Research Methods in Computer

Science

Chapter 1
Introduction and Overview of
Research
 What is Research and not Research?

What is Research?
 research is the organized and systematic method of finding answers to
questions. It is systematic because it is a process broken up into clear steps
that lead to conclusions and it is organized because there is a planned
structure or method used to conclude.

Research is only successful if we find answers, whether we like
these answers or not.

Development research is focused on relevant, useful, and important
questions.

If there are no questions, there can be no research.

Ultimately, there is no endpoint when it comes to defining or
describing the term research, that is, research begets more research.

This means that research involves a circle, in which one study
produces additional studies. One can come across problems that
need resolving while exploring a topic, and so the process begins
again.

“What is not research?”

Research is not just gathering information: Gathering
information or facts from different sources, on a particular
topic, is not the same as Research, rather the appropriate
term should be information discovery or reference skill.

Research is not the rearrangement of known knowledge:
Rearranging known facts or information does not mean one
has carried out the research. Rather, it can be called Facts
organization or rearrangement. True research seeks to find
solutions to problems.

Research is not transferring facts from one location to
another: Research is not just transferring facts or information
from different sources to one’s paper. Appropriately, this can
be called Facts organization or facts summarization.


Research is not a difficult task and a waste of time: it has
been discovered that many people, especially students, see
research as a difficult subject and task, and this can be a result
of poor training in schools. If students can be trained on how
to properly carry out research and how it can be applied, it
would encourage and inspire them to carry out true research
without seeing it as a burden.

Research is not merely done to gain marks, and thereafter
abandoned: It is imperative to note that after carrying out the
process of research, it has to be published in an appropriate
journal. It should not be abandoned or stored somewhere
hidden. A research work not published cannot be referred to as
true research.

 Scientific Research


A scientific research is the process by which
scientists study various phenomenon using
systematic methods of collecting, analyzing,
and interpreting data.

It is often referred to as a creative process
because it involves novel ways to test ideas
that can lead to new ideas and information.
 What is scientific study?


Scientific study is a method of obtaining information in order to
address a previously identified problem or question.

This often involves forming and testing a hypothesis, or an
explanation for something based on prior knowledge or research.

Scientists study a wide variety of topics, including medicine,
psychology, chemistry, environmental sciences, and more. People
can even conduct scientific research investigating aspects of their
daily lives.

An important note regarding scientific findings is that they are
falsifiable.
 A scientific finding can be shown to be false through experimentation. This
is an important distinction between science and pseudoscience or beliefs.


Scientists use a variety of methods to study their topics of interest:

Scientific method: This is a general framework on how scientists
approach various types of problems.
 They identify the problem or question, propose a hypothesis (i.e., a
potential explanation), gather data about their topic, and make a
conclusion based on the data they obtained.

Observational studies: This involves watching a particular
phenomenon as a way to look for certain effects, relationships, or
outcomes.
 For example, researchers may observe married couples to learn how they
deal with marital stress when they encounter different types of relationship
problems, or researchers may observe rat colonies to see the effects of a
newly designed medical treatment.


Scientific experiments: This involves
systematically manipulating factors in a controlled
environment in order to establish a causal
relationship between the variables of interest.
 For example, researchers may administer a drug to a
group of rats and compare their behavior to another
group that received no drug to determine whether or
not the drug has an effect.
 If the researchers can rule out alternative
explanations for any differences observed between
the groups, they can draw a causal inference.

Scientific research is classified into different categories based on
different factors:

How the data is collected
 Observational research

this is a method of addressing hypotheses by simply observing.

It can take place in a laboratory or in a natural setting.
 Experimental research

This is a method in which scientists manipulate variables in a controlled setting in an
attempt to make a causal inference about the variables of interest.

In this type of research, there is an independent variable and a dependent variable.
The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated to see whether or not
changing it effects other variables. The dependent variable is the variable researchers
predict will be influenced by the independent variable.




How data will be applied:
 Clinical research

Clinical research is when scientists study the efficacy and safety of
a medication or treatment.

This type of research is often used to investigate medical products
and procedures that might be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent
medical conditions or symptoms.

It is also called practical research because it involves the real-world
application of scientific findings.
 Laboratory research

Laboratory research is generally conducted in order to advance
knowledge or understanding of a particular idea or phenomenon.

It is used to establish, test, and revise scientific theories.

It is also referred to as basic research and it often provides the
groundwork for applied or clinical research.

Purpose of the research
 Exploratory

This type of research is used to explore new ideas or unanswered questions.

This is similar to the idea of an explorer, or someone who travels to a new land to see
what's there.

A lot of our medical breakthroughs have resulted from exploratory research.

For example, newly developed drugs are often tested in new contexts to determine
different ways in which they can be used.
 Descriptive

This type of research is used to describe various phenomena.

In behavioral research, it is used to describe the characteristics of a particular population
or group of people.
 Explanatory

This type of research is used to explain why a particular phenomenon occurs.

It often involves establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between different variables.
For example, once researchers discover that a particular drug works, they can then
conduct explanatory studies to understand exactly why it works.


Objectives and Motivations of Research

Objectives of Research:

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions
through the application of scientific procedures.

The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden
and which has not been discovered as yet.

Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we
may think of research objectives as falling into a number of
following broad groupings:
 To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it
 To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual,
situation or a group
 To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which
it is associated with something else
 To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables.

Motivation in Research

What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of
fundamental importance. The possible motives for doing research may
be either one or more of the following:
 Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;
 Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern
over practical problems initiates research;
 Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;
 Desire to be of service to society;
 Desire to get respectability.

Many more factors such as directives of government, employment
conditions, curiosity about new things, desire to understand causal
relationships, social thinking and awakening, and the like may as well
motivate people to perform research operations.
 Characteristics of Research


The research should focus on priority problems.

The research should be systematic. It emphasizes
that a researcher should employ a structured
procedure.

The research should be logical. Without manipulating
ideas logically, the scientific researcher cannot make
much progress in any investigation.

The research should be reductive. This means that
one researcher’s findings should be made available to
other researchers to prevent them from repeating the
same research.
 …. characteristics

The research should be generative. This is one of the valuable
characteristics of research because answering one question leads
to generating many other new questions.

The research should be action-oriented. In other words, it should
be aimed at solving to implement its findings.

The research should follow an integrated multidisciplinary
approach, i.e., research approaches from more than one discipline
are needed.

The research should be participatory, involving all parties
concerned (from policymakers down to community members) at all
stages of the study.

The research must be relatively simple, timely, and time-bound,
employing a comparatively simple design.

The research must be as much cost-effective as possible.
 Approaches of Research

Qualitative research: is a method that collects data using

conversational methods, usually open-ended questions.
- The responses collected are essentially non-numerical.
- This method helps a researcher understand what
participants think and why they think in a particular way.
Types of qualitative methods include:
One-to-one Interview
Focus Groups
Ethnographic studies
Text Analysis
Case Study

A focus group: research method used to collect
opinions and feedback from a group of people about
a specific product, concept, or service.
 The group is typically made up of 8-10 people who are
invited to discuss their opinions, thoughts, and feelings in
a facilitated discussion.

Ethnography: involves observing people in their
own environment to understand their experiences,
perspectives and everyday practices.
 This can give in-depth insight into a particular context,
group or culture.

Textual analysis: is a broad term for various research
methods used to describe, interpret and understand
texts.
 All kinds of information can be gleaned from a text – from
its literal meaning to the subtext, symbolism, assumptions,
and values it reveals.

Case study is a detailed study of a specific subject,
such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or
phenomenon.
 Case studies are good for describing, comparing,
evaluating and understanding different aspects of a
research problem.
Quantitative research: deal with numbers and
measurable forms.
- It answers questions to justify relationships
with measurable variables to either explain, predict,
or control a phenomenon.
Types of quantitative methods include:
Survey research
Descriptive research
Correlational research

Survey research: the collection of information
from a sample of individuals through their
responses to questions.
 allows for a variety of methods to recruit participants,
collect data, and utilize various methods of
instrumentation.

Descriptive research: aims to accurately and
systematically describe a population, situation or
phenomenon.
 It can answer what, where, when and how questions,
but not why questions.

Correlational research design investigates
relationships between two variables (or more)
without the researcher controlling or
manipulating any of them.

Mixed methods research is an approach to
inquiry involving collecting both quantitative and
qualitative data, integrating the two forms of data,
and using distinct designs that may involve
philosophical assumptions and theoretical
frameworks.

The core assumption of this form of inquiry is that
the combination of qualitative and quantitative
approaches provides a more complete
understanding of a research problem than either
approach alone.
 Principles of a Good Research Report


Report writing differs from person to person depending on
personality, imaginative and creative abilities, experience, and
training. However, most researchers agree that following general
principles must be kept in mind to produce a better research
report. These principles are often called as qualities or
requirements of a good report.

Selectiveness:
 It is important to exclude the matter, which is known to all. Only
necessary contents should be included to save time, costs, and energy.
However, care should be taken that the vital points should not be missed.

Comprehensiveness:
 Report must be complete. It must include all the necessary contents.
 it must contain enough detail to covey meaning.

Cost Consideration:
 It must be prepared within the budgeted amount. It should not result into
excessive costs.

Accuracy:
 As far as possible, research report must be prepared carefully. It must be free
from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

Objectivity:
 Report must be free from personal bias, i.e., it must be free from one’s personal
liking and disliking.
 The facts must be stated boldly. It must reveal the bitter truth.
 It must suit the objectives and must meet expectations of the relevant
audience/readers.

Clarity:
 Report must reveal the facts clearly.
 Contents and conclusions drawn must be free from ambiguities.
 outcomes must convey clear-cut implications.

Preciseness:
 Research report must not be unnecessarily lengthy. It must contain
only necessary parts with adequate description.

Simplicity:
 Report must be simple to understand. Unnecessary technical words
or terminologies (jargons) should be avoided.

Proper Language:
 Researcher must use a suitable language. Language should be
selected as per its target users.

Reliability:
 Research report must be reliable.
 Manager can trust on it and can be convinced to decide on the
basis of research reports.


Proper Format:
 An ideal report is one, which must be prepared as
per commonly used format.
 One must comply with the contemporary practices;
completely a new format should not be used.

Attractive:
 Report must be attractive in all the important regards
like size, colour, paper quality, etc.
 Similarly, it should use liberally the charts, diagrams,
figures, illustrations, pictures, and multiple colours.
What is Research in Computing?


Some areas of research are theoretical and
involve developing and analyzing new
algorithms and techniques,

while some are more applied and involve
experiments, design, implementation, and
testing.

In any case, research is an enterprise of
intellectual exploration that seeks to advance
our field.