The Research Methods course provides an introduction to the most important research approaches and to the main research-related activities that PhD students will have to carry out during their PhD, and also if they later pursue a career as researchers in academia or industry. The main objective of the course is to teach PhD students some basic skills they will need when autonomously conducting research. The course covers general aspects that are relevant to research in any scientific discipline, but specifically focuses on Computer Science when illustrating the main notions and for the exercises and projects assigned to the students. More specifically, the course consists of the following 6 units: 1) introduction to research and scientific paper reading and writing; 2) empirical/experimental CS research methods; 3) research evaluation; 4) presenting scientific work; 5) good scientific writing style; 6) writing a research plan.
The course is compulsory for all students enrolled in the PhD program in Computer Science, to fulfill the credit requirements for the 1st year of the PhD.