To create the assessment artefacts, had to lean about research methodologies and how to write up a research proposal. A subject that is not only completely new, but has to be done by the deadline. To top that off, Computer Science – unlike technology related topics – does not seem to have that many resources to teach you how the research should be done in this field.
While reading up on the subject, I found an article that might be useful. Dodig-Crnkovic (2002), quoting Dijkstra, mentions that computer science departments, have, under external pressures, underemphasized the “science” aspects of the knowledge area in favor of “computer” that is a tool not a science. It further goes on saying how ridiculous this would sound if this was done in other fields. For example, a knife is the tool that the doctor uses for the surgery, but the surgery is not called “Knife Science”. If you are interested in this topic, you can read up on the article “Research Methods in Computer Science: The Challenges and Issues”.
Quantitative vs Qualitative methods
What are the differences? Is should be clear from the name: Quantitative research method focuses on the numbers. The tools involved is statistical or numerical analysis and you need to specify where the data comes from, how it is collected and analysed. The Qualitative research on the other hand does not focus so much on the pure numbers. With this method you can focus on what you think and why you think so.