BSc Computing and Information Systems Module: M2X8630 Research and Development Methods Introduction to Research Methods

Research Methodologies for Computing There are a lot of methodologies out there Some are better for computing than others A good starting point is the ‘research onion’

Research Philosophy This can be defined as the process implemented to develop the required knowledge and the corresponding nature of the knowledge. It deals with the assumptions about any research problem and how the researcher views the problem. It can be considered as personal issues and no text book or teacher can give the required knowledge on the research philosophy and it’s the nature of the individual researcher and the philosophy chosen depends on the way by which they look in to the world. The research philosophy chosen depends on the view of the researcher and should decide upon the best way that suits the view of the researcher and can be considered as the belief in which the required data should be gathered, analysed and used.

Research Philosophy Your research philosophy, depends on the way that you think about the development of knowledge For instance, the world perspective and practical consideration of a researcher are different. A researcher may focus on product quality processes adopted by manufacturers of supply chain management. Alternatively, a researcher may be concerned with psychological strategies applied by suppliers to lure consumers, in the same supply chain management sector. While the former is concerned on facts, the other one is concerned with feelings Two main research philosophies: Positivism Phenomenology

Alternative terms for the main research paradigms Positivistic Phenomenographical Quantitative Objectivist Scientific Experimentalist Traditionalist Qualitative Subjectivist Humanistic Interpretivist

Task 1 - Research Philosophy Research and evaluate the following philosophies: Positivism Phenomenology Note: Examples of computer projects should be discussed for each philosophy

Positivism Philosophy Positivists believes in the possibility to observe and describe reality from an objective viewpoint To observe the world in some neutral and objective way To discover “general” relationships and “universal” laws, To derive theories To test theses theories Positivism contends there are true answers to questions, which can be found by carefully applying scientific procedures, such as experiments.

Positivism Philosophy You are working with an observable reality. Research can produce laws. Results can be generalised, similar to those produced by natural scientists. You are working objectively, with little or no personal interpretation of the data. You need a structured methodology to gain quantitative data which is replicable and can be analysed using stats. Methods associated with this paradigm include experiments and surveys where quantitative data is the norm. Example Computing Research Project How many people affected by a disaster turn to social media during the warning period of a hurricane? Did the intervention to improve warning messages change the number of users by comparing 2 regional samples?

Phenomenology Philosophy ‘The phenomenological paradigm is concerned with understanding human behaviour. This approach stresses the subjective aspects of human activity by focusing on the meaning, rather than measurement of social phenomena.’ (Collis and Hussey, 2003, p. 53) Reality is socially constructed, based on participants’ perceptions, and needs to be ‘understood’ rather than trying to generate ‘facts’ (Saunders et al, 2007) We all see the world through our own ‘conceptual goggles’, so rather than attempting to find single true answers to our focus questions, we are attempting to build knowledge from event(s) and/or object(s), based upon the world as we see it.

Phenomenology Philosophy You are researching human behaviour. This may be too complex to follow a definite law in the same way as the natural sciences. Generalisability is not of crucial importance, since we are focussing on a particular problem or situation Phenomenology highlights the details of the situation to understand a reality working behind them. Example Computing Research Projects How do people make use of social media during the warning period of a hurricane? Are there ways to improve information access during the warning period of hurricane disasters through social media?

Features of the main research philosophies (paradigms) Positivism Phenomenology Tends to produce quantitative data Uses large samples Concerned with testing theory Data is highly specific & precise The location is artificial Reliability is high Validity is low Generalises from sample to population Tends to produce qualitative data Uses small samples Concerned with generating theory Data is rich and subjective The location is natural Reliability is low Validity is high Generalises from one setting to another Reliability is concerned with the findings of the research. If a research finding can be repeated (replicable), it is reliable. Validity is the extent to which the research findings accurately represent what is really happening in the situation. Research errors can undermine validity. Generalisability refers to the extent to which you can come to conclusions about one thing (often a population) based on information about another (often a sample).

Discovery vs. invention There are two main ways of practicing science: discovery vs. invention Biologists, physicists, chemists, researchers in psychology… are discoverers Computer scientists, researchers in nanotech, researchers in process engineering or in industrial engineering… are inventors

Discovering Understanding the world: what are atoms constituted of, why a disease in inherited, why do people have dreams, etc. Understanding means first asking questions, then observing, inquiring, modeling, evaluating At the end of the research process, one has an answer to the initial question An answer is the most often not definitive. It is an explanation of a small piece of the natural world under some hypotheses

Inventing Software computer science produces inventions Computers do not exist by themselves. They have been created by human beings => there is nothing to discover in a computer or in a software The objective of research in CS is “just” to make computers and computer networks more efficient more easy to use, more reliable, more powerful… i.e. more useable/useful As a consequence, a research result in CS has no (real) intrinsic value. It has only the value that the research community and/or the society gives to it. A useless invention has no value !