)
P2-Q01Easy
Define Research Methodology.
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: The overarching strategy and logical sequence governing data collection, empirical testing, hypothesis evaluation, and validation of new knowledge.
P2-Q02Easy
Define Software Development Methodology.
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: The engineering framework governing how software code, system components, and modules are specified, built, tested, and maintained (e.g. Iterative Prototyping, Agile).
P2-Q03Easy
What is Applied Research in CS?
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: Research designed to solve a specific, practical problem in a real-world environment rather than developing purely theoretical knowledge.
P2-Q04Easy
Define Mixed Methods Research.
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: A study design that explicitly integrates both quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (textual/contextual) data collection and analysis.
NUST Model Answer [4 Marks]: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
P2-Q07Easy
State NUST's recency rule for literature references.
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: References must be published within the last 5 years unless citing seminal historical foundational works.
P2-Q08Easy
What is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR)?
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: A rigorous, reproducible literature review that uses predefined search strategies and criteria to map all relevant studies on a topic.
P2-Q09Easy
Explain the primary goal of Iterative Prototyping.
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: Building software/hardware artifacts in small incremental phases to allow continuous testing and refining of requirements.
P2-Q10Easy
What is a Literature Gap?
NUST Model Answer [3 Marks]: An un-addressed question, missing empirical metric, or unresolved problem in existing published academic research.
P2-Q11Easy
What citation style is required in SCS2110 reports?
Model Answer [2 Marks]: Harvard Referencing Style.
P2-Q12Easy
What is the PRISMA Identification stage?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Searching digital databases using search strings to retrieve initial records.
P2-Q13Easy
What is the PRISMA Screening stage?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Filtering titles and abstracts after removing duplicate entries.
P2-Q14Easy
What is the PRISMA Eligibility stage?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Assessing full-text articles for quality and methodological relevance.
P2-Q15Easy
What is the PRISMA Included stage?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Final set of articles selected for synthesis in the review.
P2-Q16Easy
State two digital databases used in CS SLR.
Model Answer [2 Marks]: IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library (or SpringerLink).
P2-Q17Easy
What is an Explanatory Sequential design?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Quantitative phase first → Qualitative phase follows to explain results.
P2-Q18Easy
What is an Exploratory Sequential design?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Qualitative phase first → Quantitative phase follows to test findings.
P2-Q19Easy
What is a Convergent Parallel design?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Quantitative and Qualitative data collected simultaneously and merged.
P2-Q20Easy
What is synthesizing vs summarizing in lit review?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Summarizing: Listing papers individually. Synthesizing: Combining findings under common themes to show gaps.
P2-Q21Easy
State one limitation of Waterfall software methodology.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Rigid linear progression prevents changes once software implementation begins.
P2-Q22Easy
What is agile software development?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: An iterative engineering framework focusing on small sprints, continuous feedback, and rapid software delivery.
P2-Q23Easy
Why are bare URLs invalid in Harvard references?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: They lack author, year, title, and access date attributes required for academic verifiability.
P2-Q24Easy
What is the "Methods" section in IMRaD supposed to contain?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Details of study design, materials, tools, and experimental steps.
P2-Q25Easy
What is the "Discussion" section in IMRaD supposed to contain?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Interpretation of results, comparison with past literature, limitations, and implications.
P2-Q26Easy
Define Exclusion Criteria in SLR.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Explicit rules specifying which studies must be rejected (e.g. non-English papers, papers older than 5 years).
P2-Q27Easy
Define Inclusion Criteria in SLR.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Explicit rules specifying which studies qualify for analysis (e.g. peer-reviewed, empirical benchmarks included).
P2-Q28Easy
What is a Meta-Analysis?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: A statistical synthesis combining numerical results from multiple independent studies.
P2-Q29Easy
Why must in-text citations match the reference list?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: To allow readers to locate the full bibliographic entry for every cited statement instantly.
P2-Q30Easy
State one advantage of Mixed Methods research.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Provides a more complete understanding by combining numerical power with human context.
Part 2: Medium / Applied Questions (Questions 31 - 60)
P2-Q31Medium
DEC 2024 EXAM Q4 DRILL: Provide a CS example distinguishing Research Methodology from Software Methodology for a Biometric Exam Auth project. [10 Marks]
NUST Model Answer [10 Marks]: Research Methodology: Applied Experimental Research—testing whether dual NFC + fingerprint scans reduce impersonation fraud while keeping scan latency under 3.5s. Software Development Methodology: Iterative Prototyping—building the NFC reader module first, then adding the fingerprint SDK and local SQLite database across 3 test iterations.
P2-Q32Medium
Explain why IMRaD fails to accommodate System Design diagrams (Context, ERD, Use Cases).
Model Answer [4 Marks]: IMRaD lacks a dedicated section for system engineering artifacts, forcing complex diagrams into generic Methods or Results sections.
P2-Q33Medium
How does an SLR prevent researcher selection bias?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: By enforcing predefined search strings, explicit inclusion/exclusion criteria, and PRISMA flow reporting.
P2-Q34Medium
Audit this reference: Smith, J. (2018). AI Security. Journal of Tech, 12(4). What is missing for Harvard style?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Missing page numbers (e.g. pp. 45-58) and journal title italicization.
P2-Q35Medium
When is an Exploratory Sequential design preferred over Explanatory?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: When researching a novel area where variables are unknown and must be discovered via qualitative interviews before designing quantitative surveys.
P2-Q36Medium
Why is Agile suitable for building a research software prototype?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Allows rapid iteration and adjustments to hardware driver integration based on empirical test feedback.
P2-Q37Medium
Explain the role of boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) in the PRISMA Identification stage.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Combines key search terms to broaden or narrow database query precision (e.g. ("biometrics" OR "NFC") AND "examination").
P2-Q38Medium
Why are papers published in 2012 generally unacceptable in a 2026 CS report?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Violates NUST's 5-year recency rule; CS technology evolves rapidly, making older tech benchmarks obsolete.
P2-Q39Medium
How does a Convergent Parallel design validate data?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: By cross-checking if quantitative metrics (latency) and qualitative feedback (user frustration) point to the same system flaw.
P2-Q40Medium
What is the main danger of a narrative literature review vs SLR?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Narrative reviews lack systematic search rules, allowing the author to cherry-pick papers that support their personal bias.
P2-Q41Medium
Why must a software methodology be explicitly justified in Chapter 3?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: To prove to the examiner why that engineering process fits the hardware/software integration requirements.
P2-Q42Medium
What is a snowball literature search?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Using reference lists of key papers to find additional relevant studies.
P2-Q43Medium
Explain the role of quality assessment criteria in PRISMA Eligibility.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Scoring full-text papers on methodological rigor before deciding to include them in the final review.
P2-Q44Medium
Why does IMRaD struggle with iterative software development reporting?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Because iterative prototyping mixes methods and results repeatedly across design cycles, clashing with IMRaD's linear structure.
P2-Q45Medium
Audit: Moyo (2025) states P2P networks are unsafe. Is this in-text citation correct in Harvard?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Yes—Author surname followed by publication year in parentheses.
P2-Q46Medium
Audit: (Moyo & Ncube 2024). What is missing?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: A comma between authors and year: (Moyo & Ncube, 2024).
P2-Q47Medium
What is the purpose of deduplication in PRISMA Screening?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Removing identical papers retrieved across multiple databases (e.g. IEEE and ACM).
P2-Q48Medium
Why is pure Qualitative research rare in CS core engineering?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Because core CS systems require empirical performance metrics (speed, throughput, complexity) to prove technical efficacy.
P2-Q49Medium
Explain the concept of theoretical saturation in qualitative literature reviews.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: The point where adding more literature yields no new conceptual insights or themes.
P2-Q50Medium
How does an SLR support Chapter 1's Problem Statement?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: It provides cited, empirical evidence proving that existing literature has not solved the targeted gap.
P2-Q51Medium
State two reasons to use Iterative Prototyping for hardware integration.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: 1. Early hardware driver testing, 2. Progressive integration of sensors.
P2-Q52Medium
Why are secondary sources (blogs, Wikipedia) unacceptable as primary literature references?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: They lack peer-reviewed academic vetting and methodological rigor.
P2-Q53Medium
Distinguish between a Research Monomethod and Mixed Methods.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Monomethod uses only quantitative or only qualitative data; Mixed Methods combines both.
P2-Q54Medium
What is the PRISMA flow diagram's primary value to an examiner?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: It visually proves transparent, reproducible article selection without arbitrary exclusion.
P2-Q55Medium
Why is "et al." used in in-text citations?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Abbreviating in-text citations for papers with 3 or more authors (e.g. Williams et al., 2025).
P2-Q56Medium
Explain the role of software development methodology in managing code deliverables.
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Organizing sprints, user stories, refactoring, and prototype builds.
P2-Q57Medium
What is grey literature in CS?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Technical whitepapers, industry standards (RFCs, W3C), and government reports not published in peer-reviewed journals.
P2-Q58Medium
Why must grey literature be used sparingly?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Because it lacks formal peer-review verification.
P2-Q59Medium
Scenario: An SLR yields 0 papers on a precise topic. What does this mean?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Presents strong evidence of a novel research gap, justifying the proposed study.
P2-Q60Medium
What is the danger of broadening search strings too much in PRISMA?
Model Answer [3 Marks]: Retrieves thousands of irrelevant records, overwhelming the screening process.
Part 3: Hard / Defense & Synthesis Questions (Questions 61 - 80)
P2-Q61Hard
DEC 2024 EXAM Q5 DEFENSE DRILL: "Mixed methods have gained popularity over qualitative and quantitative monomethods because of their structure." Defend this claim with 3 structural arguments. [15 Marks]
NUST Model Answer [15 Marks]: 1. Complementary Data Structures: Quantitative metrics provide statistical generalizability (what happened); qualitative context explains human causality (why it happened). 2. Structural Designs: Sequential (Explanatory/Exploratory) and Convergent Parallel frameworks allow researchers to systematically chain or cross-validate numerical and textual data. 3. Triangulation & Error Reduction: Mitigates single-method bias, strengthening both internal validity and practical relevance in complex CS systems.
P2-Q62Hard
Synthesize why a student report containing ONLY a software development methodology (e.g. Scrum) will fail SCS2110 examination.
Model Answer [10 Marks]: Scrum manages code backlog delivery; it fails to define experimental variables, empirical data collection instruments, sampling strategies, hypothesis evaluation, or scientific validation.
P2-Q63Hard
Critique the IMRaD format for presenting complex multi-tier CS hardware/software architectures.
Model Answer [5 Marks]: IMRaD forces architecture design into Methods or Results, failing to provide a dedicated Analysis & Design chapter for system modeling artifacts.
P2-Q64Hard
Defend the enforcement of NUST's < 5 years recency rule in fast-moving fields like AI security.
Model Answer [5 Marks]: Older benchmarks (e.g. pre-2021 LLM or encryption baselines) are obsolete, risking research built on outdated technical assumptions.
P2-Q65Hard
Explain how a PRISMA diagram proves methodological quality during examination defense.
Model Answer [5 Marks]: Demonstrates an audit trail from initial database search down to included papers, proving no key literature was arbitrarily ignored.
P2-Q66Hard
Contrast Explanatory Sequential and Convergent Parallel designs in evaluating mobile biometric UI usability.
Model Answer [5 Marks]: Explanatory measures scan latency first, then interviews users with high latency. Convergent collects latency and user stress ratings concurrently during live scans.
P2-Q67Hard
Critique a literature review structured as an annotated bibliography.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Annotated bibliographies summarize papers individually without synthesizing themes or revealing knowledge gaps across studies.
P2-Q68Hard
Why is Iterative Prototyping superior to Waterfall for CS research artifacts?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Allows ongoing modifications to code/hardware based on empirical test results, whereas Waterfall locks requirements prematurely.
P2-Q69Hard
Explain how synthesis in Chapter 2 directly informs the Methodology in Chapter 3.
Model Answer [5 Marks]: Literature synthesis identifies standard test suites, baselines, and evaluation metrics that must be adopted in Chapter 3.
P2-Q70Hard
Evaluate the risk of using un-indexed open-source repos as core literature references.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Repos can be deleted or altered anytime and lack peer-reviewed validation of claim correctness.
P2-Q71Hard
Differentiate between Research Design and Research Method.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Design: The overall architectural plan (e.g. Mixed Methods Explanatory). Method: Specific data collection techniques (e.g. benchmark scripts, interviews).
P2-Q72Hard
Why must inclusion/exclusion criteria be set BEFORE running SLR database searches?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: To prevent retrofitting criteria to selectively include or exclude specific papers after seeing search results.
P2-Q73Hard
Explain how a literature review section establishes theoretical significance.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: By mapping the proposed research onto established theories and demonstrating how it extends current knowledge.
P2-Q74Hard
Critique a study that uses only 3 references in Chapter 2.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Fails academic standards—insufficient evidence to prove comprehensive domain awareness or justify a true research gap.
P2-Q75Hard
Synthesize how Harvard citation formatting reflects scholarly discipline.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Standardized formatting ensures transparent attribution, prevents plagiarism, and allows easy source verification by examiners.
P2-Q76Hard
Why is single-factor benchmarking insufficient for complex network systems?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Ignores multi-variable interactions (e.g. CPU load, packet size, memory allocation) that affect real-world performance.
P2-Q77Hard
Differentiate between Systematic Review and Scoping Review.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Systematic: Answers precise research questions. Scoping: Broadly maps the volume and nature of research on an emerging topic.
P2-Q78Hard
How does an examiner spot a fake literature review?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Outdated references, uncited general assertions, hallucinated titles, and lack of synthesis across sources.
P2-Q79Hard
Why does Agile Scrum lack an empirical validation phase?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Scrum validates sprint acceptance criteria (working code), not statistical research hypotheses.
P2-Q80Hard
Evaluate the impact of using 10-year-old references in CS security papers.
Model Answer [4 Marks]: Fails NUST recency rules; security vulnerabilities and encryption baselines from 2016 are obsolete.
TRICK: A student states in Chapter 3: "Our research methodology is Agile Scrum." What mark will the examiner give this section and why?
NUST Model Answer [5 Marks]: ZERO / FAILING MARK! Agile Scrum is a Software Development Methodology for managing software engineering tasks. It is NOT a Research Methodology. The student must specify an empirical research design (e.g. Applied Experimental Research).
P2-Q82EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Are foundational papers like Dijkstra (1968) rejected under NUST's < 5 years recency rule?
Model Answer [5 Marks]: NO! Seminal foundational works (groundbreaking classic papers) are exempt from the 5-year rule, provided modern literature (< 5 yrs) forms the majority of references.
P2-Q83EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Can a literature review section consist entirely of quotes from other papers?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: NO! Direct quoting should be minimal (< 5%). Literature review requires original synthesis and critical analysis in the researcher's own words.
P2-Q84EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Does PRISMA require reporting the exact number of excluded full-text articles and reasons for exclusion?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: YES! The Eligibility stage explicitly mandates recording exact numbers and exclusion reasons (e.g. lack of empirical metrics).
P2-Q85EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Is IMRaD a mandatory format for NUST CS Final Year Project Reports?
Model Answer [5 Marks]: NO! NUST CS reports follow a 5-Chapter structure (Ch 1: Intro, Ch 2: Lit Review, Ch 3: Methodology, Ch 4: Analysis & Design, Ch 5: Implementation & Testing) to accommodate system design artifacts.
P2-Q86EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Can a Mixed Methods study report quantitative and qualitative data in complete isolation without merging them?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: NO! That is two parallel monomethods. True Mixed Methods mandates explicit integration/triangulation of both data streams during interpretation.
P2-Q87EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: What is wrong with citing: (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/12345)?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: It is a bare URL. In-text citations must use Author & Year: (Author, Year). The URL belongs in the Reference List.
P2-Q88EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Can a Software Development Methodology replace a Research Methodology in Chapter 3?
Model Answer [5 Marks]: NO! Both must be present in Chapter 3—Research Methodology to govern scientific testing, and Software Methodology to govern code artifact construction.
P2-Q89EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: Is Google Scholar sufficient as the sole search database in a PRISMA SLR?
Model Answer [4 Marks]: NO! SLR guidelines mandate searching multiple indexed databases (e.g. IEEE Xplore, ACM, Springer) to prevent index bias.
P2-Q90EXAMINER TRICK
TRICK: What is the most common reason NUST examiners reject a literature review chapter?
Model Answer [5 Marks]: It reads like a textbook summary of concepts rather than a critical synthesis of empirical research papers revealing a clear knowledge gap.