Graduate Empirical Research Methods Course (CS6350 & CS6351)

Spring 2019 Syllabus
 
CS 6350/6351 is co-taught with IS 4800 (see the syllabus).

Students will attend the lectures and do many of the same assignments, but students in CS 6350 will do some additional work and will have the opportunity to tailor most of the work they do towards their own research interests.

Extra requirements for graduate students

In addition to the undergraduate course requirements, graduate students must each design one additional publication-quality empirical research study and attend one extra one-hour seminar meeting per week during the semester. The study must be on a topic and use methods approved by the instructor. Graduate students must submit a seven-page proposal on the study and analysis techniques to be used, along with full application materials for Northeastern IRB approval by the end of the semester. In addition to project presentations, the seminar meetings will be used to critique study designs from the current HCI and health informatics literature.

Project proposals

Preliminary 5-page study proposals will be submitted after to spring break. Doing this will require some multi-tasking with some assignments. Final study proposals must be submitted by the end of the semester following the NIH R21 format (1 page Specific Aims plus 6 page Research Strategy sections only, with the latter organized into Significance, Innovation, and Approach sections).

Homework

The homework in the table below is in lieu of the IS4800 homeworks. Graduate students do not need to do the IS4800 team projects. Graduate students do need to complete the I1-I4 individual assignments, and they will be due on the same date as they are for the undergraduate students.

IRB application & Study protocol

By the end of the semester, you must turn in a full Northeastern IRB application to the instructor, including any consent forms and other materials the IRB would require. You must also turn in a full study protocol, which includes step-by-step instructions for running the study that would enable a layperson to run the study. These materials are in addition to, not a part of, the final study proposal (although the study proposal will clearly need to summarize the study protocol).

Seminar Schedule

We will spend the first half of the semester reviewing and critiquing studies from the HCI and health informatics literature. During each of these classes up to three will each present the work and their critique (10 minutes each). Thereafter, all students will discuss and critique it. The format of the class and the workload will be determined, in part, by how many graduate students are registered for the current semester.

Following the midterm, students will present on more advanced study designs and statistical analysis topics. Students will be assigned to each develop a 20-minute tutorial on a particular technique that will be presented in the IS 4800 lecture component of the class. Students assigned to present (critiques or tutorials) must obtain approval from the instructor on the topic and paper to present, and send the paper to the class (via Piazza) at least 3 days before class so all can read it.
 
Seminar Meetings (CS6351): Mondays 4:35-5:35, Forsyth 201

Please note this schedule is subject to minor revision based on the number of students who register for CS 6350 and their interests and should be checked for changes.

Grading

Grades will be based on the following:

• Quizzes (10%).
• Class participation (10%), including presentations.
• Individual homework (20% divided equally among assignments).
• Midterm exam (15%).
• Final exam (15%).
• Individual Term Project (30% study proposal & IRB application).
• Proposal - "A" is recommend for funding as NIH R21 application.
• IRB - "A" is if the Northeastern IRB would approve without modification.
• Study protocol - "A" is if a first-year undergraduate student could run the study without any additional information.