Digging for Evidence

For this week’s blog post I was set the task of finding two articles in an area of IT that is of interest to me. I then had to document the following;

• The URL of the evidence
• How I found it
• When it was written
• What kind of evidence is it (e.g. news item, YouTube video etc.)
• Who wrote or created it
• If I think it is an ‘academic’ article
• If I think it is credible

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Microsoft Hololens

Evidence #1

The URL of the evidence: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us
How I found it: Google search – Microsoft Hololens
When it was written: N/A
What kind of evidence is it: Website
Who wrote or created it: Microsoft
If I think it is an ‘academic’ article: No
If I think it is credible: I believe so due to the fact that it is on their official website, I don’t believe that they would put it up otherwise

Evidence #2

The URL of the evidence: http://www.digitalafro.com/inside-microsofts-awesome-new-holographic-goggles/
How I found it: Google Scholar search – Microsoft Hololens
When it was written: N/A, Last modified: 22 January 2015
What kind of evidence is it: Article on a website
Who wrote or created it: Stephen Brown
If I think it is an ‘academic’ article: No I don’t believe so but it was on google scholar
If I think it is credible: I don’t believe so as it is very short and the website states that the purpose of the site is to provide entertainment

Credibility Revisited as Credible Evidence

First things first, credible evidence. Where do we find it?

There are a wide range of sources of information and recognising what is likely to be credible is difficult. You can judge this by looking at the following:

• How/Where we found it
• When it was written
• Who it was written by (Expert, Undergrad student etc…)
• Where it was published or what type of ‘thing’ it is (Book, Article, Blog, etc…)
• What others have said about it (Reviews)
• Whether others have used the information in their own work (Citations)
• How it is written (Style)

IT papers are generally written in the objective format which gives them slightly more credibility

So where might we find this evidence?

• Library database – ProQuest is the best one for IT research
• Books, textbooks
• Online
• Professionals/Experts
• Communications of the ACM (Association of Computer Machinery) – 1/2 way between a journal and a magazine
• SlideShare – Contains University presentations and more…
• White Paper – Commissioned research usually requested and funded by the government, usually reasonably credible, usually slightly biased if funded by the government

Be wary of Wikipedia as anyone can add and edit Wikipedia pages. Keeping that in mind, dont ignore any sources, just be more wary of less credible types of evidence.

Clare had us quickly rate the credibility of different sources. They got rated as follows;

Library Evidence	Class Average out of 10
Magazine Articles	3.17
Newspapers	4.17
Journals	4.67
DVDs etc…	3.67
Books/textbooks	5.50
Online databases e.g. ProQuest	7.00

Internet Evidence	Class Average out of 10
Wikipedia	4.83
Forums	4.50
Blogs	4.86
Self-published papers/articles	4.17
Videos	6.00
Lecture notes/presentations (Slideshare)	6.17
Magazine articles	4.33
White papers (co/govt produced)	6.50
Reviews	4.67
Online journals – peer reviewed	7.14
Newspaper articles	4.50
Commercial research reports	5.67
Online journals – non-peer reviewed	4.00
Tech demos	5.67
Expert opinion	7.00
E-books	5.33
Conference papers – peer reviewed	7.14
Webinars	5.67

Other Evidence	Class Average out of 10
Word of mouth	3.17
Personal life experience	5.83
Clients/customers	4.67
Demos	5.00
Talks	4.17
Conference/convention	6.17
Exhibitions	5.33
TV	3.83
Radio	3.00
Classes/expert opinion	7.17

Clare then asked the class ‘If you pay, does it add to credibility?’ The class answered no.

Next we got put into two groups as we had a small class. We were asked to create a google doc and complete some tasks.

Our document was called Sources of Evidence. The members of the group were: Paige, Callum, Surinder and I.

Exploratory Research

In class on Wednesday we were set the task of finding out about and explaining various types of research. The type research I was given was exploratory research. After being given our type of research, I was given five questions to answer about it.

What is it?

Exploratory research is the initial research, which forms the basis of more conclusive research. It is not intended to provide conclusive evidence but to help us have a better understanding of the problem. It can help in determining the research design, sampling methodology and method/s of data collection.

http://research-methodology.net/research-methodology/research-design/exploratory-research/

It is referred to as being qualitative which means quality rather than quantity, meaning more depth of response. Types of exploratory research include:

• Literature search
• Depth interviews
• Focus groups
• Case analysis
• Benchmarking
• Ethnography

What kinds of questions might it be useful for?

Open-ended questions

http://fluidsurveys.com/university/exploratory-research-4-ways-implement-research/

How could it be used in IT research?

You could use it to measure or review aspects in IT. I was scanning through some exploratory research articles and one title that I saw was ‘Measuring the flexibility of information technology infrastructure: Exploratory analysis of a construct’. Just from scanning the title it implies that it is exploratory research that will work towards more research.

What are the strengths of this approach?

• Ability to generate more ideas to be explored
• Increased understanding of the topic
• Tests concepts
• Can assist market researchers
• Flexibility of data sources
• Narrows down the scope of investigation

http://universalteacher.com/1/advantages-of-exploratory-research-design/

What are the weaknesses of this approach?

• Cannot replace conclusive, quantitative research
• Exploratory research methods have limitations
• Could be susceptible to significant interpreter bias
• Focus group conclusions could be unclear

http://universalteacher.com/1/disadvantages-of-exploratory-research/

Some links that I found relating to exploratory research;

Issues vs Types of Knowledge vs How

In class on Wednesday Clare went over her class notes from the week before to see how we did with answering the questions that she had set for us. That was when she announced that only four of us had actually done the work. The rest of the class was told to have it done over the Easter break.

Here are what Clare and the class came up with as answers to last week’s questions:

Which of these two laptops gives the best performance?
Issues – What is performance? What does it mean? How is it measured? Lack of clarity, best? Fit for purpose? So where is the purpose?
Type of Knowledge – Numeric, scientific specification information
How – Benchmarks, experimental testing, reviews would be useful

Are virtual worlds like Second Life useful for teaching?
Issues – Depends on what you are teaching/learning, what do you mean by useful? Useful to whom? What is meant by a virtual world/what characteristics are we looking for? Question is vague
Type of Knowledge – Can depend on what you are asking? Could be a numeric result or an ‘opinion-based’ result
How – Numeric – Educational experimental approach – pre-test/activity/post-test OR Surveys/interviews with teachers/learners… Sample will almost always be biased.

Why don’t many school students (16-18 yrs old) choose to study IT at Polytechnic or University?
Issues – What is IT? Does this include ALL students or just those who go on to further study? What is many? Is this a true statement or is it just an assumption?
Types of Knowledge – Statistical records to establish how many do or don’t, words and ideas, background knowledge
How – Searching out the statistics from government sources, surveys/interviews/focus groups

Which ISP in NZ gives the best value for money?
Issues – What is an ISP? Might be different in different regions, what is ‘best value’?
Types of Knowledge – Numeric data/specification data, it depends on what best value means – but it could be opinion based
How – Comparison of specifications or survey

How do I feel about trying to work with slow internet speeds?
Issues – Define ‘slow’, define ‘trying to work’, it is just speed or also reliability of connection? It is subjective, individual perception
Type of Knowledge – Creative – words/music/art
How – Would depend on the type of knowledge

What are the main security issues associated with ‘Cloud Computing’?
Issues – Assumption that there are issues, what is meant by ‘main’? What is Cloud Computing? Huge question – probably unanswerable unless the question is scoped, needs to be more specific

Clare doesn’t believe that you would be able to answer the last question.

Point – Think about what is actually being asked. Think about the question as well as what the answer might be. A better question will provide more credible results.

Approaches – Questions to ask

• What knowledge is being looked for? (What question is being asked?)
  • Factual scientific data? Often numbers (quantitative)
  • Interpretations/descriptions – words (qualitative)
  • Other??
• What methods were used?
  • Lab experiment
  • Field experiment
  • Survey
  • Case study
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Argumentative
  • Secondary
  • Others…??
• Was the approach/approaches appropriate?

At this point I went home as during class I had come down with a killer migraine. I couldn’t seem to concentrate and my eyesight was starting to get affected.