RESEARCH DESIGN: AN OVERVIEW

INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what your doing” W.E. Deming

“A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.”

H. Stanley Judd quotes

Research Design

Research objective Research Design Research outcome instrument, information, target, helmet,

What is Research Design?

• Master plan • Framework for action (Research Operational Framework) • Specifies methods and procedures • Can be thought of as the structure of the research that describes and holds together all the elements in a research from start to end.

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What is Research Design?

• Is the strategy for a study and the plan by which the strategy is to be carried out.

• Issues relating to purpose of study (exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis testing), its location (setting), type of investigation, time horizon, unit of analysis.

• It specifies the methods and procedures for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.

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What is Research Design?

• Covers many variations, some descriptors: – Exploratory vs formalized – Descriptive vs causal – Cross-sectional vs longitudinal – Field vs laboratory (experimental) vs simulation INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 6

Research Methodology

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Research Methods in Computer Science



implementation driven research.

This approach progresses by iteratively building better and better systems. 

mathematical proof techniques.

This approach uses formal proofs to reason about the validity of a hypothesis given some evidence. For example, mathematical reasoning can be used to demonstrate that an algorithm can cover all possible input cases. 

empiricism.

This approach follows a clearly laid out sequence of steps: hypothesis; methods; results and conclusion. Statistical measures are often use to determine whether an experiment actually supports a hypothesis. 

observational studies.

This approach removes many of the constraints associated with empiricism by analysing the utility of a system in its eventual context of use. For example, the success or failure of a new programming language can only be assessed in this view if real programmers are trained to use the system on a real project. 8 INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Qualitative Research

*An array of interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode, translate in terms of meaning not the frequency.

*Aims to achieve an in-depth understanding of a situation.

Quantitative Research

*Attempts precise measurement of some behavior, knowledge, opinion or attitude.

*Operationalization of variables

Mixed Method Research

* A combination of Qualitative and Quantitative 9 INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Focus of Research Researcher Involvement Research Purpose Sample Design Sample Size Data Type and Preparation Feedback Turnaround Research Design Data Analysis Qualitative

Understand and interpret High In-depth understanding Non-probability, purposive Small Verbal or pictorial description Reduced to verbal codes Smaller sample sizes make data collection faster for shorter possible turnaround Insights are developed as the research progresses, shortening data analysis Longitudinal, Multi Method Non-quantitative; human Judgment mixed with fact Emphasis on themes

Quantitative

Describe, explain, and predict Limited, controlled to prevent bias Describe or predict, built and test theory Probability Large Verbal descriptions Reduced to numerical codes for computerized analysis Larger sample sizes lengthen data collection Cross-sectional or longitudinal, Single method Computerized analysis Facts distinguished Emphasis on counts INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 10

Group Interviews

Qualitative Research

Focus Groups Observation

Data Collection Techniques

Action Research Grounded Theory INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS Case Studies 11

Source of Data  Literature  Data source often mentioned in bibliography  Authors can be contacted to share data  Commercial databases  Companies collect/store/purchase data from literature, experiments, etc. eg ID Alert, MDDR, WDI, CCDC databases  Non-profit organizations, government agencies  Eg. National Cancer Institute (NCI) databases,Chemical Abstract Service, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) scientific and technical databases, hospitals, PERPUN  Benchmark data, standard collection  Eg. Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) test collections, Cranfield Collection  In house data – eg. time table, web logs  Data published on the web, user interest groups  Interviews, surveys, observation, documentations, screenshots 12 INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Data Capturing Instruments

 Hardware screenshots.

– eg. Scanners, digital cameras, digitizers,  Software – eg . transcription software (Transcriber, Express Scribe), Qualitative Data Analysis - QDA software (ATLAS.ti 5, Ethnograph 5.08, QSR Nud*ist 6, QSR NVivo 2, MaxQDA, HyperResearch 2.6 ), digitizing software such as Engauge to convert image file into numbers, descriptor generator such as Molconn-Z, Unity, BCI, Daylight  Questionaires, interview template 13 INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Mix Method

• Triangulation: Term to describe the combining of several qualitative methods or combining qualitative and quantitative methods.

• Forward thinkers believe that methodologies complement each other.

the • Many researchers recognize that qualitative compensates for the weakness of each methods.

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Criteria for Selecting Methodology in Developing Systems

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System Development Life Cycle Waterfall Development-based Methodology INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 16

Prototyping

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Adaptation of the Unified Process Phased Development Methodology: Example of RAD INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 18

Object-Oriented Modeling Techniques

• Major object-oriented modeling techniques include:

– Use Case diagrams – Class diagrams – Sequence diagrams – Statechart diagrams INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 19

Integration of four UML Diagrams INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 20