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21 views14 pages

Slideshow 2

class notes

Uploaded by

Syste Desig
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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PhD Research Methodology

Outline of Research Process

• Phase 1: essential first steps

• Phase 2: data collection

• Phase 3: analysis and


interpretation
Phase 1

• Clarify the issue to be


researched and select research
method(s).
• Essential because a question that
is unclear or too broad cannot be
answered.
• The research method allows the
research to be conducted
according to a plan or design.
Phase 1 cont.

• Clarifying the question and method


enables the researcher to be
clearer about the data that is
needed
• Therefore to make a decision
about what sample size, or the
amount of data, is needed.
Cyborgs:

– Interviews : I identified four


categories of people to interview:
• performers working in the field of cyborg
performance art;
• disabled people whose bodies had been
modified;
• scientists making prosthetics;
• and the main funders of technological
research – the military.
Performers

• The first category was relatively


easy – I knew people who could put
me in touch with these performers,
and I quickly secured interviews
with two of the leading figures in
the field –
• Stelarc
• Eduardo Kac.
Disabled People
• The second category was the most difficult, in
many ways, not least because of the ethical
dimension of undertaking such interviews.
• As it turned out, approaches to the prosthetic
department in the university for assistance in
identifying potential interviewees went
unanswered.
• However, one disabled person, Ju Gosling,
author of the website “My Not So Secret Life as
a Cyborg”, attending a Performance Research
conference and giving a paper about her
experiences, gladly agreed to give me an
interview, and from her experience and
awareness of the issues gave me probably a far
more insightful interview than I might
otherwise have been able to achieve.
Scientists
• For the third category I simply made
a search on the internet.
• Most of the cutting edge prostheticians
seemed to be based in the US.
• Of particular interest were the very
small number of neuro-prostheticians,
and the celebrated Utah Array – a tiny
chipset that, once implanted in the
brain, can both read and transmit
signals between brain and computer.
• Fascinated, I wrote to its inventor,
Professor Richard Norman, in Salt Lake
City, and he agreed to give me an
interview.
The Military
• None of the other scientists I approached
was able to grant me an interview at the time
but one of them wrote to me to tell me about
the forthcoming conference, in Washington
DC, run by the US Department of Defence,
entitled “Exoskeletons for Human Performance
Augmentation.”
• This would be perfect for the fourth category.
• Having read Ballard’s “Crash” (Ballard 1995) I
was already interested in how the car forms an
inorganic skin to a specific and very modern
role played out by huge numbers of us in the
west every time we sit behind the wheel. How
much more so would the inorganic skin of a
military exoskeleton – a high tech suit of
armour - make its impact upon our
personalities!?
Phase 2
• Collecting the data
– surveys, interviews, literature review,
participant observation, etc…..
– I undertook the interviews I had
arranged, recording them, then
transcribing the recordings
– I attended the EHPA conference and
made copious notes throughout
• Summarising and organising the data
– Excerpts from and summaries of
transcripts
– Thoughts arising from notes on
conference
Phase 3

• Analysis, interpretation
• Relating the data to the research
question
• Drawing conclusions
• Assessing the limitations of the
study
Reporting and Writing up

• Writing up occurs after the


research is done
• Not everything that is done
is reported
• Have to leave some stuff out!!
• The research report summarises
the activities in such a way that
they are clear to the reader, and
so the reader could repeat the
research.
A Research Report
• A Research Report should generally include:
– Statement of problem
– review of relevant literature
– statement of hypothesis or research
objectives
– description of research design
– selection and operationalization of variables
– description of sample selection procedure
– description of how data was collected
– data presented and summarised in words
– conclusion, limitations, and implications
– bibliography or references cited
– appendices
Cyborgs Research Report
• The Cyborgs Research Report included:
– Statement of problem
– statement of research objectives
– description of research design
– description of how data was collected
– review of relevant literature
– collected data, presented and
summarised in words
– conclusion, limitations, and implications
– bibliography and references cited
– appendices - the interview transcripts
and the complete notes from the EHPA
conference

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