1. UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID E.T.S. de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación MIN 201127 de octubre de 2011 Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A comparative study. Javier Royuela del Val Javier Gamarra Cristina Martin Palazuelo

2. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 2 / 10 Outline 1.Introduction 2.Research question 3.Hypotesis 4.Evaluation method 5.Validation 6.Conclusions 7.References

3. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 3 / 10 Introduction PhD Thesis constitutes the final step to become an investigator. Long and difficult process. ICT Thesis have some special characteristics. – Science Engineering--- Investigation Development – Quickly changing. Dynamic. Choosing the topic of interest is one of the most important decisions for a student. Research groups look for talented students and recruit them. Most of PhD theses are elaborated in investigation groups.

4. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 4 / 10 Research Question To what extent do investigation groups influence the PhD student? We will address influences in two major stages of thesis development: – Student introduction to investigation. Choice of field. – Elaboration of the thesis itself. – Future work. Career.

5. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 5 / 10 Hypotesis Research groups largely determine the course of the thesis. – Main topic / Investigation field. – Application. – Methodology. – Some periods in the life of the researcher contribute more to the value of the thesis (teaching period, reseach stays). – Future career is heavily influenced by the closeness of other researchers. Environment and economic constraints can be a factor of influence, too.

6. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 6 / 10 Evaluation method Qualitative evaluation method based on two cases studies (2 theses). – A pattern-based design process for the creation of CSCL macro- scripts computationally represented with IMS LD by Davinia Hernández. – ART neural architectures for pattern recognition and function approximation by Eduardo Gómez. Chosen because the topics/methodology are different, and previous knowledge of Gomezs work. Relationship of doctoring students with their investigation group and environment is analyzed at each thesis stage.

7. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 7 / 10 Both authors worked at GSIC/EMIC before publishing the thesis. – They focused (and continue) their late investigations in educational research. Both authors worked as associate professors in the University of Valladolid (Uva). Hernándezs thesis is highly influenced by her research stay at the Educational Technology Expertise Centre (OTEC). Results

8. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 8 / 10 Results Gomezs and Hernandezs thesis is based on previous work of other GSIC members. Both authors have a lot of cites and references pointing to GSIC work. Future work in influenced by the closeness of other researchers.

9. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 9 / 10 Conclusions Research groups are highly influencial in the thesis and guide future work. Being in a research group acts like a self perpetuating circle. Closeness and friendship with other investigators are key factors.

10. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 10 / 10 Future work Measuring influence (more study cases and quantitative research). Application of theories in Sociology of science. Do research groups constrain creativity?

11. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 11 / 10 References D. Crane, "Social structure in a group of scientists: A test of the" invisible college" hypothesis," Am. Sociol. Rev., pp. 335-352, 1969. P. J. Denning, "Is computer science science?" Commun ACM, vol. 48, pp. 27-31, 2005. U. Eco, Como Se Hace Una Tesis. Gedisa, 1997. G. Dodig-Crnkovic, "Scientific methods in computer science," in Proceedings of the Conference for the Promotion of Research in IT at New Universities and at University Colleges in Sweden, Skövde, Suecia, 2002,. G. Génova, "Is computer science truly scientific? Commun ACM, vol. 53, pp. 37, 2010. E. Gómez, "Arquitecturas neuronales ART para el reconocimiento de patrones y la aproximación de funciones, ETSIT, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, 2000. GSIC-EMIC investigation group. Homepage. http://www.gsic.uva.es, octubre, 2011.http://www.gsic.uva.es D. Hernández-Leo, "A pattern-based design process for the creation of CSCL macro- scripts computationally represented with IMS LD," ETSIT, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, 2007.

12. Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A Comparative Study. MIN 201127/10/2011 12 / 10 References D. Hernández, "Publicaciones por Davinia Hernández, http://daviniahl.wordpress.com/about/, octubre,2011. http://daviniahl.wordpress.com/about/ D. Hernández, "GSIC / EMIC Group and towards my doctoral thesis," http://dspace.ou.nl/bitstream/1820/621/1/davinia@otec_15may06.pdf, 2007. http://dspace.ou.nl/bitstream/1820/621/1/davinia@otec_15may06.pdf K. D. Knorr, R. Mittermeir, G. Aichholzer and G. Waller, "Leadership and group performance: a positive relationship in academic research units," Op.Cit, pp. 95-120, 1979. Varios Autores, "Sociology of scientific knowledge, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_of_scientific_knowledge, October, 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology_of_scientific_knowledge

13. UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID E.T.S. de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación MIN 201127 de octubre de 2011 Life Cycle of PhD Theses. A comparative study. Javier Royuela del Val Javier Gamarra Cristina Martin Palazuelo