RM in CS

Chapter 4

Process in
Conducting Research

Research Methods in Computer Science

 Process in Conducting Research

 Conceptualization
 Contextualization

 …before that let’s see

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Guideline for Article/Paper Review

Points to focus on:
 Objective  what does the article intended to do?
 Theory  is/are there theoretical framework or assumptions?
 Concepts  what are the central concepts of the paper? Are they clearly stated?
 Method what methods are used to test these?
 Evidence is evidence provided? How adequate is it?
 Literature how does the work fit into the broader literature in its subject?
 Contribution how well does the work advance readers’ knowledge of the subject?
 Style how clear is the author's language/style/expression?
 Conclusion a brief overall assessment.

Guideline for critiques of an article

 Title whether it is concise and descriptive
 Abstract  whether it is presented properly (including the research question, objectives, method,
result, evaluation of the result)
 Introduction background, purpose, motivation, problem statement are sound and give sense)
 Whether important research idea is presented (the phenomenon and context of the study)
 Research questions (whether the questions are framed based on extensive literature review and proper
context)
 Literature review  Whether relevant literatures have been consulted
 whether relevant works are reviewed to reflect conceptual foundations on the phenomenon of the study,
research gap identification, methodology assessment, etc are done)
 Research Design (Methodology)  Whether sound methodology is proposed
 whether sound methodology in terms of research paradigms used with justification,
 methods related to data collection tools and techniques including sampling as well as analysis techniques
and tools are clearly presented.
 Conclusion and contributions  whether a clear presentation of these elements is done

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Basic steps in critiques of an article

Step 1: KNOW the article you are reviewing READ ! READ !
 Look at the title, the abstract and the introduction.
 These should give you some idea of the central focus and the coverage of the
article and the author's reasons for writing the article.
 Skim quickly through the whole article
 Read the first section more closely ,
 which should tell you the main issues to be discussed and indicate the
theoretical or conceptual framework within which the author proposes to work.
 Read the final section closely,
 which should cover the author's conclusions and summarize the main reasons
why these conclusions have been reached.
 Now that you are familiar with the text, read the whole text thoroughly to develop
a basis on which to critically review it.

Basic steps … cntd

Step 2:
 Decide which aspects of the article you wish to discuss in detail in your review:
 the theoretical approach?
 the content or case studies?
 the selection and interpretation of evidence?
 the range of coverage (scope)?
 the style of presentation of ideas? etc.
 Usually you will discuss the main issues which the author has specifically
examined including main approaches and methodologies
 Sometimes you may choose a particular issue in the paper … even if it is not the
main issue for the author.

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Basic steps … cntd

Step 3:
 Now, on the basis of your overall knowledge of the article and your decision
about which issues you will discuss, read in closer detail the sections which are
relevant to these issues.
 Make notes of the main points and key quotations.
 Whenever necessary, read other articles or books which are relevant to your
topic, possibly to provide supporting evidence or alternative theoretical models or
interpretations of data

Drafting and writing the review

 The structure of your review report should include:
 an initial identification of the article
 author, title of article, title of journal, year of publication, and other details
that seem important, eg, it is originally a French edition, etc.,
 an indication of the major aspects of the article you will be discussing.
 a brief summary of the scope, contents and argument of the article.
 Occasionally you may summarise section by section, but in a short review you
usually pick up the main themes only.
 This section should not normally take up more than a third of the total review.

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Drafting and writing the review …cntd

 a critical discussion of few main issues raised in the article.
 This section is the core of the review.
 Explain the author's argument before your criticism and evaluation it.
 Criticisms must be supported with evidence from the text or other writings
 gaps that the author didn’t address as a topic may also be indicated;
 but it is seldom useful to criticise a writer for not doing something they
never intended to do (like some concept out of the paper’s scope)
 a final evaluation of the overall contribution the article has made to your
understanding of the topic (and maybe its importance to the development of
knowledge in this particular area or discipline, setting it in the context of
other writings in the field).

The Research Process:

• Conceptualization:
• Involves:
• Defining the 'problem‘,
• establishing the research questions
• identifying the aims
• specifying the testable hypotheses,
• deciding on the research approach,
• identifying the most appropriate way of undertaking the data collection and/or
generation
• Contextualization:
• Putting the research in the context of similar research that has been done in the past.
• If there is similar research which was done elsewhere, carefully looking at the
methodology used and the way data collected and the limitation of the work helps

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Reminder on: Software Development Models

• Software development model is an expression of the whole software development
process, which clearly defines the main activities to instruct the working tasks on
software development
• Some of the approaches/models include:
• Waterfall Model
• Prototype Model
• Incremental Model
• Spiral Model
• XP Model (Extreme Programming)
• RUP (Rational Unified Process) Model
• RAD (Rapid Application Development) Model

• Exercise:
• Write a short description about the software development methods stated above and
add other major ones that interests you. Using diagrams for the discussed is advised.

The Research Process:

• Data collection methods include:
• Observation
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Document Analysis

• Read More on: Data collection methods

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General tips for constructing questionnaires

• Get the beginning right –
• this will encourage respondents to read on. One should state what the survey is about
and roughly how long it will take to complete.
• Make the questionnaire look attractive
• E.g. Use the space, use clear font type/size, avoid BLOCK LETTERS, etc.
• Use a large enough type size and avoid block capitals so that questions can be easily
read.
• Keep sentences short and sentence construction simple
• Avoid leading questions which direct the respondent in a particular way
• e.g. isn’t it true to say that.....
• Avoid jargon and technical terms
• make sure the question is unambiguous
• Watch out for double questions
• that is those asking two separate questions at once.

Writing a Concept Note

• A concept note provides a brief roadmap about the project in a less
detail than an actual project proposal
• There are different standards regarding contents of a concept note
• Anyway, a concept note needs to show:
• What is to be done and why
• What problem(s) it will address
• How it will be carried out
• What resources the project demands

• Since further study might not be conducted yet, a concept note misses
some details that will be clarified once the actual proposal is done

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Structure of a Concept Note

1. Title of Proposed Study
• Needs to be descriptive, short, clear, unambiguous,
2. Area of Study
• e.g. Mobile app dev’t, desktop application dev’t, network design and
implementation, etc.
3. Background to the Study:
• What have you read that has had an impact on your thinking about the topic?
• Motivations for the study,…
4. Statement of the Problem
• What is the knowledge gap in the area selected?
• This part explains the reason why the research needs to be conducted
5. Objectives of the Study
• What does the study aims to achieve?

Structure of a Concept Note cntd.

6. Questions and/or Hypotheses
• State the unknown in terms of questions or in terms of solutions
7. Literature Review:
• What literature do you intend to review and why?
8. Theoretical Framework
• What theory(s) will you use in analyzing your material?
• Why those/that theory?
9. Proposed Research Design, Methods/Procedures
• This answer the question, “How will you conduct the study?”
10. Bibliography
• References, Appendices, …