Technical Information

Slides == HTML file

• I'll use Slidy for the slides.
• possible alternatives: OperaShow, S5
• Press 'a' to see the slides in one continuous document
• Press 'f' to toggle the little bar at the bottom
• Press 'c' to get a table of contents

Basics of Scientific Research

• Do not mix Observation and Interpretation
• Correlation ≠ Causality
• Ceteris Paribus principle ("all other things being equal")
• be objective → quantify

Nach: Frank Trixler, Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten: Methodische Grundlagen und Aufbau von Veröffentlichungen, 2008

How To Conduct an Experiment

Example:

• You have developed a new alternative keyboard layout which you think is superior to QWERTY
• How can you scientifically prove that your layout is better?

Research Questions

• Very weak
• Is the new layout good?
• Weak
• Is the new layout better than QWERTY?
• Better
• Is the new layout faster than QWERTY
• Better still
• Is the text entry speed (wpm) for this layout higher than for QWERTY after one hour of use?

Hypothesis

• Prediction of the result of an experiment or user study
• The hypothesis is either proved or disproved by study results
• State hypothesis before conducting the experiment / user study
• proper scientific way
• do not read meaning into measurements afterwards
• if you find surprising results, do not adjust hypothesis, but state and test a new one
• A null hypothesis predicts that independent variables do not have any effect on dependent variables
  

Specification

• The experiment should be set up to be reproducible
• write a specification describing everything which is important for others to reproduce the experiment:
• Hard- and software in use
• Circuit schematics of self-built prototypes
• Environmental conditions
• Light conditions
• Noise
• Skills of the test users, e.g.
• „All participants have to be professional designers”
• “The candidates should have no experience on using eye-trackers”
  
  

Internal vs. External Validity

• Internal Validity
• How much are the observed effects caused by the test conditions?
• Increased by rigorous control of test conditions
• External Validity
• How generizable are the results to other people or situations?
• Increased by real-life tasks and test conditions
• There's always a tradeoff between internal and external validity
• Solution: Pose multiple, narrow questions that cover the whole range of a more general question
• Example: a text input method that is easier to learn, faster, and less error-prone than another one is probably generally better.

Researching

Basic Rules of Scientific Writing

• cite sources
• do not claim anything you did not either prove or find in the literature!
• do not "optimize" your findings
• do not write boringly

Scientific Approach

Why you should correctly cite sources

• ethical
  • consensus: you shall not take credit for something you did not make
• legal
  • Copyright, Urheberrecht
  • often an original contribution is an explicit requirement, e.g. in your bachelor thesis
• scientific
  • do not reinforce incorrect findings by claiming them as yours
  • sometimes original sources are not obtainable - your reference to them may be the only source
  • your references are a starting point for others
  • others shall be able to verify your claims

Be critical

Be critical

Be critical

Links

• The Researcher's Bible
• Reproducible Research
• Informatics Research Methodologies
• Conference Rankings
• How to write a scientific paper
• Advice on designing scientific posters