Research Methods and Technical Writing

Course Syllabus

Spring 2010

William E. Sullivan

IT University of Gothenburg

This is an important course for those of you considering graduate level work. Research forms

the backbone of most graduate level courses in many disciplines. Conducting research helps

to develop and hone your ability to read, analyze, and think critically. Finally, if you pursue

a technical career, you will have to read, evaluate, and rely upon the research of others.

There is no better way to learn to evaluate the research of others than to conduct research of

your own. Once you have collected and analyzed your data, you will be expected to

communicate the results of your research in clear, concise prose.

Writing is an integral element of your education and intellectual development. Therefore, we

will devote a significant portion of the class to topics related to English grammar and

composition. Your command of the English language should improve significantly as we

move through the course. This will strengthen your ability to get published and we have

several outlets that are interested in publishing your work if it is of sufficient quality.

Since most of you will be conducting case studies and other interpretive types of projects for

your bachelor theses, we will focus slightly more on qualitative rather than quantitative

research methods. You will work in small groups to investigate, analyze, and present various

research methods to the class. This will help you to develop the skills to explore other

research methods as necessary after you graduate.

Required Reading for the Course:

There will be two sources for the Research Methods Elements of the course:

1) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (2nd

Edition) by John W. Creswell, Sage Publications, Inc; Second Edition edition (July

15, 2002)

ISBN-10: 0761924426

ISBN-13: 978-0761924425

2) The Research Methods Knowledge Base by William Trochim, Cornell University

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/

This Web site is free and provides an excellent overview of research methods and

how they relate to each other.

The Required Text for the Technical Writing Portion of the Course is:

The Craft of Research, 2nd Edition by Wayne C. Booth, Joseph M. Williams,

Gregory G. Colomb, University of Chicago Press (15 April 2003)

ISBN-10: 0226065685

ISBN-13: 978-0226065687

Please note that the third edition of this book is now available. While the course

syllabus is still based upon the second edition, you should be able to use either edition of the

book. Other writing resources will be suggested throughout the course to enable you to

continue to improve as you move through your career.

Paper Deconstruction: This is a relatively new innovation in the course that allows us to

focus on technical writing and the craft of developing well-organized and clear expository

prose. This is a critical element both of your education and your career. I will present the

first paper in the series and show you how to deconstruct a paper and students will present the

remaining papers in class. Everyone will be expected to read and prepare the papers on their

own for discussion in class.

1. Competing Values in Software Process Improvement: An Assumption Analysis of

CMM from an Organizational Culture Perspective by Ojelanki Ngwenyama and Peter

Axel Nielsen

2. No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering by Fredrick P.

Brooks

3. Power, Politics and MIS Implementation by M. Lynn Markus

4. From the Social to the Systematic: Mechanisms Supporting Coordination in Design

by Peter H. Carstensen and Carsten Sorensen

5. On Agent-Based Software Engineering by Nicholas R. Jennings

6. A Framework for Information Systems Architecture by J.A. Zachman

7. Anticipating Internet Diffusion by Amitava Dutta and Rahul Roy

8. Cleanroom Software Engineering by Harlan D. Mills, Michael Dyer and Richard C.

Linger

9. Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of Software by Mary Shaw

10. Knowledge Management in Software Engineering by Ioana Rus and Mikael Lindvall

11. Qualitative Methods in Empirical Studies of Software Engineering By Carolyn B.

Seaman

12. The Principle of Limited Reduction in Software Design. L. Mathiassen & J. Stage. In:

Information, Technology and People, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1992.

Research Methods for Student Presentations:

Student Research Method Presentations

– Case Studies

- Ethnography

- Critical research

– Field Experiment

- Action Research

– Grounded Theory

Course Schedule: We will start the Sixth Term officially on Tuesday, January 19, 2010. However, the first

class in this course will not be held until Thursday, January 21, 2010. I suggest that you use

this week to investigate potential Bachelor Thesis topics and research methods and also to

read the course literature in preparation for the first class meeting. Class will be held in the

third-year square unless otherwise noted below.

Class 1 – Thursday, January 21, 2010: 9:00–12:00

What is research? Why is research and writing important? Why should you care?

Research Design Creswell – Chapters 1 and 3.

Social Research Knowledge Base – Read the section titled Foundations

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intres.php

Class 2 - Monday, February 1, 2010: 9:00 – 12:00

Literature Review - Creswell – Chapter 2

Writing and how it relates to research – The Craft of Research - Chapters 1 and 2

Class 3 - Monday, February 8, 2010: 9:00 – 12:00

Research Design - Creswell – Chapters 4 and 5

The Craft of Research – Chapters 3 and 4

Paper Deconstruction: Competing Values in Software Process Improvement: An

Assumption Analysis of the CMM By Ojelanki K. Ngwenyama and Peter Axel

Nielsen

Class 4 - Monday, February 15, 2010: 9:00-12:00

Research Design – Creswell – Chapters 6 and 7

The Craft of Research – Chapters 5 and 6

Student Research Method Presentation: Qualitative Research

Paper Deconstruction: Qualitative Methods in Empirical Studies of Software

Engineering by Carolyn Seaman

Student Group: Ludwig Wöschke, Gustav Berman, and Zana Leric, Magnus

Sodergren

Student Research Method Presentation: Content Analysis

Paper Deconstruction: Cleanroom Software Engineering

Student Group: Kim Isaksson, Emilie Tyvik

Class 5 - Monday, February 22, 2010: 9:00-12:00

Meeting Room: Von Neuman

Research Design – Creswell – Chapter 8 and 9

The Craft of Research – Chapters 7 and 8

Student Research Method Presentation: Grounded Theory Research Method

Paper Deconstruction: No Silver Bullet by Fredrik Brooks

Student Group: Jonathan Granqvist, Emil Janitzek, Marcus Ljungblad

Class 6 – Monday, March 1, 2010: 9:00-12:00

Meeting Room: Grace Hopper

Research Design – Creswell – Chapters 10 and 11

The Craft of Research – Chapters 9 and 10

Student Research Method Presentation: Case Method

Paper Deconstruction: Anticipating Internet Diffusion by Amital Dutta and Rahulk

Roy

Student Group: Brian Katumba, Mahesh Aghara, Andrey Antoniovich, Uguudei

Sukhbaatar, Anastasia Sheyko

Class 7 – Monday, March 8, 2010: 9:00-12:00

Research Design – Creswell – Chapters 12 and 13

The Craft of Research – Chapter 11

Student Research Method Presentation: Action Research

Paper Deconstruction: A Framework for Information Systems Architecture by

Zachman

Student Group: Peiyao Zhang, Karl Annerhult, Wang Zhe

Student Research Method Presentation: Ethnography

Paper Deconstruction: Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of Software

Student Group: Elia Pavlov, Manuel Nagel

Student Research Method Presentation: Interview Methods

Paper Deconstruction: Principle of Limited Reduction

Student Group: Thomas Lööf, Shayan, Ali

Student Research Method Presentation: Narrative Research

Paper Deconstruction: On Agent-Based Software Engineering by Jennings

Student Group: Daniel Nilsson, Jesper Lindberg, Joacim Alvergren

Class 8 – Monday, March 15, 2010: 9:00-12:00

Revision Techniques How to revise your work efficiently and effectively.

Craft of Research – Chapters 13, 14, and 16.

Concluding Comments

Student Research Method Presentation: Data Mining

Paper Deconstruction: From the Social to the Systematic: Mechanisms Supporting

Coordination in Design By Peter H. Carstensen and Carsten Sorensen.

Student Group: Jiajun Qiu, Nivir Roy

Student Research Method Presentation: Field Study

Paper Deconstruction: Power, Politics, and MIS Implementation by M. Lynne

Markus

Student Group: Zhou Hui, Marcus Sjölin, Andrea Bernerus, Fredrik Olafsson

Student Research Method Presentation: Statistical Analysis

Paper Deconstruction: Knowledge Management in Software Engineering

Student Group: Zlati Yordanov, Meng Sun, Zhou Cong, Sarantsetseg Chinbat

Final Exam is due Monday, March 22, 2010. The idea is to get this done before you start the

formal thesis course.

Research Methods and Technical Writing

Final Exam Assignment Bill Sullivan

Spring 2010

Executive Summary

Research is one of the most complex and challenging intellectual tasks that humans perform.

Scholarly research is an intellectual exercise that frustrates and confounds some of the

greatest minds on the planet. This course is intended to both introduce and clarify the basic

elements of the research methods that form the foundation of the process. This document

lays out the requirements for the final project in this course and clarifies its learning

objectives.

Research Overview

There are three basic elements of all research approaches:

1) the research school or philosophy that guides the research;

2) the specific research method that is used to collect the data;

3) the data analysis method that draws viable conclusions from the data collected.

It is important for you to understand each of these three areas before you attempt to carry out

meaningful research on your own.

All research methods derive from specific research schools or philosophies. These

philosophies embody coherent ways of looking at the world. The reason these philosophies

were developed was to make our underlying assumptions about the world explicit and visible

to all who are reviewing, evaluating, and most important, using our research. These

philosophies include positivism, post-positivism, interpretivism, critical research,

constructivism, and pragmatism. There are many more and you should take some time to

explore them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-positivism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretivism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivist_epistemology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism

It is well-worth your time.

While each research method comes from a research philosophy, it is primarily concerned

with data collection. Each research method assumes that there is one most appropriate way

to view the world and to interact with the objects and people in that world. Therefore, there

is one best way to collect data to answer questions about that world. It is important to

understand that the ways in which we gather data and the data that we collect will have a

profound impact upon both the research that we conduct as well as the results of the research.

Once we have collected the data, it must be analyzed to ensure that our findings are accurate

and complete. This applies to both the quantitative analysis of numerical data and qualitative

analysis of text or speech. Some rigorously mathematical analytical methods such as those

used in computer science, do not require a philosophical or theoretical framework for context.

They simply focus on the numerical data that has been collected. For this reason, many

researchers in the quantitative tradition do not subscribe to the theoretical approaches that we

spend so much time on in the social sciences.

Your Assignment

Your assignment for this course is to write the research method chapter of your thesis. This

includes the following:

Introduce your research question for your bachelor thesis

Select a research method that you find useful for answering this question

Argue for why your chosen method suits your thesis project, i.e. trace the selected

method from its research school or philosophy in order to show what particular

characteristics it has and how these characteristics map with your research

question/questions

Describe what kind of data that you plan to collect in your thesis project, i.e. notes

taken from observations, interview material, different kinds of documentation, system

specifications, software code etc. In this, you will have to explain the type of data

collected by this method, how the data is collected and the different forms that it can

take

Show how your chosen method will help you in analyzing this data, i.e. what data

analysis procedures that will be taken. In doing this you will have to show how the

data collected by this research method is best analyzed and what research questions

you can answer with the data collected. The data collected will have to be in a format

that can be analyzed either manually or using some type of automated tool. What is

most important here is that you be able to relate the data collected and the findings

back to your research question and explain the kinds of research questions that can be

addressed using this research method

Finally, relate the ways in which the data collected relates back to the philosophy of

the research methods and the findings support a relevant answer to the research

question.

You should work together in your thesis groups on this assignment.

Obviously, it will be much easier for you to complete this assignment successfully and will

take much less time if you already know what your research project is, what your research

question is and how you plan to approach this research project. However, even if you do not

have a thesis project formalized yet, you should still be able to complete the assignment

successfully by using a fictive scenario, i.e. by describing a research project/research question

that you find interesting but not necessarily what you will do in your thesis project.

The focus of this assignment is the research methods section of your thesis. I suggest that

you look at the research methods section of the paper by Ngwenyama and Nielsen as well as

those bachelor theses that Helena shared with you at the beginning of the semester.