Lect1 intro-cs-research

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Pascasarjana STMIK Nusa Mandiri
Lecture 1
2Research Methodology - Dr. Said Mirza Pahlevi, M.Eng.

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Today's Lecture
1. Computer Science: The Discipline
2. The Nature of Research
3. Research Methodology
4. Research Characteristics and Roles
Albert Einstein

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First Topic
Computer Science (CS)
 Also known as
 Computer science and engineering
 Computing
 Informatics
 Here used in a broad sense
 Degree programs (esp. US): CS ≠ SE ≠ IS ≠ IT
 Sometimes CS is narrower
 Excluding more practically oriented topics
 hardcore, mathematical orientation

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CS as a Discipline
“Computer science and engineering is the systema-
tic study of algorithmic processes that describe and
transform information – their theory, analysis,
design, efficiency, implementation and application.”
ACM Task Force on the core of Computer Science , "Computing
as a discipline.“
Fundamental question:
What can be (efficiently) automated?
CS as a Discipline
 “Computer science is the study of the phenomena
surrounding computers.”
Newell and Simon, ACM Turing Lecture 1976: "Computer
Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and Search.“
 The phenomena are
 the structure and operation of computer systems,
 principles underlying computer system design & programming,
 effective methods for using computers for information
processing tasks, and
 theoretical characterizations of their properties and limitations.

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Standard Concerns (1)
1. Algorithmic thinking
 Formulating action in step-by-step procedures that give
unambiguous results when carried out by anyone.
2. Representation
 How to represent information so that it can be effectively
found.
 Inventing ways of encoding phenomena to allow algorithmic
processing, e.g., mathematical expression & speech
representation.
Standard Concerns (2)
3. Programming
 Embody the above two (algorithm & representation) in
software that will cause a machine to perform in a prescribed
way.
4. Design
 Connect the above three (algorithm, representation & design)
to the needs of people, e.g., engineering tradeoffs, integrating
available components, meeting time and cost constraints, and
meeting safety and reliability requirements.

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Sub Areas of CS
1. Algorithms & data
structures
2. Programming languages
3. Architecture
4. Operating systems &
networks
5. Software engineering
6. Databases and information
retrieval
7. AI & robotics
8. Graphics
9. Human computer
interaction
10. Computational science
11. Organizational
informatics
12. Bioinformatics
CS Area and the Paradigm
CS Area Theory Abstraction Design
Architecture Digital logic,
Boolean algebra
etc.
Finite state
machine, etc.
RISC, CISCs etc.
OS Scheduling theory,
etc.
Job scheduling,
distributed
computation etc.
Time-sharing
system, memory
manager, etc.
Database Relational algebra,
relational calculus
etc.
Data model, query
optimization, etc.
Relational ,
hierarchical,
network database
design

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Major Paradigms within CS
1. THEORY: building conceptual frameworks and
notations for understanding relationships
between objects.
 Computational complexity
 Algorithms
 Data structures
 Graph theory
 etc.
Queuing Theory
Research Methodology - Dr. Said Mirza Pahlevi, M.Eng. 15

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2. EXPERIMENTATION/ABSTRACTION: Exploring models
of systems and architectures within given application
domains and testing whether those models can predict
new behaviors accurately.
 Prototyping to extend abstractions to practice
 Simulations of systems and of physical processes
 Testing of protocols
 System performance analysis
 Comparisons of different architectures
 Etc. 16Research Methodology - Dr. Said Mirza Pahlevi, M.Eng.
3. DESIGN: Construct computer systems that
support work in given organizations or
application domains
 Program development systems
 Simulators
 microchip design systems
 etc.

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Second Topic
What is Research?
 Research is:
“The process employed when we move from a state of
ignorance to a state of knowledge”
“…the systematic process of collecting and analyzing
information (data) in order to increase our understanding
of the phenomenon about which we are concerned or
interested.”
Leedy P. D. and Ormrod J. E., Practical Research: Planning and Design, 7th Edition.
2001.

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What is Research?
 Careful or diligent search.
 Studious (gigih) enquiry or examination,
especially
 Investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and
interpretation of facts,
 Revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts,
or
 Practical application of such new or revised theories or laws
What is Research?
 From Wikipedia:
 A human activity based on intellectual application in the
investigation of matter.
 Its primary purpose is discovering, interpreting, and
developing methods and systems for the advancement of
human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters.
 Research can use the scientific method, but need
not do so
 To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on
gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence

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What is Research?
 Research is necessary for learning.
 All who have learned something have been
researchers.
 Enjoy the ride!
Example
 Examples, finding:
 A cinema that’s showing a film you want to see [few minutes]
 A more efficient automobile engine [few years]
 A proof of Fermat’s last theorem [few centuries]
 Ways of combating e-fraud [ongoing]
 Published research (in a broad sense) is the
history of human endeavour (usaha/percobaan)

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What is Not Research?
 Research is not information gathering:
 Gathering information from resources such books or
magazines is not research.
 No contribution to new knowledge.
 e.g., clipping.
What is Not Research?
 Research is not the transportation of facts:
 Merely transporting facts from one resource to another does
not constitute research.
 No contribution to new knowledge although this might make
existing knowledge more accessible.
 e.g., indexing some information and store them into database.

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Types of Research (Duration)
 Long-term (blue skies) research.
 Einstein did this; typical university research.
 Medium-term research.
 Typical university research.
 Short-term research.
 Typical industrial laboratory research.
 Development.
 Typical software house activity.
Third Topic

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Type of Research Methodology
 Methodologies are high-level approaches to
conducting research.
 The individual steps within the methodology might vary
based on the research being performed.
 Research methodologies mainly used in CS.
1. Quantitative (QNT).
2. Qualitative (QLT).
3. Constructive/Design (DS).
1. Quantitative Method (QNT)
 Concentrates on the collection and analysis of data in a
numeric form thereby emphasing large scale and
representative sets of data.
 Measure features of some situation in numbers.
 The rationale: information collected by asking a set of pre-
formulated questions;
 Predetermined sequence & structured questionnaire formats are used.
 Sample sectors drawn are representative of a defined population.
 Present hypotheses about relation between numerical
variables.
 Confirm/reject by statistical hypothesis testing.

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Characteristics of QTN
 Empirical research to establish quantitative
knowledge, e.g.
 Field studies (with quantified data)
 Experiments
 Surveys (with quantified data)
 Typical research questions:
 Cause and effect
 Comparison: A > B ? Or > : faster, better, more popular, …
 Trends
Example of QTN
 Comparing various granularity reduction algorithms for
temporal databases.
 Removing intermediate versions of pages
 Query for individual pages or web sites as they were at a
particular time T.
 Experimental design:

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2. Qualitative Method (QLT)
 Focuses on exploring research problems in as
much detail as possible aiming to achieve ‘depth’
rather than ‘breath’(Delament,1992; Silverman
1998).
 Concerned with collecting and analysing
information in many forms, chiefly non-numeric.
 Explorative, hypothesis generation.

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Qualitative Research: An Example
 If you want to know how tall someone is
 Measure their height
 Measure lots of peoples height and compute average or
median
 QUANTITATIVE
 If you want to understand
 How their height affects them
 How they think about their height
 QUALITATIVE
3. Constructive/Design Research
 Creating or changing an artefact with the goal of
providing a new feature or improving existing
features.
 Artefact: hardware, software, algorithm, data structure,
design method, computer/software architecture, user
interface, support for business process, …
 Involves evaluating the artefact being developed
analytically against some predefined criteria or
performing benchmark tests.

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Example of Design Research
 NetProbe: A Fast and Scalable System for Fraud
Detection in Online Auction Networks, Shashank
Pandit et.al. (WWW07)
 Anomalies or auction fraud is detected from a
large online network of online auction users
and their histories of transactions.
Fraud Detection Method
 Two types of Fraudsters: fraud and accomplice.
 The fraud: actually carry out the fraud,
 The accomplices: boosting the fraud’s feedback rating.
 Accomplices behave like perfectly legitimate users
and interact with other honest users to achieve high
feedback ratings.
 They also interact with the fraud identities to form
near bipartite cores, which helps the fraud identities
gain a high feedback rating.

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Modeling the Auction
 A node represents a user, while an edge between
two nodes denotes that the corresponding users
have transacted at least once.
 Each node can be in any of 3 states — fraud,
accomplice, and honest.

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NetProbe
Types of Research (Data)
 Primary research
 Involves the collection of data that does not already exist;
collected from research subjects and/or experiments.
 Numerous collection methods, including questionnaires,
telephone interviews etc.
 Secondary research
 Use information that other people have gathered through
primary research.
 Involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing
research.

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Fourth Topic
Research Characteristics
 Originates with a question or problem
 Requires clear articulation of a goal
 Follows a specific plan or procedure
 Often divides main problem into subproblems
 Accepts certain critical assumptions
 Requires collection and interpretation of data
 Cyclical (helical) in nature

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High-Quality Research (1)
 Good research requires:
 The scope and limitations of the work to be clearly defined.
 The process to be clearly explained so that it can be
reproduced and verified by other researchers.
 A thoroughly planned design that is as objective as possible.
High-Quality Research
 Good research requires:
 Highly ethical standards be applied.
 All limitations be documented.
 Data be adequately analyzed and explained.
 All findings be presented unambiguously and all conclusions
be justified by sufficient evidence.

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Particular Types of Researcher
 Permanent academic.
 Research scientists, fellow, associate.
 Postdoctoral research associate.
 PhD student.
 MSc student.
 Undergraduate.
 College student.
Undergraduate Student
 Ability to conduct study with the guidance of a
mentor.
 Understand the basic principle of concepts and be
able to apply them.
 Ability to organise and present material in thesis.

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MSc student
 Ability to conduct independent study.
 Understand its relationship to wider field of
knowledge.
 Ability to organise and present material in thesis.
PhD Student
 Dissertation must be wholly the candidate’s own work.
 Original contribution to knowledge or understanding.
 Show candidate’s ability to test ideas (own or others).
 Understand relationship of theme to a wider field of
knowledge.
 Of scholarly merit, justify publication.
 Ability to organise and present material in dissertation.

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Evolutionary Approach
How it can go wrong
 Trying to save an expanding universe.
 Expecting divine inspiration, or something to turn up.
 Too much implementation (computer junkie).
 Love of unnecessary complexity.
 Too abstract.

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Remember!
 Research is a craft skill.
 Gain experience of skills and techniques before
applying them to your research.
 Writing, library use, oral presentation
 Software development
 Theorems and proofs
 Analysis and presentation of results
 Deploy only the skills necessary for your research:
time will be too short to do otherwise
Traditional Research Process

Lect1 intro-cs-research

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