Research methods
CS480 Computer Science Seminar
Fall, 2002
Web addresses
• http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/resear
ch/skill1.htm
The seven steps of research
process
• STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR
TOPIC.
• SUMMARY: State your topic as a question. For
example, if you are interested in finding out about
use of alcoholic beverages by college students,
you might pose the question, "What effect does
use of alcoholic beverages have on the health of
college students?" Identify the main concepts or
keywords in your question.
STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND
INFORMATION.
• SUMMARY: Look up your keywords in the
indexes to subject encyclopedias.
STEP 3: USE CATALOGS TO
FIND BOOKS.
• SUMMARY: Use keyword searching for a narrow
or complex search topic. Use subject searching for
a broad subject. Print or write down the citation
(author, title,etc.) and the location information
(call number and library). Note the circulation
status. When you pull the book from the shelf,
scan the bibliography for additional sources.
Watch for book-length bibliographies and annual
reviews on your subject; they list citations to
hundreds of books and articles in one subject area.
STEP 4: USE INDEXES TO FIND
PERIODICAL ARTICLES
• SUMMARY: Use periodical indexes and abstracts to find
citations to articles. The indexes and abstracts may be in
print or computer-based formats or both. Choose the
indexes and format best suited to your particular topic; ask
at the reference desk if you need help figuring out which
index and format will be best. When you have recorded or
printed out the citation from the index, locate the library
that owns the periodical you want, get assistance from
librarians as necessary.
STEP 5A: FIND INTERNET
RESOURCES
• SUMMARY: Use search engines and
subject directories to locate materials on the
Web.
STEP 6: EVALUATE WHAT
YOU FIND
• SUMMARY: See How to Critically Analyze
Information Sources and Distinguishing Scholarly
from Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of
Criteria for suggestions on evaluating the authority
and quality of the books and articles you located.
If you have found too many or too few sources,
you may need to narrow or broaden your topic.
Check with a reference librarian or your instructor.
STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND
USING A STANDARD FORMAT
• Give credit where credit is due. Cite your
sources using one of the styles listed below
or another style approved by your instructor.
The APA and MLA styles are widely used
use ACM or IEEE journals as a reference.
Other sources are shown in the next slide.
Additional sources of style
guidelines
• Format the citations in your bibliography using examples
from the University of Illinois Writer's Workshop Web site.
Both Modern Language Association (MLA) and American
Psychological Association (APA) examples are available.
• A brief online version of The Columbia Guide to Online
Style also gives examples for citing networked resources
only.
• Book guides:
• Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of
Research Papers. 4th ed. New York: MLA, 1995.
(Uris Ref Z 253 .M68 1995; also Olin)
RESEARCH TIPS
• WORK FROM THE GENERAL TO THE SPECIFIC.
• Find background information first, then use more
specific and recent sources.
• RECORD WHAT YOU FIND AND WHERE YOU
FOUND IT.
• Write out a complete citation for each source you find;
you may need it again later.
• TRANSLATE YOUR TOPIC INTO THE SUBJECT
LANGUAGE OF THE INDEXES AND CATALOGS
YOU USE.
Progress Report
• Progress reports are common in science and engineering. As the name
suggests, they document ongoing projects. They might be one-page
memos or long, formal documents. Such a report is aimed at whoever
assigned the project. Its goal is to enable yourself or the manager or
sponsor of a project to make informed decisions about the future of the
project. Usually, progress reports can stressful. The sponsor wants a
job done quickly and cheaply; the engineer needs to ensure accuracy
and quality. A sponsor might cancel even a quality job if it is behind
or overbudget. As the engineer, you need to please the sponsor and do
the job well. Yet, any project of size or significance is bound to
encounter snags: additional requirements, miscommunications,
problems, delays, or unexpected expenses. A progress report must
account for those snags.
Organization of a progress
report
• The original proposal for the project determines
the structure: make use of original milestones or
the timeline. With this in mind, the simplest
structure is as follows:
1. Introduction
2. Work Completed
3. Work Scheduled
4. Problems
A more comprehensive list of
components of the report
• But a more comprehensive list of components will
give you a clearer structure, even if you return to
the simpler structure for the report itself.
• 1. Introduction
2. Project Description
3. Progress Summary
4. Problems Encountered
5. Changes in Requirements
6. Overall Assessment of the Project
1. Introduction
• As always, first indicate the purpose of the
report and its intended audience. Clearly
define the time period covered in the report.
Then, explain the project's objectives and
summarize the major issues.
2. Project Description
• In very short progress reports, as is the case of our
bi-weekly report, the introduction might contain
this section, but if it is under its own heading,
readers who are familiar with the project can skip
it. Someone unfamiliar with the project, however,
needs summarized details such as purpose and
scope of the project, start and completion dates,
and names of parties involved. Often this section
can be adapted from a proposal or borrowed from
a previous progress report.
3. Progress Summary
• This is the substance of the report (so
"summary" may be a misnomer). You want
to discuss work done, work in progress,
and work to be done. You might just use
these as subheadings to structure the
section.
4. Problems Encountered
• As noted in the opening, snags are expected. Don't
hide from them; explain what they are and how
they might affect key areas of the job (such as
timing, price or quality). If the problem occurred
in the past, you can explain how you overcame it.
This is least serious; in fact, you look good. If the
problem is in front of you (now or in the future),
explain how you hope to overcome it, if you can.
5. Changes in Requirements
• Here, you record the changes to the project:
milestones added, new requirements, or schedule
changes (good or bad). Even if these changes have
not affected the ultimate goal of the project, you
need to tell the sponsor how problems have been
accommodated.
Note: If changes are a direct result of problems
encountered, sections 4 and 5 may be combined.
This would lead to a modified organization: first
problem and the change it required, then the next
problem and change, and so on.
6. Overall Assessment of the Project
• Since a progress report is not about a finished
work, the conclusion needs only to give your
professional opinion of how the project is
going. Being unrealistically optimistic is as
inappropriate as being unduly negative. Beware of
promising early completion: a single setback can
gobble up much time. Likewise, don't overreact if
you are behind schedule. You may also gain time
along the way. Far more significant for the science
and engineer is to explain anything that may
change the expected quality of the final product.
Keeping in mind your purpose can help you focus
here: your goal is to enable the manager or
sponsor to make informed decisions.
Scientific Research Method
• What is the purpose of the Scientific Method?
The scientific method is the means by which
researchers are able to make conclusive
statements about their studies with a
minimum of bias. The interpretation of data,
for example the result of a new drug study,
can be laden with bias. The researcher often
has a personal stakes in the results of his
work. As any skilled debater knows, just about
any opinion can be justified and presented as
fact. In order to minimize the influence of
personal stakes and biased opinions, a
standard method of testing a hypothesis is
expected to be used by all members of the
scientific community.
How does the Scientific Method Work?
• The first step: formulate the basis for
conducting your research.
This is based on observed phenomena (or
gathered information) that is either directly or
indirectly related to the specific subject matter
of your proposed research.
Formulate a hypothesis
• Formulate a hypothesis to explain
some aspect of your observations.
You speculate that the virus that
causes Disease B is either Virus A
or it is related to Virus A. Your
hypothesis is that the cause of
Disease A and Disease B is the
same virus.
Test your hypothesis
• Now that you have a hypothesis,
you are ready to test it. You must
now use your hypothesis to predict
other phenomena that have not
yet been observed. You know that
Drug A will wipe out Disease A. If
Disease B is caused by the same
virus, you reason that the same
drug should be effective.
Rigorously test your prediction
• The final step of the scientific method is
to rigorously test your prediction.
Remember, you cannot "prove" your
hypothesis. You can only fail to disprove
it. While this is an example of how the
scientific method is used in everyday
research and hypothesis testing, it is
also the basis of creating theories and
laws.
Some comments
• The scientific method requires a hypothesis to
be eliminated if experiments repeatedly
contradict predictions. No matter how great a
hypothesis sounds, it is only as good as it's
ability to consistently predict experimental
results. It should also be noted that a theory
or hypothesis is not meaningful if it is not
quantitative and testable. If a theory does not
allow for predictions and experimental
research to confirm these predictions, than it
is not a scientific theory.
Misapplications of the Scientific
Method
• A common error encountered by people
who claim to use the scientific method
is a lack of testing. A hypothesis
brought about by common observations
or common sense does not have
scientific validity. As stated above, even
though a good debater may be quite
convincing as he conveys the merits of
his theory, logical arguments are not an
acceptable replacement for
experimental testing.