CM501IS506 Professional Development

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CM501/IS506Professional Development

• Decisions, arguments and evidence
• http// computing.unn.ac.uk/staff/cgdm5
• David Miller

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• Making decisions
• Providing evidence to support your views
  (Educating Rita)
• Example of an argument (Thermodynamics of Hell)
• Validity of web sources of evidence (Interaction
  design)

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Making decisions
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Making decisions

• Should I have another cup of tea?
• (little reflection no-brainer, no serious
  consequences for you or significant others.
• Judgement based on immediate feelings and social
  context)
• Do I have time to overtake that car?
• (little reflection. Judgement based on
  accumulated prior experience (skill))
• Should I walk or take the bus?
• Should I press the button to download new
  updates?
• (if there there are significant consequences,
  even if short term then you are likely (or ought)
  to weigh up the benefits and costs and their
  associated risks relative to your objectives.
• Judgement based on reflective thinking
  (deliberation.)

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Making decisions

• Should I recommend that we invest in PDAs with a
  Palm OS or with a Microsoft OS for the companys
  mobile information access in the warehouse
  project?
• Important consequences for you and significant
  others.
• Before making your decision you should
• make a complete survey of objectives
• make as complete a survey of alternatives as
  possible
• carefully examine the risks of your preferred
  choice
• re-appraise initially rejected alternatives
• make as thorough a search for relevant
  information as you can.
• avoid bias in assessing alternatives
• work out contingency plans.

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Making decisions

• Vigilant, open-minded decision-making
• takes time and effort.
• It is more likely to result in better decisions.
• You are more likely to have a publicly defensible
  position if the decision doesnt work out.
• You are more likely to feel comfortable that
  you took the best decision on the best evidence
  available.
• Conditions for vigilant, open-minded
  decision-making
• Sufficient time
• Deliberate search for alternative views
• Unbiased assessment of alternatives
• Investigation of warnings or ambiguous
  information
• Aware of risks

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Making Decisions - Risk

• Risk has two aspects
• Hazard (the likelihood that something will
  happen)
• Harm (the seriousness of damage if it does
  happen)
• Assessing risk means assessing both hazard and
  harm.
• Should I walk to work without an umbrella on an
  overcast day in November?
• The hazard is high (it is likely to rain)
• The harm would be slight.
• Should I fly to Dublin?
• The hazard is low (statistics show the plane is
  very unlikely to crash)
• The harm would be serious.

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Validity of web sources of evidence - example
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Validity of web sources of evidence - example
The following extract is from Can programmers do
interaction design? by Kim Goodwin.
www.cooper.com/content/insight/newsletters/2003/
Can_... accessed 9/05)   Note the original text
forms one paragraph, the article then continues
for another ten paragraphs.  
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Validity of web sources of evidence - example
In most of the organisations we encounter during
our consulting work, programmers tend to think
theyre the best qualified people to design the
form and behaviour of a product. In the absence
of trained interaction designers they may be
right.   They know from experience that no one
else is going to work through all the
implications of serving up that snippet of data
in just the right way, and no one else questions
the idea of programmers doing the interaction
design because they assume its a technology
problem.   As a result, executives who lead
technology initiatives believe that they already
get interaction design for free from their
programmers.   In their opinion, having
interaction designers is unnecessary if the
product happens to be hard to use, they assume
the programmers just need more sensitivity
training.   Having programmers design the product
is anything but free, though its inefficient,
ineffective and risky.
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Validity of web sources of evidence - example
  The claims are unsubstantiated. The web site
belongs to a company that provides interaction
design consultancy. Although the article has
some interesting ideas it would not be advisable
to use it as evidence in support of appointing
specialist interaction designers without
including some caveat.
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Example of an argument
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Example of an argument
A chemistry exam question (University of
Washington) Is Hell exothermic (gives off
heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? One
student wrote the following
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Example of an argument
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is
changing in time.   So we need to know the rate
that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they
are leaving.    I think that we can safely
assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not
leave.    Therefore, no souls are leaving.
   
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Example of an argument
As for how many souls are entering Hell, lets
look at the different religions that exist in the
world today.   Some of these religions state
that if you are not a member of their religion,
you will go to Hell.    Since there are more
than one of these religions and since people do
not belong to more than one religion, we can
project that all souls go to Hell.   With birth
and death rates as they are, we can expect the
number of souls in Hell to increase. .
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Example of an argument

• Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume
  in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order
  for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay
  the same, the volume of Hell has to expand
  proportionately as souls are added.
•  
• This gives two possibilities
•  
• 1) If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the
  rate at which souls enter Hell, then the
  temperature and pressure in Hell will increase
  until all Hell breaks loose.
• 2) If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the
  increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature
  and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
•  
• So which is it?   .

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Example of an argument
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa
during my Freshman year, that "It will be a cold
day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take
into account the fact that I still have not
succeeded in having sexual relations with her,
then, possibility number 2 cannot be true,
and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and
will not freeze.
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Providing evidence to support your views
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Providing evidence to support your views

• Some student essays and reports are characterised
  by data that is not used as evidence to support
  the conclusions or recommendations.
• You should make sure that everything you include
  in your data contributes to your recommendations.

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Example of providing supporting evidence
From the play Educating Rita (later a film
starring Julie Walters and Michael Caine)
The task for the essay was Suggest how you would
resolve the staging difficulties of Ibsens Peer
Gynt. Ritas essay simply reads Do it on the
radio. Frank (her tutor) is not happy with
this, so she re-writes it.
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Example of providing supporting evidence
Ritas revised essay reads
In attempting to resolve the staging
difficulties of Ibsens Peer Gynt, I would
present it on the radio because, as Ibsen himself
says, he wrote it for voices never intending it
to go on in a theatre. If they had had the radio
in his day that is where he would have done
it. Frank is much happier with this.
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Providing supporting evidence - example
Except from educating Rita

• Background notes
• Rita - (Mrs Susan White), a mature student
  studying English.
• Frank A university lecturer, Ritas tutor
• Denny Ritas husband
• E.M. Forster An author sometimes studied in
  English courses.
• Ibsen A playwright sometimes studied in English
  courses.