Your initial research idea and your current research idea. If there are changes, tell us how they are different and why. What led you to change your focus?
I initially thought I would do a research study showing the factors that make a successful website. I later realized this was probably not a good fit due to the long duration of time as well as the wide variety of treatments that would be required to perform the study. Additionally, due to the ever-changing landscape of search engine optimization, any previous research I would find would likely be outdated.
Instead I opted to pursue a topic that is more relevant to my major (cybersecurity) and is also very timely (cybersecurity risks as they relate to work-from-home employees). Additionally, I think the scope of the research is more accessible.
What do you want to find out in your research area?
I want to determine the most common and most impactful risks that have become apparent since the start of the pandemic due to the larger numbers of work-from-home employees. The new work environment has brought to light new and/or more prevalent risks. I would like to know the following:
1. What are the most common cybersecurity risks that accompany work from home employees?
2. What measures should be taken by employers and by employees to reduce those risks?
Have you already found research related to your idea? If so, what is that research?
Yes, I’ve discovered some recent research on this topic. One such item, HP Wolf Security’s Rebellions & Rejections Report, takes it’s title from the contention that “security teams have been left feeling rejected by rebellious employees who resent new restrictions being placed on them” (HP Wolf Security, 2021) due to the need to implement security measures upon remote workers.
Peruse Forsyth Library Databases and/or our library guide to identify at least three databases you could use to begin your search for related research.
The Computer Source database looks like a good candidate due to it’s large number of results for one of my main terms (“work from home”) and the recent results it returns. A second source will be Faulkner’s Advisory for IT Studies. It returns high-quality results including full-text articles, which will be useful. Lastly, a likely resource looks to be the Gale Onefile Computer Science Collection database, due to its focus on my subject area.
References
HP Wolf Security. (2021, September 9). Rebellions & Rejections Report. HP Wolf Security. Retrieved from https://threatresearch.ext.hp.com/hp-wolf-security-rebellions-and-rejections-report/.
Your new topic on security risks for work from home is very relevant with the current situation. The pandemic not sent employees home for safety concerns, but also made many companies realize that WFH is feasible and lowers operational costs. Many of my coworkers will be working from home indefinitely. There are so many factors to security when employees are working from home. A couple things that came to mind for me are the employees Wifi security and VPN use. This topic will be very interesting and I suspect will continue to evolve as so many employees continue to work from home.
I always advise undergraduates to limit their studies to only one dependent variable. It gives you a lot less to figure out and discuss. So, website usability or search optimization are topics that would work fine in this class. However, your new topic can also work just as well.