Advice to New Researchers: Simplify Research

Some tricks that worked for me:
* Break it down!
* Test Driven Development
* Metrics
* Iterate / Incremental Progress
* Be happy: Tangible rewards

Transcript

1. simplifying research
   

   Arnab Nandi

   Assistant Professor!
   Computer Science & Engineering
   The Ohio State University
   interactive data systems
   research group at ohio state
   
   

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2. 2012
   Hi! I’m Arnab.
   interactive data systems
   research group at ohio state
   
   GestureDB  
   Querying  beyond  Keyboards  
    
   DICE:  Interac9ve  Analy9cs  
   Ad-­‐hoc  Data  Analy9cs  &  Explora9on  
   
   

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3. Don’t let it scare you
   RESEARCH
   
   

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4. Problem"
   HARD
   RESEARCH
   
   Process"
   SIMPLE
   

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5. tricks that worked for me
   

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7. Test-Driven Development
   •  Unit tests
   •  1 test per “thing”
   •  Top-down
   •  If Research Problem was solved,
   what would be possible?
   •  Bottom-up
   •  Naïve algorithm
   •  Strawman
   •  Free progress bar for research!
   

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8. Metrics, Metrics, Metrics
   •  Really easy to get distracted
   •  Anecdote: sub-second threshold in DICE
   

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9. Incremental Progress
   

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10. Incremental Progress
    •  Journal your research!
    •  Daily TODO.txt
    •  Weekly Snippets to advisor
    •  Streak Calendar
    

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11. Iterate, Iterate, Iterate
    You are not
    going to get it
    right the first
    time
    

    

    (if you do, let’s chat.)
    

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12. Don’t become a zombie
    •  Stagnation, Zero excitement, Feeling Lost
    •  Internships
    •  Take breaks (real vacations)
    •  Don’t let your ego get in the way
    •  It’s ok to quit a problem
    •  (instead of the PhD!)
    •  Breadth is a strength
    PhD…  
    

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13. Be happy: Tangible rewards
    •  Challenge: Research problems, submissions are “abstract” efforts
    •  Idea: Align “abstract” efforts with tangible rewards
    •  Example: Paper Submission: Hardware Upgrade
    •  Note: not publication, submission
    •  Important to pick the right metrics here
    
    •  Remove resource constraints ASAP
    •  Books, furniture, hard drives, food
    •  Worth it even if your univ. doesn’t reimburse!
    •  “Grand Slam”
    

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14. Summary: Simplify Research!
    
    •  Break it down!
    •  Test Driven Development
    •  Metrics
    •  Iterate / Incremental Progress
    •  Be happy: Tangible rewards
    

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15. Thanks!
    interactive data systems
    research group at ohio state
    papers, videos and more at http://interact.osu.edu | http://arnab.org
    

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