CS 6023 - Research Methods and Presentations - Fall 1998

Rich Halstead-Nussloch
is solely responsible for this page.

email: Rich Halstead-Nussloch 356 H Building voice (770)528-5509. Fax: (770)528-5511 Office/Lab Hours: 8:15AM until 6:00PM Monday and Wednesday; 8:15AM until 11:30AM Tuesday and Thursday--Please always call before you come (770)528-5509, and by Appointment--(770)528-5509.

Last Changed 12/1/98 - (See notices)
Take the CS6023 Fall '98 Survey

Text | Class Notices | Objectives | Projects and Assignments | Lecture Notes | Documents/Handouts |
Class Schedule | Journal | Class Attendance | Graded Work | Policies | Feedback | Hyperlinks
CS6023 Fall '98 Survey is now live--not in testing mode any more!! | Disabilities (ADA) |

Text:

 Halstead-Nussloch, R., and Harbort, B. Research Methods in Computer Science and Information Technology. Simon and Schuster, 1998.

Class Notices:

Return to the top of the syllabus

Benjamin Disraeli, as cited by Mark Twain ... on Lies and Statistics

"There are lies and there are damned lies...And then there are statistics."

Objectives

Upon successful completion of the course, each student will be able to:

Return to the top of the syllabus

Disabilities--Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance

Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the counselor working with disabilities at (770) 528-7226 as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.

Return to the top of the syllabus

Projects Assignments and Graded Work

Three homework papers and a final project (requiring submission of both a proposal and a project report) are required for the course. Participation in and contribution to class discussion is required. Thus, in addition to participating and contributing in the class, you will be required to hand-in five papers:

Note: All written work must be typed, preferable using a wordprocessor and spell-checker. Deductions will be taken for persistent misspellings, etc.

Note: A survey report assignment handed in on time that is evaluated as a B+ or lower might be re-written for potential grade improvement. If this assignment is handed in after the due date, it may not be re-written for potential grade improvement.

Return to the top of the syllabus

Lecture Notes Available

Return to the top of the syllabus

Useful Documents and Handouts

Return to the top of the syllabus

Class Schedule
Week Beginning What is to be covered
24 August Introduction to CS6023, Introduction to each other, Information Goals, Avoiding Plagiarism, Primary versus Secondary Research, Final Research Project Requirements, Two Research Article Comparison Assignment.
31 August Library Use Lab, Presentations and Reports, Measurement, Research Proposals, Presentations of Two Research Article Comparisons.
7 September No Class 7 September (Labor Day), Presentations of Two Research Article Comparisons, Two Research Article Comparison Report Due.
14 September Survey Assignment open, Questionnaire Construction, Survey Studies as Example Research Projects, Survey Design, Study Design.
21 September Final Project Proposal Due, Survey Questionnaire Development, Class Survey Study Design, Quick and Efficient Empirical Research Assignment Open, Case Studies, Comparison Studies.
28 September Survey Data Analysis (Quantitative and Visual)
5 October Code Behavior Studies, Usability Testing, Software Quality Testing.
12 October No Class 12 October (Columbus Day Holiday), Keeping current through research.
19 October Last day to withdraw is 20 October, Quick and Efficient Empirical Research Assignment Due, Role of empirical research in computer science.
26 October Survey Reports Due.
2 November Scientific model building.
9 November Project Workshop.
16 November Research methodology review, Project Workshop.
23 November Research methodology review, Project Workshop, No class 25 November (Thanksgiving Holiday).
30 November Research methodology review, Project Workshop.
7 December Project Presentations - Mandatory Classes, Course evaluation, Book evaluation.
Final Exam DayFinal Project Reports Due 8:05 PM on 14 December 1998 (both sections).

Return to the top of the syllabus

Journal

Keeping a journal is highly recommended for this course. Include in it descriptions of your readings, your reviews of your readings, tips and techniques for doing research, the results of your research, logs of, e.g., Internet activity, etc.

Return to the top of the syllabus

Class Attendance

Class participation and contribution will account for a significant portion of your grade. Since one cannot contribute to and participate in the class without attending, attendance is recommended. Regardless of attendance, each student is responsible for keeping up with materials and information from each class period. This means it is up to the student to arrange with another class member, obtaining notes, handouts, etc., from any class meeting, or portion thereof, missed.

NOTE: All students are expected to attend the final presentation sessions in their entirety. Any un-excused absences during this period will result in the loss of a whole letter grade from your final course grade. If you're going to miss either of those classes, let me know ahead of time!!!

Return to the top of the syllabus

Policies

  1. No late submissions for full grade credit except for documented emergencies.
  2. All work assigned to be turned in is due at the beginning of the class.
  3. Assignments turned in late will be accepted, but at a grade discount. Multiple late assignments will result in additional discount applied to your final course grade.
  4. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.
Return to the top of the syllabus

Useful Hyperlinks

Note that you will be leaving the Southern Polytechnic website by taking these links, and neither Southern Polytechnic nor Richard Halstead-Nussloch has control over what you will encounter.

Return to the top of the syllabus