Research Methodology

1. CISC 897: Research Methods
Week 1: Grad Studies @ SoC
Slides by: Bram Adams & Fahim T. Imam
School of Computing, Queen’s University

2. What
are Grad
Studies?

3. https://www.cs.queensu.ca/students/graduate/grad_faq.php
Let’s check the SoC Site!
that seems rather simplistic :-)
human compilers!
the operating system :-)?

4. https://www.cs.queensu.ca/students/graduate/grad_faq.php
More De
fi
nitions!
no comment :-)
this is more like it

5. https://www.cs.queensu.ca/applicants/graduate/msc.php
09/2022 09/2023 09/2024
01/2023 01/2024
05/2023 05/2024
3 or 4 courses 2 or 1 courses
proposal
thesis &
defence
research!
Research-based Master’s:
(generic) timeline
important: check with your supervisor
about what is a valid thesis in their lab,
how long funding is provided, etc.

6. The MSc thesis is typically constrained to a specific and
well-defined scientific and/or technical problem that can
be solved within the limited timeframe of the MSc
program, within 2 calendar years.
https://www.cs.queensu.ca/applicants/graduate/msc.php
2 publications?
1 publication?
3 publications?
major experiment?
individual
experiment?
group
project?
detailed
literature
study?
tool with
user study?
…

7. Talk to your Supervisor Early On!
what would/could
be your research
topic? what would/could be an interesting
topic for a literature survey
(related to the research topic)?

8. candidate, i.e., you!
Head’s rep supervisor
internal
external
candidate
About that Defence …

9. 09/2022 09/2023 09/2024
01/2023 01/2024
05/2023 05/2024
https://www.cs.queensu.ca/applicants/graduate/msc.php
Major Scholarship Deadlines
tentative, always check
https://www.queensu.ca/sgs/current-students/
funding-awards-scholarships-and-bursaries
NSERC/CIHR/SSHRC
CGS (01/12)
NSERC/CIHR/SSHRC
CGS (01/12)
Ontario
OGS (01/03)
Ontario
OGS (01/03)
Vector Institute
(24/03)
Vector Institute
(24/03)

10. same amount
of work ;-)
Master’s
Specializations
A Training Program
on the
Development,
Deployment and
Servicing of Artificial
Intelligence-based
Software Systems

11. Who’s
Who at
SoC? (1)

12. graduate studies administration
tech staff (hardware, software, network, you name it)
Who’s
Who at
SoC? (2)

13. So what
Kind of
Research
should I
Aspire to?

14. Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

15. What you Learn in Elementary School
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

16. What you Learn in High School
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

17. What you Learn in Undergrad
specialization
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

18. What you Learn in a Master’s Degree
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

19. What you Read in State-of-the-Art
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

20. What you do in a PhD …
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

21. What you do in a PhD …
fi
rst
years …
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

22. What you do in a PhD …
until
suddenly …
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

23. What you do in a PhD …
in perspective …
https://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-doctorate-5613794

24. Grad Studies
=
Learning to
Think

25. This is where
your
Supervisor
comes in!
You and Your Professor/Advisor

26. Beware:
There will
Always be
Boundaries!

27. (Un)Realistic
Assumptions
having a ready-
made research
problem that is
well-de
fi
ned, well-
formulated and
well-motivated
expecting your prof to
come up with a
perfect speci
fi
cation
of the research

29. Poll
About your research:
1. I know EXACTLY what I am doing or will be doing, I could
literally start this afternoon!
2. I kind of know what I am doing or will be doing, but
there are still loose ends before I could do something
concrete.
3. I know somehow the direction of what I will need to do,
but feel very confused and lost.
4. I do not know anything yet.

30. Research
Proposal
1. What are you going to do?
2. Why are you going to do it?
3. How are you going to do it?
It’s All About Answering
3 Key Questions
About Your Research
more on this in
week 2!

31. Any
Advice
for us?

32. WRITE.
EVERYTHING.
DOWN.

33. Everything?

34. YES.
EVERYTHING.
any meeting
notes with
supervisor,
etc.
future
research ideas
possible
workarounds
for problems
(even if they
did not work)
papers you
should read
notes about talks
you attend,
including your
questions and the
answers you got
your daily
todo list
research directions
and results that were
(un)successful
deadlines for
papers, forms,
thesis, etc.
whiteboard
discussions
…

35. Backup your Data, Scripts,
Documents, …
… automatically!

36. scripts, documents and
(to some extent) data
could be put on
GitHub, GitLab, etc.

37. larger data could be
backed up to online
storage (OneDrive,
Dropbox, etc.)

38. oh, and check
the ITS site for
goodies :-)

39. use overleaf,
Google Doc, …
for collaborative
editing
BTW, avoid using
Word for papers and
thesis, use latex!

40. use browser plugins
like Zotero to quickly
record and add
metadata about
papers to read!
then access them
from your latex
document using
bibtex

41. vs.
everyone has
Microsoft Excel,
or a Google
variant
intuitive
spreadsheet UI
research is iterative, so R/
Python scripts enable ad hoc
re-running of analyses
comment
your scripts!
test your scripts
using automated
test cases!
share your
(documented) scripts in
replication package
debug your
analysis in
IDE!

42. leverage (free) cloud
resources from
Compute Canada,
SHARCNET, …

43. attend seminars, even if not
on your topic (because it
could become your topic)!
take any
opportunity to
present your work
meet other grad
students, even
outside your
fi
eld
ask questions
during seminars,
talks, …
... and there’s a lot more!

44. ... and Always Show:

45. Research
Proposal
1. What are you going to do?
2. Why are you going to do it?
3. How are you going to do it?
It’s All About Answering
3 Key Questions
About Your Research
more on this in
week 2!
https://www.cs.queensu.ca/applicants/graduate/msc.php
09/2022 09/2023 09/2024
01/2023 01/2024
05/2023 05/2024
3 or 4 courses 2 or 1 courses
proposal
thesis &
defence
research!
Research-based Master’s:
(generic) timeline
important: check with your supervisor
about what is a valid thesis in their lab,
how long funding is provided, etc.
Grad Studies
= Learning to
Think
YES.
EVERYTHING.
any meeting
notes with
supervisor,
etc.
future
research ideas
possible
workarounds
for problems
(even if they
did not work)
papers you
should read
notes about talks
you attend,
including your
questions and the
answers you got
your daily
todo list
research directions
and results that were
(un)successful
deadlines for
papers, forms,
thesis, etc.
whiteboard
discussions
…