ระเบียบวิธีวิจัย เริ่มต้นวิจัย (Getting Started) ดร. ลัดดา ปรีชาวีรกุล ภาควิชาวิทยาการคอมพิวเตอร์ คณะ วิทยาศาสตร์

2 Choosing a Topic ( การเลือกหัวข้อ ปัญหา )  Twelve issues to bear in mind when choosing a research topic 1.How much choice you have. 2.Your motivation. 3.Regulations and expectations. 4.Your subject or field of study. 5.Previous examples of research projects. 6.The size of your topic. 7.The time you have available Research Methodology in Computer Science

3 Choosing a Topic ( การเลือกหัวข้อ ปัญหา )  Twelve issues to bear in mind when choosing a research topic 8. The cost of research. 9. The resources you have available. 10. Your need for support. 11. Access issues. 12. Methods for researching Research Methodology in Computer Science

4 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  Regulations and expectations Be provided with a copy of the relevant rules and regulations. If you don’t follow the regulations – and produce a dissertation or thesis which is too long or too short, in the wrong format or inappropriately written – you are laying yourself open to problems Research Methodology in Computer Science

5 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  Your subject or field of study You should check on all of these by: Talking to your supervisor, their colleagues or other researchers in the area Looking at other examples of recent research projects carried out in your subject area Looking at the research literature for you subject area (books, journals and reports) Research Methodology in Computer Science

6 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  Previous examples of research projects Find them in the libraries, ask your supervisor, colleagues or fellow researchers for help. If you can get hold of some previous examples, don’t turn down the chance to do so and learn them. This learning will not be so much about the particular subject you are going to research, but about what a completed piece of research looks like, the way it is put together, its scope and its limitations Research Methodology in Computer Science

7 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  The size of your topic Not too big, not too small, but doable within the time, space and resources available.  Exercise: Space and time Answer the following questions: 1.How many words or pages are you allowed or expected to write up your research in? 2.How much time (in years, months or weeks) do you have available in which to carry out and write up your research> Research Methodology in Computer Science

8 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  The time you have available The limitations on your time highlight the importance of planning ahead, scheduling and piloting your work.  The cost of research: Fee for degree registration or examination. Travel costs to and from your university or college, and/or your research sites. The costs of consumables such as paper, tapes and batteries. Charges for access to certain institution or individuals. Equipment purchase or hire costs Book, report and journal purchases. Photocopying, printing and publication costs. Postage and telephone costs. Library fines! Research Methodology in Computer Science

9 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  The resources you have available: Exercise: Resources for research - List the resources you have access to and those you believe you will need to have access to in order to carry out your research project. - Interpret the idea of ‘resources’ as widely as possible, to include not just material and financial resources, but also people and skills Research Methodology in Computer Science

10 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  Your need for support Personal and emotional support, rather than the academic kind. What support your may need? Exercise: Seeking support Answer the following questions: 1.Who can you ‘earbash’ about your research? 2.Who will ask you ‘How’s is going?’ 3.Who will make you cups of tea? 4.Who will give you permission not to do things? Research Methodology in Computer Science

11 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  Methods for researching: a key part of research, so you need to understand something of the alternatives available to you, and their strengths and weaknesses.  Example: If you like to talking to people, you might be advised to make use of interview methods If you don’t like talking to people, you might think about undertaking library or archive-based research. If you like carrying out statistical or multivariate analyses, you might consider a more quantitative methodology Research Methodology in Computer Science

12 Choosing a Topic (cont’d)  Ten ways to think of a research topic 1.Ask your supervisor, manager, friends, colleagues, customers, clients or mother. 2.Look at previous research work. 3.Develop some of your previous research, or your practice at work. 4.Relate it to your other interests. 5.Think of a title Research Methodology in Computer Science

13 What to do if you can’t think of a topic?  Ten ways to think of a research topic 6.Start from a quote that engages you. 7.Follow your hunches. 8.Draw yourself a picture or a diagram. 9.Just start anywhere. 10.But be prepared to change direction Research Methodology in Computer Science

14 Focusing  Six research-focusing techniques Identifying your research questions or hypotheses. Defining the key concepts, issues and contexts. Using the doughnut and jam roly-poly models of research. Sketching a research outline or proposal. Trying it out on a non-specialist: explaining your topic in simple language. Informal piloting Research Methodology in Computer Science

15 Research-focusing Techniques  Identifying your research questions or hypotheses How Who What When Why Which of these questions is the most important or central to your research? Research Methodology in Computer Science

16 Research-focusing Techniques (cont’d)  Defining the key concepts, issues and contexts Concepts : words which label ideas that are of key importance to us. Issues: broad questions which underlie and direct disciplines, sub-disciplines or subject area, as well as public affairs  Example: relationship between … and …, the effects of … Contexts: comprise the background of existing research, knowledge and understanding which inform new or ongoing research projects Research Methodology in Computer Science

17 Research-focusing Techniques (cont’d)  Using the doughnut and jam roly-poly models of research The doughnut provides a static image, a beginning or end point, and does not convey much about the process of research. The jam roly-poly expresses the continual interleaving of context and specifics, as well as the multiple possibilities for interconnections between them Research Methodology in Computer Science

18 Research-focusing Techniques (cont’d)  Sketching a research outline or proposal.  Trying it out on a non-specialist: explaining your topic in simple language.  Informal piloting. Example: interviews, questionnaires, or go and observe some organizational activities Research Methodology in Computer Science

19 Finding and choosing your supervisor  What is supervisor? The person who has personal responsibility for overseeing the progress of individual students’ research projects.  What to look for in your supervisor? You may, in fact, have little or no choice in who is your supervisor.  What do you want from your supervisor? Research Methodology in Computer Science

20 Finding and choosing your supervisor (cont’d)  Students’ and supervisors’ expectations Students expect their supervisors:  To supervise them  To read their work well in advance  To be available when needed  To be friendly, open and supportive  To be constructively critical  To have a good knowledge of their research area  To structure tutorials so that it is relatively easy to exchange ideas Research Methodology in Computer Science

21 Finding and choosing your supervisor (cont’d) Students expect their supervisors:  To have sufficient interest in their research to put more information in the path of researchers  To be sufficiently involved to their success to help them get a good job at the end of it all Research Methodology in Computer Science

22 Finding and choosing your supervisor (cont’d) Supervisors expect their students  To be independent  To produce written work that is not just a first draft  To have regular meetings  To be honest when reporting upon their progress  To follow the advice that they give, when it has been given at their request  To be excited about their work, able to surprise them and fun to be with Source: Phillips and Pugh (1994, Chapters 8 and 11) Research Methodology in Computer Science

23 Working with your supervisor  The most important thing is frequent interaction Meet often Document your progress (in writing) Have short and long-term milestones Research Methodology in Computer Science

24 Individual and Group Research  Group research: Enables you to share responsibility Lets you specialize in those aspects of the work to which you are best suited Provides your with useful experience of team working Allows you to take on larger-scale topics than you could otherwise manage Provides you with a ready-made support network May be essential for certain kinds of research Research Methodology in Computer Science

25 Individual and Group Research (cont’d)  Individual research: Gives you sold ownership of the research Means that your are wholly responsible for its progress and success May result in a more focused project Is of an overall quality determined by you alone Means that you have to carry out all elements of the research process Research Methodology in Computer Science