Research Methodology

CSM 376

Gaddafi Abdul-Salaam (Ph.D.)

Dept. of Computer Science
KNUST
 Research Process
 Realize there is a problem (initial idea)
 Look to see if anyone has solved it (Literature
Review)
 Develop a plan to solve it
 Solve it
 Evaluate your solution
 Disseminate your solution (presentation,
publication)
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 Facts about Research
• Is an academic activity

• A scientific approach
guided by
– a research problem,
question or hypothesis

• Originates with a question

• It involves a specific plan

and procedure

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 “There are in fact two things,
science and opinion;
the former produces knowledge,
the latter ignorance.”
- Hippocrates

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Steps in Conducting Research Overview

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 Research Process – Initial Idea
• Stems from critical thinking
• Be on the lookout for and open to seeing problems
– Gaps in framework
– Repetitive behavior that’s slightly different (and can be generalized)
– Manual solutions (that can be automated)
– Inelegant solutions
• Ask questions
– “Is something missing here?”
– “Can this be done in a better way?”
– “Is there a need for a new approach?”
• Should be an area you’re interested in, as:
– You’ll be spending a lot of time with it
– It won’t always be easy/fun to continue…
8
 Quote
“Nothing in life is to be feared,
It is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand
more,
So that we may fear less”
-Marie Curie(1867-1934)

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 Research problem
• The selection of an appropriate problem is the first
step in research.
• The term “Problem” means a question or issue raised
to examine or address for consideration or solution.
• The selection of a problem for research is not an easy
task; itself is a problem.
• Vision, an imaginative insight, plays an important
role in this process.
 Definition
• Conventional sense: a problem is a set of conditions needing
discussion, a solution, and information.

• Technical meaning: implies the possibility of empirical

investigation, that is, of data collection and analysis.

• A problem statement is a description of a problem that needs

to be solved or at least researched to see whether a solution
can be found.

• It should provide the reader with the context for the research
study and gives the questions which the research aims to
answer.
 Research originates from a need that arises

• What caused the need to do the research (problem

identification).
• Are there questions about this problem to which answers
have not been found up to the present?

PROBLEM and the PURPOSE/AIM/GOAL

• The problem is the aspect the researcher worries about,
thinks about, wants to find a solution for.
• The purpose is to solve the problem, i.e. find answers to the
question(s).
“What constitutes a problem situation in research?”

• An issue of concern
• Unanswered questions
• Missing links
• Imbalances
• Unsatisfactory state of affairs
• Technological change
 Ways of Starting

1.Problem Statement : General overview with just

information about the scope and purpose of the study
to provide an initial understanding of the research.
2.Research Objectives and/or Questions : More specific
focused statements and questions that communicate in
greater detail the nature of the study.
 Steps in research problems

1.Identify a broad topic

2.Identify a narrow topic within the broad topic
3.Raise questions
4.Formulate objectives

The identification of a good research problem should be considered a

discovery in itself.
•As soon as the researcher identifies a research problem he has to ensure
whether the research problem meets the appropriate Characteristics of
research problem.
• The following are the main characteristics of an appropriate research
problem.
 Characteristics of a good thesis research
problem

• 1 The problem can be stated clearly and concisely.

2 The problem generates research questions.
3 It is grounded in theory.
4 It relates to one or more academic fields of study.
5 It has a base in the research literature.
6 It has potential significance/importance.
7 It is do-able within the time frame, budget.
8 Sufficient data are available or can be obtained.
9 The researcher’s methodological strengths can be applied
to the problem.
10 The problem is new; it is not already answered
sufficiently.
 Developing your Project/research Proposal

• The process of conducting research projects.

• The process starts with an activity in which you
develop a project proposal.
• The project proposal is a short description of your
initial ideas about what you would like to do, and
how you intend to achieve the overall goal of the
project. The project proposal is submitted for quality
control.
Dev. your Project/research Proposal (Cont.)

On these few pages you need to introduce the reader

to the:
Subject area. What is the topic and scope of your
project/research?
Aim. What is the goal of your project/research?
Arguments. Why is it important to investigate the
chosen topic?
Objectives. Preliminary ideas for how you intend to
achieve the aim.
Dev. your Project/research Proposal (Cont.)
 Dev. your Project Proposal (Cont.)
1. Choosing a Subject Area: singular decision
The subject area is the topic of your project/research
Database systems. Object-oriented databases, relational databases,
active data-bases, multimedia databases, distributed databases, etc.
Electronic commerce. Infrastructure, web auctions, web shops,
company strategies for implementing electronic commerce, etc.
Software engineering. Software testing, object-oriented modeling,
CASE tools, rapid prototyping, etc
Human-computer interaction. Usability, interface design, visualisation,
etc.

A subject area may also consists of a combination of other subject areas, for
example, databases and human-computer interaction. These could be
combined, perhaps, to become user interfaces for database systems.
 others
• Reduce cyber security vulnerabilities;
• Better secure networks;
• Use automation and other processes to make takes
more efficient and cost-effective;
• Increase data privacy and compliance; and
• Improve the collection and analysis of data.
 Cyber security trend
1. The phishing landscape is changing, though email still ranks
as the biggest of those threats.
2. Increasing use of mobile as an attack vector
3. Targeting of local governments and enterprises via
ransomware attacks
4. Increasing emphasis on data privacy, sovereignty, and
compliance
5. The growing impact of AI and ML on cyber security
 Dev. your Project Proposal (Cont.)
2. Choose Problem to Focus on Within the Subject Area.
You focus your interest by identifying a problem within the subject area that
you would like to explore. For example, a potential problem within database
systems is how to map a logical database design to a physical database
design.

You should try to find problems which are of general interest, or which can be
generalized or applied, for example, to several companies or organizations.
 Here are some ways to identify a problem within the
subject area:
● Ask yourself what you would like to do within a particular area (or what you can do, given your
current knowledge).

● Read the literature, since others may have already identified and reported the issues that are
worthwhile to explore. You may even find that somebody else has already done what you were
planning to do. In this situation you can adjust your aim, so that it targets something that other
information sources do not cover. It is better to find this out sooner rather than later, since there
is no point in reinventing the wheel.

● Ask potential supervisors, as they typically have ideas on what could be worth while and
interesting to explore within the subject area. Sometimes they will have project proposals already
written down. Frequently, project proposals will be in the context of the supervisor’s own
professional research areas. This may increase the likelihood that he or she will be highly
motivated to act as a supervisor for the project.

● Ask companies and organisations, as they may have encountered problems that they do not
have time, knowledge or resources to investigate themselves. Such problems or ideas are
typically very specific. Hence, you will need to discuss them with a potential supervisor in your
department, who should be able to help you put the company’s specific problem into a wider
context.
 Dev. your Project Proposal (Cont.)
3. Assure Quality of Initial Ideas

• Unless you have already discussed your initial

project ideas with a potential supervisor, now is
the time to do this. A potential supervisor can check
your initial project ideas in terms of overall quality.

• If you start with a project idea suggested by a

supervisor, it is still important to write a project
proposal yourself.
 Dev. your Project Proposal (Cont.)
4. Write and Submit a Project Proposal - structure
Title of project?
Introduction
- To the subject area (e.g., XML documents).
- To the problem within the subject area (e.g., preserving links when transforming XML
documents to another data format).
Reasons why it is important to investigate the chosen problem.

Aim of project

A short description of what you intend to do.

Objectives
How (by what steps) do you intend to achieve the aim of the project?

Name
Contact information (email, phone)
 Assignment 2
Write a research proposal of your research topic
and submit. Not more than 5 pages.
[10 Marks]
 Research Process –
Background Investigation
• Breadth vs Depth
• Given an idea, you need to determine:
– Has this work been done previously?
– What similar work has been done leading up to this point?
– How is any previous work distinguished from what I’m
planning to do?
– What group of people will be positively impacted by the
research?
• Tools
– Literature Review using library resources (e.g. online
databases such as ACM and IEEE, popular magazines)
– WWW search
 Research Process –
Refinement of Idea
• Based on background investigation, need to
refine idea
• Issues:
– Precision – focus on precisely identifying:
• Problem
• Possible solutions
– Scope – need to “build fences”
• What’s an essential part of this work? (fence in)
• What’s tangential, additional, or for any other reason
best left for later/someone else? (fence out)
 Research Process – Core Work,
Investigation and Development
• Provide yourself with infrastructure
– equipment / software
– additional knowledge (“get up to speed”)
• Do the work
– Experimentation (scientific process)
– Develop opinions
– Look for better ways of solving problem
• Can you generalize?
• Can you develop a framework?
– Discuss, brainstorm
– Reevaluate as you proceed
• Look for improvements, changes to your original ideas
 Research Process – Core Work,
Investigation and Development (2)
• Process
– Work regularly
• Easier to keep going if you have a commitment to a
regular work time
• Helps you keep your past work in mind
– Allocate large block of time for research
• Takes time to get going/back to speed
• Make sure can do something significant at each work
session
 Research Process –
Core Work, Documentation
• Need to document as you go
– Don’t want to lose any information
• 1) Maintain a journal for day-to-day thoughts
– Can be paper, electronic, ...
– Keep it with you at all times
• Never know when good ideas will hit
• 2) Keep an updated task list
– Focus on accomplishing something each work session
• 3) Write up your work
– Periodically, write a few pages on a subset of your work
• Summarize work, accomplishments, problems
– At end, write up a summary document
• Can be based on steps discussed here
 Research Process –
Core Work, Prototype (Implementation)

• Need to demonstrate the merit of your ideas

• If work is non-theoretical, do this through a
developed system
– No need to build the entire system
– Just need to demonstrate the value of the core
ideas
Test bed, Mathematical model, Simulation
 Research Process - Evaluation
• Perhaps the most difficult part….
– Best if can show others are already using your work
• Quantitative
– Test your prototype
– What improvements exist over currently available
alternative?
– How much of an improvement do you see?
• Qualitative
– What can you do now that couldn’t be done before?
– What are the benefits of your solution?
 Research Process –
Identification of Future Work
• Helps you organize any future efforts
• Helps others build on your work

• Sources:
– What you excluded in your idea refinement
– New problems that have surfaced during your
work – serendipity.
 REFERENCE STYLE
• The details of the references cited in the text, published
or unpublished should be located in the List of References.
• The list should be placed at the end of the thesis, a listing
of sources actually cited, compiled either
• Alphabetically (Harvard System),
• Numerically (Number System) or
• American Psychological Association Style (APA Style).

The style selected must b e u s e d consistently throughout

the thesis.
 Why does one need to reference?

• Enable the reader to locate the sources you have used

• Help support your arguments and provide your work with

credibility

• Show the scope and breadth of your research

• Acknowledge the source of an argument or idea

– Failure to do so could result in a charge of plagiarism
 What is Plagiarism
• Also known as “academic theft”

• It is using someone’s words and/or ideas without due credit to

holders of such ideas, thus presenting it as one’s own
 What is Plagiarism

• Copying and pasting verbatim from a source (internet,

textbook, journal etc.)

• Incorporating a direct phrase or sentence that sounds nice

into your work without citation and/or quotation marks
 Forms of Plagiarism

• Direct lifting without citation (Common type: Copy and Paste)

• Direct lifting/quote with citation but no quotation marks

(Common among those who think they are not plagiarizing)
 Forms of Plagiarism…

• Superficial rewording with citation (Copy, paste, edit)

• Complete paraphrase without citation

• Bunch of quotes pooled together or in sequence

All are unacceptable and represents scientific

misconduct
 Less obvious plagiarism

• When you take a sentence directly from a paper, without

quotation marks, even if there is a citation, it’s plagiarism

• If you take multiple sentences from different sources with

only minor changes (or none), it’s still plagiarism, even with
referencing

• You must read and SYNTHESIZE the material and write it all in
your own words
 Quote of the Day
“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice
your communication skills so that when important
occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style,
the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to
affect other people.”
-Jim Rohn

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 Recall…
 The aim of research is to contribute to knowledge
• add new results to the previous state of knowledge
• form a basis for new thinking and interpretation

 Research results do not contribute to knowledge and

development
–unless they are communicated effectively
 Effective communication of science is
– very important component of research process

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 Why Communication in Science?
 Important part of being a scientist because;

• Promote

• Publicize

• Popularize

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 Researchers and Conference Presentation

• Visibility
• Reputation development
• Powerful networking tools, for sharing knowledge and
skills
• Clarify your thoughts
• Professional way to get ideas
• Puts your research into a more in-depth and wider context

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 Oral Communication

We may not be experts at public speaking...

…But we are all experts at listening to talks

“We rule the world by our words”

-Napoleon Banoparte

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 Research Process - Presentation
• It’s not a contribution to the field if no one
knows about it or can use it
• Presentation/Dissemination
– Conferences, Journals, Web, seminars
•
Referencing Literature: Reference Styles
 Objectives of the Lecture

• To understand what references are and the need to reference

in scientific reports

• To learn the reference styles with particular focus on the

Harvard style of referencing
 What is a reference?

• “Give credit where credit is due”

• It is important to give credit to authors whose ideas, words,

etc are used in scientific write-ups or reports

• A reference is a detailed bibliographic description of the item

from which you gained your information

• References are briefly cited within the text, and then given in
full at the end of your work in a reference list
 In cases of no in-text referencing

• Any other items read for background information but not

referred to in the text should be given in full at the end of
your work in a bibliography
 Why does one need to reference?

• Enable the reader to locate the sources you have used

• Help support your arguments and provide your work with

credibility

• Show the scope and breadth of your research

• Acknowledge the source of an argument or idea

– Failure to do so could result in a charge of plagiarism
 What is Plagiarism
• Also known as “academic theft”

• It is using someone’s words and/or ideas without due credit to

holders of such ideas, thus presenting it as one’s own
 What is Plagiarism

• Copying and pasting verbatim from a source (internet,

textbook, journal etc.)

• Incorporating a direct phrase or sentence that sounds nice

into your work without citation and/or quotation marks
 Forms of Plagiarism

• Direct lifting without citation (Common type: Copy and Paste)

• Direct lifting/quote with citation but no quotation marks

(Common among those who think they are not plagiarizing)
 Forms of Plagiarism…

• Superficial rewording with citation (Copy, paste, edit)

• Complete paraphrase without citation

• Bunch of quotes pooled together or in sequence

All are unacceptable and represents scientific

misconduct
 Less obvious plagiarism

• When you take a sentence directly from a paper, without

quotation marks, even if there is a citation, it’s plagiarism

• If you take multiple sentences from different sources with

only minor changes (or none), it’s still plagiarism, even with
referencing

• You must read and SYNTHESIZE the material and write it all in
your own words
 Paraphrasing
• It’s not just simple rewording

• It involves complete change of

– phrases, clauses,
– sentence structure,
– order of reasoning
– only ideas are retained

• Sometimes summary of a text will do

– You should still provide reference

However for highly technical language especially those from

primary sources, paraphrasing sometimes become
burdensome
DIRECT QUOTING IS YOUR BEST OPTION
 Quoting
• Quote only
– For highly technical language
– When the writer’s choice of words or sentence clearly express an idea
in a unique way
– Can be phrases, clauses, or whole sentences

• After quoting, explain the significance of quotations

• Too much quoting is not acceptable

• Use brackets to show added phrases and ellipsis (…..) for

omitted texts

• REMEMBER to use quotation marks (“ ”) and

• Don’t forget your citation

 These also warrant Citation

• Results of others’ research

• Look up tables
• Charts
• Pictures
• Diagrams
 Where is Citation Unnecessary?

• Common Knowledge (contextual). It’s common knowledge

when
– The information is assumed to be known by your reader and/or
majority of people in the field

– Common knowledge from the original text, when paraphrased could

be left without citation

• Your own reasoning, ideas, deduction, re-analysis, or

inference from others’ ideas

• Your own writing in other sources, although you may want to

quote yourself to establish priority. Caveat: Copyrights!!!
 Avoiding Plagiarism: An Effective Note-Taking
Process

• Think through the material as you read along before hurrying

to write it down

• Write main ideas and make linkages

• Index cards or jotters may be helpful

• Write full citations during the note-taking period or use

EndNote/Mendeley/Refworks, etc

• Make it a habit to paraphrase every relevant sentence you

write down from a source
 Objectives of the Lecture

• To understand what references are and the need to reference

in scientific reports

• To learn the reference styles with particular focus on the

Harvard style of referencing
 Reference Styles

• Literally hundreds of different referencing styles

• Differs with academic discipline and publishing houses

– Emerald, Taylor and Francis, Elsevier, etc

• Whichever system you use, it is important that you are

consistent in its application
 Some discipline specific reference styles

• Arts
– Harvard, Chicago, MLA, APA, University of Auckland Style

• Business and Economics

– APA

• Creative Arts and Industries

– APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA

• Engineering
– Harvard, Chicago, etc

• Medical and Health Sciences

– Vancouver, APA
 The Harvard Style

• Harvard came originally from "The Bluebook: A Uniform

System of Citation" published by the Harvard Law Review
Association

• The Harvard style and its many variations are used in law,
natural sciences, social and behavioural sciences, and
medicine
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text

• Generally, in internal references the surname of the author

and year of publication are cited

• If author name is James Robert Jones and year of publication

is 2012
– (Jones, 2012)
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text…

• If author’s name is part of a statement put only the year in

brackets
– Jones (2012) has provided evidence to support this statement

• For two authors

– (Bellamy and Taylor, 1998)
– Bellamy and Taylor (1998)
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text…

• If there are more than 3 authors cite only the first followed by
“et al.” (which means “and others”)

– “The kernel meal of the cashew is rich in essential amino acids that
are normally lacking in some plants; lysine and methionine (Ekpeyong
et al., 1997)…”

• If used in statement
– Ekpeyong et al. (1997)
 The Harvard Style: Citation in the text…

• If an author has published more documents in the same year,

distinguish them by adding lower-case letters
– Smith (2014a, 2014b, 2014c)…
 The Harvard style: Secondary referencing

• When an author quotes or cites another author and you wish

to cite the original author you should first try to trace the
original item

• If it is not possible, then acknowledge both sources in the

text, but only include the item you actually read in your
reference list
 The Harvard style: Secondary referencing

• Example:

• If Jones discusses the work of Smith you could use:

– Smith (2012) as cited by Jones (2013)

– Smith’s 2012 study (cited in Jones, 2013) shows that…

• Then cite Jones in full in your reference list

 How about information found in more than
one source?
• If you find information in more than one source, you may
want to include all references to strengthen your argument

– Place them in order or publication date (earliest first)

– Separate the references using semi-colon (;)

• Several writers (Jones, 2011; Owiredu, 2013; Smith, 2014)

have reported that…
 The reference list/Bibliography

• Full references of sources used should be listed as a reference

list at the end of your work

• This list of references is arranged alphabetically usually by

author

• You may also be required to include a bibliography which

should list not only all items used within the text but also any
other sources you have read as part of your research
 Examples of a Reference list
• MAIMON, D. and BROWNING, C.R. (2012) Adolescents’ violent
victimization in the neighbourhood: situational and contextual
determinants. British journal of criminology, 52 (4), pp. 808-
833.

• Borget, J.L., Briggs, G.M. and Galloway, D.H. (1994), “Nutrition

and Physical fitness”, International Journal of Food Science
and Nutrition, Vol. 45, pp. 223-230.

• Olaofe, O.F., Adeyemi, O. and Adediran, G.O. (1994). Amino

acid and mineral composition and functional properties of
some oil seeds, Journal of Agriculture Food Chemistry, Vol.
42, pp. 867-884.
 What I have talked about so far

• Myriad number of referencing styles

– But be consistent in whichever system you use

• Some referencing styles are discipline specific

– APA is the most commonly used
– Harvard style is what is used in Food Science

• Citation in text
– Secondary referencing

• Reference list
 Summary

What have you learnt throughout

this course?

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 Remember that,
“An unexamined life is not
worth living.”
-Socrates
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Students’ Evaluation of Course
THE END
 Resources
• http://www.cs.indiana.edu/mit.research.how.
to/mit.research.how.to.html
• http://www-
2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mleone/w
eb/how-to.html
• http://www.honors.ucr.edu/research.htm
• http://www.utexas.edu/research/eureka/reso
urces/why/index.php