Category: 1.3 Research Methods
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Where’s the value in design science research?
Design science research is a well-established research framework to structure research work. There are a couple of variants of this framework, but they all share the same idea that we should solve current and relevant problems by constructing novel solutions to these problems while using appropriate research methods in both the identification of the problem…
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A common single-person research design that does not work (well)
I’ve had some success in grant proposals with research designs for human-centered software engineering that follow the following (common) pattern. It is a three-step of I won a couple of one-person (Ph.D. student, i.e. three years of work) grants with this, but execution has been harder than expected. The skilled observer (e.g. experienced principal investigator)…
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How not to generate a hypothesis
xkcd is an enjoyable web cartoon, often with a scientific bent. This time they got it wrong, though. Introspection is not a proper research method to generate hypotheses. Rather you generate hypotheses from a theory that you are trying to validate. The development of that theory in turn is (should be) subject to the use…
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Making your theory practical
The output of research is theory, initially just proposed, later validated (or invalidated). A theory is a description or model of phenomena of interest, and its main value is to make predictions about these phenomena. No predictions, no theory. Predictions are turned into hypotheses to put a theory to the test. Sadly, the word theory…
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How to present a theory (as a handbook)
The key output of research is a theory or something supporting the building or validation of a theory. A theory, in turn, is knowlege, for example in the form of a model, that lets us predict the future or create reliable output in some form. Scientists usually publish theories for other scientists to review, in…
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Traditional theory building and validation in (computer) science
Many computer science degree programs do a lousy job at teaching science. A high school student, entering university, often has a good idea what science is about, based on their physics and chemistry classes. At least, it involves controlled experiments. At university, this is rarely picked up, and computer science students are given the idea…