Collaborative Research Kit Template
Last modified: July 17, 1998 (version information at the end of
this page)
This HTML template suggests a format for describing collaborative
research projects, which we call
Collaborative Research Kits (CRKs).
We visualize the following rough timeline for setting up and using an CRK:
- Come up with an idea:
- Write it down.
- Consider the previous literature.
- Create a CRK by using this template to create a new web page. Edit
each section to describe your idea for a CS education research project
that could involve researchers from other schools. You need not have answers
to all of the questions in order to post your CRK.
- Send either the URL for your CRK or the page itself to
<almstrum@cs.utexas.edu>
with a request that it be added to the CRK repository.
- Share by posting a notice of where your CRK is located and what it
is about to the
mailing list.
- Refine the idea with help from collaborators. Update the CRK as the
design evolves.
- Run the study.
- Evaluate the results.
- Propagate the results.
Template Table of Contents
Short, descriptive title of CRK content
Since the description of any CRK will evolve, it is important to provide
version information. We recommend a numbering system, date, and responsible
person on a line. See the end of this template for an example.
The URL provided to the CRK repository should point to the most recent version
but earlier versions should be available.
Briefly describe what is being studied and the approach to be used in the
proposed research.
Who are you? How can you be contacted (email, web, phone, snail mail)?
What is your motivation for setting up this collaborative project? What
goals do you have for the project?
What have you accomplished so far? For example: "brainstorming",
"literature review underway", "planning of research design",
"trial run", "under execution locally",
"replication",
"evaluation of completed study", ...
What is the level of the students/courses? How flexible is the level?
Could collaborators apply the study to populations that differ from yours?
Possible levels include:
- pre-college (K-12)
- lower-level undergraduate (CS0, CS1)
- upper-level undergraduate
- graduate / postgraduate
- industry / government
Describe the study as you visualize it or have already developed it.
- How much time do you estimate a collaborator will need to spend in
setting up and preparing to participate?
- How much time will participants be required to spend?
- How much class time will be needed?
Does the study require specific hardware or software?
What materials are needed? Which materials have you developed that will
be / must be used in the collaborator's setting?
What could limit the study? Under what constraints will the study need to
operate?
What exactly would a collaborator be expected to do?
What is the data that will be generated? Which tool(s) will be used for
collecting the data? It is important that this section be as specific as
possible, since the exchange of data can be one of the most challenging
aspects of a collaborative project.
How will the data be analyzed and the results evaluated at each individual
site?
Who will be the coordinating researcher(s)? Someone needs to take the lead
in checking progress, answering questions, and collecting the results. Often,
this will be the person who creates the CRK. Include their institution and
contact information.
Who else is involved in the study? Include institution and contact
information.
Will collaborators be contributors, co-authors, or play some other role(s)?
What will be the procedure for gathering the data of all of the collaborators
into a single pool and making sense of it?
How will the results be propagated? For example, the results could be published
in a paper for a SIGCSE Technical Conference.
Any topic not covered above could go here.
Version history of this template: