I was luckily funded (after winning the draw at WIP-PPIG 07) to attend the Psychology of Programming Workshop 2007 in Joensuu in the Lake District area of Finland on 2-6 July 2007. The programme was the most ambitious yet; featuring keynote talks through technical papers, a doctorial consortium, tutorials, and a wide range of evening activities. I have written a full review for the PPIG Newsletter but here are some of my highlights:
The workshop opened quietly on the Monday with the Doctoral Consortium, allowing us early-days researchers the chance to chat about our research and build up our confidence for the main conference.
Discussions were focussed on research methods and approaches and detailed and interesting questions were asked after each presentation. Most importantly we were reminded to never start with a research method, but instead a theory or question that needs to be evaluated: What’s my question? What evidence will satisfy? How will I collect the evidence? And the interesting questions: What do people say they do? What do they actually do? We also received good advice on how to read research papers, some ideas I intend to share with the Research Methods class.
There were two great tutorial sessions I attended:
- An informal tutorial on eye-tracking and potential application when researching programming. We were taught about visual attention and Fovea cones, the history of eye-tracking systems from 1898 through to modern eye-tracking systems, and potentials and challenges for such systems in the context of studies of programming. The main focus of the tutorial was a hands-on experience using an eye-tracking system to conduct research.
- A tutorial introducing phenomenography (about which I knew nothing) and grounded theory. We were given real data we could use to practice the two types of analysis, and I was extremely comforted to find that I seemed to have a high level of inter-rater agreement with the original researchers using both approaches. This gave me significantly more confidence that I have it in me to complete my own research.
Tuesday-Thursday were dedicated to paper presentations:
- On the Wednesday I enjoyed hearing about follower and gatherer roles in role based programming, particularly entertained by the speculative language presented which was called ROTFL (Role-Oriented Titillating but Fictional Language).
- The ‘Experiential Report on the Limitations of Experimentation as a Means of Empirical Investigation’ advised us not to rush empirical studies with software organisations, and to remember that the controlled experiment route is not always optimal. We were encouraged to consider how such data can still be rigorous and potentially useful.
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On the Thursday I was intrigued by two of the closing presentations. Sue Jones' research showing that more experienced students have higher mental rotation ability - she wondered whether mental rotation could be improved.
- Stuart Wray presented an analysis of SQ and EQ (Systemizing and Emotional Quotients) correlated against programmer aptitude.
On the Wednesday was the interesting discussion on ‘Children's mental/operational models of programming—Do children's programming tools miss something?’ We discussed the activities performed by children, mostly on the internet, which involve programming activity without being explicitly recognised as such; parameter tweaking, optimisation, variation and composition of components (e.g. skins), and the creation of simulations, animations and games. A variety of questions were approached: Is it programming if it is fun, simple, socially-led? Are there generational differences in the mental models being developed? Do these ‘play’ experiences generalise or lead to correct abstractions for developing programming skills? Where does algorithmic theory fit in these experiences? If there is a difference what does it look like and what are the implications? Should more formal programming be taught earlier in the curriculum?
The trip to the Orthodox Monastery of New Valamo provided us with an interesting tour of the attractive monastery grounds and learned of the history of the monks who live there. The Byzantine conference dinner was a lovely affair and I admit to being very taken by the Valamo-made berry wines, which were delicious. I just wish I could buy it in Brighton...
As ever the best bit of the workshop was the number of humorous awards awarded at the end. These included:
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‘Most Desperate Attempt to Win a Prize with a Ridiculous Prize Suggestion’
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‘The ‘p-word Prize’ (For yet another paradigm)’
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‘Prize for the Largest Number of (Childhood) Stories’
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‘Philosophy of Methodology Prize’ (for articulating when grounded theory is grounded theory)
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‘Prize for ‘Running out of Time’ the Greatest Number of Times’
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‘Prize for Conducting a Discussion with Himself in Public’
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‘Prize for the Clearest Bottom Line’
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‘Best Look-Alike Prize’
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‘Most Stoical Scapegoat Prize’
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‘Prize for Well-Formed Questions’
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‘Most Invisible Session Chair Prize’
All in all PPIG 2007 was a wonderfully organised and varied workshop. There was no shortage of interesting things planned, which helped to create an amazing environment. I just wish my luggage hadn't been delayed in both directions...
My photos of this enjoyable trip to Finland are available here.
