8/3/2019 SE 602 RM Course Outline

1/4

International Islamic University Islamabad

Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences

Department of Computer Science

Semester FALL 2009

MSSE F09

Course SE 602 Research Methods

Credit

Hours

3

Course

tutor:

Ms. Muneera Bano

Assistant Professor, DCS, FBAS, IIUI

muneera@iiu.edu.pk

051-9019305

INTRODUCTION

This course will explore methods in computer science and software engineeringresearch, and will prepare students for advanced research by examining how to plan,

conduct and report on investigations. The course will cover all of the principal

methods applicable to CS and SE. The course will critically review published

examples of work that used each of the principle methods within CS and SE. The

course will cover techniques applicable to each of the steps of a research project,

including formulating research questions, theory building, data analysis (using both

qualitative and quantitative methods), building evidence, assessing validity, and

publishing.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course aims to develop an appreciation of the issues that arise in doing research

that contributes to improving computer science knowledge and practical large-scale

software construction, together with some skill in addressing these issues. By the

end of the course a student should demonstrate proficiency in three areas:

General research skills

Read research papers critically, identifying and evaluating the underlying

reasoning of the research

Understand and be able to describe how research results evolve over time

Apply results to your own work

Research methods

Exercise good judgment in recognizing good research problems

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_

SE 602 Research Methods Page 1 of 4

Muneera Bano, DCS, FBAS, IIUI

mailto:muneera@iiu.edu.pkmailto:muneera@iiu.edu.pk

8/3/2019 SE 602 RM Course Outline

2/4

Recognize problem class of a research problem and select the appropriate

research paradigm

Understand several validation techniques and when to apply them

Specific results

Understand results from selected papers that span the field of computerscience/software engineering

COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction and Orientation, What is Science, Engineering, and Technology, Basics of

Doing Research, Experiments, Simulations, Benchmarking, Case Studies, Survey,

Ethnography, Action Research, Artifact/Archive Analysis Methods, Reporting and

Publishing.

RESOURCES

Unbounded Systems Thinking, Mitroff and Linstone

Research Methods: Case Study, Yin

++ Many articles

Lecture Slides [by Instructor]

GRADING CRITERIA

Quizzes 15

Assignments 10+10

Midterm 15

Final Paper 50

RULES FOR COURSE

75 % attendance is must for sitting in final exam, as per rule of Department of

Computer Science.

No Late Submission of Assignment.

Quizzes will be Surprise and no compensation for missed Quiz and midterm.

Course problems to be discussed in counseling hours only other wise on

appointments.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_

SE 602 Research Methods Page 2 of 4

Muneera Bano, DCS, FBAS, IIUI

8/3/2019 SE 602 RM Course Outline

3/4

LECTURES PLAN

week Topics Reading Material

1 Introduction and Discussion to course

outline, and orientation

William F. McComas, The principal

elements of the nature of science:

Dispelling the myths2 What is Research, Knowledge, and

Science? Types of Science, Philosophy of

Science, Ways of knowing, Differentiating

Science, Engineering, and Technology.

Computer Science and Software

Engineering.3 Basics of Doing Research: Finding good

research questions, Literature review.

Analyzing the past to prepare for the

future: writing a literature review4 Literature review, Research Strategy,

Evidence and Measurement.5 Systematic Literature Review, Evidence

Based Software Engineering.

Guidelines by B. Kitchenham

6

Experiments: Controlled Experiments,

Quasi-experiments, Replication

Eliciting Design Requirements for

Maintenance-Oriented IDEs: A Detailed

Study of Corrective and Perfective

Maintenance Tasks

7 Simulations: Simulation Techniques and

Tools

Kellner, M. I.; Madachy, R. J.; Raffo, D.

M.; Software Process Simulation

Modeling: Why? What? How? Journal of

Systems and Software 46 (2-3) 91-

105, April 1999.8

Benchmarking, Case Studies

S. Sim, S. M. Easterbrook and R. C.

Holt Using Benchmarking to AdvanceResearch: A Challenge to Software

Engineering. Proceedings, ICSE-20039 Case Studies: Single and Multi-case,

Longitudinal Case Studies, Approaches to

Data Collection

Les Hatton, Does OO Sync with how

we think, IEEE Software, May 1998!!

An Empirical Study of Communication

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_

SE 602 Research Methods Page 3 of 4

Muneera Bano, DCS, FBAS, IIUI

8/3/2019 SE 602 RM Course Outline

4/4

in Code10 Surveys Challenges in Market-Driven

Requirements Engineering - an

Industrial Interview Study11 Reporting and Publishing: Displaying data,

writing up results, Where to publish?12 MS Proposal and Thesis Examples

How to Write Research Paper?13 Ethnographies, Action Research Interruptions on Software Teams: A

Comparison of Paired and Solo

Programmers

Audris Mockus, Roy T. Fielding, and

James Herbsleb. Two case studies of

open source software development:Apache and mozilla. ACM Transactions

on Software Engineering and

Methodology, 11(3):1-38, July 2002.14

Artifact/Archives Analysis

Analysis Methods: Qualitative, Quantitative

and Mixed approaches, Statistical Analysis.

Glass, R. L., An Analysis of research in

computing field, COMMUNICATIONS OF

THE ACM June 2004/Vol. 47, No. 6

15 Slot for Midterm and Discussion16 Slot for Midterm and Discussion

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_

SE 602 Research Methods Page 4 of 4

Muneera Bano, DCS, FBAS, IIUI