ITEC0700/ NETE0501/ ISEC0502 Research Methodology#3

1. ITEC0700/ NETE0501/ ISEC0502 Research Methodology#3 SuronapeePhoomvuthisarn, Ph.D. suronape@mut.ac.th

2. Scientific Methods SuronapeePhoomvuthisarn, Ph.D. suronape@mut.ac.th

3. Outline • Scientific method • Research terminology • Type of research • Process of conducting research • Summary • Exercises

4. Scientific method • Scientific method (วิธีการทางวิทยาศาสตร์ ) คือ การแสวงหาความรู้หรือความจริงทางวิทยาศาสตร์อย่างมีกระบวนการที่เป็นแบบแผน มีขั้นตอนที่สามารถปฏิบัติตามได้ • The “scientific method” attempts to minimize the influence of the researchers' bias on the outcome of an experiment. • Steps • Observe (Leading to problems) • Set hypothesis • Test hypothesis • Repetitive

5. Research Terminology • Research (Re - search) • Stems from the root of “scientific methods” • Research หมายถึง การค้นคว้าหาข้อความรู้ (complex reality) ความจริงหรือคำตอบที่เชื่อถืดได้จากปัญหา ด้วยกระบวนการตลอดจนขั้นตอนที่เป็นระบบ • The research go beyond description and require analysis!! (Initiated by the why question) • What are the radiation levels in different parts of Thailand? • Why are the radiation levels different in various geographical areas? • What is the evidence?

6. Type of research • Basic research • มุ่งหาความรู้ ผลของการวิจัยจะออกมาเป็นกฎหรือทฤษฎี • Applied research • มุ่งนำผลการวิจัยไปใช้ประโยชน์

7. Another Type of research • การวิจัยเชิงประจักษ์ (Empirical research) เป็นการวิจัยซึ่งข้อความรู้ที่ได้จะต้องเป็นไปตามข้อมูลหรือหลักฐานที่รวบรวมมาเพื่อยืนยันความรู้นั้น • การวิจัยแบบทางการ (Formal research) เป็นการวิจัยซึ่งข้อความรู้ที่ได้เป็นไปตามหลักเหตุผลทางตรรกศาสตร์ หรือใช้การอนุมาน (Deduction) เป็นหลักจะเป็นการวิจัยทางด้านคณิตศาสตร์และทางด้านปรัชญา

8. Classical steps of scientific method

10. Other steps of scientific method

11. Process of conducting research

12. Step1, 2: Identifying research area + finding a research topic • Explore and understand the literature base of the area • It will give you ideas of the area of interests. • Producing your spider diagram!!! • You need to understand what other researchers have done in your area. • You can criticize effectively what others have done. • You can then spot areas which have not been researched. • Identify gaps and unanswered questions in the literature • You can identify research problems before or after exploring the literature

13. Step3: Formulate research questions • The most important step in research ! Often comes from the thought: • “What we have now is not quite right/good enough – we can do better ...” • The research question defines the “area of interest” but it is not a declarative statement like a hypothesis. • Research question must be capable of being confirmed or refuted. The study must be feasible.

14. Examples • Q1: Feasibility: Is the VAM able to discourage raters from cheating (e.g., lies) in trust systems for SOC? • Q2: Architecture Support: What are the appropriate distributed architectures for supporting the integration of the VAM into trust systems for SOC? • Q2.1: Extensibility: How do the architectures keep trust systems’ normal • functionalities and incur only affordable overhead costs when integrating with the VAM? • Q2.2: Scalability: How do the architectures ensure highly scalable systems when integrating with the VAM? • Q2.3: Decentralization: How do the architectures capture the VAM’s truth-telling property in fully distributed environments such as SOC? • Q2.4: Performance: How do the architectures incur less significant performance overheads when integrating with the VAM, and still achieve scalability?

15. Step4: Research Design • Research approach (in pre-empirical stage) • Include planning in research approach to carry out the research • Answer what – research methodology • Answer how – research methods • Design Experiment (in empirical stage) • Includes planning in detail all the steps of the experimental phase. In engineering research it often includes the design of a prototype / system architecture. • Identify the variables that will be manipulated and measured – the research outcomes must be measurable. In other words: • What needs to be controlled in order to get an unbiased answer to the research question. • Therefore: it is necessary to not only design a prototype / system but also the thesis validation method ! • How to validate the thesis?

16. Research methodology • The systematic study of methods that are, can be or have been applied within a discipline or a particular set of procedures. • It refers to a rational or philosophical assumptions that underline a particular study (more than a simple set of methods) • Answer “What,

17. Research methods (ขั้นตอนในการทำวิจัย) • A systematic series of steps taken to complete a certain talk or reach a certain objective. • Answer “how” • Examples • Identify samples and scope • Create Experiments • Testing data with empirical experiments and • Observe the results • Compared with hypothesis

18. Data • การวิจัยเชิงคุณภาพ (Qualitative research) เป็นการวิจัยที่ใช้ข้อมูลเป็นข้อความบรรยายลักษณะที่แตกต่างกันของสิ่งที่จะศึกษาหรือตัวแปรซึ่งเป็นข้อมูลที่ทำเป็นปริมาณหรือตัวเลขไม่ได้ เช่น การศึกษาชีวิตความเป็นอยู่ของสัตว์ป่า • การวิจัยเชิงปริมาณ (Quantitative research) เป็นการวิจัยที่ใช้ข้อมูลเป็นปริมาณหรือตัวเลขแทนลักษณะที่แตกต่างกันของสิ่งที่จะศึกษาหรือตัวแปร เช่น การศึกษาสติปัญญาของเด็กไทย การเปรียบเทียบผลสัมฤทธิ์ทางการเรียนระหว่างการสอนแบบรอบรู้กับการสอนตามปกติ • The use of interviews might be thought of as qualitative techniques.

19. The differences between qualitative and quantitative approach

20. The similarities between qualitative and quantitative approach

21. Which methods suit? • The best advice in those cases is to step back from questions of method [and tools], and give further consideration to the purposes and research questions, bearing in mind that the way questions are asked influences what needs to be done to answer them.(Punch 2005: 240)

23. Examples • Research Methodology • In this thesis, an architecture-based approach and a suitable mapping technique are proposed to develop the research solutions – (1) the mapping technique and (2) the VAM-based architectures – for preventing exploitation of trust systems by raters’ cheating behavior, while achieving interfacing metrics. A trust negotiation protocol encapsulated with the VAM is defined and realized in the relevant VAM components. These components interact with trust components in an architectural framework. These VAM-based architectures are also optimized with regard to impact on the quality attributes, including extensibility, scalability, decentralization and performance. The improvement solution will be based on test cases in which these quality attributes are observed. Further architectural improvement will be devised in the light of empirical evidence.

24. Examples (2) • The flow of the work is summarized in Figure 1.

25. Examples (3) • The proposed research method consists of three stages, as follows: • Build the Core Architecture with the VAM Applied. ….. • Extend the Core Architecture.….. • Perform Evaluation with Three Exploratory Case Studies.…...

26. Step5:Data collection • Doing it ! • Implementation of methods (e.g. prototyping) and auxiliary tools (e.g. simulation) • Pilot testing and refinement. • Field vs. Laboratory work. • Any ethical considerations ? • Confirm results by retesting !

27. Step6: Data analysis • What did your experiment show? • Qualitative data analysis or Quantitative data analysis. • Discussion regarding some of the findings on experimental result the thesis has made (focus on answering research questions)

28. Step7: Answer questions • Provide the arguments of your findings to support the research contribution you have claimed earlier • A research result is not a contribution to the field if no one knows about it or can use it ! • Write scientific papers, make presentations • Write thesis and consider next steps • Recommendations for further research.

29. Summary • have a good understanding of the research terminology, scientific methods and research process. • have decided, or be closer to deciding, which methods you are going to use, and be able to justify that choice; • have a clearer idea of your own methodological preferences.

30. Exercises • Note down the research methodology and research methods you plan to use. • What are their advantages and disadvantages? • What other methods might you use as alternatives? • Select a research paper or a master’s thesis and find research question(s).

31. References • Chapter 3 of L. Blaxter, C. Hughes, and M. Tight, How to Research, 4th Edition, Open University Press, 2010 • ฉขั้นตอนในการทำวิจัยwww.sukhothai.ru.ac.th/inforusc/.../6.ขั้นตอนในการทำวิจัย.doc • Lecture 2 of Dr. Supakorn in research methodology course in MUT • Chapter5, How to Get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and Their Supervisors 4th edition, Philips, E. and Puqh, D.S. • Estelle Phillips (Author), D.S. Pugh (Author)Chapter 1-2, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A GUIDE TO FOR RESEACHERS IN MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL ..., BILL TAYLOR, GAUTAM SINHA, TAPOSH GHOSHAL

32. Questions • By now, you may have a fairly clear answer to the following questions: • How are you going to do the research? • What is your strategy and approach? • What techniques or methods are you going to use? • What ‘s next? • Reading literature..

33. Additional slides • ….

34. Deduction and Induction • Deduction (Aristotle) • Is a reasoning process that begins with a self-evidence principle and draw from it a conclusion relating to a particular case. • Induction (Francis Bacon) • Is a reasoning process that begins with a specific case and draw from it a conclusion of wider and more general relevance.

35. Case studies • Case studies, as the name indicates, concentrate on special cases. • Generalizations from case studies must be handled with care. • To serve as a foundation for generalizations, case studies should be related to a theoretical framework, which in turn may be adjusted as case study results provide new evidence. The ‘generalizability’ of case studies can be increased by strategic selection of critical cases (Mikkelsen 2005: 92, emphasis in original)

37. Experiments • The experiment is a situation in which the independent variable is carefully manipulated by the investigator under known, tightly defined and controlled conditions, or by natural occurrence. • At its most basic, the experiment consists of an experimental group which is exposed to the intervention under investigation and a control group which is not exposed. The experimental and control groups should be equivalent, and investigated systematically under conditions that are identical (apart from the exposure of the experimental group), in order to minimise variation between them.(Bowling 2002: 216, emphasis in original)

39. Surveys • A social survey is a type of research strategy. By this we mean that it involves an overall decision – a strategic decision – about the way to set about gathering and analysing data. • The strategy involved in a survey is that we collect the same information about all the cases in a sample • Usually, the cases are individual people, and among other things we ask all of them the same questions. (Aldridge and Levine 2001: 5, emphasis in original)