得天下英才而教之

高水平英文的掌握在proposal defence 和论文答辩的重要性。

Introducing a new concept in the thesis

When you try to introduce a new concept in your thesis, you should first define the concept and cite a reputable reference. Thenyou should explain the concept and elaborate how the concept is related to the thesis statement of your research.

How to do self-proofreading for thesis

Rule of thumb: Proofread one thing at a time

1. Start with Methodology chapter:
- Make sure all tenses used in this chapter are past tense.

2. In Findings or Results chapter:
- Make sure all tenses used in this chapter are past tense.
- Avoid unnecessary use of past perfect tense.

3. Ctrl+ F to search for "will" and turn all "will" into past tense.
Exception: Recommendation for future study

4. Singular / plural with tenses: is, are, am, was, were, verb+s, verb-s

5. Breakdown any long sentence into two or three sentences, and then link them using sentence connectors to assure continuity of ideas.
- For positive connection: e.g. first, next, then, after that, subsequently, in addition.
- For negative or opposite connect: e.g. meanwhile, in contrast, however, anyhow, nonetheless, nevertheless.
NB: do not use besides

6. Prioritize the use of active voice in the 6th ed. of APA

7. Verify author-date citation format (refer to APA Style tutorial)

8.

How to publish in SCOPUS or WoS journals asap?

It seems like to support the development of UPSI at the moment is to focus on publication, specifically publication of journal articles which are indexed by SCOPUS or Web of Science.

Now the direction is set, the next question is: How to publish in SCOPUS or WoS journals asap?

Strategy no. 1: According to Assoc Prof Dr Aos, I must start from analyzing journals that suits my areas of study.
　

Studies on Attention Cues

Meanings of "cue. n" from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cue

Cue:
1. A thing said or done that serves as a signal to an actor or other performer to enter or to begin their speech or performance.

1.1 A signal for action
1.2 A circumstance or piece of information which aids the memory in retrieving details not recalled spontaneously
1.3 Psychology A feature of something perceived that is used in the brain's interpretation of the perception.
1.4 A facility for playing through an audio or video recording very rapidly until a desired starting point is reached.


Proposed operational definition: 
A circumstance or piece of information created that serves as a signal for action to a player to solve problem in games. 

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Meanings of "attention. mass n." from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/attention

attention:
1. Notice taken of someone or something; the regarding of someone or something as interesting or important.
1.1 The mental faculty of considering or taking notice of someone or something.

2. The action of dealing with or taking special care of someone or something.

Proposed operational definition: 

Attention cue

The mental faculty of taking notice of an interesting or important circumstance or information created that serves as a signal for action to a player. 

How to analyze semi-structured interview transcription:

We collected a lot of data through Geran PdP and FRGS. Herewith the method we used to analyze those semi-structured interview transcriptions in a group:

Step 1: Align research questions with the list of interview questions

Step 2: Sort raw data (verbatim interview transcription) using tables based on research questions and sub-questions (which are interview questions) 
Intended outcome: List of direct quotes (in tables)

Step 3: Interpret each quote using description, by following the sequence of research question
Intended outcome: List of interpretations (in parallel to the original quotes)

Step 4: Construct mind maps to sort, synthesize  and link relevant quote / interpretation
Intended outcome: Research question oriented mind maps

Step 5: Generate conclusive statements as answers to each research question
Intended outcome: List of conclusive statements and list of research answers
NB: Since not all research questions are fully answered, answers generated from analysis of raw data might not be sufficient to make conclusion of this study, thus two different lists should be presentation. 

How to analyze recorded videos of playtesting

The following steps were discussed and developed by Tan W.H. and Cho W.H. for analyzing Inventors of Future: 

Step 1: Walk through the game playing process yourself and determine checkpoints.
- Rule of thumb: set each change of screen as one checkpoint
- Classify playing experience according to different paths (e.g. desired path versus non-desired or unexpected path) 

Step 2: Gather time-based data for between two checkpoints for every player
- Rule of thumb: make each player as one case or unit of analysis 

Step 3: Gather other numeric data for each unit of analysis
- E.g. frequency of errors, frequency of clicking static button

Step 4: Rationalize / interpret each phenomenon of non-desired or unexpected path.
- Rule of thumb: refer to constructs of usability test

Step 5: Generate conclusive statements by cross-referencing numeric data and text-based interpretation

Step 6: Reflect the data collection and data analysis protocols to identify lessons learnt.

Research versus plagiarism

When you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research.

[Quoted in Alva Johnston’s The Legendary Mizners (1953, Farrah Strauss and Young, New York, chapter 4, p. 66) and Bartlett’s, 1992, p. 631.

Strategy for writing a PhD thesis (for PhD in GBL or Game Design)

Descriptive (What it is and what it isn’t):

• Chapter 1 Introduction, 
• Chapter 3 Methodology, 
• Chapter 4 Design, Development and Validation of XYZ, 
• Chapter 5 Results (Quantitative - presents results of statistical analyses without or with little DISCUSSION) 

Critical (What’s wrong with what it is? Why there is a knowledge gap that your research can fill in?):

• Chapter 2 Literature Review
• Chapter 5 Findings (Qualitative - presents results of data analysis and then compare your results with published studies)
• Chapter 6 Discussion (a follow-up of Chapter 5 Results) 
• Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 Conclusions

Publish through ITBM

Herewith the notes I took when En Suhaimi from ITBM came to UPSI and introduced an alternative way of getting books published.

Bayaran: RM5000++ per book
Bahasa: English or Malay
Penulis boleh dapatkan penaja bersama

Untuk tujuan kepustakaan...

Kulit boleh buat sendiri

Perlu dapatkan kebenaran UPSI bagi karya yang berasaskan R&D

lebih kurang 200 halaman

bebas dalam penetapan harga buku

pasarkan ke perpustakaan, 500 sekali

Sesuai untuk profesor yang bakal bersara: Biography

Spectrum of Fundamental Research

This hierarchical flowchart flashed in my mind when I discussed with FAR about her research after she presented her research findings. 

Tips for writing the Discussion and Conclusions Chapter

Herewith some tips I gave to a PhD student who just completed his data analysis (the Findings chapter):

1. You can choose to split the Discussion and Conclusions into two chapters, or combine them into one chapter (explain why you choose to do either one in Chapter 1. 

2. The chapter should present your answers to each research question, one-by-one. 

3. While presenting your answer to every question, you should compare your answer to others' answers (from Literature Review). 

4. This means you need to update your Literature Review after answering this chapter. 

5. Draw conclusions from the answers to each research question. 

6. After that, discuss knowledge contributions and practical contributions

7. Finally, explain the theoretical implication and practical (application) implications to the nation. 

8. Suppose some limitations of your study, and suggest possible future studies.