This course covers the fundamental principles, of the scientific method. Students will learn the core skills of planning, designing, executing, evaluating and presenting research.

2 hours per week

Research Methods and Techniques (H)

None

Examination 60%, Coursework 40%.

Introduce students to critical research techniques through paper reviews, bibliographies, project proposals and presentations; Introduce students to core scientific principles and methods for conducting and evaluating scientific investigations;  Introduce students to the use of controls and statistical power in experimental design; Introduce students to important techniques for planning and managing a research project; Give guidance on how to structure theses and papers.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

1. Critically review research papers;

2. Perform a comprehensive literature search;

3. Write a comprehensive literature survey;

4. Write a convincing and appropriate experimental design for a chosen CS research problem;

5. Write a convincing project proposal;

6. Perform critical analysis of experimental designs;

7. Explain the importance of controls and sample sizes in experimental design;

8. Discuss issues of ethics approval of experiments.