Research Methods

1. MSc ISRM
Research Methods
School of Computer Science 22 July 2016

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Problem Domain

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Literature Review
• Refine your research question and
objectives
• Provide justification for the project
• Categorise and characterise existing
research
• Contextualise your research within existing
research

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Literature Review
• Identify research possibilities and “gaps” in
the literature
• Identify research methods/strategies for
your own work
• Avoid “re-inventing the wheel”
• Provide a starting point for other
researchers following in your footsteps

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A Model of the literature
survey process

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Basic formats of literature
• Thesis: PhD, MPhil, MSc, BSc
• Book
• Journal article
• Conference proceedings
• Workshop/Symposium paper
• Technical report
• Non-academic: newspaper, magazine,
internet, software manuals, etc - handle
with care

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Good or Bad Literature
• Academic Papers are not all the same:
– note different levels of quality/peer review
– journal >>> conference >> position paper >
workshop
– Citations - can indicate influential or key
papers
• Google scholar
• citeseer
• Try to get a feel for the main
authors/research groups in your field

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Epistemology
• The theory of knowledge
– What is knowledge?
– How is knowledge acquired?
– What do people know?
– How do we know what we know?
– Why do we know what we know?
• In the context of an MSc programme you do not
need a full grounding in epistemology
• However you need to be aware of how your
methods are/can be influenced by it

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Your Research Method
• Ultimately you engage in a problem domain
about which you should know the boundaries
and your place within the domain
• If not perfectly, then to some degree
• Your research method is then based on ‘best fit’
(given that you cannot know everything)
• How you do this is generally dependent upon
your view of reality
• And upon your ontological standpoint (what
does it mean to exist?)

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Reality
1. There is a reality ‘out there’ which is
apprehendable and measurable in an objective
way
2. There is a reality ‘out there’, but it is one which
is only imperfectly comprehensible. Any
findings are probable at best; the best one can
hope for in terms of certainty is falsification of
existing hypotheses

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Reality
3. Any reality which is ‘out there’, for human
beings at least, is ineradicably shaped by
social, political, cultural and economic values.
These crystallise over time and determine what
can be seen and how it is seen
4. There is no reality ‘out there’: we come to
situations and ‘construct’ realities because of
social, political, cultural and economic filters
and values. What exists is nothing more than
multiple realities constructed locally

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Definitions of reality
• These viewpoints are equally valid
• You might not like them
• The foundations of human knowledge and
the science of truth is based upon the
great minds having a view on where their
reality is founded
• Typical representation is a continuum
Objectivism Relativism

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Where do you stand?
• Strong Objectivism
– The World is underpinned by eternally true facts and
values, which are revealed to us in one way or another
to guide us through this world
• Common Objectivism
– There are certain eternally true facts and values which
can be relied upon as pillars of certainty
• Subjectivism
– Knowledge of the truth of facts and values is limited by
ones viewpoint, but there are ways of judging the worth
of one viewpoint against another

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Where do you stand?
• Common Relativism
– The ‘truth’ of most facts and values is dependent
upon ones point of view, and can never be ultimately
proved to be better than any others
• Strong Relativism
– There is no such thing as ‘truth’ : it is the feelings of
individuals and groups about their own experiences.
Life is a choice of journeys; no one better than any
other

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A Hierarchy of Truth
• Consider the following 12 propositions
• For each one try to categories the nature
of the ‘truth’ presented in the statement
• Try to apply a single word to each
statement

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Hierarchy of Truth
• Axiomatic
– By definition
• Empirical
– Measurable
• Historical
– Unique and unrepeatable
• Aesthetic
– Verified by experts
• Ethical
– A shared truth
• Religious
– Belief driven
• Your research method(s) must acknowledge the
truth you are trying to establish
• And inform your chosen method

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Research Methods
• In the context of an MSc Project your chosen
Research Method must fall out of a series of
questions
• What is going to be investigated
– The main issues / questions / problem
• Why are these issues important
– Justification in terms of
• Literature
• Your experience
• Practicality and feasibility

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Research Methods
• The biggest question you need to answer
– Is your interest to measure an issue or
situation
• Typical questions – How much, how many, to what
extent...
– Or is it to understand a situation better?
• Typical question – Why?
• Your Methodology design should therefore
– Say how you are planning to answer your
research question(s)

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Methodology Types
• Typically three options
• Quantitative
– About measurement
– Typically involve numbers (or scales)
• Qualitative
– About developing understanding
– Can involve feelings / attitudes
• Mixed
– Explore the nature of a problem then measure
its extent

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Quantitative Methods
• Typically Quantitative methods involve
– Questionnaires
– Structured Interviews
– Structured Observations
– Statistical Analysis of findings
• Typically resulting in one of 3 types of
number
– Nominal (it is or it is not – e.g. Pregnancy)
– Ordinal (ranking – e.g. A horserace)
– Interval (scaled – e.g. Temperature)

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Quantitative Methods
• Key questions
– What data are needed
– What instruments will be needed to gather data
– How will the data be analysed
– When do you do the data analysis
– Can you test whether your analysis of the
results can inform your main research
question(s)
• All of these involve negotiation with your
supervisor

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Qualitative Methods
• Typically Qualitative methods involve
– Interviews (semi / unstructured)
– Participatory observation
• The findings are likely to be
– Words not numbers
– Full of Subjective meaning
– Open to Interpretation
• And therefore prevent categorisation
(mostly)

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Bias and Data Gathering
• Yes Prime Minister
– BBC TV Programme Episode 2 – The Ministerial Broadcast
(Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, 1986)

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Milgram’s Experiment
• A study in the early
1960’s which would
be illegal now
• Three people
• E – The
experimenter
• T – The teacher
• L – The learner

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Milgram’s Experiment
• When the ‘Teacher’ expressed
concern four statements of
increasing force were used:
– Please continue
– The experiment requires that you
continue
– It is absolutely essential that you
continue
– You have no other choice, you must
go on

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Milgram’s Experiment
• Before doing the experiment
Milgram polled 104 Yale
professors
• 2% believed that the ‘Teacher’
would administer the maximum
voltage
• Of the 37 original participants
• 26 of them ‘killed’ the learner
• Only one refused before 300V

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Milgram’s Experiment
• The experiment has been
replicated many times
• More recently in TV shows
whose ethics on research are
not so stringent
• “How violent are you” BBC
Horizon programme in 2009
(9/12)
• Derren Brown “The Heist” (65%)