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Unit 1 of Research Methodology
What separates genuine research from information-gathering, the different types of research, how research happens in malware analysis and security machine learning, the seven-stage research process, how to define and narrow a research problem, and why every study needs a stated scope and limitations.
Learning outcomes
The six tests real research has to pass, research's four underlying objectives, and how to tell them apart using the WannaCry timeline.
Fundamental vs applied, qualitative vs quantitative, and experimental vs observational research -- three independent scales every study sits on.
The three approaches that dominate malware analysis and security ML research, and why the WannaCry kill-switch discovery is applied research in its purest form.
The seven stages every research project moves through, the four standards research is judged against, and why the WannaCry attribution took seven months.
Why "IoT security" is a topic and not a research problem, what the Mirai botnet case shows about reframing a question, and how to split a problem into workable sub-problems.
Why every study needs to state what it does not claim -- the difference between scope, chosen on purpose, and limitations, disclosed honestly.
