CDC-ECC Seville-Interactive session on research methods

Hereafter you will find a collection of questions and answers collected during an inrearctive session at the last IEEE CDC-ECC held in Seville, december 12-16, 2005

The objective of this work is to understand the relationships between different research methods in different disciplines.

The goal is to increase the common understanding and language in interdisciplinary projects.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

1) Which is your main research topic?

• Robust control
• Nonlinear control
• Remote web-based laboratories and Case based Reasoning
• Atomic Force Microscopy control systems
• Control and Communication
• Artificial Intelligence applications
• Process Control
• System Identification of nonlinear systems (marine propeller)
• Nonlinear stability theory with application to systems biology
• Multiagent cooperative control, identification.

2) What do you mean by research topic?

• A class of problems whose investigation is adequately motivated
• A class of problems for which general solutions are sought
• One or more problems to be solved which are related to a specific field
• The topic that someone is researching on
• Research is finding and identifying problems and then solving them
• The research topic is the street where I am working on trying to find a new place where to go
• The main investigation area I am involved on
• Any question whose answer lies somewhere in between trivial and impossible

3 )What do you mean by research method?

• To study the state of the art and apply novel techniques to solve a problem
• Interest, diligence, persistence, stamina, competence, confidence, execution
• The systematic way of approaching problems in order to find general solutions
• Work, adapt, achieve your goal
• Going from general to particular, or from particular to general, according to circumstances
• The steps through which one moves from intuition to knowledge
• A research method is the way I define a problem and/or find a solution if it is feasible.

4) Would you describe your research method as:

a. Exploratory research (a new problem is structured and identified);

b. Constructive research (a new solution to a problem is developed);

c. Empirical research (empirical evidence on the feasibility of an existing solution to a problem is provided)

d. Other.

Mostly constructive

Constructive

• Constructive
• Constructive and empirical
• Constructive
• Exploratory and constructive
• Constructive and empirical
• Exploratory and constructive: research and research methods must solve real problems
• Exploratory research and Constructive research
• Mainly constructive and after it has an empirical phase, meaning testing a solution or validate a model by real data.

5) Which factors influence the choice of your topic?

a. the funding procedure?

b. the discussions at meetings and conferences?

c. the exchange of ideas with colleagues?

d. the reading of literature?

e. some genuine and inner interest?

f. Other

• Inner interest, outside interest, support (advisor, financial), reading literature
• The funding procedure
• Funding proc., exchange of ideas, genuine and inner interest
• Funding procedure and exchange of ideas
• From a. to f. in ascending order
• Discussions at meetings and conferences and the reading of literature
• Funding procedure, discussion at meetings and exchange of ideas
• Some genuine and inner interest and the discussions (if in the discussions nee problems are identified)
• A genuine and inner interest and the exchange of ideas with colleagues
• The exchange of ideas with colleagues and the reading of literature