Course Syllabus

Research Methods and Technical Writing

DIT590, 7.5 credits, Spring 2019

Course PM

 

Course responsible

Jennifer Horkoff, jenho@chalmers.se

 

Lecturers

Jennifer Horkoff, jenho@chalmers.se

Richard Berntsson Svensson, richard@cse.gu.se

Richard Torkar, richard.torkar@cse.gu.se

Agneta Nilsson, agneta.nilsson@cse.gu.se

Robert Feldt, robert.feldt@chalmers.se

 

Course assistants

Salome Maro, salome.maro@cse.gu.se

David Issa Mattos, davidis@chalmers.se

Aiswarya Raj Munappy, aiswarya@chalmers.se

 

Student representatives

Snezhina Racheva: gusracsn@student.gu.se

Mans Thornvik: gusthomaa@student.gu.se

Omid Manai: gusmanom@student.gu.se

 

Organization of the course

Course start: January 23^rd, 2019, 10:15- 12 & 13:15-15:00

Location: Lindholmen, Patricia, room Alfons, 2^nd floor.

The teaching consists of lectures, seminars, peer-reviewing, and a written report (which consists of three separate assignments) carried out individually or in groups of two students.

Language of instruction:  English

 

Course content

The course prepares students for the course DIT565 Software Engineering and Management Bachelor project and for professions in the fields of software engineering and software management. It balances both theoretical and practical considerations of research. The course has two general themes and twelve sub themes:

• Strategies and methods for software engineering studies with action research, case study research, grounded theory, interviews, surveys, experiments, and literature studies as sub-themes;

• Technical & scientific writing with organization, style, grammar, punctuation, and reference handling as sub themes.

Each of these sub-themes is associated with a study item based on three elements: read, apply, report. These items together constitute the course. Students will present both their own research plans as well as relevant topics for the course to gain practical experience both conducting research as well as defending their research.

 

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the course is to equip the student with strategies and methods for execution and communication of studies and investigations in software engineering research and practice. After completion of the course the student is expected to be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Organize scientific publications and professional investigations, following the IMRAD structure. The knowledge goals are delimited to the context of software engineering and software management. However, the knowledge obtained is generally useful, and applicable in most professions that require an academic degree.

Skills and abilities

• formulate purpose statements and research- or investigation questions;
• choose strategies and methods in concordance with research- or investigation questions, and motivate and explain these choices;
• conduct literature studies;
• plan surveys, collect survey data, and analyze survey data using statistical data analysis techniques;
• plan interviews, execute interviews, and interpret interview data using qualitative techniques;
• write arguing prose that is coherent, clear, and concise with appropriate use of citations, and review such prose for the same qualities;

Judgement and approach

• model phenomena and their relationships as dependent and independent variables,
• formulate hypotheses using variables,
• develop instrumentation for measurement of either technical qualities or social phenomena,
• conduct experiments to collect data,
• verify or refute hypothesis using statistical data analysis techniques

 

Examination
The course is examined by a compulsory written report based upon the topics covered in the course. Depending on their nature, reports are either individual, or carried out in groups of two. The report will consist of several topics that are covered in the assignments during the course. Hand-ins are graded, during the course, using student peer assessment, following criteria set by the examiner. Item grades are combined into a preliminary grade using weighted criteria. The examiner validates and adjusts this grade by inspection of the complete set of hand-ins (the report) produced by the student.

The written report. The maximum number of pages for each of the three assignments are specified in each assignment description, see course homepage in GUL. Be concise and to the point, while still applying full sentences in academic writing style. The individual written report (that consists of the three assignments) must be submitted to GUL at the latest Friday March 22nd, 20:00.

Assignment Redo Dates

If a student(s) fail to pass the final written report, it can be improved upon and resubmitted.  Please notify the course responsible two weeks in advance if resubmitting the final report.

Assignment resubmission dates are as follows:

Friday June 21^st, 2019

Friday August 23^rd, 2019

 

Grading

The grading scale comprises Fail (U), Pass (G), Pass with Distinction (VG).

Students who do not supply adequate documentation of all specified assignments fail the course. To pass the course, the hand-ins should demonstrate achievement of specified learning goals. To pass with distinction, the hand-ins should demonstrate achievement of learning goals with noteworthy quality and critical reflections beyond specifications.

 

Course Evaluation
For course evaluation questionnaire please click here! (Will be accessible starting the 24th of March)

 

Course Literature
The course literature consists of a number of research papers, available via Canvas. For a complete list of the course literature, see the course homepage in Canvas.

 

Schedule

Study Period: January 23^rd – March 22^nd, 2019

Lecture session 1: Monday at 10-12

Lecture session 2: Wednesday at 13-15

Location:  Please note that lecture sessions are held in room Alfons, Patricia building, Lindholmen.

Course Week	Date	Lecture Time	Responsible	Content	Submission
1 (w04)	Jan 23	10-12	JH	Introduction
1 (w04)	Jan 23	13-15	JH & RBS	Designing Research and Peer review
2 (w05)	Jan 28	13-15	JH	Surveys
2 (w05)	Jan 30	10-12	JH	Tech Writing 1
3 (w06)	Feb 4	13-15	JH & RBS	Conduct experiment
3 (w06)	Feb 6	10-12	JH	Software Experiments
	Feb 8			A1: Surveys	20:00 on Canvas
4 (w07)	Feb 11	13-15	RT	Statistics 1
4 (w07)	Feb 13	10-12	AN	Design Science
5 (w08)	Feb 18	13-15	RT	Statistics 2
5 (w08)	Feb 20	10-12	JH	Survey Feedback
	Feb 22			A2: Statistical Analysis	20:00 on Canvas
6 (w09)	Feb 25	13-15	JH	Literature Reviews
6 (w09)	Feb 27	10-12	RF	Case Studies
7 (w08)	Mar 4	13-15	JH	Statistics Feedback
7 (w08)	Mar 6	10-12	JH	Technical Writing 2
	Mar 8			A3:  Case Study/Design Science	20:00 on Canvas
8 (w09)	Mar 11	13-15	RBS & JH	Ethics in SE Research
8 (w09)	Mar 13	10-12	JH	CS/DS Feedback
	Mar 22			Written Portfolio (Final Report)	20:00 on Canvas

(Topics and times may be changed during the course, e.g., due to illness.)

Link to TimeEdit

Additional information

It is the student’s obligation to regularly check the web-based learning platform to obtain the latest information about this course.

Plagiarism and/or free-riding is not allowed; cases of such will lead to disciplinary action.

See Gothenburg University Rules regarding plagiarism: http://studentportal.gu.se/english/study-environment-and-rules/plagiarism-and-cheating/

Link to syllabus