INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPRs) AND AWARENESS ON DIGITAL Research Paper

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPRs) AND AWARENESS ON DIGITAL PROTECTION IN DIGITAL LEARNING - Research Paper Example 25). Under the 1976 U.S. copyright law, the owner of copyrighted materials were given the legal right to control the reproduction of their own works and creation, the display of their digital materials, and the distribution of their professional works and masterpieces (Ulius, 2003, p. 62). Demand for digital learning is increasing. By personally seeking permission from the copyright owner(s) before using their published works and ideas, educators and students should respect the existing law behind digital protection. This study will focus on examining the significance of intellectual property rights (IPR) and public awareness of digital protection on digital learning at Botswana College of Open and Distance Learning (BOCODOL). By incorporating the three approaches including the qualitative (interpretive / subjective), quantitative (objective / realism) and critical (analytical / critical / normative) in the research design, whether or not the students at BOCODOL are prone on violating the intellectual property rights of the writers and digital publishers will be The main purpose of this paper is to examine how the combination of qualitative, quantitative and critical approaches in research methods could strengthen the reliability and accuracy of the research study results. To satisfy the use of the quantitative research approach, the research design for this study will make use of research survey approach. For the qualitative and critical approaches, the significance of research interview and the use of a combine quantitative and qualitative research will be tackled in details respectively. Aside from discussing the statement of the problem and research questions for each of the three major research approaches, the conceptual framework of qualitative, quantitative and critical research methods will be thoroughly examined by going through the in-depth analysis and