F26 CS 649 Research Activities R1 - R2

Students taking CS 649 are expected to learn, through selection of papers from a reading list, at least two different types of HCI methods, and individually produce a research proposal that describes the design of two studies, one per method, to investigate research questions related either to their CS 649 project / application OR to an ongoing / planned graduate research project (such as one that will appear in their thesis or dissertation), and provide a convincing argument on how and why these questions can be appropriately answered by the corresponding method / study design.

The proposal will be submitted and graded in two stages: a draft (R1) and a final submission (R2). For students using their own thesis / dissertation research as the basis for their proposal, they are encouraged to meet with the instructor during consultation hours before submitting R1. All 649 students are required to meet with the instructor during consultation hours to discuss feedback on their draft before commencing work on R2.

Grading Scheme: The proposal draft will be graded out of 1 based on completion. The final research proposal is graded out of 16 based on a rubric.

R1. Research Prosal Draft

Pick two different HCI methods listed in the CS 649 Reading List.

The proposal draft will be maximum of 2 pages, using this Overleaf template.

The research proposal draft should contain the following sections:

• Introduction: introduce the application domain of the problem you are addressing in about 250 words, along with the system / application / service that you are designing to address it.
• Research Questions: describe 2 different research questions you can potentially ask in the form of hypotheses.
• Methods: name the two methods you will consider for your final proposal. For each method, explain why it is appropriate for answering your research questions in one or two sentences.
• Annotated Bibliography: list a minimum of 10 references (i.e., to academic papers) that will support your proposal and explain their relevance to the application domain or methodological precedent for answering your research questions.

Submit your draft proposal to the course's Learn dropbox.

R2. Final Research Proposal

The final proposal will be maximum of 4 pages (not including references), using this same overleaf template as above.

The research proposal should contain the following sections:

• Introduction: describe what research questions may be interesting to ask given the system / application / experience that you designed.
• Related Work: summarize your literature review of prior work related to your research questions.
• System Description: describe your app / system, including its functionalities and rationale behind its design.
• Research Questions: describe two different research questions you can potentially ask in the form of hypotheses. Describe what you expect the results to be and why.
• Study Design: For each research question, describe the design of a study for answering that research question. Explain why your chosen HCI methods are appropriate for the research question. Describe in as many details as possible how you would go about conducting the study. For example, what type of participants would you recruit? How many? What procedure would the participant follow? what survey / interview questions might you ask participants before and after the study.

Submit your final proposal to the course's Learn dropbox.