Results from Coding Exercise 2

Master / Vertiefung Nailing your Thesis
1

When will the results be available?

Disclaimer: Dieser Thread wurde aus dem alten Forum importiert. Daher werden eventuell nicht alle Formatierungen richtig angezeigt. Der ursprüngliche Thread beginnt im zweiten Post dieses Threads.

2

Results from Coding Exercise 2
Hi there! Do you have any feedback regarding the second coding exercise?

Also, I would like to know a bit more about the last assignment. Any hints on how to write the conclusion?

Thanks in advance.

3

Dear Sofia

First about feedback:

Most of my initial feedback is still relevant - https://fsi.cs.fau.de/forum/thread/14254-NYT-method-exercise-common-mistakes-and-advice, because I keep noticing related mistakes.

However, here are some more observations:

  • Some students prefer to code only very particular parts of a paragraph, while leaving out the rest. This is the correct way to code, if the rest of the paragraph does not help better describe the concept of the given sentence. However, more often than not, several sentences or paragraphs together are to be coded by a specific code, because only as a whole do they present one concept. The coder wants to code each concept as a whole, not 3 parts of the concept with the same code, while leaving just 1-2 sentences in between, especially when these sentences in between add context to the concept. So, my suggestion would be to not code too narrowly in cases when coding the surrounding context can help better understand the code.

  • Often there is a choice between 2-3 codes for a given segment. At times several codes should be applied, but if one thinks that they are mutually exclusive, then the preference should be given to the more explicit one. For example, if a given segment is about internal collaboration and does not explicitly emphasize decision making (not necessarily the words “decision making” but the concept), then it should be coded with “internal collaboration”.

  • If two or more paragraphs are to coded with the same code, you should code these paragraphs together, so make one code, rather than two or three separate codes for each paragraph. This is simply the style with which the initial coding was done.

  • If the interviewee describes the product lines, the company or a specific component of the product line without presenting a best practice, do not code such segments. All the codes in the code book are about best practices.

Second about conclusion

There is no specific format for writing the conclusion. It should be 1-2 page long. You should first clearly state the research question that you are answering and then use the coding work to support your answers and related arguments.

You can ask a specific research question, for example about “style guide” as an implementation best practice. Then based on the interview coding, you should bring arguments for and against the practice. You can also suggest how such a style guide can be developed for any software product line, basically abstracting from the 6 interviews that you had coded. This could be presented as a pattern that includes a question/problem that is to be solved by style guide, the solution that is style guide and how to implement this solution.

You can also ask a broader question of what UX best practices there are in software product lines. Answering this question you would present several best practice categories and best practices, as well as how they are connected, so what should be done first, then what other best practices can follow etc.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Nick