Intro to Computing Research

1. Intro to Computing Research

2. Research Onion Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection

3. Research Philosophy Your research philosophy depends on the way that you think about knowledge is developed or created, how we gain understanding of things (“epistemology”). Your way of thinking will affect the way you go about doing research. Generally, there are two key research philosophies, the positivism and phenomenology.

4. Positivism Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection Phenomenology

5. Philosophy - Positivism • You are working with an observable reality. Research can produce laws. Results can be generalised, similar to those produced by natural scientists. • You are working objectively, with little or no personal interpretation of the data. • You need a structured methodology to gain quantitative data which is replicable and can be analysed using stats.

6. Philosophy - Phenomenology • You are researching human behaviour. This may be too complex to follow a definite law in the same way as the natural sciences. • Generalisability is not of crucial importance, since we are focussing on a particular problem or situation • Phenomenology highlights the details of the situation to understand a reality working behind them.

7. Positivism Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection Phenomenology

8. Deductive Inductive Tentative Hypotheses Patterns Data Data Theory Theory Hypotheses Data Confirmation The Research Approach Deductive approach: testing theory Inductive approach: building theory

9. Deductive vs. Inductive

10. Positivism Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection Deductive Inductive Phenomenology

11. Research Strategies

12. Survey Method • The survey method is usually associated with the deductive approach – surveys are “experiments”. • It allows the collection of a large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way. • It is often conducted on questionnaire to answer those ‘What’ and ‘How’ questions. Its data are standardised and so allow easy comparison. • It gives you more control over the research process, however, it takes time to design and pilot a good questionnaire.

13. Experimental Method The Experimental Method is a classical form of research that comes from the natural science. The process usually involves: • The definition of a theoretical hypothesis. • Select a sample of a population. • Allocate samples to different experimental conditions. • Introduce planned change on one variable (the “independent” variable). • Measure the change of an associated “dependent” variable. • Control of other variables.

14. Positivism Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection Deductive Experiment Survey Grounded Research Focus Group Case Study Ethnography Inductive Phenomenology

15. Time Horizons • Consider the amount of time you have, do you want your research to be a ‘snapshot’ or a ‘diary’? • The snapshot reflects the cross-sectional studies. • The diary reflects the longitudinal studies

16. Positivism Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection Deductive Experiment Cross Sectional Survey Grounded Research Focus Group Longitudinal Case Study Ethnography Inductive Phenomenology

17. Types of Data • Quantitative • Qualitative

18. Positivism Research Philosophy Research Approach Research Strategies Time Horizons Data Collection Deductive Experiment Cross Sectional Survey Quantitative Grounded Research Qualitative Focus Group Longitudinal Case Study Ethnography Inductive Phenomenology

19. Wish to do Research Literature Review Data Collection Report Writing Research Topic, Questions Design Research Approaches Data Analysis Report Submitting Negotiate Access Stages in a Research Project

20. What is a Computing Independent Study? Artefact – based construction of an artefact primary research on the artefact Research – based secondary research via the literature.