Research Methods
Dr. X
Outline
• How to read a publication
• How to formulate an idea for your project
• Project guidelines
Reading papers
• Why do we read papers in this class?
• How do you read papers?
How to read a paper
• Start by quick browsing:
• Abstract
• Titles of all sections
• Conclusions
• If it is relevant to your project read the whole paper (more details to
follow)
• If it is part of your reading definitely read it!
How to read a paper
• Goals:
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Be able to reproduce the results
Criticize the solutions
Mine ideas from the paper for your own research
Improve upon the ideas
Reading a paper
• Related work:
• Develops your expertise in the field
• Some references may be useful to read
Reading a paper
• What scientific devices are the authors using to communicate their
point?
• Methodology - this is how they evaluate their solution.
• Theoretical papers typically validate a model using mathematical arguments
(e.g., proofs)
• Experimental papers evaluate results based on test apparatus (e.g.,
measurements, data mining, synthetic workload simulation, trace-based
simulation).
• Empirical research evaluates by measurement.
• Some papers have no evaluation at all, but argue the merits of the solution in
prose (e.g., design papers)
Reading a paper
• Results
• Prove the validity of the method/claims
• Read critically, there may be mistakes
• Observe the graphs, x, y axis, the setup of experiments
Reading a paper
• Takeaways
• A lesson or fact that you take away from this paper
• Inspiration
• Can you build on the solution proposed? Can you make it better?
• What ideas does the paper give you for your research?
Summarize an article
• Motivation
• Contribution
• Related work
• Methodology
• Results
• Take away
Reading a systems security paper
• What is the security model?
• Who are the participants and adversaries
• What are the assumptions of trust (trust model)
• What are the relevant risks/threats
• What are the constraints?
• What are the practical limitations of the environment
• To what degree are the participants available
• What is the solution?
• How are the threats reasonably addressed
• How do they evaluate the solution
• What is the take away?
• key idea/design, e.g., generalization (not solely engineering)
• Hint: I will ask these questions when evaluating course project.
Project
• The course project requires the student execute some limited
research in security.
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Demonstrate applied knowledge
Don’t try to learn some new non-security field
Be realistic about what can be accomplished in a single semester.
However, the work should reflect real thought and effort.
• The grade will be based on the following factors: novelty, depth,
correctness, clarity of presentation, and effort.
Timeline
• Before Feb 1
• Upload project presentation proposal to Oaks
• Pick your project partner(s)
• Project need to be done in teams of at least two, unless we discuss otherwise
Idea formulation
• Read related work in the area of your choice
• Well cited publications or robust blogs/white papers from companies that are
known in the field
• Then ask the the following questions (write down answers)
• What are the problems that this area addresses?
• What are the methodological tools that people bring to bear in addressing
problems in this area?
• How is the field evolving?
• How do your set of skills apply to the problems being addressed?
• How are expected changes in the larger computer science community going
to affect the known problems and solutions?
Idea formulation methods
• Listing: in 5 minutes make a quick list of 1-5 word phrases that would
be used by/related to/observance of the field and problems and
solutions
• This is not an outline, there is no ordering to the list
• Use your imagination
• Creativity is the essence of this exercise (don’t overthink)
• Brainstream: Brainstream is when the mind has various multiple
thoughts that begin to find connections within each, therefore each
thought is in conjunction with the other and instead of just separated
thoughts, they all began to flow together creating a "stream"
Mind Mapping
Project proposal presentation
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May include your thought process for the idea
Title, team members, team name (optional)
Motivation: why is what you are doing important
Related work: you need to search thoroughly and make sure that
something similar or same method/tool has not been created by other
researchers.
• What you are proposing: Description of the system or network protocol
that you re planning to analyze or implement, or the tool that you intend to
build or extend. Description of security properties you intend to
investigate. Tools and/or analysis techniques you are planning to use. Clear
description of project deliverables. Possible deliverables are a software
prototype, a substantial case study, or, in the case of a purely theoretical
study, proofs (manual or machine- assisted).
Good luck!
Questions?