Course Details

This course provides an introduction to methods for conducting empirical research within the field of Computer Science. These methods help, for example, to provide objective answers to questions about the usability, effectiveness, and acceptability of systems and their impact on individuals, work groups, organizations and society at large. This is a very hands-on course, including a significant amount of fieldwork. The first half of the course covers the basics of the scientific method, building bottom-up from a survey of objective measures to the fundamentals of hypothesis testing using relatively simple research designs. The second half of the course alternates between a team-based project encompassing the design, conduct and presentation of small empirical studies and lectures and exercises covering introductory statistical methods especially useful in empirical work, as well as more advanced research designs and important topics such as ethics.