Empirical Investigation:A UVic-inspired Proposal

Mike Godfrey

SWAG, University of Waterloo

The initial exploration

• Try this:– Time yourself walking around the

windowed area in this building.– Count the number of rabbits you see– Calculate:

# bunnies / time = MTBB

(Mean time between bunnies)

Terminology issues

• Need to establish common working vocabulary to avoid confusione.g, What does density mean?

What is the density of rabbits at Uvic?

• Experiment #1:– For a given patch of Uvic land

• Count the bunnies seen– Bunnies move quickly, may need to issue each with

a RFID (Rabbit Fur Identifier)– Tagging may also work [Storey 06 (to appear)]

• Measure area of patch• Perform appropriate math

– Ask a grad student if unsure

What is the density of rabbits at Uvic?

• Experiment #2:– Grab several bunnies– Measure the volume of each– Then immerse in water, and weigh the

displacement of water • The EUREKA project [Archimedes -215]

– Remove bunnies from water OR YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS REPLICATING THE RESULTS

What is the density of rabbits at Uvic?

• Experiment #3:– Grab several bunnies– Given them each an IQ test– Compare to average UVic undergrad as a

baseline• Hire the best as RAs

A new CSER project!

• Emergent Applications for

Rabbit-oriented Services– aka EARS

• Sponsor:– PETA (People for Empirical Testing of Animals)

Why rabbits are appropriate for CSER

• Rabbits are good at replication!

• Rabbits already have a custom protocol for network communication– They convert incoming data into small packages for redistribution

• AKA pellet switching

• Industry has good experience with rabbit consolidation– e.g., Schneider’s meats

• Rabbits can be converted into soft wear

Is this a good empirical study?

• What about the Heisenberg effect?– Does the act of observing bunnies interfere with

their presence?• Perhaps they like being observed.

– Does the act of observing and counting bunnies interfere with career path of a computer science professor?

• Perhaps they will be put on medical leave.

Threats to validity

• Can we reliably identify a bunny?– False positives:

Threats to validity

• False negatives:

Threats to bunnies

• Hawks

• Foxes

• Hungry grad students– Perhaps we can explicitly provision for them in the

next round of CSER applications if NSERC approves