Tutorial 1 Dr. Oscar Lin School of Computing and Information Systems Faculty of Science and Technology Athabasca University January 18, 2011

What Does Research Mean?  The author or authors pose a question or hypothesis, collect data, and try to answer the question or hypothesis.  Qualitative research is a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem.  Quantitative research is a means for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables. These variables, in turn, can be measured, typically on instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures.  Mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry that combines or associates both qualitative and quantitative forms.

1. Work on a Good Problem  Problem Finding  Try to find a problem that will still be a problem in a few years (to prevent you from being scooped).  Find a problem that others would be interested in the solution.  Goal identification  to effectively and systematically state the problem and partially solve it.  Trials  Try all of the existing solutions. Know whether they work and why.  Don't just try to be different for the sake of being different.

A Priority for Selecting Literature Material  1. If you are examining a topic for the first time and unaware of the research on it, start with broad syntheses of the literature such as overviews, summaries of the literature on your topic presented in journal articles or abstract series.  2. turn to journal articles in respected, national journals  3. turn to books related to the topic. Begin with research monographs that summarize the scholarly literature.  4. follow this research by recent conference papers  (from Creswell, 2009, Research Design, 3 rd edition, SAGE)

A Priority for Selecting Literature Material (con’t)  5. if time permits, scan the entries in Dissertation Abstract.  6. The Web also provides helpful materials for a literature review.  East to access and capture  Screen these articles carefully for quality  Be cautious about whether they represent rigorous, thoughtful, and systematic research suitable for use in a literature review. You might check to see if the journal has a refereed editorial board that reviews manuscripts and has published standards for accepting manuscripts in an editorial statement.  (from Creswell, 2009, Research Design, 3 rd edition, SAGE)

Be Strong on Methodology  Hypothesis and Experiment  Design a hypothesis about what would make demonstrable progress. Make it clear.  Design an experiment to critically test the hypothesis.  If the experiment is well designed, you should not have a stake in the success or the failure.  If you can do something better, that is good. If not, then it is even better, as you may be able to generalize why.

2. Timing: Start writing the paper early  You should have all of your results ready, and be able to give a "poster overview" of you paper two months before the submission deadline.  You should have a complete first draft one month before the submission deadline.

3. Preparation: Are You Confident ?  Make sure there is a reason for them to accept it.  There should be demonstrable results that show that it is an improvement over existing proposals or can do something that others can't.  Be very clear about what the result is. After the reviewer reads it, they should be able to explain what the result is and why it is important to publish.  It should be clear what the evidence for your results is.

4. Paper-Writing: Organization and Formatting  Introduction  Motivate before you explain!  Tell a story in plain language not use technical words.  Contribution  Build the foundations needed to explain the contribution, and evaluate the contribution.  Make sure that everything needed to understand your contribution is well defined !!!

4. Paper-Writing: Organization and Formatting (con’t)  Formalism: Introduce only enough formalism that is needed to understand the result. Only introduce formalism if it makes the explanation clearer.  Results: Make the result reproducible. Someone should be able to reproduce what you do, based on your writing.  Review: Stand on the shoulders of giants.  Newton said: "If I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." Build on other's work, and give them credit for what they have done.  Assume the people who have worked on this before are your reviewers. Don't denigrate their work. Give credit where credit is due.  Notation: Don't assume readers will understand your notation. Explain it.

Future and Recommendation  Let people know what the limitations of the results are so that people could use the results properly and improve them when possible.  Critique the findings in a meaningful way.  Recommend people about what can to done in the future to make your paper more valuable, providing:  Connection to your contribution in the research done;  Evidence to support your recommendations. References: