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RESEARCH METHODS IN
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Abd-Elhamid M. Taha
Todays outline
Course overview
Ai il d li bl
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Aims, milestones, deliverables
Working with a supervisor
Roles and responsibilities
Seeking advice and help
Getting started
Resources
Overview of Assignment #1
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Course Overview
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Course Overview
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CISC 897
Name: Research Methods in Computer Science
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Objectives
Give students basic research and working skills
Getting them started in their theses
Format
One semester
Focused modules leading to survey and presentation
For credit (i.e. towards a mark)
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By the time were done
Youll be able to
R d i i ll
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Read critically;
Write better;
Present better;
Be more organized;
Become more aware of your field;
Give an elevator pitch; and
Have a better thesis.
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Timeline
Module Date Theme
1 Jan 13 Getting start
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2 Jan 20 Time management
3 Jan 27 Research methods
4 Feb 3 Compose yourself - I
5 Feb 10 Compose yourself - II
6 Feb 17 Elevator pitch
Feb 24 Reading week
7 Mar 3 Ethics in research
8 Mar 10 TBD
9 Mar 17 TBD
10 Mar 24 Looking ahead
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Mar 31
Apr 7
Presentations
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Main deliverables
Writing assignments
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Reading assignments
Short presentation (February 6)
Long presentation (March 31 and April 7)
Critique of (others) long presentations
Survey paper (tentative deadline: April 12) Survey paper (tentative deadline: April 12)
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Marking scheme
Component Percentage
Reviews 20
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Weekly assignments, class discussion 15
Short presentation 10
Long presentation 15
Critique of (other) long presentations 5
Survey paper (12-15 pages) 35
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Consult your supervisor
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For choice of
P i (3) Papers to review (3)
Topic of survey report and presentation
Reviews
Deadlines: February 10, March 13, and April 7
Instructions will be posted later today
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Survey
Presentation on either March 31 or April 7
Report due April 12
Basic resources
Textbook
Booth, Colomb and Williams, The Craft of Research,
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, , ,
University of Chicago Press, 3
rd
Edition, 2008
References (refer to course website)
Zobel, Writing for Computer Science, Springer-Verlag
London, 2
nd
Edition, 2004.
How to do research (www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/reserach-
tips)
You and Your Research Interview with Dr Richard W You and Your Research, Interview with Dr. Richard W.
Hamming (www.chriss-lott.org/misc/kaiser.html)
David Allen, Getting Things Done, Penguin, 2001
43 Folders (www.43folders.com)
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Getting in touch
Goodwin, Room 754
@
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Email: taha@cs.queensu.ca
Website: www.cs.queensu.ca/~cisc897
Office hours: by arrangement
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Working with a Supervisor
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A reading of the Queens SGS document
Roles and Responsibilities in Graduate
Supervision: A Guide for Students, Faculty and
Departments
Working with a Supervisor
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Starting point
By now, youve chosen your supervisor
You probably chosen your general area
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You probably chosen your general area
And you may have already started working on your
problem
You also know
Graduate program coordinator
Prof. Kai Salomaa (ksalomaa)
G d i 545 613 533 6073 Goodwin 545, 613 533-6073
Graduate program assistant
Debby Robertson (debby)
Goodwin 556, 613 533-6781
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Defining a supervisor
A supervisor is also
Prof
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Prof.
Teacher
Researcher
Supervisor (to you and others)
Administrator (School, Faculty, Queens)
Technical volunteer (editorial boards, conference ( ,
organizations, etc.)
Add to this personal stuff (family, hobbies, etc.)
supervisors are people
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Defining you
A student with a commitment to dedicate
reasonable efforts and reso rces to f lfill the
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reasonable efforts and resources to fulfill the
requirements of your degree
Known to have other commitments and aspirations,
though non to hinder your progress
Your MSc is a full time engagement
and you, too, are a human being
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The relationship
Mutual elements of the relationship
Work
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Trust
Respect
Integrity
Honesty
Understanding
Courtesy
Appreciation
A fundamental role of supervisors is that of senior
partner
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Supervisor role and responsibilities
Offering guidance and advice
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Clarifying expectations
Ensuring and verifying student theoretical readiness
Reviewing students work in a timely fashion
Being reasonably accessible and available
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Supervisor R&R (Cont.)
Ensuring safe and humane working conditions
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Encouragement
Knowing relevant regulations
Advising and (if possible) helping with career after
graduation
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Student role and responsibilities
Be fully dedicated to highest level of academic
achie ement
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achievement
Know and comply to relevant regulations (school
and SGS)
Adhere to highest ethical and scientific standards
Provide evidence of satisfactory progress (per
supervisor recommendations)
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Student R&R (Cont.)
Seriously consider (but need not accept) advice and
criticism from s per isor
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criticism from supervisor
Be fully forthcoming on state of progress
Be accessible, available, reachable to supervisor,
department, SGS and registrar office
Maintain any records, files or documents relevant to
his work
Seek publication (per agreement with collaborators)
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Dept. and Grad Coordinator R&R
Maintaining and updating information about
program financial s pport proced res and
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program, financial support, procedures and
deadlines
Ensure department and SG regulations are
followed
Be reasonably accessible
Maintain channels and resources for support and
resolving problems (academic and non-academic)
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SGS roles and responsibilities
Offering professional development courses and
opport nities
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opportunities
Ensuring policies are followed
Advising students on academic issues and
facilitating informal solutions (as appropriate)
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When things go bad
Are they really going bad?
E i l d di f R&R l l i
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Essential understanding of R&R plus regulations on
proper conduct should void issues such as
misunderstandings and minor, non-intentional mishaps
Phases of conflict resolution
Informal discussions
D i l Department involvement
SGS involvement
Grievance channels
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Phases of conflict resolution
Seek advice
O h d d d di d
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Other students, grad rep, grad. coordinator, grad.
program assistant
Informal channels
student : supervisor
student : grad. coordinator and/or dept. head
Formal channels
student : SGS associate dean(s)
student : Queens grievance procedure
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Conduct through conflict resolution
Be respectful
Dont fret power differential expect empathy but not bias
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Don t fret power differential expect empathy, but not bias
Maintain record of incidents and evidence (if any)
From Queens side
Where possible, formal communications should be limited to
those parties directly concerned in dealing with problems
Note that, unless warranted by unusual circumstances, no
interruptions to the students academic program may be put into e up o s o e s ude s acade c p og a ay be pu o
effect until all channels of appeal or grievance have been
exhausted, or the time for appeal has been allowed to lapse.
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Other sources of advice
SGPS student advisors
d d i @
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studentadvisors@sgps.ca
Extends beyond student-supervisor matters to include
personal, residential and health concerns
Free and confidential
1:1 counseling at HCDS
LaSalle Building, 146 Stuart St,
613-533-6000 ext. 78264
Counsels on stress, emotional distress, disabilities, etc.
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Left-out from the document
Sections on
Fi i l i
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Financial assistance
Intellectual property
Publication
Appendix A: General Guidelines for Authorship
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Getting Started
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Getting Started
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So you want to do research ?
What is research?
S l i hi h h b l d b f
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Solving something that has not been solved before
Emphasis on problem being solved at all
Solving something that has been solved before, but
youre going solve it better (simpler, faster, less
memory, less hardware, etc.)
Emphasis will be on gains per effort invested Emphasis will be on gains per effort invested
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So you want to do research ?
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Investigating certain phenomena to recognize trends,
patterns structures patterns, structures
Emphasis will be on method of investigation
Identifying problems with existing frameworks as time
goes by, number of users increase, etc.
Emphasis will be on significance of the problem
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Expectations
Writing a program is not (by itself) an act of
research
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research
At the same time, youre not expected to cure the
incurable
You are expected to work at a problem that is
Clearly defined
Interesting Interesting
Challenging
Feasible (given time, space and resources)
With sufficient impact
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Once you have a problem
Read about it;
R d i d h
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Read again; and then
Read some more
Active, critical reading is the objective
Takes notes of
What youve learned;
What youve liked;
What youve hated;
And what you didnt understand
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Big picture, small picture
Reading is a constant exercise that should be
maintained thro gho t o r st dies
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maintained throughout your studies
Your problem will not be defined once
Your solution will not be made in one go
Expect back-to-the-drawing-board to happen
Maintain perspective p p
Zoom out to make sure everything is in place
Zoom in to make sure everything is working as it should
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The thing about writing
Keeping records and making useful notes is only a
small part
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small part
Its an exercise in
Testing what youve learned
Structuring your thoughts
Making sure what you know from what you dont
Being able to say what you mean
Make it a habit it will pay off in the long run
Remember: Easy reading is damn hard writing
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What else can you do?
Talk to your peers
Follow activities and news in your specific and general
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Follow activities and news in your specific and general
areas
Expand your readings, e.g.
ACM Communications
IEEE Spectrum
Attend conferences (if possible)
Seek workshops, classes and resources in department
and university
Work hard, play hard
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Resources
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Resources
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Getting Material
Search Engines
ACM l
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ACM portal
IEEE ieeeXplore
Elsevier ScienceDirect
Wiley InterScience
Springer SpringerLink
Google Scholar (to a limit)
PSU IST citeseer (at times, you have to use mirrors)
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Queens Library
The basic library catalogue
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RACER
Access to university libraries across Ontario
(charges may apply to photocopying)
Books 24x7 ITPro Collection
Requires (free) registration
Services for grad students
http://library.queensu.ca/services/grads
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Learning Strategies Development
Learning Strategies Development
R 142 L i C S ff
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Room 142, Learning Commons, Stauffer
Drop in possible
http://www.bewell-dowell.org/sos/index.html
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Other resources at Queens
School of Graduate Studies
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http://www.queensu.ca/sgs/index.html
Offers various workshops and courses
Career Services
http://careers.queensu.ca/
Offers various workshops
Available (with appointment) for career advice
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More resources
Course website will provide links and (when
possible) carr files to an e panding set of
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possible) carry files to an expanding set of
resources
Theres also the Schools Useful Graduate Student
Resources
http://sites.cs.queensu.ca/gradresources/
Finally, do share if you find something worthwhile
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Overview of Assignment #1
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Overview of Assignment #1
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Task #1: Reading
Requested (by next week)
O B i S i i R ibl C d i R h
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On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research,
National Academy Press.
(http://cemece.trakya.edu.tr/images/OnBeingAScientis
t.pdf)
S. Keshav, How to Read a Paper, ACM SIGCOMM
Computer Communication Review, Volume 37, Issue 3, p , , ,
pp. 83-84, July 2007.
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Task #2: Exploration
Relevant and closest to your area, name
1 SIG f i l i
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1 SIG or professional society
2 journals
2 conferences, symposia or workshops
1 thesis titles (not from Queens)
3 web presences (mailing list, blog, forum, news site)
Attach a call for papers (CFP) from your area
Deadline: January 20
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Task #3: Website and email signature
If you dont have one, create a website in your
school (not qlink) acco nt
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school (not qlink) account
Should contain picture, home/about, research, and (if
applicable) teaching and publications
Deadline: February 9
Adjust your email signature to reflect your status,
d t t and contacts
Deadline: January 15
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Task #4: A recent write up
Send in a recent write-up of yours
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Could be a course project or a paper
If the work is collaborative, indicate your share
Also indicate if you were aided in the write-up
Deadline: January15
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Task #5: Track of time
Keep track of your work related activities
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Note
Usefulness (to you)
Planned vs. accidental
Grade them from -1 to 1 with 0 being neutral
Deadline: recurring, weekly g, y
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Questions ?
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