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

2. 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’

4. 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.

5. 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

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

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

8. 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.

9. 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?

10. 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.

11. 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?

12. 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).

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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 !