15 October 201812:41

USC School of Cinematic Arts

Interactive Media and Games Division

CTIN 510 18388

Special Topics in Research Methods for Innovation, Engagement,and Assessment

(draft 14-Dec-2017; revisions will be posted on Blackboard)

Spring 2018

2 units

Instructor:

Dennis Wixon, PhD


Class Room SCI 207Office hours: Tuesday 1- 3 and by appointment

Time:11:00 – 12:50Location: SCI 201K

Day: FridayText 425-210-6831

Prerequisite: None

Course Description:

Students will learn to plan, design, analyze, and report a research study for a digital media project. .

Planning includes

  • stating the purpose of the research, the question or hypothesis to be studied, the intended participants in the study (e.g. sample and population), the proposed method of data collection,
  • defining the intended audience for the research results,
  • choosingthe approach to be taken for analysis and the final reporting

Design is:

  • creating or choosing the data gathering instruments
  • developing the participant list
  • defining the time line for the study, i.e. data collection, analysis and write up

Analysis consists of

  • exploration of the data collected
  • mapping that data to conclusions and/or recommendations using relevant statistical and qualitative methods

The analysis should be valid and convincing to the audience specified and should fulfill the purpose stated in original proposal.

Reporting includes both

  • a presentation
  • a written report to an appropriate audience.

Finally students will be able to read research reports, review presentations and findings with respect to assessing their validity, their applicability, and gaining insights for new hypothesis and new designs.

The course is divided into three complementary phases.

  1. In the first phase methods and tools will be reviewed and discussed. This will include a review of the logic and purpose of research methods and statistical procedures. Particular emphasis will be placed on the evolution of methods for human computer interaction. Mastery will be judged by a set of assignments and quizzes and critiques of existing research.
  2. The second phase will be the development and presentation of a research proposal. The proposal will include a rationale for the proposed research. The rationale could include a review of any existing literature or an analysis of current design practice. It should establish a clear reason for the research, a goal, and an exploration of the audience for the research proposal. Together these should provide the basis for the chosen method and analysis of results, including an examination of plausible methods which were not chosen. The proposal will be both written and presented.
  3. The final phase will be write up and presentation of results. These results may involve actual data collection, be constructed for the purpose of the course, or use data collected in a prior study, which is either publically available or used with The permission of the original study authors. The final write-up can take one of two forms. It may either be in the form of submission to a journal or a conference or it may be a report and presentation to a product development team.

Other alternatives may be acceptable but will need instructor permission before mid-term.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, students should be able to:
  1. Understand user research methods, their application, and purpose in developing digital media
  2. Design a research project including
  3. Reviewing relevant literature
  4. Stating a researchable question or testable hypothesis clearly
  5. Defining the method and procedure
  6. Creating and administering any research tools or instruments
  7. Analyze and report the results of research including the use of statistical tools
  8. Document all results for appropriate audience
  9. Understand relevant research literature with respect to the validity, applicability, and possibilities for follow-on research.

Required Readings and Supplementary Materials

Required Readings

  • Experimental and Quasi Experimental Designs for Research, by Campbell and Stanley ISBN 978-0395307878 posted on Blackboard
  • Research methods in Human Computer Interaction, by Jonathan Lazar, ISBN 978-0-470-72337-1

Required software

SPSS

Supplementary Materials

  • Ethnographic methods Qualitative Data Analysis: An expanded source book, Miles and Huberman, ISBN 0-8039-5540-5
  • Data Science for Business, Provost and Fawcett, selected chapters posted on Blackboard
  • Single articles will be posted on Blackboard and listed in relevant weeks

Prerequisite:

It’s recommended that students have good written and oral communication skills.

Some familiarity with research methods is a plus. Alternatively students may have actual research experience through internships or contract work.

Course notes:

Slides and supplementary materials will be posted on Blackboard.

Evaluation:

Deliverables

Deliverable / Weight
Eight short assignments
  • Quizzes
  • Homework
  • Study critiques
/ 40 points
Research Proposal
  • Presentation
  • Write up
/ 10 points
10 points
Final research project
  • Presentation
  • Write up
/ 10 points
20 points
Class contribution / 10 points
Total / 100 points

Evaluation of each deliverable

Breakdown is as follows

Deliverable / Instructor / Class
Assignment 1 –8 / 5 points each Total 40
Presentation of research proposal / 5 points / 5 points
Write up of research proposal / 5 points
Project plan for research proposal / 5 points
Final research project presentation / 5 points / 5 points
Final research write up / 20 points
Class contribution / 10 points
Total / 90 points / 10 points

Evaluations by class will be based on an average ranking of the individual’s performance based by all other students. The students will be provided a rating scale with quantitative and qualitative questions. The quantitative scale will have defined anchor points and will include clarity of presentation, coherence and persuasiveness of material, and creativity.

Unless otherwise specified all assignments are due by end of day (Midnight) on Tuesday after the week they are assigned.

Late assignments will not be accepted and will receive no credit.

Extensions of deadlines require advance (one week prior) written agreement with instructor.

Course content (summarized by class meeting)

(All guest lecture dates are tentative, depending on availability)

Topics/Daily Activities / Readings and
Homework / Deliverable/ Due Dates
Week 1
12-Jan / Introduction: course expectations,
Syllabus review
Nature of scientific inference and explanation Statistical foundations and tools (SPSS) plotting data /
Campbell and Stanley pages 1-56 –
/
  1. Complete Class Survey
  2. Analyze a question from the Class Survey Using SPSS
Due
  1. 16-Jan (midnight)
  2. 20-Jan (midnight)
Graded5 points (part 2)
Week 2
19-Jan / How to dissect a research paper.
Hypothesis testing, Ethnographic methods: assumptions and techniques / Lazar chapter 2,3, 4 /
  1. Analyze research writing
  2. Review and critique 2 research papers (1 supplied by instructor)
  3. Complete research worksheet
Due 23-Jan (midnight) Graded5 Points
Week 3
26-Jan / Constructing and analyzing surveys
Human Subjects: ethics, legalities protections for participants and researchers / Read 3 research papers (2 supplied by instructor)
Lazar Chapter 9 /
  1. Take home quiz on readings
    Due 30-Jan
    Graded5 points

Week 4
2-Feb / Big data: philosophy and methods /
  • Data Science for Business (DSB) chapter 1
  • How do people really use text editors? Whiteside
  • NY times: Age of Big Data
/
  1. Take home exercise on big data
Due 6-Feb
Graded 5 points
Week 5
9-Feb / Guest Lecture:
TBD / Work on presentation
Week 6
16-Feb / Present Research Proposal /
  • Presentation of Research Proposal
Due 17-Feb Class time.Graded 10 points
  • Write up project plan for research
    Due: 21-Feb (midnight) Graded 10 points

Topics/Daily Activities / Readings and
Homework / Deliverable/ Due Dates
Week 7
23-Feb / Guest Lecture:
TBD
Week 8
2-March / Guest Lecture:
TBD
/ Lazar Chapter 1, 10, 11 /
  1. Correlation and regression
Due 7-Mar
Graded 5 points
Week 9
9-march / Guest Lecture:
TBD / Finish pilot study
Or
Identify data base /
  1. Take home quiz
Due 10-Mar – EOD
Graded 5 points
Spring Recess
11-mar to 18-March
Week 10
23-March / Guest Lecture:
TBD / Gather data/analyze /
  1. Take home exercise
Due 28-March
Graded5 Points
Week 11
30-Mar / Guest Lecture
TBD / Gather data/analyze
Draft: write-up, presentation /
  1. Central Limit theorem Excel
Due 11-April
Graded 5 points
Week 12
6-Apr / Guest Lecture:
TBD / Draft: write-up,
presentation
Week 13
13-Apr / Guest Lecture
TBD

Week 14

20-Apr / Presentations of research write up. / Revisions to write up if selected / Slides of research project
Due 21-Apr EOD
Graded 10 points
Research paper
Due 24-April
Graded 20 points

Week 15

27-Apil / Guest lecture
TBD

Exam Week

-May / One on one meeting
Discuss research paper feedback
30-april, 1-May / No final exam / Revisions of research paper Make up assignments
Due Thurs 3-May

Statement for Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Website and contact information for DSP: (213) 740-0776 (Phone), (213) 740-6948 (TDD only), (213) 740-8216 (FAX) .

Statement on Academic Integrity

USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. SCampus, the Student Guidebook, ( or contains the University Student Conduct Code (see University Governance, Section 11.00), while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A.

Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: Information on intellectual property at USC is available at:

Emergency Preparedness/Course Continuity in a Crisis

In case of a declared emergency if travel to campus is not feasible, USC executive leadership will announce an electronic way for instructors to teach students in their residence halls or homes using a combination of Blackboard, teleconferencing, and other technologies.

Instructor Bio

Dennis has worked in user research since 1981. He was a usability manager at Digital Equipment Corporation, where methods such as Usability Engineering, Contextual Inquiry, and data logging were developed. For the past 14 years he managed research teams at Microsoft, which have covered a wide spectrum of products, including: the Games User Research team, which developed RITE (Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation) and TRUE (Tracking Real-time User Experience) methods. TRUE has been successfully applied to many products, including the Halo franchise. Dennis has also been an active member of the CHI community for many years, serving as in a number of roles including Conference Co-chair and was elected Vice President for Conferences in 2004. He has co-authored over 50 articles, book chapters and talks on HCI with many valued colleagues. Dennis hasalso coauthored of two books: Field Methods Casebook for Software Design (with Dr. Judy Ramey) and Brave NUI World (with Dr. Daniel Wigdor).He has been an adjunct full professor at University of Washington in the department of Human Centered Design and Engineering Design. He holds a PhD. in experimental social psychology from Clark University. He is currently an associate professor in holding the Microsoft endowed professorship for Games research in the Interactive Media and Games Division at the School of Cinematic Arts at USC.

SA Bio

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