CIS 362 - Empirical Methods for Computer Science

Spring 2004

Week	Date	Topic	Reading	Assignment
1	Jan. 26	Course Overview Course Website - Access to Protected documents. Learning Portal Grading and Grades Why Empiricism?	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 1	Review the Course Information and Course Principles. Become familar with access to your course portfolio (Learning Portal). The functions and features provided require some familiarity. All your submissions for this course will be presented in the Portal. It is to your advantage to become a user of this system. The Learning Portal is available at http://web.cis.umassd.edu. If you have not used Portal in a previous class, you must register as a new user. Prepare, and submit, your initial expectations (due Jan. 30 at 5pm). Reading are assigned for the next class period. The purpose is to have you read the material that will be discussed prior to the discussion. I believe in active classes which require students who maintain currency with the course materials. Review the Code Repair Task. Questions will be handled at the beginning of the next class period.
Jan. 28	Discussion of Coding Task I. Why Empiricism? (cont.)	Tichy, W. E. (May 1998) Should Computer Scientists Experiment More? IEEE Computer. pp. 32-40.	Collected remarks on the Coding Task I.
Jan. 30	Why don't we experiment? Discussion of the Tichy paper. Material is also covered in Chapter 1 of the text.	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 2
Jan. 30 - Last Day to Add/Drop
2	Feb. 2	Empirical Studies	Carolyn Seaman (1999) Qualitative Methods in Empirical Studies of Software Engineering. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 25(4), pp. 557-572.
Feb. 4	Surveys	Kitchenham, B., Pickard, L. & Pfleeger, S. (1995) Case Studies for Method and Tool Evaluation. IEEE Software, pp. 52-62.
Feb. 6	Data Example Case Studies		Coding Task II Analysis of Coding Task Data
3	Feb. 9	Discuss Coding Task II. The Language of Case Studies and Experiments	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 3 2/9/2004, 9:30am: I completed the review of the effort log. Evaluation and comments submitted to Portal. 2/9/2004, 5:30pm: I completed the review of the assignment reflection. I randomly chose artifacts to read. I made no comments. I recorded points for the assignment if it was there, and I had no issues with it if I read. If the artifact was not present then I recored a zero for the deliverable.	Collected remarks on the Coding Task II.
Feb. 11	Complete the case studies and Language lecture.	Basili, Caldiera, Rombach (1994) The Goal Question Metric Approach. Encyclopedia of Software Engineering. Wiley.
Feb. 13	Complete Chapters 1-3 material Discuss Process Analysis		Coding Task Process Analysis
Monday, Feb. 16th, is a Presidents' Day. No Classes
4	Feb. 18	Discussion of GQM Example Review of Chapters 1-3, and lecture notes.	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 4	GQM Task
Feb. 20	Basics for Experimental Design
5	Feb. 23	Test Chapters 1-3 & Lecture Notes
Feb. 25	Measurement	Exam 1 Results
Feb. 27			Complete the GQM postmortem by March 1.
6	Mar. 1
Mar. 3	Data Representation
Mar. 5	Decision Making Problem Set I	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 7
7	Mar. 8
Mar. 10	Experimental Design
Mar. 12		We have completed through chapter 5 in the text.
Spring Break: March 13 - March 21
8	Mar. 22	Large Sample Decisions	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 6	GQM Task II Each team should review the analysis provided for the coding task analysis against their submission. There is an assignment asking for feedback on the analysis task.
March 22: Mid-semester
Mar. 24	Other Techniques
Mar. 26
9	Mar. 29	Other Techniques (cont.)
Mar. 31	Using Chi-Square Solutions to chi-square Problems	Solutions to Problem Set 2
Apr. 2	Techniques Concluded
10	Apr. 5	Additional Chi-Square Problems One Factor, k-levels	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 8
Apr. 7	One Factor, k-levels - Part 2 Workbook	Problem Set 3 Solutions	Coding Task III
Apr. 9	Coding Task III Discussion ANOVA Problems ANOVA workbook	About the Exam Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 9
April 9th is the last day to withdraw from Spring classes.
11	Apr. 12	Test, Chapters 4-7	Exam 2 Results
Apr. 14	Block Designs Block Designs Workbook		Open-Source Study
Apr. 16	Factorial Design Factorial Workbook	Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 9
12	Apr. 19	Patriot's Day - No Class
Tuesday, April 20th follow Monday schedule.
Apr. 20	Factorial Design (sample)
Apr. 21	Problem Set IV (discussion)
Apr. 23	Correlation Correlation Workbook
13	Apr. 26
Apr. 28
Apr. 30
14	May 3	Non-Parametric Methods
May 5	SE Experiment Presentations
May 7	SE Experiment Presentations
15	May 10	Experiment
May 11th is the last day of class. Wednesday, May 12th, is a study day.
Exams: May 13-19
Final Exam: Tuesday, May 18th, 8-11am.

Week

Date

Topic

Reading

Assignment

Jan. 26

Course Overview
Course Website - Access to Protected documents.
Learning Portal
Grading and Grades
Why Empiricism?

Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 1

Review the Course Information and Course Principles.
Become familar with access to your course portfolio (Learning Portal). The functions and features provided require some familiarity. All your submissions for this course will be presented in the Portal. It is to your advantage to become a user of this system.

The Learning Portal is available at http://web.cis.umassd.edu. If you have not used Portal in a previous class, you must register as a new user.
Prepare, and submit, your initial expectations (due Jan. 30 at 5pm).
Reading are assigned for the next class period. The purpose is to have you read the material that will be discussed prior to the discussion. I believe in active classes which require students who maintain currency with the course materials.
Review the Code Repair Task. Questions will be handled at the beginning of the next class period.

Jan. 28

Discussion of Coding Task I.

Why Empiricism? (cont.)

Tichy, W. E. (May 1998) Should Computer Scientists Experiment More? IEEE Computer. pp. 32-40.

Collected remarks on the Coding Task I.

Jan. 30

Why don't we experiment? Discussion of the Tichy paper. Material is also covered in Chapter 1 of the text.

Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 2

Jan. 30 - Last Day to Add/Drop

Feb. 2

Empirical Studies

Carolyn Seaman (1999) Qualitative Methods in Empirical Studies of Software Engineering. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering 25(4), pp. 557-572.

Feb. 4

Surveys

Kitchenham, B., Pickard, L. & Pfleeger, S. (1995) Case Studies for Method and Tool Evaluation. IEEE Software, pp. 52-62.

Feb. 6

Data Example

Case Studies

Coding Task II

Analysis of Coding Task Data

Feb. 9

Discuss Coding Task II.

The Language of Case Studies and Experiments

Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 3

2/9/2004, 9:30am: I completed the review of the effort log. Evaluation and comments submitted to Portal.

2/9/2004, 5:30pm: I completed the review of the assignment reflection. I randomly chose artifacts to read. I made no comments. I recorded points for the assignment if it was there, and I had no issues with it if I read. If the artifact was not present then I recored a zero for the deliverable.

Collected remarks on the Coding Task II.

Feb. 11

Complete the case studies and Language lecture.

Basili, Caldiera, Rombach (1994) The Goal Question Metric Approach. Encyclopedia of Software Engineering. Wiley.

Feb. 13

Complete Chapters 1-3 material

Discuss Process Analysis

Coding Task Process Analysis

Monday, Feb. 16th, is a Presidents' Day. No Classes

Feb. 18

Discussion of GQM
Example

Review of Chapters 1-3, and lecture notes.

Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 4

GQM Task

Feb. 20

Basics for Experimental Design

Feb. 23

Test Chapters 1-3 & Lecture Notes

Feb. 25

Measurement

Exam 1 Results

Feb. 27

Complete the GQM postmortem by March 1.

Mar. 1

Mar. 3

Data Representation

Mar. 5

Decision Making

Problem Set I

Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 7

Mar. 8

Mar. 10

Experimental Design

Mar. 12

We have completed through chapter 5 in the text.

Spring Break: March 13 - March 21

Mar. 22

Large Sample Decisions

Juristo & Moreno, Chapter 6

GQM Task II

Each team should review the analysis provided for the coding task analysis against their submission. There is an assignment asking for feedback on the analysis task.

March 22: Mid-semester

Mar. 24

Other Techniques

Mar. 26

Mar. 29

Other Techniques (cont.)

Mar. 31

Using Chi-Square
Solutions to chi-square Problems

Solutions to Problem Set 2

Apr. 2

Techniques Concluded

Apr. 5