Archive for January, 2009

Design Patterns for Research Methods: Iterative Research

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Pre-print version of my article to be presented at the AAAI Spring Symposium: Experimental Design for Real World Systems

Abstract:
For the last two decades the idea of design patterns has been a useful abstraction for computer scientists and programmers. As computer scientists, and scientists of all fields, are more than just programmers, we can apply the patterns concept to more than just program design. Indeed, the meta-creative processes and research methods which generate the code can also be viewed through the patterning abstraction to identify research method patterns and the contexts where they can be applied. One example of a research pattern is Iterative Research. Two examples of this Iterative Research method will be presented: the first investigating the vehicle, interface, and team CONOPS for small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) used during Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) operations, and the second working to develop a multi-operator team HRI metric and robot usability evaluation method.

Originally I just had the Iterative Research pattern, but calling it a pattern was shamelessly inspired by Merlin Mann’s discussion of creativity patterns (The Problem with “Feeling Creative” | Toward Patterns for Creativity)

PDF:Research Method Patterns