1. Copyright, 1995-2002 1 Invitation to Research ENGINEERING RESEARCH TECHNIQUES Roger Clarke, Xamax Consultancy, Canberra Visiting Professor, CSIS, Uni of Hong Kong Visiting Fellow, Australian National University http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/......Res /55-Eng.ppt ebs, 16-20 January 2003

2. Copyright, 1995-2002 2 Engineering The Mind-Set / Weltanschauung Can do – Make it work, somehow Theory-Based; but scientific method, and even method, are a constraint, not the driver Possibly architected first, but quite possibly just iterative experimentation If it works, explain / rationalise it later You have to live with the consequences, so build in controls and safety margins

3. Copyright, 1995-2002 3 Engineering Research Techniques A Taxonomy (5) Construction of an Artefact Conception (based on a body of theory) Design / Creation / Prototyping / Demonstration / Proof of Concept Metrication of Artefact Usage Destruction of an Artefact Testing Application

4. Copyright, 1995-2002 4 Artefact Types Hardware (perhaps with embedded software) Systems Software Application Software A Symbolic / Mathematical Model

5. Copyright, 1995-2002 5 Types of Testing and of Test Data In Use In a Real-Life Setting In a Laboratory, but by Users In a Laboratory, by Proxies In an eLaboratory, by Simulation

6. Copyright, 1995-2002 6 Simulation Creation of a model of a real-world system (probably symbolic, possibly iconic) (probably highly selective, and much-simplified) Experimentation with inputs, in order to gain insights into the patterns of behaviour of outputs under various circumstances

7. Copyright, 1995-2002 7 Symbolic / Mathematical Models Analytically Soluble Models Deterministic Mathematical Models Probabilistic / Statistical Models Numerically Soluble Process Models Simulation Based on Real Data Simulation Based on Imagined Data Monte Carlo Simulation: sample from input distributions infer distributions of outputs

8. Copyright, 1995-2002 8 Monte Carlo Simulation