Chapter 3: Formalities, psychology, ethics and philosophy Introduction 3.1 Some formalities 3.2 Some psychology 3.3 Ethics 3.4 Some philosophy 3.5 Conclusion 3.6 Problems

Introduction Formal requirements of institution Select a topic that suits your personality Select a project that can be completed in ethical manner Research is straight forward

3.1 Some formalities For M: Show that you know how to do research Ability to go through the motions is more important than obtaining stunning results For Ph.D: Should obtain results that are significant contribution to the body of knowledge in the field Ability to publish in refereed journals indicates that your results are accepted by other academics

3.2 Some psychology Selecting a topic Selecting a supervisor Myths Perceived importance, availability of bursaries, cost, availability of study leader Must be interesting for you Read articles, talk to others before making a decision Selecting a supervisor Personality, experience, amount of prodding and pushing s/he is willing to give Myths Postgraduate studies will not make you rich, are not difficult, are not easy, don’t prove that you are clever Motivation Research is done at your own pace, unlike coursework with assignments, due dates and exams.

3.3 Ethics Experimenting should not put people’s lives/health/job security at stake risk large financial loses

3.4 Some philosophy Research in IT differs from other scientific research Others try to understand nature; they observe reality The research subject Not the study of computers, but the study of computing IT research endeavours to realise theories to guide construction of automated systems A paradigm is an accepted model or pattern that proved able to guide research. The research process Similar to the completion of a building Fitting each brick in the building

Workshop Google the following and evaluate the ethical merit of the projects: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study Stanley Milgram’s experiment on Obedience and Individual Responsibility The Willowbrook Hepatitis Study Laud Humphrey’s Tearoom Study The Stanford Prison experiment The experiments that Nazi doctors conducted on prisoners in death camps What was Dr. Werner Bezwoda accused of doing? How did the research community, his employer and the scientific literature react? Discuss the possible ethical mistakes that you can make in the research project that you identified in workshop 1.