Research Facts for University Student

Projects

Dileepa Jayathilake

University projects are opportunities

Start making a name for yourself

(1) Best chance to practice theories on real problems

(2) Mark your entry into open source community

(3) Experience a mini industrial project

(4) Embark on a journey towards higher education

Manage Time

You won’t get super powers during final three weeks

(1) Follow a standard process

(2) Make your progress accountable

(3) Use free tools to record time

Record while you go

Final report is not a final thing

(1) Record references as and when they are referred

(2) Write small reports at each milestone

(3) Keep a project blog

Think Big

Market yourself through

(1) Create a buzz around your project

(2) Grab opportunities to present your work

(3) Publish in conferences

project

Innovation Attitudes

4 laws of Innovative Thinking

(1) Dare to move out of comfort zone

(2) Know that grandfather stories too can help

(3) Put yourself under difficult conditions

(4) Use technology; Don’t be a devotee

Problem solving approach towards research

Generalizable solution to a specific problem

--------------------------Example------------------------------

Problem : How to go about storing data for structured log analysis?

Solution : Effective way to handle huge heterogeneous tree

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Research Type 1Inferential

Survey a population to determine its characteristics

--------------------------Example---------------------------------------

Problem : What is the target phone model when developing mobile apps for developing countries?

Solution : Conduct a survey on user preferred phone model during next 2 years in a developing country

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Research Type 2Experimental

Manipulate environment to fabricate a solution

--------------------------Example---------------------------------------

Problem : What is the optimum way to extract log data?

Solution : Design a new data extraction language and fine-tune while comparing with existing ones

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Research Type 3Simulation

Construct an artificial environment as test bed

--------------------------Example---------------------------------------

Problem : What is the best 3D representation of a mind map for touch devices?

Solution : Come up with different representations and simulate user actions to compare effectiveness of each model

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Research Type 4Longitudinal

Research is carried on over several time periods

--------------------------Example---------------------------------------

Problem : How to develop a framework for structured log analysis?

Solution : Develop it as an incremental model over several phases

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Research Type 5Qualitative

Subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions, behavior

--------------------------Example---------------------------------------

Problem : What is the impact of cross-cultural behaviors in geographically distributed scrum?

Solution : Analyze literature and cases to generate insights and impressions

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