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INFO4990 Research Methods Research – Components and Process Bing Bing Zhou http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~info4990/ Lecture based in part on materials by Alan Fekete, Mary Lou Maher, Joseph Davis, Irena Koprinska and others INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 1 Outline Administrative matters Research Definition, key components, process Finding a research question INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 2 Administrativia Course web page: http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~info4990/ 2 hours lectures/workshops, 4-6pm on Mondays Coordinator: Bing Bing Zhou Lectures given by the coordinator and invited lecturers (IT academics, learning centre staff, librarians) Consultation time: Monday 3-4pm INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 3 Administrativia No textbook, on-line resources – check the web page Assignments 1 – search results (15%), w4 2 - literature review and outline of research (45%), w8 3 - presentation (30%) +feedback on other presentations (10%) w12-13 Basser seminar attendance required – max penalty 5% INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 4 Topics Overview Introduction to research – definition, components, process, how to find a research question Literature review how to search for relevant publications Writing a literature review and research proposal Oral presentation skills Research methods in IT (statistical analysis, mathematical analysis, algorithm analysis, simulation, qualitative analysis, ethics, etc.) INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 5 Definition of Research 1) From the Merriam-Webster dictionary: 1: careful or diligent search 2: studious inquiry or examination; especially: investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws 3: the collecting of information about a particular subject 2) Booth, Columb & Williams, “The Craft of Research”: “Research is gathering information that answers a question and so solves a problem.” INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 6 Is This Research? To understand political decisions, a journalist finds out who contributed to election campaign fund To buy a laptop, a student compares various brands, configurations and prices To help companies stay competitive, a market researcher collects and interprets information To fix a computer, a technician finds out what procedure to use INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 7 Academic Research In academic research, you must not only answer a question, Each community has a cumulative tradition with a set of interesting questions, tools and methods, practices, a style and language for writing up the research but you must find something new and interesting and you must advance the collective understanding of the community Research is also a conversation and ongoing social activity! You need critical and careful reading of published research to learn what the community already knows to fit your work into the community to be prepared for your own work to be evaluated INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 8 Key Components of Research A question of interest (research question) A claim (contribution) Evidence Argument (links evidence to claim) INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 9 A Research Question Every piece of research should address a question of interest to the community Each community has traditional questions: What happens? Why does it happen? How should one do something? What something should one do? Many questions fit into an on-going agenda, e.g. Data mining foundations – mining sequential data; highperformance implementations of data mining algorithms, etc. Mining emerging data - e-commerce , web search data, moving object data, data from sensor networks … See a Conference Call for Papers INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 10 A Claim (Contribution) Every piece of research makes a claim (the “contribution”) answering a research question Claims can be very diverse among fields and within fields INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 11 Evidence You must back up the claim with evidence, e.g. A mathematical proof to show that some process/algorithm has desired properties Analysis of the computational complexity of an algorithm Empirical evaluation of a machine learning algorithm to evaluate its accuracy A simulation model which is executed and analysed to show certain properties A prototype implementation to show that a system can be built to achieve the claimed functionality Measurements of a running system to show it has good performance Observations of behaviour in an organisation to show what is happening Various research methods, each defined by the sort of evidence that it can produce each community has its own standards of quality and reasonableness INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 12 Argument You should show that the evidence you offer supports the claim you make It’s essential that you deal with natural or obvious objections to the correctness or importance of the work that is, you must think like your readers, and anticipate their reactions In systems work, this is often called an “evaluation” of the design INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 13 Claim and Argument - Examples This system design leads to better performance on some metric make sure you limit how much worse this makes other metrics (such as cost!) make sure your measurements are fair (don’t compare with “strawman” design but with state-of-the-art) This system design offers better functionality for some uses make sure you show it can be implemented with adequate performance INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 14 Claim and Argument – Examples (2) This behaviour can be explained by this theory make sure you don’t have confounding factors such as level of experience, or method novelty, or subject expectations This is what happens make sure you don’t interfere too much with what happens when you gather data, or misinterpret it due to observer expectations INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 15 Common Mistakes 1 Gather lots of data without a focussed question or method A collection of facts is not a contribution! it must reveal some pattern or understanding that you make explicit INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 16 Common Mistakes 2 Build a system without a focused question or planned evaluation E.g. let’s see how to use aspect-oriented programming in a sensor network An innovative system is not a contribution! it must be a worthwhile innovation in a sense you make explicit E.g. better performance E.g. new functionality INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 17 Negative Results Sometimes, you don’t get the result you hoped for You gather data that does not reveal any pattern or understanding You design a system that turns out to be worse than the stateof-the-art E.g. no factor seems to correlate well with project success E.g. your machine learning algorithm runs slower than expected You can still salvage a thesis Try to find some way to contribute to our understanding, or suggest fruitful directions for further work E.g. what features of the algorithm make it slow Make sure the problem is intrinsic, not just your bad coding/experiment design/etc INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 18 Ground-Breaking Work Very rarely, a piece of research will establish a whole new agenda for a field, or even a new field the contribution can be as much in the possibilities for further work, as in the result itself! In some sense, this is work that asks a new type of question, or introduces a new method We don’t recommend this for Hons/MIT/MSc/MEng save the idea till you have time enough, and flexibility enough to deal with inevitable digressions/difficulties INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 19 Great scholars do not solve problems; they create them. -Albert Einstein INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 20 Idealised Research Process Find a question to seek an answer for Method: Choose an appropriate research method and make flexible plans Evidence: Gather the data, do the experiment, build the prototype etc. Contribution: Analyse, interpret, and conclude Argument: Write the report Importance of “writing” (aided by thinking from the point of view of your readers) INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 21 Actual Research Process Research explores new areas and the results are not predictable! The research plan is iterative Gathering evidence leads to changes to the claim sometimes one refines the claim E.g. limit the scope from “algorithm X outperforms Y” to “algorithm X outperforms Y when the independence assumption is violated” From “X has higher throughput” to “X has higher throughput if the contention rate is low” sometimes one must change the claim entirely sometimes while gathering evidence, one finds new questions which look worth answering! New claims or questions need further evidence, revised plans, maybe even different methods INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 22 Finding a Question Especially when you are learning to do research, it may be already chosen for you by supervisor A question may arise from some previous research Further work, issues not addressed, holes in the evidence collected A question may come from the combination of previous research or supervisor may suggest an area, and leave you to find the question Bring two areas together, use a technique from one area in another A question may arise due to new technology new hardware or technique may require new models, new hardware may influence use or performance or feasibility INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 23 Suitable Research Questions Answerability – can the questions be answered through research? Scale: Consider available resources (equipment, time, skills) Scope: Often start with broad topic space/ bigger question, then narrow in to a specific question INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 24 Tips for Finding Research Questions Read the papers you supervisor gave you Find the top conferences/journals in your field follow the references, check the web pages of the authors read carefully the “Future research” sections write down your ideas!! scan the call for papers and associated workshops for hot topics scan the conference proceedings/journals to identify important topics, key people and research groups. Check their web pages. Find review (survey) articles INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 25 Tips for Finding Research Questions 1. Pick a rough area that interests you and your supervisor 2. Do a literature review on the topic and find 5 problems that interest you. These are easy to find since problems are what the papers are trying to solve. In addition, the conclusions of many papers will indicate open problems. 3. Write them up in a short paragraph with references, as if you were writing a short 2-page dissertation. 4. Take those to your supervisor and discuss them. Out of the 5, you should be able to agree on 1 as your area of research. 5. Now, take this topic and repeat steps 2 to 4 until the topic is sufficiently narrowed. Callahan, 2001 INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 26 Describing Your Research Problem You need several clear, concise and succinct statements of the research problem of different lengths e.g. one minute (elevator) pitch e.g. ten minutes introduction to full seminar Issues you must deal with: Can it be understood by others without too much background? Does it demonstrate a good understanding of the research community? INFO4990 Research Methods, s2 2008 27