1. CMPT 880/890 Research Process: The Five Questions

2. Outline Ways of doing research Problem-based research The five questions What’s the problem? Why should I pay you to solve that problem? What’s the solution? What are the steps from here to the solution? How do you know your solution is a good solution for the problem?

3. Ways of doing research Invent something and tell people about it “I have created a carrot that tastes like ginger ale” Observe the world and write up your observations “I have discovered a new species of elephant” Work on a topic out of a book “I have solved Fermat’s Last Theorem” Compare things “The Subaru has more leg room than the Honda”

4. Problem-based research In many areas of computer science, our research is about solving problems Problems of the real world E.g., “it is too time-consuming to learn a foreign language” Problems defined by the research community E.g., “there is no known constant-time algorithm for XYZ” (implicit: “…which makes it too time-consuming to …”)

5. Problem-based research: The Five Questions 1. Problem: What’s the problem? 2. Motivation: Who cares? 3. Solution: What’s the solution? 4. Steps to the solution: How do we get to the solution? 5. Evaluation: How do we know the solution is good?

6. The Problem What counts as a problem? “People can’t do X” Subjects: People, subgroup of people, machines, algorithms, processes Problem words: can’t, has difficulty ing, can’t Activity / state words: depends on the domain

7. Problems (?) “I am terrible at Mario Kart” “Nobody knows whether the Loch Ness monster exists” “Android is not as smooth as iPhone” “It’s too hard to learn Icelandic” “We don’t know whether Fermat’s Last Theorem is true” “Frequency caches are better than recency caches” “Mobile technology distracts drivers” “It takes three hours to play League of Legends”

8. The Motivation Who cares? Why should I pay you to solve this problem? What benefit will there be in solving this problem? What things do people care about? Why do people to want to solve problems?

9. The Motivation Who cares? Why should I pay you to solve this problem? What benefit will there be in solving this problem? What things do people care about? Why do people to want to solve problems? Money Happiness Safety Justice

10. What’s the motivation? “I’m terrible at Mario Kart” “iPhones aren’t very customizable” “Activists have their online activity tracked” “People stop paying attention to the world around them when they are talking on a cellphone” “People have difficulty learning Icelandic” “People get RSI from using a mouse for long periods”

11. The Solution If you have stated the problem clearly, the solution should be easy to state Problem: I am terrible at Mario Kart Solution: Make it so that !(I am terrible at Mario Kart) Real solution is in figuring out why the problem exists The hook Goal is to discover a general principle Some knowledge we didn’t know before

12. The Solution Problem: I am terrible at Mario Kart because I always oversteer with the game controller Solution: Make it so that !(oversteer with controller) Problem: some people oversteer with controllers because the controller joystick is too sensitive for their movements Solution: Make it so that !(too sensitive) Principle: input sensitivity should match capability

13. What’s the solution? “People have difficulty learning Icelandic”

14. What’s the solution? “People bend their iPhones by sitting on them”

15. Steps in the Solution How do we get to the solution from here? Tells you whether your solution is realistic / feasible Problem: People can’t jump over buildings Solution: More practice (determine human limits on jumping) Solution: Shorten all buildings (determine architectural constraints) Solution: Rocket boots (determine cost/benefit tradeoff)

16. What are the steps? “People with low vision lose the mouse cursor”

17. The Evaluation Is your solution a good solution to the problem? (First: does your solution even match the problem) What thing would you measure to show that your solution was good? Should be clear from your explication of the problem “People have difficulty learning Icelandic” What does “difficult” mean here? People have difficulty pronouncing Icelandic vowel sounds that are not in their language

18. What evaluation? Problem: People have difficulty pronouncing Icelandic vowel sounds that are not in their language Solution: VowelMeIceland app Evaluation:

19. What evaluation? Problem: People with low vision lose the mouse cursor Solution: Big cursor Evaluation:

20. What evaluation? Problem: Pharmacists put the wrong ingredient in a drug Solution: IngredientMinder app Evaluation: