Research Methods and Techniques

1. Research Methods and Techniques John Morris Faculty of Engineering,Mahasarakham University Computer Science/Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland Iolanthe II leaves the Hauraki Gulf under full sail – Auckland-Tauranga Race, 2007 Iolanthe III racing off Jomtien, with full gennaker set

2. PRESENTATIONS

3. Presentations • Grammar-free!! • Keywords only • Omit articles (‘a’, ‘the’) often • Concise • No long sentences!! • Rarely need sentences at all! • Use bullet points extensively • Pictures help! • “A picture is worth a thousand words”

4. Presentations • If necessary, use Google to translate phrases and keywords (not sentences) from Thai • Translation tools are usually good dictionaries! • Check the translation though! • If it doesn’t look right in English, make small changes to the original Thai • Try different words that mean the same thing • You can use symbolseg • means ‘implies’ or ‘leads to’ • = therefore • These are actually better than words in a presentation! • Meaning is universal – no language needed!

5. Presentations • Grammar-free!! • Keywords only • Omit articles (‘a’, ‘the’) often • Concise • No long sentences!! • Rarely need sentences at all! • Use bullet points extensively • Pictures help! • “A picture is worth a thousand words” • Don’t put too much on one slide! • Font – usually 20 pt or larger • Check by going to the back of the room: can you read it from 20m away? • But don’t ‘shout’ with 40+ pt text! • It’s not a sales presentation!

6. Presentations • Colour schemes • Avoid ‘fancy’ backgrounds! • Distracting • Waste space on each slide • Focus on information content • Presentations are not works of art! • Use simple colour combinations • Black on white background or • Dark coloured text on a light background • White on black background or • Light coloured text on a dark background

7. Presentations • Distracting background • Poor contrast between white text and grey background • Times font (serifs) – use sans-serif • Shadow on title – cute but distracting! • Colour schemes • Avoid ‘fancy’ backgrounds! • Distracting • Waste space on each slide • Focus on information content • Presentations are not works of art! • Use simple colour combinations • Black on white background or • Dark coloured text on a light background • White on black background or • Light coloured text on a dark background

8. Presentations • Colour schemes • Avoid ‘fancy’ backgrounds! • Distracting • Waste space on each slide • Focus on information content • Presentations are not works of art! • Use simple colour combinations • Black on white background or • Dark coloured text on a light background • White on black background or • Light coloured text on a dark background

9. Presentations • Colour schemes • Avoid ‘fancy’ backgrounds! • Distracting • Waste space on each slide • Focus on information content • Presentations are not works of art! • Use simple colour combinations • Black on white background or • Dark coloured text on a light background • White on black background or • Light coloured text on a dark background

10. Presentations • Simple consistent colour scheme for example • Normal text: black • Red to highlight key words or expressions • Blue for some special terms or key topics • Generally: no more than 3 or 4 colours • No Rainbow colour scheme • Fonts • sans-serif: Arial, Helvetica, … • More easily read from a distance

11. Presentation FORMAT

12. General Outline • Similar pattern to reports, theses and papers • Typically • Introduction • Hypotheses and methods • Results • Analysis • Conclusion • Future work • Acknowledgments • References | Bibliography

13. Additional sections • Abstract • Rarely • Consider presenting quick summary of whole presentation at beginning but • Usually keep this for conclusion • Outline (replaces Table of contents) • Many people present outline of talk in 2nd or 3rd slide • After introducing topic • I usually don’t … just wastes time • More important to just present in logical order • Glossaries of terms, symbols and acronyms • May be useful if you have lots of acronyms or special terms

14. General Outline • Introduction • General aim of the research • Introduce topic very briefly, eg • We will study road accident prevention • Background – why is this problem important? • Road accidents cost the community a large amount • Cost is estimated to be $x billion per year • Previous research • What have other researchers said about this problem • Survey of safety mechanisms used or proposed by others • Detailed aim of this research • We think we can use cameras in the car to reduce collisions This is your first hypothesis!

15. Background • Summary of existing work • Critical review of existing work • Did previous authors • Miss anything? • Make weak assumptions? • Make mistakes? • Forget to study important cases? • Study only trivial cases – ignoring important real cases? • What did you do to • Extend previous work • Correct errors • Fill in gaps • Study additional scenarios, cases, …

16. 10% LITerature ReviewAssIGNMENT

17. Lit review assignment • Find TWO (or more) papers relevant to your research • In English (or other language but NOT Thai) from • international journals • International conferences • PhD theses from large research universities • Write a short report • Same format as background section of your thesis or a paper • What results are presented in this paper? • What methods were used to measure them? • Why is this paper important? • What results or conclusions from this paper are relevant to you? • What can you do to improve on those results? • How will your work add more results? • Is there anything missing or wrong with the published work? • Do not forget formal references at the end of your report! • Due February 1

18. 50% FINAL (MajoR) AssIGNMENT

19. Research Proposal • Introduction to your thesis • General topic or area • Aim(s) • Background • Why is it important? • What has been studied before • Results from previous papers • Specific aim of your research • How you will extend previous work • Why your results will be useful • Methods • Detailed experimental hypotheses • Proposed experiments • Instruments to be used • How accurate, precise are they?

20. Today • Make a presentation for your research proposal • Following slides represent a template • Fill in each one with details for your project • Not assessed today • I will check and guide you as you go • At end of today’s workshop, you should have • Outline for your research proposal • Some detail already filled in • You will be able to expand this to make • Final submission for this course • Your thesis

21. Today • Make a page (or more) for each of the following slides with details of your project! • No English grammar needed! • If necessary, use Google to translate phrases and keywords (not sentences) from Thai • Translation tools are usually good dictionaries! • Check the translation though! • If it doesn’t look right in English, make small changes to the original Thai • Try different words that mean the same thing • You can use symbols eg • means ‘implies’ or ‘leads to’ • These are actually better than words in a presentation! • Meaning is universal – no language needed!

22. Project title Name Address

23. General area • What is your presentation about? • Broad area, eg Environment, Control systems, Safety systems, … • General aim of your research, eg • Improve performance of … • Improve economics of … • Make ….. safer • Make …. easier or faster to use • ….

24. Background • Previous work • Summarize important previous research or • List a few important studies • Questions to answer here • What are the important previous studies? • Who did them? • When? • What experiments were done? • What results were obtained?

25. Your contribution • What are you going to do to • Extend • Correct • Improve • Fill gaps in previous work?

26. Methods • Hypotheses • Detailed • Basis for your experiments • Expected results • One per slide!! • Make multiple slides if necessary • Experimental detail • How will you show that your hypothesis is a good one? • Preparation of samples • Setting up scenarios • Equipment setup • Processing samples • Measurements • Accuracy

27. EXAMPLE

28. Fair Traffic Light Control John Morris MSU

29. General area • Road traffic control affects everyone • Aim of this study • Develop a fair system for switching traffic lights • Improve safety • Fair system  fewer impatient drivers • Reduced delays  reduced pollution

30. Background • Previous work • Current systems use inductive sensors in road • Not able to count vehicles in long queues • Camera based systems send images to central control point • Manual switching • Systems to improve flow through synchronized switching • Try to give many drivers ‘green’ all the way • Central control is expensive • Communication costs over long distance to control room • Questions to answer here • What are the important previous studies? • Who did them? • When? • What experiments were done? • What results were obtained?

31. Your contribution • This study will develop • autonomous camera-based system • economic system based on ‘off-the-shelf’ components to switch single set of traffic lights • Accurate counting of queue lengths • Fairer system • Better flow • Lower delays • Less driver frustration • Fewer accidents • What are you going to do to • Extend • Correct • Improve • Fill gaps in previous work?

32. Methods • Hypothesis 1: Wireless IP-cameras mounted on traffic lights can send images to control computer • Accurate counts of queue lengths in multiple lines • Experiment • Mount camera on traffic light • Collect images with road-side computer • Identify and count vehicles by processing images • Check system counts against manual counts from recorded videos • Detailed • Basis for your experiments • Expected results • One per slide!! • Make multiple slides if necessary • Experimental detail • How will you show that your hypothesis is a good one? • Preparation of samples • Setting up scenarios • Equipment setup • Processing samples • Measurements • Accuracy

33. Methods • Hypothesis 2: Smart control algorithm will reduce driver annoyance and improve safety • Experiment • Collect statistics on number and type of accidents at traffic light • Road-side survey to assess driver annoyance • Install camera and computer to control traffic lights • Collect statistics with intelligent control • 2nd road-side survey of drivers • Detailed • Basis for your experiments • Expected results • One per slide!! • Make multiple slides if necessary • Experimental detail • How will you show that your hypothesis is a good one? • Preparation of samples • Setting up scenarios • Equipment setup • Processing samples • Measurements • Accuracy

34. Methods • Hypotheses • Detailed • Basis for your experiments • Expected results • One per slide!! • Make multiple slides if necessary • Experimental detail • How will you show that your hypothesis is a good one? • Preparation of samples • Setting up scenarios • Equipment setup • Processing samples • Measurements • Accuracy

35. Next Assignment – due Sep 14 • Complete your research proposal • You can re-submit corrected and improved sections of previous assignments • Hypotheses Methods section • Paper review  Introduction • Instrument accuracy -> Methods section • Follow the outline for a paper or thesis or report • Variations OK • All sections should be present • Submit by email to j.morris@auckland.ac.nz with subject “Research Methods” • Don’t forget to put your name on your report! • It should have a title (but no abstract) just like a regular paper • About 5 pages – maximum 10 pages .. + references