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 outcome Research Design instrument, information, target, helmet,

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. INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS What is Research Design? 4

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. INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS What is Research Design? 5

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 What is Research Design? 6

Research Methodology INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Research Methods in Computer Science INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS  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

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 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

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS QualitativeQuantitative Focus of ResearchUnderstand and interpretDescribe, explain, and predict Researcher InvolvementHighLimited, controlled to prevent bias Research PurposeIn-depth understanding Describe or predict, built and test theory Sample DesignNon-probability, purposiveProbability Sample SizeSmallLarge Data Type and Preparation Verbal or pictorial description Reduced to verbal codes Verbal descriptions Reduced to numerical codes for computerized analysis Feedback Turnaround Smaller sample sizes make data collection faster for shorter possible turnaround Insights are developed as the research progresses, shortening data analysis Larger sample sizes lengthen data collection Research DesignLongitudinal, Multi Method Cross-sectional or longitudinal, Single method Data AnalysisNon-quantitative; human Judgment mixed with fact Emphasis on themes Computerized analysis Facts distinguished Emphasis on counts 10

Qualitative Research INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS Focus Groups Observation Data Collection Techniques Data Collection Techniques Case Studies Action Research Grounded Theory Group Interviews -11

Source of Data INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS  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-

Data Capturing Instruments INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS  Hardware – eg. Scanners, digital cameras, digitizers, screenshots.  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

Mix Method INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS Triangulation: Term to describe the combining of several qualitative methods or combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Forward thinkers believe that the methodologies complement each other. Many researchers recognize that qualitative compensates for the weakness of each methods. 14

Criteria for Selecting Methodology in Developing Systems INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 15

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

Prototyping INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 17

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

Object-Oriented Modeling Techniques INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS Major object-oriented modeling techniques include: –Use Case diagrams –Class diagrams –Sequence diagrams –Statechart diagrams 19

Integration of four UML Diagrams INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS 20